Lanza30th

Friday the 6th of February, after work while waiting on our mother to arrive, +Niamh surprised me with an early birthday dinner at Jimmy Chungs on the quays, which was a great way to begin my holidays and 30th celebrations. After collecting our mother from Heuston station, we had a few drinks before I was yet again surprised with an early birthday Pizza. About lunch time the next day, we all decided it was time to head out and get a bite to eat. Our mother, kept asking where was this restaurant, HerbStreet, as the walk seemed to take for ever. However once the food came out, she did admit it was worth the walk and wait as we were all completely stuffed afterwards.

 As we continued to enjoy the rest of the day and evening, as the clock struck midnight I wondered why, the lights in the living room all suddenly went out, to discover my mother and Niamh singing Happy Birthday with a cake, candles and all. Then my father face timed us about the same time, which was perfect timing and was so funny. It ended up been quite a late night, which would have had us rushing in the morning if we hadn't already packed. After saying our goodbyes to Niamh, my mother and myself, got the Airlink from Heuston to the Airport. After a slight mishap over my mother's ticket and her phone, that I got sorted at the +Aer Lingus check in desk, we joined the queue at security. As per usual, my mother would get stuck with the wagon at security, lucky I had my wits about me and all got sorted. Once in duty free, my mother finally managed to relax a bit. After purchasing a few duty free items for the holiday, we got the obligatory drink and relaxed waiting for our gate. Once aboard the plane, despite some turbulence, it was a smooth enough flight to Lanzarote.

Once arriving into Lanzarote, we made our way through baggage claim, out of the airport and got a taxi to our accommodation, the La Morana Apartments near Murphys bar. Which would be become our local bar for the majority of our stay in Puerto del Carmen. After unpacking and getting settled. it was time for some nourishment. The place we tried, the Blue Marlin was a total disaster from the off. Luckily enough after this disaster, everything else that night was such fun. We ended up leaving Murphy's Bar about 2 am that night after listening to Sean Boland and the famous Jimmy Barry Murphy, the white nigger from Cork, which I had heard some much about, singing his famous Langer song. It was a perfect ending to my birthday and was looking forward to the rest of the holiday.

The next morning, while discussing plans for the week, my mother wasn't feeling well, so we began the trek to the pharmacy in new town and got some tablets which did wonders for us both. When I suddenly remembered who had the apartment key, we rushed back and to our great relief, the key was exactly where I left it in the reception area. Which gave us the excuse to have a few drinks by the pool and catch some sun. Thats evening I booked a tour for the following morning, the short South Tour around the National Park of Timanfaya. After this we strolled towards the old town and ended up having a meal at The Crafty Cow on the recommendation of a co-worker, which we both agreed was just perfect and showed how bad the previous night's meal was. As we were eating, a female singer started to perform and she had such an amazing voice on her. We went exploring, and had a glimpse into the Blarney Stone and Blarney Grill where we saw the Dublin City Ramblers and Bianca Sutton and at the end of the night we yet again, ended up in Murphy's Bar.

The following morning we got the bus at 9.15 am for our tour with the first stop being in the heart of the National Park, home to the island's 300 craters and volcanoes. One of the demonstration was a volcano geyser in action. Continuing around the park, we almost got stuck behind a bus which was having some difficulties, luckily it wasn't for long, before we finished our journey in the park and made our way to the Camel Park at the base of the Fire Mountains. I decided this time to go on a camel ride, after turning down the option to years previously. It was a 20 mins ride, all was uneventful until I was getting off the male camel, and he hit his head against mine, wasn't sure to laugh or to be scared.

From the Camel Park, we had brunch on route to La Geria, the island's wine district, where we stopped for wine tasting however the wine tasted more like vinegar than wine. We returned back into Puerto del Carmen around 2 pm just as the sun was coming out, which was perfect timing for some sunbathing and swimming in the pool. A particular highlight food wise so far was the Mexican, Cantina Don Rafael where everything was superb from the cocktails to the fried breaded goats cheese.

As Wednesday was the best day weather wise, it was spent sunbathing drinking sangria and pizza by the pool, which was pleasant after all the walking and touring the previous day. Despite having a horrible cold dinner, we all had a blast in Murphy's Bar, with Linda Grey performing and us making some new friends, was a great end to the day.

The following morning, although we attempted to enjoy the sun, the sun wasn't with us, it was perfect walking weather. We began our walk towards Matagorda with a stroll along the Playa Grande. On our walk back towards our apartments, we stopped off at a cocktail bar called the Golden Corner and the Long Island cocktail and chocolate which were perfection. As we were on a roll, we decided to do a mini pub crawl on our route back. As my mother wanted to go for a 'quick' nap before heading out later, which of course ended with her staying asleep. I decided to go off exploring more of old and new town and see what The Island bar was but to my surprise, the bar is closed on Thursdays. On top of the walk to Matagorda earlier in the day, I walked another 5.5km exploring both old town to the harbour and towards the other end of the new town of the strip.  

With both of us well rested, and wanting to do the famous the Puerto del Carmen to Puerto Calero walk, 6.5 km from the apartments, so we set off early enough as to make most of the day. I was pleasantly surprised how scenic, peaceful and relaxing such a walk was and especially in the morning sun. After arriving into Puerto Calero harbour, we were looking about before getting the water bus to back Puerto del Carmen, although the journey was a tad windy, it was something different. We managed to make it back to the apartments about lunch time, so before we got ourselves comfy sunbathing, we got a pizza and sangria by the pool which was starting to turn into a habit.  

I got to enjoy the pool one last time, before getting ready for our night ahead, we had a few drinks and nibbles from the nearby Chinese. Luckily we had, as the Italian we ended having our meal at was horrible, possibly the worst meal of our trip. Once we arrived at Fitzers Irish Bar, things started straight away to pick up with the start of The Glamour Girls Comedy Drag show, which from the onset had the whole audience in stitches till the end, I've not laughed that much in so long. After the show got to chat and have my photos taken with the drag queens. We made some new friends, who we ended up meeting up with later that night.

It was time to head to the next bar, on our pub crawl, Island bar our next stop, where Rory Gallagher formerly of The Revs is the co-owner and resident musician. Our final bar was Mulligans which was quite full with Bill Hughes performing who had the whole bar singing and dancing. It was here we met up with our new friends from Fitzers bar, and we were the last to leave at 4.30 am, which was our latest night out.  

Even with the lack of sleep, we were all up, packed and fed before the check out time at 11am, which gave us the opportunity to catch last few rays of sun before our trip to the airport. We were able to relax in duty free purchasing some duty free alcohol. Despite some confusion with last minute change of gate and delay in taking off, which managed to arrive into Dublin still on time at 11pm. We were able to get the last Airline bus home and were welcomed home by Niamh who had a hot water bottle in my bed waiting for me as she knew I was up at 7.30am for work.

 Despite the lack of sleep, I had one hell of a week away, no better way to celebrate my 30th.

 

OH! Ho! Ho! that Christmasy Feeling

You would expect things to go back to normal once I put our mother on the coach home, however I went off shopping to sort a few last bits for the Christmas tree and soak in the christmasy atmosphere on O'Connell Street for the turning on of it's Christmas Tree and whilst getting a free packet of Tayto, I got my photo taken with Mr Tayto, sure be rude not to. On the route home, hopped into the Church of Adam and Eve, the National Shrine to St. Anthony, to check it out.
                   
The craziness continued on, with Bernadette, Helen and Myself going for a night at the dogs in Harold's Cross  on the Tuesday for a mini work night out, which I had free entry into, thanks to my bus ticket from my last journey up from home. After a few mins of checking things out, we all got settled in and started placing a few bets on and getting the drinks in. We all had such a laugh and fun and there was a slight Christmas atmosphere about the place, due to the Christmas Parties around. I surprisingly managed to finish out ahead with my bets which was a pleasant surprise and capped off a great night out. Later in the week, on the Friday night was the Hospitality Staff Christmas night out, although Nicole and myself were working late in work, we both got changed and met everyone else out in town later. By the time, we met them most people were on a good buzz and for some reason ended up in a club in Portobello called Rain. Didn't take us too long to get into the spirit and fun of the night. It was such a random and interesting night, the way most work nights out are. The following day was spend recovering watching crap on TV under a duvet, only way a hangover day should be spent. To finish off my weekend off decided to go shopping and treat myself to a mini Christmas pressie.

 To start off the week right, +Niamh managed to get us 2 tickets for Fleetwood Mac, I booked our train tickets home for Christmas and we received our first Christmas Cards of the season. By time Friday came, we were excited to go see Gloria, a GLB choir who were performing at +StPatricksCathedral Dublin for their Christmas Concert, which was turning into an annual tradition. The concert itself was sold out with over 1300 people in attendance. A particular highlight was the all male version of Santa Baby and like every year, Gloria gave an amazing festive filled performance.

After literally a day from hell in work on Saturday, luckily I had Niamh's home made cake with ice cream to make things better while watching Strictly, which made me happy out. To top off the week, Niamh and myself decided to attempt the 12 pubs of Christmas after I finished work on that Sunday. The fun all began, in the Brazen Head, which is Ireland's oldest pub and worked our way through various pubs which all started to mesh together.

Things started to get a tad foggy after around pub 10/11 but all and all, it was quite a fun night experiencing such different pubs, some which I had never been in before. Surprisingly enough I felt right as rain the next morning which was a shock to both Niamh and myself.

Lucky enough I had no hangover as I had to work that evening, which was a tad annoying as I had won tickets for +Dumb To thanks to +cluborange and +Universal Pictures Ireland in the +Savoy Cinema, lucky enough Niamh went instead, was happy that the tickets weren't wasted despite slaving away in work, so she could enjoy herself.

Luckily enough that Niamh noticed that she had a missed call from the electrician during her shift at work, I quickly rang him back, and he was nice enough to call around straight away and finally sort out our issue with the boiler, although he didn't get finished until midnight and we both were up at 5.30 am for work. It was worth the lack of sleep as in the morning, I had the best shower in weeks which was like heaven. Although I was working so early, at least I was finished and home before work became crazy altogether which was nice. I ended up having a nap on the couch under my new fleece batman dressing gown and then when I woke up, I was all set and ready for my Chinese takeaway and heading into town to meet Niamh at the +TheGeorgeBar Dublin for Bingo and the Christmas show which was great craic as ever. Although Niamh went home towards the end of the show, I decided to stay out as I met up with mates of mine and somehow ended up in 4 Dame Lane until 3 am, despite getting up at 7 am for work, will I ever learn, seems unlikely. Niamh and myself were chilling when our dad rang, if we could get him a few bits from town, although we were finished ourselves, off out into town we went shopping, which ended up being fun, as always the way ended getting more than we planned and had a lovely meal out too, before finally getting home about 10.30.

At least we both had a slight lie in, the following morning we organised everything for our journey home for Christmas. When we arrived at Heuston Station to board the train, we got a plenty surprise to discover that we were travelling home 1st Class. People only on the list were even allowed to enter the 1st class carriage and was been guarded by the conductor. The journey home was so comfortable with the extra leg and we had fun and laugh with other passengers around us which was nice. After arriving into Ennis, we were collected by our dad, and then we dropped into our mother at work, to wish her a Happy Birthday, which made her day. Later that night, after a home cooked meal and surprising her with a cake, we headed out to a Christmas Party night at An Shibeen in Doora, where I actually won a prize for best Christmas Jumper. We all had such a brilliant night and our mother said best birthday in years.

 When we were leaving the next afternoon for our Granny's, a neighbour's big dog started climbing onto the car, which definitely showed to me that I was back in the countryside. For my first Christmas mass in over 4 years, we went to a wee country church which was packed to the rafters for the Children mass which had an amazing singer, band, kids choir and Fr. Ted Crilly type priest, wasn't sure if it was like a concert or a religious event, which was hilarious to witness. As it tradition, later that night ended up back at the local pub, the Bogdale House near our Granny's. It was almost 3 am before we got home to bed, I would say that was a rare thing, but my last Christmas home 4 years ago, was about the same time then too. Before bed as is tradition, we swapped our Christmas presents, everyone seemed happy with their presents which is always good. Christmas morning was all go from the onset, with the calls and visitors wishing our Granny a Merry Christmas and preparations for the dinner underway.

After only a slight lie in, before the calls and visitors began to arrive at my granny's. The merriment and drink which started so early, should have told me how the day was to pan out. We finally made our way down to my Uncle's for Christmas dinner which was a joint effort between my mother and aunt. With all the food and the heat, the food coma had settled in and didn't want to go. I nearly swear I've never eaten and drank so much on Christmas day. We finally got back to my granny's about 9.30 that night, after a visitor arrived down and played some music. People started to drift off to bed gradually, as per usual I was last to bed. It was definitely one of the best Christmas in years, fun and craic was had by all.

The Westend Trap

With life finally getting back to normal now, everything unpacked, settled into the new place completely, thought it was time to finally pay the donation I owed Padre Pio, that I promised him, during the stress of finding a place to live. Managed to find a Capuchin Order Friary on Church Street near Smithfield.

As is usually my nature in the lead up to Christmas, I went Christmas shopping around the October mid term. As I am working in retail too long, that I won't think of doing it after mid November when all the offers I'm after are over. We soon found out we were better prepared than we thought and thought we'd unwind after a hard day, decided to crave out a pumpkin, something neither of us had done before, which was kinda fun and put us into spooky Halloween spirit. To my shock and painful horror, on Bank Holiday Sunday night when talking to Niamh from the Kitchen, I didn't notice a loose skirting on the floor and caught the soles of both my feet, which tore and hurt like hell. Luckily Niamh was on hand to take care of the wounds. It definitely pays to have a nurse in the family.

Thanks to my mother, I won a competition in the Sunday Times for a +TullamoreDEW whiskey tasting masterclass in the Palace Bar on Fleet Street. The whole event was quite entertaining and informative and I left with a Tullamore DEW goodie bag with a hip flask and glasses which was nice. About 2 days later, i enjoyed my first mince pie of the season +M&S followed by the complimentary whiskey I received from +tullamoredew, which was a surprisingly delicious mixture. 

After a hard busy week, I was looking forward to the comfy train journey home to Clare despite the 6am rise. After a quick coffee with the mother on her morning break, it was off home, where I thought I was just home to relax, where I quickly found out, I ended up helping my dad move some of my stuff over the years, that was a trip down memory lane. To round off my weekend home, we visited my Gran, who didn't know I was home and surprised her with a birthday cake and presents from Niamh and myself for her 92nd birthday. I seemed to bringing back more stuff on the bus journey than I had going home, isn't that always the way.

                                     

A play I've been dying to see for years was Mousetrap, finally got a chance to go see it at the Bord Gais Theatre, the set and the cast were amazing. The whole mystery plot and the disclaimer they tell the audience at the end to keep the secret over the plot is a clever one, which doesn't spoil the show for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. we already planning our next trip to the Bord Gais on the Luas home. Then on Thursday when got the members email about offers for 1 Man 2 Guvnors. I contacted them by email that evening about the offer, and of course received missed calls back and forth Friday and Monday. But when I also got an unexpected missed call from my mother around same time, I rang her back to find out, she won a pair of tickets to that show and was able to change them for me for the Thursday performance, which gave us something to love forward to. Come Thursday I met Niamh on route to the Grand Canal, where we got a nice bite to eat at Herb Street before the show followed by a pre show drink. Throughout the show and even during intermission the shows Skittle band The Craze performed who were very good. A particular highlight was the improv which Gavin Spokes performing as the lead Francis had to perform due to a sketch that went pear shaped, which however had the whole audience in stitches. Between the music, the band, the improv and comic timing, I not laughed so much in an ages exactly what the doctor ordered. When we got home, we watched the Glasnevin documentary One Million Dubliners which I felt was a quite powerful and emotional film and nearly had me in tears at the end over Shane Mac Thomais.

Which was starting to turn into a weekly trip to BGE Theatre, this time to see Westend Women, Joanna Ampil, Ria Jones and Kerry Ellis, 3 leading ladies of the Westend, who have starred in some of the biggest shows such as Wicked, Cats, Evita, Les Mis and Miss Saigon. I was dragging Niamh  to the show to see Kerry Ellis, as I was lucky enough to see her as Elphaba in Wicked in Westend. The feel of the show was fun, and ended being such unforgettable magical night with everyone singing and dancing along during the encore.

On Wednesday, our mother came up to visit for a few days, with a few touristy things planned during her stay and her promise of home cooked food, which had us excited. As I was working, My mother was lucky enough to collect my keys from the concierge. After a quick change and had some of my mother's freshly home made soup, we made our way into town towards Arnotts, for their special Christmas evening event. At this event, there was live music, gimmicks and free whiskey throughout the night and weren't shy with the whiskey pour.

First on the agenda, was on Thursday Morning, after a quick stroll to the Guinness Storehouse. As we booked an early bird ticket with 20% off admission online, we went straight to the pre paid machine, to collect tickets and start our tour. The tour is self guided and commenced by standing at the bottom of the world's largest pint glass in the Atrium, which rises up through the centre of the seven story building and if full would hold 13.4 millions pints of Guinness. On the fourth floor, we got the opportunity to pour of own pint of in the dedicated Perfect Pint Bar. In the Arthur's Bar on fifth floor got to see views of the brewery, nearly as spectacular as the views from my own bedroom. When we reached the Gravity Bar, we were able to sit back with the pint of Guinness included in price of admission despite the early hour and take in the breath taking panoramic views of Dublin City, in my opinion nearly the best view within Dublin itself. 

After all this Guinness history, we both were stuffed from breakfast so I rang brasserie 66 to reschedule our lunch for the next day when Niamh could join us too, as its a place we enjoy and thought our mother would too. After sitting back a tad longer enjoying the view from the Gravity bar, we continued on with our tour of the storehouses, with the Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield our next stop. On route, I brought her to the St Augustine and John church and Capuchin Order Friary on Church Street near Smithfield. The Friary is located right next the distillery which was quite handy. Our booked tour was at 3pm, and was a guided one which lasted about an hour and included a whiskey comparison with Johnny Walker Scotch, Jack Daniels Bourbon and of course Jameson and what the differences between them are. And most important, the complimentary Jameson drink which made my day being a Jameson whiskey drinker. 

Niamh had a full mini Christmas dinner waiting for us, in honour of our American friends for Thanksgiving. Once we were filled up, we got the bus towards town, for a private event Tommy Hilfiger with music, canapés, drinks and caricaturist, which was busy and fun. +Niamh got a caricature done which came out quite well. During the weekend, we went for the lunch at Brasserie 66 where we managed to get 5€ off thanks to Vouchercloud, followed after with Bewleys for a Christmas drink Candy Cane Latte, CHQ building for Lidl Christmas markets, and a Christmas Market at Catherine Church. 

After an intense day in work and later shopping with the family, we finally put the Christmas tree and decorations up in the Apartment, being supervised by our mother superior, which made the place feel quite Christmasy while listening to Christmas FM.