It has been a while since I updated our
blog with our life in Dublin. Michael
and I lead a quiet existence with lots of walking and we are enjoying the Irish
way of life. The winter has been and
gone, and overall it wasn’t that harsh.
We did have a couple of snow flurries however they didn’t amount to much
and there were some very windy days but they are behind us now. Spring has sprung and the cherry blossoms
make walking in the parks very pretty.
The daffodils are slowly giving way to the tulips, the days are getting
longer and the skies are a crystal clear blue.
There is still a slight chill in the air, but all in all, it is a
pleasant time of year.
The city itself is a mess at the moment, as
a new tramline is being installed in the centre. Roads and footpaths are being dug up which
makes navigating the town a bit of a challenge.
It will be worth the short-term pain, as the new line will benefit a lot
of commuters and I am sure it won’t be too long before the city is back to its
beautiful self.
Brexit is causing a lot of unease in the
Republic, as while they will remain in the EU, Northern Ireland of course will
not. There is a lot of talk about
whether or not the hard border will have to be reinstated between Northern
Ireland and the Republic and neither state wants to see that happen. It remains to be seen whether a work around
will occur. To add to the fun, Northern
Ireland politics is a bit of a shambles at the moment, and there are rumblings
of making a push for a united Ireland. I
personally can’t see that happening any time soon, but it makes for interesting
times.
We see occasional visitors from Australia,
most recently a couple of ex work colleagues of Michael. It is always good to catch up with people and
it is a good excuse for a night out which invariably ends with whiskey drinking
and Irish music. It is nice to show
people “our town”.
Michael and I attended the Craft Beer
Festival, which was held at the Convention Centre and is a mere 2 minutes walk
from our apartment. We had a lovely
evening with Michael sampling the different beers on offer whilst I tried some
different gins. We were entertained by
two different bands, the first of which was so terrible that we couldn’t decide
if they were a parody ‘70’s band or if they were really that bad. Thankfully, the second band was much better
and we ended up staying until the very end.
The musical, Sunny Afternoon, came to
Dublin. I saw the London production and
loved it so much that Michael bought tickets for us. We had front row seating and we had a lovely
afternoon singing along with the cast and finished up dancing in the
aisles. We then headed over to the MV
Cill Airne, a former tender ship, which is now a floating restaurant and bar on
the River Liffey. The ship has been beautifully restored and we enjoyed a
pre-dinner drink before finishing the day with dinner at the Harbourmaster Bar
and Restaurant, which, as the name suggests, is a restaurant in a converted
brick walled harbourmaster’s office.
We were lucky enough to see Colin Hay
(former front man of Men at Work) when he came to Dublin. Michael purchased tickets to see him at The
Academy and we were amazed at the size and diversity of the crowd that was
there. We had expected a small group of
middle aged ex pats and were greeted instead by a large crowd of people of all
ages, most of them Irish. Colin was a
terrific entertainer, playing for over two and half hours, telling a number of
very funny stories in between his songs.
The crowd responded really well, singing along with him and we had a
fabulous evening.
