Wednesday 5 April 2017

Dublin Sky





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.