Dublin Pics

A few photos of the City of Dublin taken over the weekend, but not up to my usual standard. The great big pole, " a stick" is a stainless steel sculpture, which won the competition the Council ran to find something different.

Nice walkway along the river, where you can sit and watch the swans and boats passing.

Colourful pubs, all with music and food, but at a price !!! place is very expensive to eat and drink out.


Bronze statues all over the City and here we have the two intrepid shoppers, chatting to two blokes who give them as much interest as their husbands.

And finally we have a chunkie dog, who had more sense than go shopping - bit bored, but people watching.

Tribute to Michael Jackson

The King is Dead, long live the King, was possibly a quote about the late great Elvis Pressley, but now we have his successor, a man , who in many eyes was a much greater entertainer, Michael Jackson, who died suddenly on the 25th June 2009.

I sat and watched the Memorial service for Michael, and despite my initial concerns found it to be a very genuine and touching tribute, however, there will no doubt be many who think otherwise.
Taken into perspective he was an incredible artist whose stage persona concealed a very caring, loving, and generous person. He is apparently in the Guinness Book of Records as being the individual who has given to the most charities in the World, and certainly from the comments made on stage and the awards made to him, he was much more respected than was ever publicly made known.
The service was a moving tribute, and it should be borne in mind that he was part of a very deeply religious family, so their feeling of grief were genuine. Many might have thought that the whole event was going to be "rather tacky", but I at did not think that.

It may well be the case that there will be further revelations surrounding his sudden death, we will just have to wait and see, but one thing is for sure, his fans will make sure that his music lives on.

Michael Jackson , R I P.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

Dropping in bits and bobs as the day progresses, and now in The Mercat Bar, So there we were thinking that the beer was expensive when we spotted this stand at Dublin airport with bottled Waters from Around the World, and these two beautiful bottles were sitting there with the frightening price tag. The water is from Kobe, Japan , home of sake wine - an ideal gift for a couple on their wedding table,

Anyway, had a job to do this morning, once again these dirty rotton fly tippers are abusing the countryside , so that is for the sorting out of.

Then into town, dropped off Mrs. B. who was going for a "daunder" round the shops and then in to see Gillian (Smelly girl). So as i parked the car in the wonderful (NOT) Morrison Street car park - NCP - there was the classic three rows of cars !!! with the middle row trapped . Just where do these folks leave their brains ? or are they flushed away bit by bit each day.

More later - maybe.

Guinness Brewery - Dublin.

Had ourselves a trip to the Guinness Brewery on Saturday, as did Sir Chris and Miss Talk a Lot yesterday, it is amazing , well worth the trip and a virtual gold mine doe the Company. An old brewery, built by the same man who built the Forth rail Bridge, and Tower Bridge, London, with the biggest glass of Guinness in the world. place has been superbly adapted with seven floors of things to see, from the brewing process, tastings, shops, cafe' , pour your own pints, and on the roof, The Gravity bar with a 360 degree vista of Dublin.
In the museum area where there were models of the old ships, etc we found this ships wheel, made by McTaggart & Scott Ltd., of Loanhead, Midlothian which was within my first "beat" - and who are still world renowned marine engineers.

The main gates have the date the brewery was purchased, 250 years ago, so there are now lots of special items, and brews, available to commemorate the occasion ( good marketing) .

Lease for 9000 yes - 9000 years at an annual fee of £45 - a bit of a bargain. But the Company has been good for the City over the years, and also for the employees, with its own housing, school, public baths, etc. Very similar to the Community and town which was built up around the mills at New Lanark, here in Scotland.

It was a bit dark inside so with the wee camera, photos were not too clever.

In Dublin's Fair City - or Kildare where the Girls, etc

Just catching up a bit, now that we are home - up at 4 a.m., taxi to Dublin Airport which was heaving with folks , had the usual delay with Ryanair before getting ourselves over to Edinburgh. That was three flights, Friday, Saturday and Tuesday - all with delays for various reasons.

The photos were taken on Saturday, while in Kildare for the Stag Doo - sadly Phil could not get his gang to stand still long enough for a photo, however I was able to find other, more willing subjects !!
William, RGB, Sir Christopher and friend were in Nolan's Bar for this one - Liza (complete with feather duster) and her team were starting their hen party - and I found them in the smoking shelter out the back of the pub, they were a cheery squad.

I found this very bright assortment of young ladies in the bar of Jury's Hotel, Dublin, when I got back from Kildare. They were over from London for the weekend and certainly did their best to "brighten" up the place.

Dublin , a green clean city.

Quick update, some notes as photos , etc will be added later.

Made it to Dublin with Ryanair, although we did have a 30 min delay at Edinburgh. Met william and sandra who were already in Dublin , and then took an airport bus into the City - the new tunnell is superb. Found the hotel, dropped off our bags and with a message from RGB on the advance poarty had only a few minutes to make it by taxi to the railway station and then off onto a fast train to Kildare where we met up with Philip Quinlin and his pals for a Stag doo.
Watched the 1st half of the British Lions game in one pub , then at half time moved on to another.

A long session but eventually around 7 p.m. William and I headed back to the City followed some time later by RGB and Sir Christopher - the stag group were just warming up - but as we had not planned on staying away overnight it was time to head off.

Had a short wander in the vicinity of the hotel, in the meantime our ladies were out on their own litlle day out - discovereing just how expensive this City is , a pint costs between £5 and £6 with bottles of wine in the shops starting at £8 . Everything is dear.

Sunday , four of us Sandra / William Mrs B and self , took the city tour on the open tp bus, then round the Guinness brewery, an amazing operation - but I cannot get a taste for the stuff - so will stick to the Carlsberg lager here.

Carol Ann and Dennis arrived on the tram to meet us, having left their motor in a park and ride We did not realise that they lived only five minutes from Kildare so Dennis could have been with us at the Stag on Saturday. - Dennis and I had to go back out to the park and Ride to top up the meter as sill works had only put a couple of hours on the meter. The tram is similar to the ones coming to Edinburgh - it was very good.

Weather was warm, but wet at times, so we headed back to the hotel with a pack of cards and saved a lot of cash by using our "taxfree" allowance brought in from Edinburgh - a great idea.

Today it will be a wander round the town again and tonight we have the "Riverdance" show at the gaiety Theatre.

Big breakfast now.

Murray will be back to fight again

Despite everything, and a hot humid night, it was up with the larks and into town with RGB, who headed to the gym.

managed to get opened in time - left the shop in charge of Katie and headed round to I C S in Grosvenor Crescent for a wee job there - place a bit chaotic as an inspection was taking place.

Back to help out for lunch and then home via the Bush in time to see Andy Murray being defeated by Andy Riddock in a four set match at Wimbledon - good game to watch, but heart stopping - so at the end of the day Andy Murray will have to try again next year.

However - any real sports fanatics should take tehmselves to Ironmills Park , Dalkeith, on Saturday 4th - where the R A teams will be fighting it out to the death for the Provincial trophy, so may their bowls run to bias - the green run to length- the bowlers remain sober - and RA 500 win !! Shame that I am not there as it would be a no contest !!

Spent ages doing paperwork on the computer while watching the match - got a few bits done.

The news tonight is about the British troops going into the areas previously held by the Taliban - place is booby trapped, which is very similar to the situation in Northern Ireland with the IRA - you took nothing for granted and made no move without checking everything - but times change and bombs get bigger -risks continue to increase, but at the end of the day our troops are probably the most professional in the World.

Now all set fgor our Ryanair flight to Dublin in the morning - very interesting, we are only allowed 10 Kg hand baggage for the long weekend - and with a bit of effort we are all under weight - which proves the point that we always take far too much on holiday - so if I have smelly socks - I will blame Ryanair !!

Cannot remember where I will end up tomorrow, but it is young Philip's stag doo so we are going to meet up in time to watch the final game of the British lions test series in South Africa. The ladies will just have to cope with the shopping,

Bloddy nonsense -what are we coming to - when a lady can lie dead in her house for five years in a block of flats - post men keep stuffing mail through the letter box - people keep sending letters and reminders, and neighbours do not give a toss!! I have to say that my father had wonderful neighbours who would phone him every morning if his curtains were not open and the go over with a spare key. My old neighbour, Margaret, used to call me every morning when she saw my lights go on - if not I then had to check on her.

Great news, we now have a course in obesity science in Scotland - based in Aberdeen - just far enough away not to involve me in the research !!! no doubt after four years at University the Graduates will be able to call us fat Bas**** , but politely !!! So it is back to my Special K in the morning - NO - sorry, it will be a pint and a Wetherspoon's breakfast at the Airport, en route to Dublin - maybe back to the diet next week.

Thought I was going to bed - but Jonathon Ross has come on to the TV - a man who cannot speak proper English - who is grossly overpaid - has a gross ego; is abusive and thinks he can get away with it - why do we keep paying licence fees for such an eejit?