Dublin Bike Scheme Fail

On Monday night I had my first negative Dublin Bikes experience. Since signing up about a month ago I’ve been a big fan of the scheme. Working from an office on Talbot St with a Dublin Bike Stand right outside my building gives me a lot of scope for running errands around the city on my lunch break. It’s also handy when visiting Aily; I can get off the bus on Leeson St and nip up to her place in Rathmines on a Dublin Bike saving me loads of time.
 
However on Monday night, I took out a Dublin Bike from the stand on Townsend St. By the time I got to Portobello College at 10pm, the stands were completely full up and there was no space left to leave the bike. A quick check of the nearest bike stands revealed that all were at capacity. What the hell was I to do with this Dublin Bike I had been shafted with?
 
As it turns out, I was able to bundle it into the boot of Aily’s Nissan Micra and we drove down to St. Stephen’s Green where there was ample bike parking available. Unfortunately this highlights a shortcoming in the scheme when there are not enough bike spaces to satisfy demand. It will definitely make me think twice about renting a Dublin Bike in the future :(
 
Now away with ye…

Steam Train with Kreamy

On Sunday, Karima and I took a ride in an old restored steam train. The journey lasted 20 mins from Greystones to Wicklow and we had about ninety minutes to arse about Wicklow before the 20 minute journey back to Greystones. Once Karima had shamelessly used her female assets to persuade the geriatric conductor that she had bought tickets weeks ago but genuinely left them at home, we were allowed on the train. It was a beautiful day and we bought into the whole occasion by leaning out of the window and waving at all the jealous people on the beaches on the way to Wicklow. When I returned home and told my Dad about the day, he told me you have to be careful not to get soot in your eye from leaning out the window. This proved to be an untimely piece of advice as the extreme left corner of my left eye had in fact been on the receiving end of a boulder of coal.

Anyway, it was a great day out. Thanks Kreamy for the tickets! And kudos to the railway anorak we interrogated on the platform in Wicklow. He knew everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, about the history of trains in Europe. He impressed us with facts such as the amount of water the steam train consumes – 40 gallons per mile by the way! That’s less than 5% efficiency so it’s no wonder diesel and electric trains have taken over in the last half century. Oh and I can definitely vouch for the quality of the Guinness on board a steam train.

Now away with ye...

Student Discount Fail

I was just looking into the cost of a return train ticket to Belfast as I'm planning to head to a mate's house-warming up there next week. As the screenshot shows, any students planning on buying a return ticket to Belfast are getting a raw deal. If only there was some way for them to pass themselves off as adults to get a cheaper deal. Hmmm...

Now away with ye...

Burger King Fail

So I had an interesting consumer moment in Burger King on O’Connell St today. Basically I went in wanting a burger but nothing else because frankly although Burger King burgers are quite good I find their fries fairly sub-standard and who wants watered-down coke that will only rot your teeth and make you more thirsty? Anyway, a nearby sign advertising a double cheeseburger with small fries and small carbonated beverage for €3.50 caught my attention which inspired me to order a double cheeseburger on its own without the extras. When the cashier (let’s call her Carol) attempted to commit what can only be described as extortion I thanked my lucky stars because inconsistencies like this are what I live for! What follows is the gist of the conversation that took place:

Carol: “What would you like?”
Me: “A double cheeseburger please.”
Carol: “Would you like fries and a drink with that?”
Me: “No thanks.”
Carol: “Ok, that’s €5 please.”
Me: “What?”
Carol: “Yeah it’s cheaper if you get fries and a drink with it.”
Me: “But I don’t want fries and a drink. I just want the burger!”
Carol: “Then that’s €5 please.”
Me: “Well in that case I’ll take a fries and drink but I’ll just throw them in the bin.”
Carol: “What drink would you like?”
Me: “It doesn’t matter because I’m just going to throw it out anyway.”
Carol: “You have to tell me what drink you want.”
Me: “Ok I’ll have a coke please.”
Carol: “Ok that’s €3.50 please.”

I hand over the dosh. Carol hands me a tray with the goods. I pick up the burger and walk away.

Carol (calling after me): “Do you not want your fries?”
Me (over my shoulder): “Give them to someone else!”

The whole episode reminded me of a shop called Fresh in Grand Canal Dock where one can purchase punnets of grapes for €2 each or two for €5. Gas!

Now away with ye...

Thinking of posting to here a bit more regularly from now on. I will, however, rely heavily on the likes of Dan for inspiration :P

The 'slam of '09

Unbelievable. That's all I can say about last Saturday's grandslam showdown between Wales and Ireland at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. Everybody saw it and everybody has read about it since in the paper so there is no need to go into specifics. But the day was without doubt one I will remember for the rest of my life. A just reward for a generation of Irish players who have so narrowly missed out on the title in recent years. Sorry to say 'I told you so' but I did say a few years ago that Eddie O'Sullivan should be replaced. Not to disrespect the man, he did a lot of the groundwork in getting this generation of players to where they are today. But it became clear a couple of years ago that he just wasn't the right man to take these guys all the way. Still, all's well that ends well.

Once Ireland had beaten Scotland in their penultimate game of the tournament, one of the biggest issues in my head was that of where and how to watch the grandslam decider the following week. It wasn't long before I decided to attend a day of fun out in Stef's place in Ranelagh. The weekend began on the Friday after work when I rushed home to get ready for a gig I had that night. Although the gig went well (thanks to Lynn, Chops, Eric and their respective mates for attending), I was far too excited about the next day's match to think about anything else. Despite having a lateish night because of the gig, I was up pretty early on matchday. It was like the excitement of Christmas morning when you're a kid! I wanted to keep busy so I decided to engage in some early morning toilet cleaning but not before a smoothie and a veggie juice.

Toilet clean, Ails and I headed out for a Saturday morning bootcamp session in Bushy Park. This turned out to be the perfect way to take my mind off the match. It was at this point that I was grateful for not drinking a drop of alcohol at the previous night's gig much to the astonishment of my band mates. We did burpees, hill sprints, mountain climbs, push-ups and planks not to mention jogging a few laps of the pond and a couple of flights of steps. By the end, I was thinking ahead to a shower and a bit of lunch more than the match.

Once we arrived home, we had barely enough time to eat a couple of tuna salad pitta breads, clean Gregg's cage and watch the end of Italy's embarrassing 50-8 defeat by France. Soon enough we were on our way to the 46A stop; destination - Stef's place. I was up to 90 by this stage and I'm sure I was annoying the hell out of Ali, Wig & Ails on the bus. We stopped off in Spar for a couple of beers once we got off the bus and arrived at Stef's only to find out that she'd just popped out to the shop herself. No problem, we just sat on the wall outside her house drinking beer till she returned. We must have looked slightly unsavoury as anybody walking past her house gave us a wide berth.

Stef arrived back from the shops shortly and let us in. We were up to 5pm now - only thirty minutes till kick off. I was getting really excited now and the prospect of winning up to €480 from the six different bets I had on the game wasn't helping. We all know how the game turned out but I ended up winning one of my six bets (Wales to be ahead at half time and Ireland to win). Not only that but because O'Driscoll scored a try, most of my other stakes were refunded. So I ended up not doing too badly at all.

We celebrated the win with beer and Indian food before heading in to town. Specifically, we headed for a place called Bon Ga on Capel St which is an all-you-can-eat Korean restaurant with karaoke facilities upstairs. Having just had a load of Indian, we headed straight for the karaoke booths. Over the course of the next two hours we screeched out various popular tunes such as Paperback Writer, Bohemian Rhapsody and of course the classic "I'll see you when you get there" from Coolio. Although it was late after this and one or two weren't drinking and wanted to go home, I managed to persuade people to go for at least one more. And so it was that we found ourselves in the Porter House catching the end of White Chocolate's set.

I knew there was no way I could persuade people to stay for more than one in the Porter House, especially with the offer of a free lift home from Emsy, and so I gave in. But not before a lovely chicken kebab courtesy of Zaytoon. A fun night and a great day to be Irish. I also attended the homecoming the next day and although the occassion was a little short and a little flat, it was great to see the boys in the flesh and be part of the crowd to welcome them home.

Now away with ye...

St. Paddy's Day 2009

It was a funny one this year. Paddy's Day fell on a Tuesday meaning that we were all off work Saturday and Sunday, back into work on the Monday and then off again on the Tuesday. I opted to go in on the Monday despite the entire rest of my team taking it off. As I sat down at my desk I had to re-assure myself that I hadn't accidentally come in on a Sunday because the office was so quiet. When my alarm went off that morning I wondered why the hell I hadn't just taken the day off however I'm glad now that I worked it and saved a day's annual leave for another time.

Anyway, as we're not students anymore and all have jobs and a new found sense of responsibility we all vowed we'd never have, we decided it would be more prudent to celebrate Paddy's Day the day before giving people all of Paddy's Day to recover. All day drinking on Paddy's Day can only really be undertaken while at college. And so it was that I left work slightly early with the taste of booze already in my mouth. I wanted to head straight to the pub but I don't think others were willing to start that early. So I decided to call in on Clare at her place first and once Joanne and Richie arrived, we were on our way down to the Eagle House in Sandycove.

We were excited at the prospect of being served by our favourite member of staff down there who we've dubbed Pleasing Peter due to his thankful nature. Peter went above and beyond in his serving duties in 2008 and we haven't seen him so far in 2009. We were therefore seriously dismayed when we arrived to find he wasn't working that night.

It was a huge blow to the night's plans but we vowed to work through it and enjoy ourselves all the same. One by one people started to arrive until we eventually had quite a good crew consisting of myself, Clare, Joanne, Richie, Jessica, Goong, Zoe, Aily, Wig, Ali, Damo, Stef, Emsy and Karen. Even Rog and Lynn turned up for a little while. The night wore on with various people buying food at different stages. At one point I noticed an old man's cap hanging on a coat stand. Never one to pass up an opportunity for a bit of craic, I ordered Emsy to swipe the hat and Ali took photos of each of us wearing it one by one.

After last orders had been called, almost everyone headed back to our place. Once there we cranked on the Bob Marley tunes, ordered a couple of ridiculously large pizzas from Mizzonis and played a very rowdy game of Guesstures. Myself and Goong even whipped up a drunken batch of guacamole! I don't know where the time went but all of a sudden it was approaching 4am. Conscious of the neighbours and the fact that Ali had to "work" the next day, we wrapped things up and sent people on their way.

Of course my head didn't initially feel amazing the next morning. However at this stage I am well used to the sensation and have developed a sure fire way of beating the morning after hangover. I hit the kitchen and whipped up a couple of slices of white pudding accompanied by a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. As soon as Wig was up and about we headed to Tesco to buy ingredients for a super large spaghetti bolegnase. While it was simmering nicely on the hob, myself, Wig, Aily and Stef headed for a stroll up Killiney Hill where we met up with Paddy and Damo. The weather was beautiful - sunny and warm - and the walk was just what we all needed.

After the walk, we all headed back to ours to enjoy the scrumptious spaghetti bolegnase with delicious salad and freshly grated parmesan cheese. By the time this was finished, we all felt a little lethargic and headed to the sitting room for the evening. My eyes quickly became heavy and after the latest installment of Jack Bauer and an episode of Australian Immigration I was ready for bed. Wig and Aily were quick to point out that it was only 9.30 but I didn't care. And I certainly appreciated the decision of an early night when I woke up at 6.45 this morning after a whopping 9 hours sleep. Another Paddy's Day gone!

Now away with ye...