Gone to Greener (grayer) Pastures

Hi all,

deepest apologies for not doing this sooner, but I have started a new blog to do with our time in London. Access it here.

Later,
Magz

Leaving Dublin

Myself and Hugh are moving to London very soon! We had a leaving party in MacTurcails pub last Saturday night. It was great craic. This is a photo of me changing the language on some poor unfortunate's phone to arabic. Below is a picture of Ian displaying his saxaphone breathing control skills by creating a maaaassive bubble. Rumour has it he can get equally good bubbles by blowing them with his nose....

Farewell Pierce

This is Pierce, who is off to America soon to do a 5 year masters. He has a going away party in Doyle's last Friday which ended up in Tara Street, of course with the hats, and with a big feed of McDonalds. Here's Alice kindly feeding Pierce a chicken mc nugget as he fell asleep before the food arrived.


This is me in my new suit that I got for interviews for new jobs in London. I think it's the hat that given it the final air of professionalism.

Masks

This is a picture of Hugh taking advantage of some curiously designed beermats. And this is me wearing a child's cow mask. I have a few interviews in London on Friday, I may go as a cow.

Harbour

This is the harbour of the village where we stayed for the weekend. There was a deadly ghost ship sailing off into the distance. The harbour has a little inlet with a few small fishing boats moored, a tea shop and lots of benches to sit on. It's very picturesque. This is a cave just behind the car park at the harbour.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

In Antrim this weekend we stayed in a little village a short walk away from the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. There is around a kilometer to walk along a cliff path after buying a ticket to get to the bridge. It spans a huge drop between the cliff and a small island. It's really cool. This is a picture of Hugh crossing back over the bridge. As you can see, Summer is in full swing here and everone is taking in the sunshine. The cliff in the background is where we came from. I imagine it's a lovely walk if it's less rainy.

This is a picture of looking down over the side of the island that the bridge crosses to. The water is flat calm and perfectly clear. We could see ducks diving to hunt fish, and follow them as they swam around underwater.

Bushmills Distillery

Myself and Hugh went to Antrim over the weekend to see the Giant's Causeway. It was fantastic, but I haven't gotten the photos of it developed yet. Before the causeway, we went to see the Bushmills Distillery, which is in a small town called Bushmills, strangely enough. It is build around the Bush river, which it uses in production. The tour is excellent and well worth a visit (free whisky). It's the oldest licenced distillery in the world, getting a "Licence to Distil" (cool) in 1608. I'm hoping that on its 400th anniversary next year, they will figure out a way for the clouds to rain whisky on Ireland.

Heyseed Dixie

Myselg, Hugh and Orla NiBhrian went to see Heyseed Dixie in Tripod last night. As usual they were absolutely fantastic. They are a bluegrass band and they do covers of rock and chart songs. They are touring their new album "Weapons of Grass Destruction" at the moment and there are class choones on it like their cover of Scissor Sisters I Don't Feel Like Dancing. Inspiring Stuff.

Here's the banjo player ripping into a deadly finger bursting solo.

Cahirsiveen

Myself and Hugh went to Cahirsiveen for the weekend with Frances and Peter. We stayed with Fran's parents who used run a b&b so they have a massive house with loads of spare beds and everything. There was a festival on and there was fantastic trad music and general shenanigans everywhere, including sheep shearing and sheaf tossing.

This is Fran's niece Sine just getting built up for taking a big puke on my arm. She's 6 months old. Underneath is her brither Aodhon getting his face painted as spiderman. He's 2 and a half. They are great craic and spend ages just laughing at eachother.



This is Hugh in the local nightclub called the Harp. It's one of the last places in Ireland that are still smoking indoors and are showing no intention of stopping any time soon.

Harry Potter Grand Finale

This is the Elephant House in Edinburgh. It is where JK Rowling started writing the first Harry Potter book way back when. Over the weekend it was thronged with Potter fans and was possibly the most photographed building in the world. There was great atmosphere everywhere for the launching of the book. Me and Niamh went to a midnight launch and lots of people in the queue were dressed as witches and wizards and characters from the book. Here's a girl putting the books in the window a few hours before the launch. A big croud gathered around the shop window clapping and cheering. Mental!

Niamh in Edinburgh

I went to Edinburgh to visit Niamh McNamara this weekend and to get the new Harry Potter book - more on that in a minute. Niamh is officially impossible to photograph. Niamh is just finishing up a masters in Englishy something or other and is living in a lovely (if crooked) flat just outside the city centre. The floors in every room slan in a different direction and it's pretty dizzying to walk around the place. Like a rollercoaster. On top of that she has fantastic pet rats who climb all over the place. They can climb up and down a person in zero seconds flat. Here's one of them legging it down Niamh in a mad bid for freedom on the ground. They have cute little feet that look like human hands with another baby finger instead of a thumb.

Intuitive Gardening Skills

I've taken to trusting my instincts with my plants these days and they are thriving. I can now share with ye my revolutionary secret...

Orla and Nozomi in Dublin

Orla O'Kane and Nozomi Coen were in Dublin last weekend. On the saturday night we were having a quiet night in when Orla noticed the unusual amount of hats that are in the gaff and remembered that she had her camera. Madness ensued.

Crazy Weather

This is a picture of the lovely view from my desk window yesterday afternoon. On the other side of the building though was this monstrous storm brewing at the exact same time. It really looked like the world was going to end just above our building.

Happy Birthday Clair!

This is the birthday cake that Clair had for her birthday yesterday in Japan. I wonder if it's possible to get over in time to sample some of it... Also I wonder if I spell her name wrong or do the Japanese? She turned 26, which incidentally is the same age as my Mom.