An American Holiday in Ireland

I arrived to work on Friday, July 4th and proceeded to the cafeteria as usual to get my porridge and coffee. When I walked in, I was shocked to see the walls covered with red, white and blue paper decorations. After I paid for my porridge, I got in the line for coffee behind a woman who works on my floor. I don’t really know her, but the cafeteria manager approached her and asked if she thought the decorations were too much. She said no. The manager said at least she hadn’t put eagles up. And this woman from my floor says ‘It should be vultures, anyway.’ Nice, lady. REAL nice. I guess not all of them hate American things, as many in the building enjoyed hot dogs for lunch that day, offered as part of an American menu special.

After work, a few of us went to Sinnott’s, a pub near St. Stephen’s Green for a couple of beers. The new technologist from Jacksonville who has joined the Dublin team and his wife joined us at the bar, then we decided to make our way toward something for dinner. We stumbled upon an area I’ve never seen before, and found a pub called the Hairy Lemon. We ordered dinner and said our fairly early goodbyes. As SOON as I walked into my door, the rain started. This, after a long sunny day for a change.

I woke up Saturday to rain pounding on my skylight. About mid-morning, I got on the LUAS, for the first time catching it just in time to get my ticket and get on, and rode down to the end to meet a friend who took me to Northern Ireland for lunch and shopping. The groceries up there probably cost a good 40-50% less than they do in Dublin. I bought lots of stuff, several pounds of chicken and pork chops and prawns (shrimp) and it was all very cheap. I also found a really nice basket to replace the cardboard dinner set box I’ve been using to hold computer accessories on a shelf since I moved in here. It was a productive trip and a nice drive in the sunshine.

I got back just in time to get ready for a birthday outing. Luckily, my friends called to offer to pick me up in a taxi on the way to the bar, because the rain had started up again and I was dreading walking in it. We rode together, and had the chattiest taxi driver in all of Dublin, who turned out to be one of the free bus drivers from the Merrill Lynch buses. The place we went, called the Village, was very cool – great atmosphere and we got a perfect spot to sit before the place got too busy. Soon enough, it was packed with people, and the DJ was playing really great music and we were all singing along to songs like Roxanne, Sweet Child o’ Mine, and Whole Lotta Love. It was a great time.

Today I’ve been relaxing at home trying to catch up on laundry, which continues to be the first item on my to-do lists!