Last week was gorgeous — sunny and warm. I’d call it an Indian summer.
Yesterday, the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees with every rain shower that passed through. Today is cold. It is more than an autumnal chill; winter sent its forward scouts to Ireland this Thursday.
We drove the Causeway Coastal Route in Northern Ireland two weeks ago. We had gorgeous weather, and the coast itself was a marvel. We spent two days touring County Antrim (which is north-east of Belfast) and we have lots of photos to share, of course.
The photoset for Saturday, the first day of the trip, is now available for your entertainment. Go to the Flickr webpage for the day’s photos first. If you’d like to use the slideshow feature, click on the first photo (the upper-left corner of the grid) and start from there. (more…)
A complaint of US workers: “Supposedly American companies lay off American workers and hire cheap labor in Mexico (or China or India).”
A complaint of Irish workers: “Supposedly Irish companies leave Irish workers to redundancies and hire cheap labour in the US.”
After our outstanding experience last year, we were not about to let the 2008 Dublin City Cycle pass us by. On Sunday, we woke to a sky that looked ready to rain at any moment, but we were rewarded for our bravery by a dry and pleasantly cool morning.
The year’s route was on the southside (whereas last year’s started on the northside). Just like last year, we were delighted by cycling down streets that are normally dominated by motor vehicles. (more…)
It seems like just a few months ago that we celebrated Constitution Day 2007. Today, it’s Constitution Day again for the United States of America, commemorating the signing of the new country’s constitution, 221 years ago, by the members of the Constitutional Convention. (more…)
Radio Telefís Éireann (RTE) is the Irish national broadcaster, and it is my source for the 2008 Olympics on television. Its coverage consists primarily of three programs: Olympics through the Night, Olympics AM, and Olympics Today. All three consist of live broadcasts as well as overviews and highlights. At any time from about midnight to 4pm, the Olympics is broadcast on one of RTE’s two television channels — but never both to this point.
I record all three programs every day, so I see all the events that RTE chooses to show — although I see many of them at 12x or 30x speed. RTE’s choices are shaped by the sports for which Irish athletes qualified and the events of (putative) Irish interest. These are quite different from what I remember of US coverage, but that should be no surprise.
Still, I am surprised by what I’ve seen. (more…)
Anita left me the car on Monday and the sun was out. Naturally, I headed south into the Wicklow Mountains. (Technically, I stayed in County Dublin some of the time, but you get the idea.)
I wanted to spend some time outside the city, and the harshness of the Wicklow Mountains always attracts me. I’d planned to bike on the Military Road at some point during the week. The weekend was beautiful (as you saw at the Kings of Concrete). But rain was on the way and it was getting too late for a real adventure.
A walk up Kippure Mountain was perfect for my purposes. (more…)
I learned about the Kings of Concrete festival late last week, and I barely remembered to go at midday on Sunday.
It was a gorgeous day, probably the warmest yet, and the sun was beaming its love upon the whole land. Just to walk to the Dublin City Council building was a joy. (more…)
It was summer today!
Hip hip, hooray!
It was a really warm day!
Maybe it will stay…
People swarmed all over the public spaces of Dublin’s city centre today, to enjoy one of what may be just a few summery days of the year. I had a few errands to do, and I found myself compelled to take the long way round. (more…)
In June, Anita, Will and Will’s parents went to the village of Avoca during a trip around the mountains south of Dublin (in County Wicklow). We were looking for the famous shopping spot, Avoca Handweavers. (more…)
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