The trains are back in North County Dublin!

Well, the trains are now running again since they've fixed the bridge at Malahide. Replaced the bridge, rather. The first day back was last Monday, and now that the week is over I've been on that train 10 times. Not once has the train been on time. Not once. I think the drivers have forgotten how they work.

And now they've just announced a new schedule for the northern commuter trains (not that they follow the old schedule anymore). And of course, fewer trains during the evening rush hour. Yeah Irish Rail, that's not exactly the way to get your customers back after cancelling services for 3 months now, is it?

Ireland and the Hand of Frog

It's been three days since Thierry Henry 'handed' Ireland their exit from the World Cup, and the papers are still full of the fury. I'm not even Irish and I was raging. Catherine isn't Irish and hates football and she was mad. Accusations that FIFA wanted France to win, that Henry knew exactly what he was doing, and suggestions that the French Football Federation (FFF) should do the right thing and offer a replay are all common themes. Even the French people appear ashamed of their hollow victory (almost all of the newspapers are carrying apology letters from French people).

But something struck me about the level of upset seen in Ireland over this whole affair. It's not all about football (or soccer as the Irish call it), as none of the players even play for Irish clubs and it's not even all that popular a game here (rugby, hurling and Gaelic football are arguably more popular with spectators in Ireland). No, it's all part of a strong feeling running through the Irish these days of having been screwed over by the 'authorities' one too many times recently. The government is unpopular and doesn't listen to the people, the banks and developers conspired to get us into this economic mess, and Ireland is feeling alienated by the EU. And now we have the opportunity to feel good about ourselves for once.....and who takes it away? Another EU country, and an institution (FIFA) that appears biased and corrupt and lacking in moral fibre and sense of fair play. The FFF are also guilty of that Gallic shrug that says 'we don't care about you, we won, it may not have been fair but we are going to South Africa'. Where have we seen that attitude before? Oh yeah, the government, the banks, and the developers who got us into this financial mess.

There's lots of public outrage in Ireland these days; I hear it on the street, in the office, on the radio, and in the pubs. This is just another instance of the little guys getting screwed and those that make the rules saying tough.

Shame on France, shame on FIFA, and shame on the FFF. And well done to the Irish team. A brilliant display.

The Arctic Fox...in Dundalk?

This past weekend I did a bit of a spur-of-the-moment trip to Dundalk to do some coastal walking. What looked great on the map turned out to be a series of salt marshes that are a pain in the *ss for walking. So, I didn't explore as much as I wanted to, and ended up spending part of the afternoon exploring the lovely (?) city of Dundalk.

Not much to report about the town. Fairly large, a bit dreary, prosperous perhaps in a bygone day. But one thing did really stand out at me. Walking along some old but anonymous backstreet I spied one of those blue tourist signs attached to a building that usually designates the birthplace, deathplace (?), or former residence of someone barely famous. But this one got me excited....this run-down, fairly large house (for sale too!) was the birthplace of Sir Francis Leopold McClintock. Who? Well, a houshold name amongst those with an interest in the Arctic, McClintock explored huge areas of the Arctic in the search for Franklin in the mid-1800's, he mapped Melville Island and discovered both Price of Wales Island and Prince Patrick Island. Not bad for a kid from Dundalk.

Letting the days go by....

It's been a while since my last post. Just letting the days go by I suppose. Maybe it's because I'm becoming very drained by my commuting situation. The train bridge is still not fixed so I'm relegated to the bus still.

I must say that Dublin Bus has done a surprisingly good job of putting on plenty of buses to serve our town, but it still adds 45 minutes each way to my commute and also means I have to leave an hour earlier to avoid traffic. If I arrive at the bus stop anytime past 7 am, then the traffic on the highway into town is way too heavy and it becomes a nightmare. Oh well, I'm sort of getting used to the early mornings but I do yearn for the train to come back.

On other notes here in Ireland, it looks like there will be a public sector strike coming soon. Public sector workers have been told they'll have to take a 7% pay cut to 'do their bit' during the recession. This on top of the 5-7% pension levy they also had to pay. While Ireland does apparently have the highest-paid public sectors in Europe (and by the looks of things, the most bloated), this is a bit steep. I'm not public sector but this still raise my hackles. Especially when AIB Bank, which is now effectively owned by the government and taxpayer and something like €80 billion in the hole, has just voted themselves a 3% pay rise.

I also wouldn't mind paying my share if I saw a solid government plan for getting out of this deficit. Taxing your way out of a recesssion doesn't work, neither does continually cutting wages. Let's face it, this country is in a very bad state, and the government has no clue how to get out of it. Banana Republic economics all around.

Sunday in the Wicklow Mountains

We've had a visitor with us from Canada, Glen, who's never been to Ireland before. So Catherine and I figured we'd show him a few of the sights (although he was great about getting out and exploring on his own). So, early Sunday morning Glen and I headed up to the Wicklow Mountains for a bit of a drive and some fresh air. Here's a photo from the Wicklow Gap area....very pretty.Now the town of Glendalough is quite touristy but not much else is in the area, so it's great for just wandering without the fear of packs of Spanish tourists.

We made it back home just in town to head to the pub for the All-Ireland Championships (Gaelic Football), Kerry vs. Cork. A cracking match and we both enjoyed it, as did the whole pub. Now that's a sport I'm going to enjoy, along with hurling. Not quite a full replacement for hockey but it's a start.

Sunshine on the Aran Islands

This past weekend was our first weekend trip with the new students. The plan was to head to Galway for Friday night, Saturday travelling through the Burren, on to the Cliffs of Moher, and then overnight in the small village of Doolin. Sunday was a ferry to Inis Mor (one of the Aran Islands) where the students were free to explore in their own way. So, it's the kind of trip that could be a complete washout in the event of rain.

But, the weather gods shined on us, boy did they ever! Each day was about 23oC and sunny and calm. Not a cloud in the sky. I even got a tan. Yep, a tan, in Ireland, in September!

The Aran Islands, when the sun is shining, must be one of the most beautiful, peaceful, scenic, cultural etc. places in Europe. Stone walls, abandoned churches, small villages, crashing waves....lovely. I'll post some pictures soon.

A Change in the Weather...

We're making some final preparations for our weekend trip to the west coast of Ireland. Lilly is on the phone to various B&Bs in Doolin to try and find a place for our bus driver to stay, but everything seems booked out. In questioning the fifth B&B 'is there something going on in Doolin this weekend', the response from the B&B owner made us laugh.

'The sun is shining'.

Only in Ireland.