10 Questions About…

The Pogues played at a big arena (the RDS) on December 23. I should have ordered tickets online but I was too slow. They were sold out. Then the day before the concert I heard a rumor that a special guest star was going to sing the Fairy Tale of New York. So I was super bummed.

So on the day of the concert I talked Patrick into heading to the RDS to see if we could scalp tickets. Naturally we left late – we left at 8:00; the show was advertised for 8:00. We sat on the bus stop and I was giving up hope. But then (our first miracle of the night) an 84 bus came. I didn’t even think the 84 ran on Sunday. The 84 was the quickest bus that would take us nearly to the door of the RDS.

So we jumped on. Then the next stop up there was some scuttle with a bunch of kids who were trying to get on the bus for being 16 and were clearly carrying several cans of beer. The drinking age in Ireland is young – but not 15. But the hassle was cleared up pretty quickly when the boys sacrificed one friend to stay on the bus stop with the beer and they all stayed on the bus.

So we were again on our way to the show. We arrived and the place was packed. The first thing we heard was someone else asking for spare tickets; not very promising! So we paced near the front gate a bit. We were just decided if we should go home or go into town to see another show when a woman appeared at my elbow and asked if we needed tickets. I quickly said “yes – two” and nearly everyone else around us tried to jump oin her for the tickets – but it was too late. We got ‘em!

We were over the moon. I couldn’t believe it. I held my breath through the various gates and checkpoint until we actually were in the hall.

The RDS is huge. I was there for the Horse Show a long time ago but hadn’t been there to see a show. There were no seat – all standing room. There were two sections – the front and then a set of barriers before the masses. The bar was in another room. There are no giant screens with close-ups or light shows, which was OK with me. The place was packed – of people of all ages but everyone having a great time.

So we had a beer and went in just in time to see (well, hear – we couldn’t see that much) Shane McGowan hit the stage. He was slurring but really no one can sing like Shane McGowan. Either the crowd or maybe Shane McGowan seemed a beat ahead or behind each other for most of the concert – but that was OK. It’s not like we were there to see Pavarotti.

Everyone was dancing – or slamming as the case may be. Poor Patrick was wearing a sweater and a coat so he was sweating. We were dancing around and Patrick didn’t even mind when he got a boot in the face. Someone way up front had foolishly thrown there shoe into the crowd. We didn’t care if he went home barefoot after Patrick got hit.

The finales started and my rumor was right. Sinead O’Connor came out in a Santa suit to sing the Fairy Tale of New York. It was a great show!

On Tuesday we let the kids skip school and we went to see a Christmas pantomime – Snow White at Liberty Hall. The show was at 11:30 and we were the only non-school group but that was OK.

The pantomime is an over the top fairy tale with lots of audience participation. Most of the kids know when to shout “don’t eat the apple” or they argue with the characters to say – “oh no you won’t” “oh yes I will”. The used a lot of music that the girls recognized from Hairspray and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Aine hid her face each time the evil queen appeared – but then she’d slowly uncover her eyes to watch the action. Even the big girls were kind of dancing with the cast at the end of the show.

The house here is heated with oil. We ran out of oil on Saturday. Today (Thursday) they brought the oil but it still isn’t working. There are 2 space heaters.

So we have gone without real heat since Saturday. It’s not as cold as home here (outside) but I’d guess that it’s been hovering around freezing. So, it’s cold enough to want heat.

Lily wore gloves to bed the other night. The girls and I all sleep in the same room – because I keep the space heater on for a while in the room though I don’t let us sleep with it on. I’m afraid that the space heater will start a fire.

I have to admit that I just can’t understand how the oil people can’t deliver oil and have it working immediately. Clearly that sort of work must be reactive. It is winter. I guess their business plan is to let people freeze for a few days before they bring oil.

I guess we’re lucky that we ran out of oil last Saturday and not this Saturday as I imagine that the oil shops will be completely closed next week for Christmas.

Today we went to see Kate’s Christmas play. I tried to video tape it in 10 minute increments so that I could upload it without going to the library. The story is Sleeping Beauty. As you’ll see Kate is part of the rapping chorus. The Minister of Education gave a quick thank you at the end.

On Saturday we went to the 12 Days of Christmas Festival on George’s Dock in Dublin with Patrick’s mom and brother Fearghal. There were lots of crafts, kids’ games, a change to get a sneak peek at Santa’s workers. And all of the kids who claimed to be nice (not naughty) got a chocolate lollypop.

It was fun. It was chilly outside – but not too cold. The kids went on the carousel, the giant slide, and Aine went on another kids’ ride. There were a lot of nice crafts. There was a band playing Christmas music.

The pictures didn’t turn out that well, but I posted anyways.

It was fun to see the docklands. It’s an area that is in transition and we don’t spend much time there – it’s farther east than we usually venture and it was on the North side of the Liffey, which is an area that we don’t head too often.

The girls had a half day of school on Wednesday. We didn’t do anything too excited but we decided to take some pictures of Cabinteely – our neck of Dublin. We live in Cabinteely. It’s about 8-10 miles south of the city center (aka downtown).

The girls’ school is actually in the opposite direction from the Cabinteely area. So, we don’t necessarily head to Cabinteely everyday – but we do quite often. We have to cross the N11, which is a highway of sorts to get to Cabinteely but there are really good pedestrian stop lights (we push the cross button and the lights change for us in about 20 seconds) so it’s not too bad.

In Cabinteely there’s a:

• pub (not a good one)
• an Italian restaurant
• a coffee shop (it just opened and the food is very tasty!)
• the library (we go weekly)
• post office
• a barber (where I hope Patrick is going soon!)
• a couple of other restaurants we haven’t visited)
• a couple of other shops, including a news agent

Cornels Court, a big-ish shopping area, is another 10 minute walk from Cabinteely.

The pictures are just kind of random shots on the walk from our house to the park.

I’m taking care of videos today. These are some videos I took on Wednesday from Cabinteely Park this week. I tried to take videos of the playground things that are different from the ones back home.

(Cabinteely Park isn’t the one right across the street from us, but it’s only about a 10 minute walk.) Soon – with any luck tonight – I’ll write up the whole post with pictures from our adventures in Cabinteely.

Here are two quick tours of the girls’ classrooms. We took them last week during the Christmas Fair and I never posted them.

Saturday we had a very fun lunch at the GastroPub, the same place we ate on Friday night. We went with everyone – including Fearghal and Irish Grandma. It was nice and sunny. The atmosphere was very relaxed and the food was excellent, again. (The picture below is Kate eating – or rather not eating – a mussel.)

Then we ventured to part two of the scariest tours in Dublin. We went to Kilmainham Gaol. Just to provide the backdrop… it was a dark and stormy night. Actually it wasn’t too stormy or night – but it was a dark, cold evening. We just made the last tour of the jail, which started at 4:45.

Kilmainham is/was a jail built in 1796. Prior to Kilmainham jails were just big rooms where they put everyone who was arrested. The goal at Kilmainham was to keep the prisoners separate, silent, and supervised. Originally I think it was built for about 77 people – with one person per cell. In it’s height there were 8 people in each cell.

Their busiest times historically were during various Irish uprisings and during the famine. During the famine some people went to jail because they thought they would be fed. Some were arrested for crimes such as stealing bread. Eight apparently was the age of reason; at age eight you could work and go to jail. I told Kate if it were 1847 she’d have only 2 months of freedom left.

Sadly 183 people were executed at Kilmainham. I won’t go into details but public executions were made illegal here in the mid1800’s.

The most famous prisoners at Kilmainham were the leaders of the 1916 uprising. Many of the Irish leaders were executed there by the British. Those executions really turned the public opinion of the uprising.

The prison was closed in 1924 and is now run as a museum. The tour guide we had was fascinating. There was/is no heat at Kilmainham. There are no glass windows. It was built on top of a hill so that the wind would whip right through it – the though being that would also kill many of the germs.

Each cell is small and creepy. Each cell has a peep hole so that the guard could watch the prisoners at any time of the day or night. (In the museum they have a demo cell with a peep hole. When you look through it you see a prisoner who seems to interact with you. I’m pretty sure that was the cause for the nightmares last night. It was eerie!)

The Victorian Wing (the newer wing) was built above the kitchen so it was warmer than the old wing. Silence was maintained and the prisoners never saw each other but they figured out a way to tap to each other (using Morse Code?) over the water pipes. This part of the prison has been used in several films, including In the Name of the Father and Michael Collins.

Patrick is not allowed to choose our Sunday destination for at least a month. Although I must admit I found the jail very interesting.