Ireland goes to the polls

On the 4th of October 2013 there is a referendum vote here in Ireland.

We vote on whether to abolish our second house of government the Senate (Seanad).  The second referendum is whether to create a Court of Appeal.

Outside what I would have called the polling station but are now called polling places in some areas with signs saying "Polling Place Ionad Votala"

Our "Polling Station" in the Multi-Denominational School in Ranelagh

Above is the "Polling Place" in Ballsbridge

We did not receive Voting Cards but received this letter instead. Voting stations are open from 7am until 10pm.

Picture of my voting slips before I voted 

All official documents are written bilingual in English and Irish 

Twin time

My twin sister called to my house after work yesterday.  We cooked a nice dinner together and hot tubbed while it cooked.  After eating, Amy had to rush for her train so I gave her a lift to town.  She lives about 6 miles outside of town.  It's half an hour on the train - luckily she lives about a minute away from the train station at the other end! 

Chicken cooked in a bag with herbs (it's juices made the most amazing gravy) with roasted tomatoes, sweet potato and yellow peppers.  Along with baby corn and sugar snap peas.  Delicious!

On Camden Street

We had breakfast in Flavour on Camden Street on Sunday morning.  Flavour is a good value, cheerful type of place with extremely friendly staff.

Ciaran had the full Irish which he thoroughly enjoyed

I had pancakes & bacon.  Free refills of coffee were offered which is quite rare in Ireland but very much appreciated!

Across the street is Flannerys - the building was built in 1839 (as per the plaque on the building)

A stunning large black poodle was being walked across the road

There was no one about as it was early in the morning.  The street was calm and quiet.  It was nice to saunter along and take in the sights!

Angels in the Park

"Angels in the Park" was performed in the Ranelagh Gardens as part of the Ranelagh Arts Festival.  We managed to see two of these 10 minute short plays which were performed promenade style in the park.  All of the plays were written especially for the event by Peter Sheridan, Cathy Barry, Shane Fallon, Graham Stull, Alex De Witt, and Kevin Jones.  The two we saw were very funny.

The first play took place on a park bench and involved three characters, an older man with alzheimers disease and two young people.  

Although humorous, this play brought a tear to my eye as Peggy Mangan a Dublin lady who had been missing for days after going walking with her dog was still being searched for.  Unfortunately she was found dead an hour or so after we watched this play.  Very sad.  Peggy's dog stayed with her to the end but unfortunately Caspar died a few hours after Peggy's body was discovered in the undergrowth in a field near Ikea in Ballymun.  

The second play took place a short walk away from the above park bench.  It was a love story between two characters (this guy in the pond and a girl up in a balcony in an apartment overlooking the park).

The two shi tzus above became part of the play!

Angels in the Park was a really enjoyable event.  It had been running all week at lunchtime and the day we saw it was the last day it was being performed.  I had hoped to go to a few more events in the Ranelagh Arts Festival but was unable to, so it was great to see this.

The plays were produced by Shiva Productions

Fake painting

Day 2 of filming

Here is Ciaran "painting" for the camera.  The paint cup is empty and his brush is dry!!

Look at the gorgeous blue sky!!

Director Nicola watched everything being filmed on a small screen.  She was extremely thorough and noticed everything - even a small cable at the side of the window in the shower.  It was moved out of shot after she spotted it.

Ciaran's footprints were filmed from the bathroom as he walked above in the studio on the glass floor

LPA by night!

Bones conked out after 2 tiring days for him!

For more photos click here

TV Time

We have a TV crew of 3 (Matt, Kevin & Nicola) in the house today.  They are filming an episode of "Extreme Homes" for HGTV for the American Market.

They will be working here for today and tomorrow and will end up with about an hours film which will be edited down to 5 minutes!!!

Ciaran is working hard doing lots of dialogue to camera and showing of all the special features of the house.

Here is director Nicola and cameraman Kevin up on the roof filming.  This was a camera set up on a piece of equipment with huge weights at the end if it - I can only imagine what their excess baggage charges for all their equipment on the airplane was!

Cameraman Matt filming the front room (he's kneeling on an amazing Jan Kath rug, loaned to us by Conrad in RugArt).

Here is Ciaran doing a close up of the wood cladding in the studio.

The crew are such a team of professionals, extremely thorough and very pleasant to boot.  They do their work without leaving a trace that they have been there - it is very impressive to watch how they work.

For more photos - click here

The sky looks great in the above pic - I'm glad Ciaran got the window washer out this week.

Ciaran points out the concrete wall detail

While Kevin & Nicola worked downstairs with Ciaran, Matt worked away filming the upstairs on his own.

I do like how the Laura Ashley wallpaper looks in this picture!

I should mention that Bones the dog was not allowed in any shots.  He would mess up the continuity by being in different spots in different shots.

Cup of Joe

After buying a few items for the filming today (fresh flowers, cakes to stage the table, etc.) we went to Nick's Coffee for a quick cup before we got back to the house for 10am to meet the crew.

Here's Bones looking pitiful ;-)   P