St Patrick's Day Parade RTE - Mna na hEireann

Des and Blanaid introduce the Suffragette cyclists from Dublin Cycling Campaign in the St Patricks Day parade 2018.  Look out for me at about 1.30!

Happy St Patrick's Day 2018

St Patrick's Day 2018 was wonderful!

I set my alarm to give myself an early start and get the dog walked and get myself organised and on my way to my sisters place.
I then had a tasty full Irish with my twin sister in her apartment. Thanks for the great hospitality Amy!

Afterwards we cycled (rather quickly as we were a little late) in costume over to Constitution Hill to meet up with the Dublin Cycling Campaign who we were parading with with.

Our group was made up of 100 women on bikes dressed as Suffragettes to celebrate 100 years of the vote for women or "Votáil 100" as it is known as gaeilge.

Our cycle was led by Senator Ivan Bacik and Meterologist Joanna Donnelly. Unfortunately even though we had a weather woman among us we were not favoured with the weather - it was cold, cold, cold. Luckily Amy and I wore layers upon layers so were not too bad and we warmed up quickly once we got cycling.

There were lots of different costumes but we all wore homemade sashes - some in the purple and green of suffragettism and some in the Irish colours as Irish suffragettes were very much aligned with the Independence movement.

Here's the pair of us ready to get going. As you can see we started without hat scarves but it was so windy that they were badly needed so we whipped them out and tied them around our hats.

  

Artist Laragh Pittman created the phenomental signage along with Freedom Machine coordinator and creator Donna Cooney.

You can check out more pictures by looking up #FreedomMachine on Twitter.

Here is meterologist Joanna Donnelly up the front and leading the way. Joanna is a regular cyclist and often cycles in to RTE to present the weather forecast. 

Here is Amy in old fashioned clothes in front of the classic Gate Theatre carrying out a very modern day activity - going live on Facebook!!

It was so much fun cycling through the main streets of Dublin from Northside to Southside.

Here we are at the end of a marvellous parade with the brilliant Senator Ivana Bacik. What a pleasure to have our photo taken with her.

From the end of the parade, we rushed to McGrattans to watch Ireland beat England and win the Grand Slam and the Six Nations. This made our St Patrick's Day!
Bones even got in the spirit :-)

Later that evening we went for Tapas and a glass of wine in La Bodega which was a really nice atmosphere and very tasty.

Amy then stayed the night with me and today we got up and took the dog for a walk in the snow and then made another full Irish for brekkie.

Afterwards we chilled out in the hot tub and then had coffees and watched retro TV of Highway to Heaven starring the very watchable Michael Landon. What a blissful Sunday!

Quite a lot of snow fell all night but it thawed today and seems to be all clear for the bank holiday Monday tomorrow.  With the snow gone we can have a nice day tomorrow to finish out the holiday weekend!

2018 St Patrick's Day Message from President Michael D. Higgins

Happy St Patrick's Day from the President of the Best Little Country in the World!!

Votáil 100 - Freedom Machine Cycle

For St Patricks Day 2018, I will be cycling as part of the Freedom Machine which is 100 women dressed as suffragettes celebrating Votáil 100.

Here is my outfit including a Votes for Women sash that I made myself.

Amy is deciding between three different outfits (which do you think is best - 1,2 or 3?)
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Cousin Kasey will be joining us on the cycle too.  She is currently getting her outfit together. She says she has a hat and she also has these amazing badges courtesy of her mother!

Goodbye snowy weather, can't say I'm sorry to see you on your way.

Thankfully the big thaw is on here in Ireland the country can get back to normal and also back to work. Most parts of Dublin are fine but other parts of the country are in a bad way - my friend in Kildare sent me a picture of car which is completely hidden by snow.

I was glad to have done some snow prepping last week before it arrived and I was well set when it started. We visited Homebase for Rock Salt, logs and a regular shovel. 

I also bought a snow shovel!! I've never owned one before but it is certainly the tool for the job of clearing pathways. I got my snow shovel in Argos but plan to buy another one with a longer handle in Homebase.

I was also happy to have a good set of snow boots which have been sitting unused for years in my wardrobe. They made walking in the snow so much easier and kept my feet warm and dry.

My boots helped me get to Butlers for a coffee on Thursday (before they closed up at 3pm) and then when they reopened up on Saturday morning.

Bones will be glad to see the back of the snow too. He was not a fan and he missed his daily walks. We will go out walking now and hopefully most of the snow is gone.

All in all, the bad weather was ok for us. We are young(ish) and fit(ish!) and we live close to the city. Our work was shut down but we were able to clear a path on our driveway and walk up to the main street. The shops were closed but we had bought extra food so we had plenty to eat. Also we had logs for the stove and good underfloor heating (as I mentioned in a past blog the electricity went out on Thursday night but we didn't even notice). On the Friday night, friends who live close by invited us for dinner so we walked through the snow to them and had a lovely evening. So as you can see, it was all good really but I am glad it is over and we will be back to work tomorrow.

A big thank you to the National Emergency Coordination Unit who tirelessly kept a handle on the situation and updated us regularly with information bulletins on the television and online. The army were also called upon to deal with particular situations along with Civil Defence providing help throughout the country.

Pictured below is Taoiseach of Ireland Leo Varadkar at one of the updates over the past few days.

It's all over "The Wire" - Ireland is shut down by snow......

Government advice was to be home and inside by 4pm yesterday due to the arrival of Storm Emma.

Luckily it wasn't as bad as expected but we did lose power in the middle of the night but we slept through that!

In certain parts of Ireland it snowed quite heavily with lots of drifts in areas. We didn't experience anything too bad here in Ranelagh and today we went out for a walk to see if anything was open (Gammells was open with a sign on Lidl saying it will open at 4pm).

Today it seems to have snowed since about 11am without stopping. The snow underfoot is thawing however so I don't think this new snow will be sticking around for too long.

The airport cancelled lots of flights and many people in different circumstances were affected including rapper and actor (The Wire) Fredro Starr.

The "Beast from the East" meets Emma

We are having a once in 10 years weather event here in Ireland. It's snowing and it is coming down heavy.

Two weather events are occurring together. Polar air (Beast from the East) came followed by Storm Emma (named by the Portuguese Weather Service).

The government has issued a Red Alert weather warning with all people to be inside by 4pm today when blizzard like conditions are expected.

It was bitterly cold as I left work yesterday. I was glad I had my full "skin" balaclava that fits all over my head under my hat.

Buses are not running today. Trains are finished at 2pm. Schools are closed along with most workplaces.

The worst is yet to come.

Here are screen grabs from Met Éireann the Irish Meterological Service.

 

Yesterday before work I cleared my pathway and my neighbours along with my newly purchased snow shovel(!) Today I will do the same and then try walk to Ranelagh for a coffee in Butlers - that's if it is open (Edit - just checked their Facebook page - looks like they are open for a few hours in the morning).

To all my Irish readers - stay safe and warm. Look in on elderly neighbours and take care when out walking. If it is safe to clear paths near you the government advice is to do so. Hope you stocked up on the Brennan's Bread!
To all my other readers watch out for further blogs tomorrow about this weather event with lots of snow pics.

Catch you on the flip side!