Dublin Community Clean-Up 21

Dublin Clean-Up

On Sunday mornings, Ciaran and I have a routine where we do a little bit of litter picking on our way to Butler's Cafe in Ranelagh for a coffee.  This week as part of Dublin Community Clean-Up 21 we picked litter on the way to the cafe and then I brought a second bag and we cleaned up litter on the way home too. Dublin Community Clean-Up runs from the 11th of Sept for a about a week and it brings together the four Dublin Local Authorities in this community clean-up initiative.

Ranelagh Clean-Up

On the way to our coffee stop we headed in the direction of Ranelagh Gardens Park and picked litter in the park all the way to the bin at the Ranelagh Road entrance. From there we went up Ranelagh Road, stopped for coffee and then picked litter on Chelmsford down to Appian Way. In total we cleared 2 sacks of litter off the streets of Ranelagh.

Dublin Litter Picking

Litter picking equipment is provided by Dublin City Council at any point during the year and not just at Community Clean-Up time. If you are interested in litter picking in your area, you can drop a line to customerservices@dublincity.ie and request delivery of litter pickers for your family.

To see more about the community clean up, check our #DublinCommunityCleanUp on Twitter!

Homecoming

Back home on the avenue!

So our latest news is that we are back in our house! I have to say that it has made me feel much more settled and it was great to see all our neighbours, we chatted to them all as we met them on the street and everyone we spoke to gave us a lovely greeting and welcomed us back!

I'm currently remote working two days a week and am doing a cycle / dart mix to get to work on the other days. I love the cycle to the dart station which is about 10 mins away from my house and there are bike lanes in parts. After buying a new helmet, I then found my old helmet up in the attic. Ciaran doesn't have a helmet so he took the new one which is plain black and a skull cap style. My old one is black and white and a bit naf looking....but sure it does the job. For visibility in the dark, I ordered a Proviz jacket which illuminates really brightly in the dark when a car light shines on it. I feel much safer wearing my proviz and helmet!

PIGSY Art Exhibition

We've both been doing a ton of work in preparation for the PIGSY art exhibition in Kerry in Kenmare Butter Market. Ciaran got his very large artworks stretched and paper studies framed. All of these works will be presented at his exhibition. 

Torc Brewery

Torc Brewery are the official sponsors of the art exhibition. They are a brewing company based in Killarney in County Kerry and the produce a really nice selection of beers including an Irish Wheat Beer and and Amber Ale. Guests at the opening night of the exhibition on Thurs 2nd of Sept will be able to enjoy the PIGSY art while sampling the tasty Torc Beers. Beer and art - what a great combo!

Trip to the Kingdom

We will head down to Kerry for the exhibition on the last Sunday in August and the art will get hung on the gallery wall in time for opening night on Thursday. It's seriously exciting!!

Coffee routine

Coffee time

As I said in my last blog, we are still not moved back in to our house (but watch this space, the move back is imminent) so I have no access to my Nespresso coffee maker. Instead of making coffee at home we get up early and go for a coffee in Butler's either on Grafton Street or Dawson Street. The Grafton Street branch was open at 9am yesterday (it was a bank holiday) so that is where we went. While this morning I am working remotely from home so we were up early and down to the Dawson Street branch by bike. We arrived home about 8.30am which has given me plenty of time to write this blog post before I start work at 9.15am.

Good boy Bones!

Bones comes with us. He is carried in a bag attached to the front of Ciaran's Brompton Bike and then he sits quietly (mainly) while we have our coffee and of course a little one of Butler's famous sweets!!

Double chocolate sweet with half filled short Americano - my fave!

Below is a quiet Grafton Street on Bank Holiday Monday

Back on Irish soil!

Return to Ireland

The last flew weeks in Malaga turned rather hectic and after we finally left, time has just flown since we returned to Ireland. We experienced a bit of hassle with getting the dog transport finalised but we got Bones safely home after extending our return date by a week. Let me know if you need help transporting a dog from Spain and I can help you with a recommendation for a Pet Transport Company that can asssist.

Since our arrival back in Ireland I have returned to my 9-5 day job in the library service. Outside of my day job I am helping Ciaran work on his next art exhibition in Kenmare, County Kerry. He has a fair bit of work to do for the exhibition and additionally he is working on getting his new art studio set up. 

Ireland 2021

So how am I finding Ireland after being away from it for a year.

Well to be honest it's great! Right now we are not back in our home as it is still rented so we are currently living in a lovely apartment in the Liberties area of Dublin. It's a pretty cool area and is kind of hip and definitely on the turn towards gentrification. We were down in Kerry last weekend to check out the art venue for the PIGSY exhibition as mentioned above. The venue is the Kenmare Butter Market in the centre of Kenmare and it is a fantastic space. The weather was incredibly good (Ireland was in the middle of a heat wave) in Kenmare and we had a fantastic time. It was a flying visit, we only spent one night there after after heading down on Saturday morning and returning Sunday afternoon, but we got to go out for a meal on Saturday night (in the BBQ attached to the Gallery) and then had a nice breakfast in The Rookery on Sunday morning.

This weekend is a Bank Holiday here in Ireland and given that only outdoor dining is available to Ciaran and I (due to only having one vaccination completed at the moment) we made plans to go for an outdoor dinner with friends on Saturday night. A night on the terrace of Fitzwilliam Tennis Club was planned and it turned out to be a great night with a bit of rain that didn't bother us because the terrace has large awnings. There are also heaters under the awnings and it was a mild night along with all of us wearing layers so we were all comfortable and had an enjoyable night out.

Covid Vaccinations Ireland

Right now Ireland is in a situation where it is flying along with the vaccination programme but we are still under certain restrictions. Restaurants only opened for indoor dining in the last few days after travel starting back on the 19th of July. Digital Covid Certificates are needed for access to the inside of restaurants and they are also being utilised for travel. With vaccinations available for all in Ireland over the age of 16 (12-15 yr old vaccinations will be starting soon)

, I am half way to being fully vaccinated with my next Pfizer jab due in two weeks. So it's all good!

Here's a few pics from the past few weeks for you to enjoy.

My vaccination card - I'm a member of Team Pfizer! 

PIGSY exhibition starts on 2nd of September in Kenmare Butter Market Contemporary Art Venue in County Kerry

Visiting Kenmare - what an incredibly picturesque part of Ireland 

Living in the Liberties in Dublin City - life is good

PIGSY's new Art Studio in Dublin - contact him to visit

Seafood Tower enjoyed by us last night in Fitzwilliam Tennis Club

Junio - a month of sea swimming

June has come in fast!

For this month we are making like tourists in the city of Malaga so the plan is to go swimming in the sea everyday and to partake in regular tapas, wine and cerveza sessions! 

We've also visited a few restaurants that we had been eying up and have made reservations for a few more for the end of the month.

Surprisingly we have also visited with friends in their homes with people beginning to relax over covid - many of them have also begun to get their vaccines of which we will get ours back in Ireland. It's felt so normal going to people's homes with a drinks socialiser two weeks ago and dinner on a terrace on Saturday night and now an invite to an art collector's home on Tuesday night (he has bought some PIGSY pieces).

Here's a few pics of some of the things we have done and the tapas we have partaken in.

Normally we try and go to the beach first thing in the morning and then go for a coffee at the Marina afterwards. But if we go later in the day, we bring a cool bag and enjoy a cold Coca Cola Zero and Beer afterwards.

Bones loves life here in Malaga and always enjoys hanging out in bars with us. He is generally content enough to let me have a glass of wine and Ciaran to have a glass or two of beer before he gets bored and barks at us to go.

Above is food from a nice little spot at the side of the market. It was somewhere that I had wanted to try for awhile and I was glad I visited before we left the city.

La Compana was Ciaran's choice and I really liked it!! Very traditional, great atmosphere and fantastic food. I hope we go back there!

It's about 100 meters from our apartment on Calle Granada.

Here's a funny story about something that happened us when we visited with friends for drinks. We knew the host from our recent language course and were introduced to his wife on arrival to his home. When I was chatting about where we lived she revealed that she had lived in the same building two floor below us. This was quite coincidental as there are only 7 apartments in our block. It got more strange when we discovered that another guest at the socialiser had lived in our actual apartment a few years ago......and she was Irish too!  Small world - it sure gave us all a laugh. What are the chances?!

Celebration Ice Cream - Casa Mira

Casa Mira has been serving ice cream (helado!) in Malaga since the late 1800's. We went there to celebrate PIGSY selling a sculpture about 2/3 weeks ago - but have since returned a few times as he sold two more painting since then! One of the paintings is now in Torremolinos and another is on its way to Dublin. The art life is seriously exciting! 

Summer!

Summer is here in Malaga!  It is hot hot hot!!

Bones got his Summer hair cut and he is feeling much more comfortable. Of course, he does his usual silly thing of heading out to the hottest spot on the balcony and then overheats and has to go inside and sit in the bathroom to cool down. He won't be told to stay inside......

Hedgehog!!

Bones gets groomed in his vets. When I went to collect him the vet showed me this little thing that had just been dropped off. Only 2 weeks old, she was feeding it little nibbles of maybe cat treats or Guinea Pig food and he was loving. Munching away on snacks between drinks of water and living his best life!

The vet said she would give him a little flea treatment and then let him go out in the wild. A great thing to see!

Different country, same ask.....

Safe cycle paths 

I've written in the past about cycle protests that I've attended in Dublin where the ask was for safe protected cycle lanes.

Here in Malaga, the local council introduced fines for cycling in the city streets in certain pedestrianised areas but did nothing to provide safe cycle lanes in replacement. This in effect means that they expect families with young children to drive on busy roads with fast traffic and it also means that delivery cyclists and couriers are receiving fines for just doing their jobs. Many delivery cyclists load up their bullit style bikes with large loads of packages for deliveries - they would be unable to push their bikes with the loads that they carry. Personally, I think this was a big mistake on the city's part and after all the years of seeing increases in cycling and a reduction in car usage, this fine system will reverse all of this positivity.

Yesterday there was a protest cycle to call for safe cycling infrastructure, so Ciaran and I enjoyed the other 2,500 people who got out to call for this.

Here's a few pics from the event - and you can also see more here on Facebook.