Sunday Morning Walk in Dublin

This morning we walked down to Mutt Ugly on Charlemont Street to book Bones in for a groom. It was a fairly cold morning but we made it home before it rained.

On Dartmouth Lane I saw this garage that still fixes cars but presumably stopped selling petrol a while back!

Dartmouth Lane leads out on to Dartmouth Square which is a beautiful little park surrounded by lots of graceful Victorian Redbrick houses. Click here to read the controversy that dogged the park a few years ago. I'd say the residents of the area are all glad that the park is now in the hands of Dublin City Council, Bones certainly is as he enjoys the amenities of the park regularly when he goes walking in the area!

On Friday I was in the Swan Centre and I popped in to Dubray Books for a browse. I did not plan on buying a book but I saw an interesting display of books from Apollo Classics billed as "The best books you've never read". 

I picked out "The man who loved children" by Christina Stead because I liked the Norman Rockwell picture on the cover. When I read the back I thought that it could be a good holiday read. I checked my library to see if they had a copy of it but they didn't so I bought it.....and I got a free Apollo Cloth bag too!

"The man who loved children" was originally published in 1940 but came to critical acclaim only when it was republished in 1965. Many think that it is an American novel but it was actually written and set in Australia originally.  Stead's publisher made her convert it to America for the American market.  It sounds fascinating!

I look forward to reading it and shall bring it with me on holidays to Florida next month. It's a fairly large tome I may be reading it for awhile!

What I'm reading/watching....

What I'm reading..

As well as being in the middle of "Rabbit at Rest" (a great American read) by John Updike, I borrowed this little book from the Library.

 It's a memoir called "But you did not come back" by Holocaust survivor Marceline Loridan-Ivens. On the front of the book Le Parisen is quoted as saying it is "One of the most beautiful books of the year....you will read it one sitting". Never a truer word was spoken.  It is a beautiful books and I read it in less than an hour (I did say it was very small!)

I found it unputdownable and I highly recommend you read this International bestseller.

What I'm watching....

I binge watched "Flaked" on Netflix (after the 4th season of House of Cards) and am now so sad because (1) I have nothing to watch now and (2) I also want to know where the story will go in Flaked and what will happen with Chip as he lives the hipster live in Hipsterville (otherwise known as Venice Beach!)

Starring Will Arnett as the main character it also stars Irish actress Ruth Kearney who looks like an upcoming star to me!

If you watch this show, do let me know what you think of it......

Blast from the Past

So this turned up on my Facebook feed after being tagged by someone I went to school with.


It's a video of the Glens entry for "Pride of the Parish" from 1987.







You may recognize two little girls at about 1.25 mins.  Or should I say "big girls".......what were we doing in a group with all the BABIES??!!

Stillorgan Sunday

We needed to take the Smart Car for it's NCT test today at 12pm. We set off fairly early and were able to stop for coffee on the way. We were going to go to McDonalds in the Stillorgan Shopping Centre until I googled Starbucks and saw that there was one in the vicinity.

Look how cute it is!!

I got my usual coffee

Yes, I'm that person that asks for a "3 Shot Mocha with Half Chocolate, made with Peruvian and Cream, To Go.

It is scary seeing the Smart being tested.  It looks so small and I really dislike when they start shaking it about.

Unfortunately it failed on emissions - I knew it wouldn't go through smoothly. It's due a service anyway so the emissions can be done then and it can be retested afterwards.

When we got home it was time for a brunch of Clonakilty Black Pudding with Poached Eggs.

In Irish Passport news, there seems to be a big rush on Irish Passports due to fears of Brexit. Click here to read further info.
I will be contacting the Passport Office in 10 days to expedite my application if I haven't received my passport by then.

Passport Application

This morning was certainly busy! 

After discovering yesterday I needed a new passport, I set about applying for one. 

I filled in a Passport Application form and took it to my local Garda Station to get it signed.

Before calling to the Police Station, I went to the Swan Centre to use a passport photo machine.

I prefer to use a photo machine rather than getting photos done in the chemist.

These were the first photos that I took and I was happy with them so immediately printed them and set off to the Garda Station.

My form and photo were stamped and signed promptly in the station by a friendly Guard.

And then it was off to the Post Office to send my application off via the Passport Express Service.  

Passport Express is the best way to apply they aim to get your passport returned to you in 10 days.  Fingers crossed there are no delays and my new passport is in my hands very soon!!

Holiday Prep - Passport Woes

So all was going well with my holiday prep which basically consisted of applying lotion to keep my legs moisturized in anticipation of a tan!

Fortunately, as I was browsing Facebook, this popped up on my feed....

It was a notification from the US Embassy in Dublin that from the 1st of April you must have an electronic passport in order to travel to the USA on the Visa Waiver Scheme (which most people from Ireland use when travelling on holidays to the States).

The directive advised that there would be an icon (see above) on the front of your passport if it was suitable to use.

When I got home, I immediately checked my passport. Bad news.

This is my passport on the left. The one with no icon on the bottom.

So this means I need to apply for a new passport and send it in by passport express and hopefully get it back in time for my holidays in 30 days!!  Eeek!

I will also need to apply for a new ESTA Visa Waiver even though my current one is in date - an ESTA can not be transferred from one passport to another.

Easter Monday in Dublin City - Celebrating the Rising

Our bank holiday here started out with a Tabata Workout that Ciaran had done up for me in order to get somewhat in shape for Key West. I had to search for my runners......they hadn't seen the light of day for some time :-( 

I skipped for the warm up which was tough and let's say it got me very warm!!

But all in all I felt good getting the workout in and am going to stick with it until my holiday in Florida.

After breakfast, we walked in to town to see all the 1916 Celebrations. We went through Stephens Green where there was lots going on and was very busy. We then made our way down to the GPO on O'Connell Street. I posed for a pic beside this letter box which has been painted red to promote the opening of a new museum in the General Post Office (GPO). Post boxes in Ireland are green usually (the red would have been painted over as soon as we became a free State) - click here to see my pics in a past blog. 

After taking in all of the atmosphere in the city we dropped the dog home and drove down to Starbucks in Waterloo Road where we read and chilled for a few hours.

Later I cooked a dinner of burgers (no bun for me) with sweet potato wedges which was extremely tasty!