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Why Don’t We Do It In The Road ?

December 4, 2006
I’m going to try leaving my car at home and reckon public transport might have something to offer.
Tomorrow I leave the car at home and try to get to and from my office using bus + light rail.
I’ll try it for a week and see how it goes.
This might provide more material for my blog than the last 2 years put together.

Omnibus Takes All Of Us

December 4, 2006
I decided to make some notes because the mind plays tricks. I’ll compare notes with my commute next week when I take the car again. Problem with this method though is that it stacks up lots of small entries to the blog.

Cold and crisp. No rain. Fortunately.

So either the 0720 was seven minutes late or the 0730 was early. You decide! First note: i need a hat. And a new mp3 player.

By 0736 we’re already at Castleknock road. In the car it would have taken 30 more minutes. Already I’m learning that the 0720 bus takes most of the weight and this one (the 0730 i guess by now) is less hectic. I just looked out on the traffic lined up on the m50…

I didn’t realise Auburn Avenue was on this express route. It’s 0748 and we’re on the Navan Road. Undertaking all the cars and whizzing down the bus lane i note that i would only now be getting to the m50 on ramp.

Stoneybatter by 0800. Let’s see how well the city quays here by the Liffey work out.

Trinity College already and it’s only 0811. Tomorrow I’ll try getting off here and walking down to the Luas.

And here i am on the Luas. It’s 0825. The walk through St. Stephen’s Green was nice. It’s not raining though…

0845 and only at Kilmacud. I had hoped the total journey time would be less than 90 minutes because i still have to walk to the office. For the first time this morning I’m having second thoughts about this.

0901 and I’m here…

Running out of the office at 4:30’ish is acceptable and seeing as (even at 9:00am) I was first in the bloody office just let’s see someone try.

And so the return journey begins… Dropped to Luas station by our friendly shuttle-bus driver. I had time to buy a weekly tickets for €24 and started off good at 1633 I’m hoping to get into the city with enough time to get the next express bus home.

Rain ! Dammit.

So the Luas only took 20 minutes to get me into the city. Tomorrow I’ll try a different route to my bus because the stop at St. Stephen’s green was so crowded the first bus at 1712 stopped further down and of course i didn’t see it until it was sailing by. The next 37X arrived at 1733 so there’s hope yet. It means i could stay in the office until 5o’clock and possibly make it home at a civilised hour.

It’s 1807 and I’m on the Navan road. I think we’ve just home through the trickiest part of the journey… Not that I’ve noticed because I’m reading about Celtic festival shenanigans’..

We make Blackhall place by 1753 and i wonder if I’ll have enough books to keep me amused… I have to do something about the mp3 situation because the driver is playing some dreadful easy listening station. I’m relieved that my fellow passengers are all quiet, sober and few in number.

1816 sees me at Auburn Avenue but it could be tricky ahead on Castleknock road. This is one route i wouldn’t take in the car. It looks like it’s a 2 hour journey home but the missed bus earlier didn’t help.

It’s taking too long to get home and only for the fact that i have paid for a week ticket i think I’d be back in the car tomorrow. 1835 and I’m ready for dinner…

A couple of hours later I can reflect on the fact that I had a lot more energy this evening. I even managed to head out to the shopping centre to sort out a hat and a bit of jewellery repair for Val. I wasn’t fit-to-be-tied when I sat down for dinner and am generally feeling less stressed than usual.

Definitely going to have to get an MP3 player though… my iPod is knackered.

Why Don’t We Do It In The Road ?

December 4, 2006
I’m going to try leaving my car at home and reckon public transport might have something to offer.
Tomorrow I leave the car at home and try to get to and from my office using bus + light rail.
I’ll try it for a week and see how it goes.
This might provide more material for my blog than the last 2 years put together.

Put it in a letter . . . what could be better ?

December 2, 2006
Today I’m writing Christmas Cards and sending them to people all over the world.
I can see the point in doing this for our friends around the world but… why am I sending cards to my family on the other side of Dublin? I’ll be seeing them anyhow.
I feel the need to buy a tree and leave it in our living room.
I can’t explain this bizarre behaviour.

 

Art for Arts Sake

November 26, 2006
Given the choice between DVD, TV, Gameboy, Xbox360, PC, Internet and PAINTING !
Guess what won ?

The music feels better with you

November 25, 2006
I received a phone call last week from Ed Youth who came by my studio this afternoon and we mastered a 3 track EP.
An effective but simple song “Librium”.
It’s been a weird day today and we’ve only got 7 minutes left.
My laptop was in limbo today – I really depend on it to do my job – I had started to install Windows Vista yesterday afternoon. The laptop has a hardware problem and although I’ve known about the problem since I was given the machine about 6 or 7 weeks ago I’ve not had a ‘window’ where I could leave it with helpdesk to dismantle.  The “problem” made the installation of a new operating system a true test of my patience.
All is good and I’m finding the latest Windows to be useful, funky and ready to be moulded to my requirements. Well done.
Tomorrow Alison is having her birthday party. It’s a “make up and movie” party with her friends. Oh boy… what happened ? Our little baby is going to have her friends over and they’ll be doing all sorts of pre-teen stuff. What happened to the last 12 years.
A local girl died this evening after a horrific incident last week. She is in the 3rd year in Castleknock Community College. Alison will be going there next year. We almost lost our Ali once. I can’t imagine what her parents are going through. This is very close to home. Too close.
On Sunday we’re going to meet my dad for lunch. It’s been a while. A long while. I have had to travel a long way in the last 5 years before I was able to pick up the phone and speak to him this week. Sometimes you need to have people at arms length. For your own sake.
Right. That’s it. Off to bed.

Talking about Pugwash | THE STORY OF…..”Tinsel and Marzipan”…

November 16, 2006

Quote

Pugwash | THE STORY OF…..”Tinsel and Marzipan”…#cpreview

What fun we had recording the kids.

Thomas and Daragh stopped by this evening with a couple of copies of the CD.

Buy

It

Now (well… December 8th …)

Jagshemash!!!

November 12, 2006
I’ve spent the past week in Seattle. Here for work again.
Usually I don’t’ get out while I’m here on bizziness. Jet lag flying west kills me and I find it difficult to stay awake past 6 or 7 o’clock.
So Monday I arrived and made it to my hotel by 7:30pm. The ‘Cucina Cucina’ restaurant that has been my first port of call for the past 12 years has gone ! It was situated just beside the Hyatt in Bellevue (and another just across from the Marriott in Redmond). The flatbread and cambozola cheese was a reward for several hours tied up in a tin can attached to jet engines.
Replaced with “Joeys” I can say that the food is just the same (corporate).
Tuesday & Wednesday was a blur of meetings, rain, jet lag, shopping to stay awake and being surprised that I didn’t feel too bad so long as I wasn’t tired.
Thursday I got to hang out with my dear (I had to say that) friend Anita and her partner-in-crime Moshe.  How nice to spend time in the company of two fun people. Hi-Fidelity my ass. Moshe loves his music. For all the right reasons. Leaving the Pig & Whistle in a taxi back to my hotel I knew that Friday would be a lot easier for having spent time with these two <cough> fine upstanding citizens.
I took a photo or two but I don’t think Anita wants me to share it with the world. And who am I to argue with her ? A coward.
Friday night I hooked up with my friends Cassi, Adam, Gigi White, Alan White, Genele Boyce, Steve Boyce and two new friends Trevor Rabin and Shelley Rabin.
We went to see The Outline at a club in Seattle. Trevor and Shelley’s son Ryan is the drummer in the band. I really thought they were exciting in a Bloc Party, Razorlight, British-indie-pop-rock-BBC 6Music kind of way.  We hung out after the show and went to an unusual club that basically had a bar and a bunch of pool tables so people could hang out and pass the time. What a blast.
It was great to meet Cassi & Adam again after their brief stay at our place a few weeks ago. Isn’t it a small world ?
Alan & Gigi kindly dropped me back to the hotel and I slept like a baby.
Saturday was spent doing a little shopping – including getting something nice from “Something Silver” for Val’s Christmas gift. Nothing like planning ahead. I found a few fun things for the kids and I’m sure they’ll like them. Me ? I just want to go home now
Steve & Genele met me with their darling girls Haddyn and Hadley. A fine lunch in Bellevue set me up for the next few hours hanging out in the airport (where I’m typing this blog over a beer or three).  I have a little bit of video which I’ll share with the blog when I get back to Dublin.
Right now I still have an hour and a half to kill because my flight is delayed….
then it’s onward to Copenhagen and home to Dublin by 6:00 tomorrow evening.
Here come the photos…
Steve Boyce, Trevor Rabin, Alan White, imadethebbc
imadethebbc, Cassi, Adam,
imadethebbc, Steve Boyce,
Adam, imadethebbc
Genele & Steve Boyce
Shelley Rabin, Genele Boyce

living in the plastic age

November 7, 2006
I had written a witty blog entry yesterday but when I tried to add a photo the Spaces site installed an activeX control. This basically zapped my unsaved entry.
I cannot be arsed to re-write it.
Maybe tonight when I’m bored

Back In The USSA

October 16, 2006
Last week we were lucky enough to have some visitors from Seattle.
Cassi & Adam have been backpacking around Europe since mid-May and are almost on the way home.
Here’s a little clip of them saying “HELLO !” to everyone back home.

 

I think they had a good time.  I know that we really enjoyed having you both stay and you’re welcome to visit again anytime.
(this is the first time I’ve used SoapBox so I’m interested to see how well it works. Now I’ve finally hooked up my video camera to my PC I might do a little more of this)