Two double zero seven- The return of Squirrel
A new year, new beginnings, blah blah blah... Aren't you sick of reading blog entries like this!
I'm back in the office after an excellent break in Dublin for the past week. Having dragged my laptop around with me for the past week and not connecting to the internet once (can you believe not a single unsecured wireless connection!) So all intentions of blogging on my trip had to be put on hold, and energies diverted to drinking many pints of the black stuff- ag shame I hear you say!
So myself of two mates flew to Dublin on the 28th, an uneventful trip all of 50mins in the air. Arrived on the other end (obviously), only to realize we had no idea where we were staying except for the name. We had rented an apartment for our stay so not as easy as just asking a cabby to take us to the Hilton. Fortunately the tourist information desk in town pointed us in the right direction and a gut feel got us there eventually. Only whilst enjoying my first pint of Guinness did I remember I had printed out a map showing the location- silly fool!
The apartment was simple and excellently located and 'big up' to my mates for organizing it. Spent the first night in the pub (this statement pretty much tells the story of every evening so just take it as a given) watching a guy belt out Irish music as well as mainstream stuff- he was excellent. There is no smoking in any indoor place in Ireland meaning I had to go out into the cold whenever I had a smoke- this proved to be really easy and made me realize just how often I really needed to smoke (not often). The funny effect of this law is that you realist just how much other people smell in pubs! If it's not the the body odour, it's the farting! Obviously the smoke usually masks the smell because that is all we smelt the whole trip. Either that or Guinness makes people fart more.
We did the obligatory city sightseeing bus tour the next day which gave us our bearings and the bit of background info we needed to appreciate the surroundings. Went to the Guinness Storehouse (aka the most expensive pint of Guinness I'll ever buy), and realized that SAB Miller have copied every aspect of the tour for their tour in Johannesburg. This didn't detract from an all-round interesting experience. That evening - see night 1, and add more beer and dancing (only second best dancer in the club, was pipped by a wannabe white ghetto superstar busting a move every time anything resembling R&B came on) Unfortunately my advances towards the opposite sex yielded no success, and I'm having serious doubts about the whole 'if you dance it - they will come' philosophy. LOL- I love being a dork sometimes.
Serious hangover the next day and so went for a walk around Phoenix Park (not the whole thing-it's quite big) and on the way back walk past the the Dublin Zoo. As we walked past my mate suggested we walk up to the fence as we might get a bit of freebie viewing of lion or something. With a chortle (haha I said chortle), we swaggered up to the fence to see what was going on to be confronted by what looked like an overgrown enclosure. For a couple seconds we pressed our faces against the fence to see if anything appeared. At that instant both my mate and I had a moment of sheer terror, as through the bush came the head of a tiger. Screams of 'Jesus Christ' where simultaneously shouted as we both managed to run about ten feet backwards in half a second, whilst trying not to look completely petrified (which we obviously were!) Once the initial shock wore off the two of us broke out into hysterical laughter as we realized how silly and un-manly we must seem. Two grown men from Africa fleeing from a tiger which had two 14foot fences between it and us.
The next day we went back to the zoo and paid the entrance fee. It was an excellent way to spend the last afternoon of the new year, and despite my initial hesitation of paying money to see animals which would be hiding because of the weather- it ended up being very good and the zoo is designed around the fact that Dublin is plagued by very average weather conditions with most of the enclosures having viewing areas of the heated rooms where the animals retire when it's kak outside.
We began our evening preparations at home with a good meal and I got stuck into half a bottle of Jack Daniels. My one mate and I stayed at home doing the male bonding thing while our other mate went to scout out a spot to ring in the new year. We ended up in an excellent pub just off the main drag which had an Irishman providing the live entertainment, a reasonably priced bar, and a 'club' downstairs for the after countdown disco dancing. Once again my advances towards anything female were unsuccessful, and my conclusion is that it must have been that I was completely out of their league, and it had nothing to do that I must have looked like a complete drunken gimp. LOL!
As expected, new years day was very uneventful and I bonded with the couch and tv.
The day of our departure we headed off into the countryside to a little village called Enniskerry for a bite to eat before rushing back to catch the flight home.
All in all a good break away, and a good party was had. So now I'm back in London looking forward to a rest!
I'm back in the office after an excellent break in Dublin for the past week. Having dragged my laptop around with me for the past week and not connecting to the internet once (can you believe not a single unsecured wireless connection!) So all intentions of blogging on my trip had to be put on hold, and energies diverted to drinking many pints of the black stuff- ag shame I hear you say!
So myself of two mates flew to Dublin on the 28th, an uneventful trip all of 50mins in the air. Arrived on the other end (obviously), only to realize we had no idea where we were staying except for the name. We had rented an apartment for our stay so not as easy as just asking a cabby to take us to the Hilton. Fortunately the tourist information desk in town pointed us in the right direction and a gut feel got us there eventually. Only whilst enjoying my first pint of Guinness did I remember I had printed out a map showing the location- silly fool!
The apartment was simple and excellently located and 'big up' to my mates for organizing it. Spent the first night in the pub (this statement pretty much tells the story of every evening so just take it as a given) watching a guy belt out Irish music as well as mainstream stuff- he was excellent. There is no smoking in any indoor place in Ireland meaning I had to go out into the cold whenever I had a smoke- this proved to be really easy and made me realize just how often I really needed to smoke (not often). The funny effect of this law is that you realist just how much other people smell in pubs! If it's not the the body odour, it's the farting! Obviously the smoke usually masks the smell because that is all we smelt the whole trip. Either that or Guinness makes people fart more.
We did the obligatory city sightseeing bus tour the next day which gave us our bearings and the bit of background info we needed to appreciate the surroundings. Went to the Guinness Storehouse (aka the most expensive pint of Guinness I'll ever buy), and realized that SAB Miller have copied every aspect of the tour for their tour in Johannesburg. This didn't detract from an all-round interesting experience. That evening - see night 1, and add more beer and dancing (only second best dancer in the club, was pipped by a wannabe white ghetto superstar busting a move every time anything resembling R&B came on) Unfortunately my advances towards the opposite sex yielded no success, and I'm having serious doubts about the whole 'if you dance it - they will come' philosophy. LOL- I love being a dork sometimes.
Serious hangover the next day and so went for a walk around Phoenix Park (not the whole thing-it's quite big) and on the way back walk past the the Dublin Zoo. As we walked past my mate suggested we walk up to the fence as we might get a bit of freebie viewing of lion or something. With a chortle (haha I said chortle), we swaggered up to the fence to see what was going on to be confronted by what looked like an overgrown enclosure. For a couple seconds we pressed our faces against the fence to see if anything appeared. At that instant both my mate and I had a moment of sheer terror, as through the bush came the head of a tiger. Screams of 'Jesus Christ' where simultaneously shouted as we both managed to run about ten feet backwards in half a second, whilst trying not to look completely petrified (which we obviously were!) Once the initial shock wore off the two of us broke out into hysterical laughter as we realized how silly and un-manly we must seem. Two grown men from Africa fleeing from a tiger which had two 14foot fences between it and us.
The next day we went back to the zoo and paid the entrance fee. It was an excellent way to spend the last afternoon of the new year, and despite my initial hesitation of paying money to see animals which would be hiding because of the weather- it ended up being very good and the zoo is designed around the fact that Dublin is plagued by very average weather conditions with most of the enclosures having viewing areas of the heated rooms where the animals retire when it's kak outside.
We began our evening preparations at home with a good meal and I got stuck into half a bottle of Jack Daniels. My one mate and I stayed at home doing the male bonding thing while our other mate went to scout out a spot to ring in the new year. We ended up in an excellent pub just off the main drag which had an Irishman providing the live entertainment, a reasonably priced bar, and a 'club' downstairs for the after countdown disco dancing. Once again my advances towards anything female were unsuccessful, and my conclusion is that it must have been that I was completely out of their league, and it had nothing to do that I must have looked like a complete drunken gimp. LOL!
As expected, new years day was very uneventful and I bonded with the couch and tv.
The day of our departure we headed off into the countryside to a little village called Enniskerry for a bite to eat before rushing back to catch the flight home.
All in all a good break away, and a good party was had. So now I'm back in London looking forward to a rest!
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