The Dublin Community Blog

I have a friend leaving Ireland soon to go back to America to work. I am making her a photo album of Dublin and Ireland to remember her time here. So, this is meant to be an interactive post. When you think of Dublin or Ireland, what do you think of? I want to make sure that I have the “good” pictures.

So far, I have:

pint of Guiness
Grafton Street
O’Connell Street
Ha’Penny Bridge
Avoca shop
Kilkenny shop (she goes there often)
Arnotts (again, she likes to shop there)
The spire
Double Decker Bus
St. Stephan’s Green
Pictures from St. Paddy’s day

What else is a “must have” in a Dublin/Ireland photo album?

And yes it was. I had never seen Take That live before and however un-cool it seemed to my friends, I was determined to see them this time. What a great decision that turned out to be. The show was amazing. We were treated to over two hours of well choreographed, energetic (even Gary!) dance routines, spot-on renditions of their hits and proof that life without Robbie is fairly sweet for Gary, Jason, Mark and Howard. The RDS arena in the sunshine is a perfect venue for a stage show like this and last night it rocked.

Highlights included a Latin remix of “It Only Takes a Minute� where the boys tangoed with a Latin dancer. There was also a superb Beatles medley ending with “Hey Jude�, where the boys sang from a walkway in front of the stage more or less amongst the crowd. “Relight my Fire� had an appearance from Beverly Knight and Lulu who looked and sounded amazing. The opening lines of “Could it be Magic� was sung by Robbie who appeared in a hologram of rain, quite spooky, but impressive. And, as the stage was covered in special effects rain, the crowd joined in singing every word of “Back for Good� which was a special highlight for me. As expected, the encore consisted of one song “Never Forget�, which ended with a spectacular fireworks display. This was the last show of the tour. I hope it won’t be the last tour.

In a word, shagtastic

I donate blood regularly. Since I’m the only member of my family that can and I’m O negative I feel its important. And when you get phonecalls from the IBTS saying “babies need bloodâ€? it kind of focuses the mind!

However, it seems to me that people are just not interested in donating blood any more. None of my work colleagues were interested. Some of them genuinely can’t donate, however, there are quite a few who didn’t want to for one reason or another. The best excuse I got (and I got many) was “I don’t like the idea of someone walking around with my bloodâ€?. I’m still quite amused at that one.

Is it easier to put your hand in your pocket and donate money to charity rather than roll up your sleeve and donate blood to save someones life? Whats the difference?

Diarmaid Gavin, Grainne Seoige and Ryan Tubridy enjoy the MAC gig last night.

Quentin Fottrell and Triona “Party” McCarthy hang out with Pamela Anderson at the party last night.

Pictured at the MAC AIDS FUND VIVA GLAM V bash (l-r) Clodagh Kean, Paddy Bollard and Anette Rocca.

It’s not often that a huge (literally) A-lister comes to Dublin, but when Pamela Anderson rocked up on Thursday she caused mayhem. She was in town as part of her role as a passionate spokesperson for the M·A·C AIDS FUND VIVA GLAM V campaign. Leading figures from the world of fashion and entertainment gathered at No.15 St Stephen’s Green last week, to honour her.

Over 200 guests arrived at Hugh O’Regan’s stylish Georgian townhouse to party with the mega star where they enjoyed delicious Boru Vodka Martinis and Moet champagne with mouth-watering canapés, served by a number of cute male models. There was a veritable scrum when she arrived at the assembled guests tried to get a glimpse of the big star.

Those keen to catch a glimpse of the star included gardener extraordinaire Diarmuid Gavin and the ever glamorous TV star Gráinne Seoige, who was accompanied by her husband and TV3 commentator, Stephen Cullinane. RTE’s Ryan Turbridy came along with agent Noel Kelly, Derek Stenson was there with his pal Darren McBride and singer Brian Kennedy was in great spirits and is busy preparing for the first recording of his new RTE show which takes place this Friday.

Pamela was at Brown Thomas earlier in the day to present a cheque for €20,000 on behalf of the MAC AIDS Fund to Dublin AIDS charity, Open Heart House. The MAC AIDS Fund, which has so far raised $65million worldwide, is the charitable arm of MAC Cosmetics, and appointed model and actress Pamela Anderson as spokesperson for the VIVA GLAM V Lipstick advertising campaign in April 2005. Past MAC VIVA GLAM spokespeople include Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott, Linda Evangelista, Elton John and Mary J Blige. Pamela’s specific platform focuses on the importance of getting tested, getting results and knowing your health status.

With such a high profile visit, MAC’s Global General Manager Peter Lichtenthal flew in from New York to mark the occasion.

David Blake – Knox, the Irish based producer who worked on the BBC’s Ruby Wax series of interviews, met Pammie years ago in LA when she was an actress in Baywatch and enjoyed catching up with her. It was her interview with Ruby that opened everyone’s eyes to her charm and wit.

Fashion designers Louise Kennedy and Joanne Hynes looked as stylish as ever as, as did Caroline Morahan from Off the Rails. CEO Dalton Philips enjoyed the party atmosphere accompanied by his wife Penny. Also enjoying the party was Mrs Margaret Kenny, wife of US Ambassador James Kenny, who came along with her daughters Courtney and Colleen.

Glamour girls Gail Ferguson and Melanie Morris, Annette Rocca, Louise Loughman and TV3’s Maura Derrane all enjoyed the celebrations.

Pamela Anderson arrives at Brown Thomas earlier that day with BT boss Dalton Philips.

I saw something new for Dublin this morning. One of Dublin’s free-sheets, Metro Ireland, is now being handed out by girls (and possibly guys, though I didn’t see any) on Inline Skates (Roller Blades to some!). Not only is seeing one of the freesheets being handed out on skates a new and unusual step, but, seeing skates on the streets of Dublin is also very unusual.

As a keen skater for a few years now, it got me thinking, could this be the start of something new for Dublin? I should certainly hope so! I’ve long toyed with the idea of skating in and out of work in Temple Bar from where I leave my car at Clontarf every day, but, know that it would be a major battle with traffic, and the usual collection of scumbags lined up to try and knock you over. I dunno, it’s certainly something I must try out sometime soon. Maybe I should try and set up a City-Skate day with a little help from Dublinblog readers?! At least that way we could get people used to the idea of skates on the streets of Dublin in a group!!

And, what’s the story with skating groups around the city nowadays anyways? I know that a few years back there used to be a gathering on a Sunday morning in Howth, does this still go on? If not, where are skaters congregating nowadays. And no, don’t tell me at the front of the Central Bank, they’re skateboarders, I’m talking Inline and Roller Skaters here!

It’s happened! It’s happened so fast, I hardly realised that it was that time of the year, but, yes, it must be, the sky is grey, the clouds are low, and there’s rain in the air! It must be time for the annual Spanish Armada to dock in town, lead by it’s charge of deafening marchers, armed with their 90 word a minute mouths to deafen us, and a double pronged attack to blind us with their camera flashes, and, as with the rest of the fleet, bright luminous orange, yellow and green backpacks!

Ah yes, but, some have learned, some are now clever enough to dodge this first wave, only to then be caught up by the second front, approaching in a massive cloud of Marlboro smoke, ready to suffocate those not quick enough to move to the other side of the pavement.

Of course, crossing is all in vain, because those of you clever enough to make it to the other side of the street are going to be so pre-occupied watching the antics and the dress-sense of the rear gunners, the pretty, older guys and gals, who walk around with their hands in each others trouser pockets or with jeans so tight they have to be painted on, that you’re going to walk straight into the next oncoming car and be a gonner!

If you’re careful enough, you will spot them advancing from a distance, where you will cleverly dash into the nearest shop door and can take refuge in preparation to answer that eternal question….”Ola, si, eh, which way to the bono house!?”

Kids, be careful out there!

I went down the country for the weekend and took a Bus Eireann bus. Credit where credit is due, the buses all seemed pretty modern and the one I was on was pretty good compared with some of the buses they had a few years ago. Air vents worked, the heating was off (I remember the heating on buses only ever working during hot summer days). The bus was clean and made it to its destination without sounding it was on the verge of breaking down. It also kept to the schedule. Big improvement over the old Bus Eireann. It’s been a while since I traveled by Bus Eireann and it had been the first time I was in Busaras since they seem to have finished the redevelopment of the station and that I have to say I am quite disappointed with.

They have been redeveloping the station for a couple of years and apart from building a couple of shop cabins, moving the notice board, and polishing some surfaces they have not done much to improve the experience for travelers. The restaurant is still expensive, the shops may look better but their only real improvement is the ability to stock extra magazines and the noticeboard just moved from one wall to another.

In fact they have made things more uncomfortable for travelers in the station by removing the majority of seats and forcing people waiting to stand around. Maybe they plan on replacing the old seats but why remove the old ones in advance of installing the new ones? Downstairs the toilets were redone a couple of years ago and turnstiles installed. The toilets on Saturday were disgusting. The turnstiles were open and some homeless were washing at the sinks but they weren’t causing any problems. In one of the cubicles it sounded like someone was beating and kicking the walls, and the general cleanliness was very poor. I would not like to send tourists or anyone else into them. Banks of lockers were out of order and the alarm on one set seemed to be going off. A security guard walked out of a door just ahead of me, looked in the direction of the alarm and then slunk off up the stairs without doing anything, it was obvious he didn’t want the hassle.

Simple things are also missing, like bins at the “gates�. People had left coffee cups and rubbish in a neat pile beside the gate before getting onto their buses. If bins had been provided at each gate instead of one bin in the middle between all the gates then they would have been used instead of casual littering. People dont want to leave the queue as they walk out to the bus. The electronic sign on the gate seemed to just list the final destination with no information about the towns the bus will go through. Tourists were walking around asking people which queue was for their destination. Even if the board scrolled the destinations then people would be a lot less confused.

All in all I think they have done a poor job, adding a bit of shine to the surface but leaving important things unfixed. If you are visiting Dublin and want to travel by public transport outside the city take the train if possible.

Dublin opened their Croke Park account this afternoon by dealing out a jolly good thrashing to Mick O’Dwyers poor Laois side. The SUUUUPER Dubs ran in 3-17 to Laois’ 0-12, with Mossie Quinn bagging 2-03 goals and Conal Keaney picking up 6 points. Dublin welcomed back MAN OF THE MATCH Ray Cosgrove who picked up 1-03 and gave Paul “Pillar” Caffrey an excellent reason to start him in the Leinster Final against Offaly/Wexford.

From a personal point of view, yours truly was present among the majority of Laois supporters as I refused to accept Ticketmasters suggested “BEST AVAILABLE” tickets which were in fact, the worst seats in the stadium. Therefore, I bought my tickets directly from the Leinster Branch’s Headquarters in Portlaoise which of course meant most people around me would be Laois fans. Little did I care however as I made myself heard among the section of Laois fans who were quite loud and rude when Laois went 1 point up (That’s the most they ever lead Dublin by). Of course, when Dublin walked away with a 14 point lead, I was the only one left singing.

On a side note, I got my inspiration for this title when I was leaving Croke Park, I heard some father say to his child … “Where did we bleedin’ send em’?” to which the kid replied “Back ta bleedin’ SUPERMACS”

Roll on the Leinster final, whoever the challengers may be!

I went along to the Gay Pride parade yesterday and the craic was mighty. So seeing as how I have been a bad contributor here over the last week I thought I post some pics, there’s more on Flickr with more to come in the next couple of days.

Coverage on the day can be seen here on RTE.

I walked through Temple Bar Tuesday and saw a tall fence up where the Saturdary market usually is. The fence was blocking the entrance to the square. Yesterday as I walked past on my way from getting my hair cut, I saw these two things.

I am guessing that the fence and banner are preparations for the Taste of Dublin. However, the banner says free event. The taste is certainly not free. Also, does this mean that the Saturday market will be cancelled? I go there every week. I like my market fix.

If this isn’t related to the festival, and the event is indeed free, why do they need a high fence blocking entrance? Why do you need tickets? Andy why would you want to queue?

Ok, one more thing. Why does the banner say that Temple Bar is the Cultural Quarter? Now, this is certainly not true. It is the tourist quarter. It may be the restaurant quarter. It may be the drinking quarter, but cultural? Well, I guess it could be the cultural quarter if you count tourism and drinking and eating as the highlights of Irish culture. I don’t think that there are any museums in Temple Bar. The intersting churches are outside of Temple Bar. The castle is outside of Temple Bar. The good shopping is outside of Temple Bar.