The Dublin Community Blog

I’m in St John’s in Canada at the moment and so spent time in 4 airports during the week. Dublin, Heathrow, Montreal and St Johns. By far the longest queues were in Dublin yet the reason for those queues were not capacity, as I’m sure the Dublin Airport Authority and the airlines would claim. The queues were caused by a failure to use facilities that already exist.

First, the worst queue of the day was at the BMI check in desk where people on the 9:05 am flight to London barely made it through check in because the electronic checkin service was rendered useless because the bag drop desk was closed. A BMI representative apologised to us and explained that the company running the bag drop facility was running short staffed because several workers had called in sick. I hope being sick did not ruin their bank holiday weekends as I’m sure missing a flight home may have ruined a persons weekend.

Second the queues at security were as long as I’ve seen yet. At one stage as I watched from the BMI queue the security queue had snaked into the checkin area. Once I got through the queue and into the security area I was surprised to see that they could easily have shortened the wait by simply opening some of the closed xray and metal detectors. One security official told passengers that things were not too bad, saying that during the previous week the queue had reached the carpark outside!

Dublin airport provides a service and just getting stressed people to their planes with a couple of minutes to spare is not enough when the travel experience could be much more relaxing if the facilities already paid for by taxpayers were used. Opening a new terminal in Dublin will not improve the situation if facilities just dont get used.

This October Bank Holiday weekend sees an unusual event take place in the grounds of IMMA at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham:

A series of happenings under the stars in one of the most beautiful settings in the capital city, Some Days Never End is where cutting-edge 21st century musicians and the most thought-provoking contemporary artist of the 20th century come together to play.

Located in three tented structures pitched in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, the home of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Some Days Never End will apply equal weight to both music and art. Given the time of year, these structures will be heated. The third structure will feature the high standard wide ranging food and drink associated with POD Concerts festivals.

Besides the musical performances, Some Days Never End will also pay tribute to Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory, an apt homage to mark the 20th anniversary of the artist’s death.

It all kicks off tomorrow and a full list of performers can be found on the Some Days Never End website.

Congratuations to author Anne Enright on winning the prestigious Man Booker Prize for her book The Gathering. According to media reports, this book had an outside chance of winning, being up against favourites Ian McEwan and Lloyd Jones.

Howard Davies, Chair of the Booker judges describes ‘the Gathering’ as:

“an unflinching look at a grieving family. It’s the bleakness of one woman’s vision, a bleakness rooted in her family, her marriage and the death of her brother.”

Davies said that the winning title was a ‘powerful, uncomfortable and even at times angry book’ but went on to explain that the family epic was a ‘very readable and satisfying novel’.

The author herself describes the book as “the equivalent of a Hollywood weepie”. The prize is a wonderful achievement and I’m looking forward to reading the book.

Further media articles here:
Irish Times
The Guardian
The New York Times

Hey foodies out there, there is a world food festival in Marlay Park this weekend (6, 7 October). Admission to the Festival of World Food 2007 is free. There will be cooking demonstrations along with stands to try various foods from a variety of cultures (including Ireland).  Admission is free and it sounds like it could be fun.  I know of one stand that will be there and they make excellent Mexican food.

Last Wednesday during the deconstruction of the 1916 Sigerson Memorial in Glasnevin Cemetery, workmen found a time capsule buried in in the masonry of the memorial.

Made of indestructible lead, it was found in a stone canopy covering a beautiful sculpture — reminiscent of Michaelangelo’s famous Pieta — by the late nationalist Mrs Dora Sigerson Shorter.

Cylindrical in shape, it measures three and a half inches in width and two feet in length and has lead caps soldered on either end.

(Irish Independent article)

I completely missed hearing this over the weekend and only caught news of it on RTE News last night. I’m surprised it hasn’t been given more publicity, given its been buried for 80 years. According to the news item last night, The National Museum and the OPW are planning to open it this week, however there is no mention of the capsule on either website which is a shame. I think its a very exciting find and hopefully its contents will be published publicly.

What would you put in a 2007 time capsule?

Dublin Theatre Festival is currently taking place in venues around the city. The full programme of events can be found on their website. I’ve heard great reviews of the Druid production Long Day’s Journey. It runs in the Gaiety until Oct 13th. I’m hoping to go along this week.

If you go to a play, please leave a comment with your thoughts.

UPDATE: here are some reviews of “A Long Day’s Journey” from its Galway run:
Sunday Independent – Sep 23rd
Irish Times – Sep 22nd
The Guardian – Sep 21st