The Dublin Community Blog

Almost October, but still time to squeeze in the September-”issue” of Discovered in Dublin. And this time we are featuring a young lady whose hypnotic sounds are quite fitting for the upcoming autumn season – and who likes knitting. Abigail Smith is a singer/songwriter hailing from Dublin, has played the Electric Picnic in 2008 and has recently released her debut album  “Night Time Walking”. And she’s also the sister of Dublinblog’s very own Roseanne.

Without further ado, here’s what Abigail has to say:

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The Dublin City Soul Festival, which was launched in May 2007 was designed as a positive feel-great celebration for the people of Ireland. The festival is committed to promoting Dublin and Ireland as a major tourist destination, in addition to promoting community spirit.

Aside from the growing annual festival event which has attracted over 35,000 people annually, generating an estimated €6 million for the Irish economy they have also established a charity – the ‘Musical Youth Foundation’ (CHY#18624) which aims to provide musical instruments and tuition for underprivileged children.

In 2008, as part of their dedication to promoting positive activity within the local community the Dublin City Soul Festival launched the ‘Dublin Soul Awards’, designed to recognise the tireless work of volunteers and outstanding ‘Dublin Souls’ within the local and wider community.

They presented the inaugural Dublin Soul Award to Brother Kevin Crowley, founder of the Capuchin Day Centre in November 2008. Brother Kevin and his team of volunteers are serving over 500 free meals a day to homeless people in the city and is truly ‘an outstanding Dublin Soul’ and a worthy winner of the first annual Dublin Soul Award.

They are now seeking nominations for 2009…and would welcome any suggestions. If you know someone who regularly and selflessly gives up their time and invests their energy to help others, someone making a real difference to the lives of others within the local community please e-mail chris@dublincitysoulfestival.ie with some basic details and he will be in touch!

I also think that this would be a great opportunity to promote some of Dublin’s ‘good souls’ via the comments section of the blog below. Who knows, we may even do some feature pieces on those that we feel are truly stand-out and worthy of a mention.

Further ‘recession buster’ deals to be taken advantage of in Dundrum these days. The Counter are offering a free Signature Burger to the first 100 people to visit from 12noon tomorrow. That gives you seven options in the ‘Signature Burger’ category. The Counter is located below Hamley’s toy store in Dundrum Town Centre.

Also, Milano are offering two pizzas for just €12 (except on Saturdays) through 4 October. CLICK HERE to fill in a form and receive a voucher to print out and take with you to any one of seven restaurants in Dublin.

Like every year, it’s the International Talk Like a Pirate Day today. And, other than the year before, there actually is a pirate concert in town tonight. To be more precise it’s the Lost Pirates, courtesy of the Dublin Fringe Festival. I’m off to board some enemy vessels now, landlubbers. Avast!

(Photo above by Dublin Blogger Dec)

There has been a crash between the Red Line Luas and a number 16 bus on O’Connell Street in the last half hour. You can get regular updates on Twitter (you don’t need to join to see these updates) and there has been some reporting on RTÉ News. According to the RTÉ website no injuries have been reported. However eye witnesses are reporting via Twitter that a number of ambulances are on the scene.

If you are planning a journey via O’Connel St. or Abbey St. today you would be advised to choose an alternate route. Also be aware that a crash like this will hold traffic up for some time on adjacent routes.

16:09 Further reports from the Irish Times. A number of injuries have been reported. Also hearing a lot of emergency services vehicles here on James St.

17:03 Dublin City Live Traffic Cameras seem to be unavailable to all the ghouls.

18:06 RTE 6 One TV news is reporting that 21 people were injured 3 of them seriously.

18:18: RTE 6 One reports that most people were walking wounded and the others had soft tissue injuries and fractures.

21:18: The Luas and Bus are still in place on O’Connell St. The investigators hope to be able to move them in the next couple of hours and open the street for tomorrow.

The free Mind the Gap Operetta will be running again next Friday night, as will a few other public art exhibitions in conjunction with Fringe Fest. And yes, there will also be plenty of buskers and stag do/hen party folks around next weekend. Can’t guarantee that we’ll see another group of Austin Powers look-a-likes running around (anybody else see Elvis suddenly appear in that video?), but in Temple Bar, you just never know.

Two days on a limited budget and I’m a bit exhausted. But this may well have to do with the fact that I mostly used my legs as means of transport over the weekend. Before I sum it all up, here’s what I did yesterday:

Due to Saturdays experiences I hit Aldi today before getting hungry, and was able to purchase a nice lunch for only 4.36€ – but I’m not big fan of Aldi’s policy to only sell water in 4- or 6-packs. For comparison, in Lidl they have at least some single juices and waters to purchase at the cashier.

My first stop today was the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham, where I was also able to enjoy my budget-lunch in the sun at the formal gardens of the museum. By far not as crowded as St. Stephen’s Green, and there are outdoor artworks on display – most of the time corresponding to the current exhibitions.

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Congratulations to all the participants in the 2009 Liffey Swim. I understand over 200 men and 70 women took part this year. They had a lovely sunny day for it and that brought out the crowds of spectators along the quays and over the bridges. Special praise has to go to the swimmer who while bringing up the rear of the mens race was still gracious enough to joke with the crowd. At the Ha’ Penny bridge some jokers cheering on the swimmers shouted “you’re going the wrong way”. The swimmer looked up seemed to smile and shouted “Oh Really? Thanks!” turned around and started swimming back up the river to the amusement of all present.

I have not been able to find official results yet but from what I can find out the mens race was won by Pat O Driscoll of the Templeogue Club. More photos from the swim can be found on my Flickr account and in the Dublin Blog Flickr Group.

Update: Official results are available on Swim Ireland

Mens Race Winner: Pat O’Driscoll, Templeogue Club

Womens Race Winner: Sorcha Barry, Glenalbyn Masters

Photo right owned by thms.nl (cc)
So you better watch out! Seriously folks: Dublin is about to become a lot more hazardous for all its citizens. The Dublin Bikes scheme rolls out across the city centre at 11am today September 13th. Daragh has all the facts in his previous post. Mind you this morning at 2am as I was ferried home in the “safety” of a taxi there was narry a bike to be seen at the stations so don’t be too disappointed if you roll up today and there are no bikes.

As I have already written here on my love of cycling in Dublin I thought I would share some pearls of wisdom with those of you who are thinking of lepping into a saddle next week when the Dublin Bikes scheme launches.

(Note: Dublinbloggers take no responsibility for injuries sustained as a result of following Roseanne’s advice. You’re a cyclist not a sheep!)

1. If you are planning to use the bikes regularly do pick up some decent raingear. Even though I have “proven” that it rarely rains in Dublin with my longitudinal photographic record of the weather at about 6 of a workday(!) that’s not to say there might not be the odd torrential shower. Don’t be fooled into thinking that a cape is a good idea. They are not. Trousers and a jacket are your best bet. If you can get a jacket that zips from the top and bottom all the better and better again if you can get a jacket that has ventilation zips under or near the armpits.
2. Layers are always a good idea on the bike as it can be shweaty work even within the relatively flat city centre. Sorry to be crude but only thinking of your comfort. I would also advise you to bring a pair of lightweight gloves even in September. Check my little handy out only last week!
3. Tough day ahead or behind you and need to do some thinking? Pick up a bike and do a chunk of your journey on two wheels. Your problems will be thought through by the time you reach your destination. That or at the very least you will forget about them for 20 minutes as you navigate Dublin’s peculiar perils!
4. PAY ATTENTION! While you may be thinking things through you do need to pay attention, especially at junctions. Not so much for yourself but you have to second guess all the other eejits on the road. Seriously you will be amazed by the number people who seem to desire an ignominious end under a two-wheel vehicle by wandering off the footpath and into the cycle lane.
5. I understand the Dublin bikes have bells. The answer to the age old knock, knock joke “Is a bell on a bike really necessary?” is yes indeedy! Use them bells well, my children. A sharp “Get the [bleep] out of my way” is also affective but will upset the zen like state you are reaching in point no 3 above.
6. Do NOT break red lights. Apart from the legal and safey issues you are doing bicyclists no favours. It’s the first thing anti-bikers mention when they are trying to justify their gas-guzzling, air-polluting idiocy. Don’t give them the satisfaction.
7. This is one for the ladies: you can liberate your Loubotin heels once you have mastered the art of cycling! You may not be able to walk in them but it’s far easy to cycle in them. Starting and stopping is trickier, especially on an incline. Thanks again to those dudes who picked me up beside the canal on my way up to Emmet Bridge. However pencil skirts are a no-no so on with the leggings and roll up do sciorta (less creases) and stick em in your backpack. On that subject, a backpack is really the best option on a bike, especially when carrying a laptop, so invest in one you like that has a sophisticated system for keeping your back ventilated.
8. The Dublin Bikes do have a basket which while it may not appeal to the boys, my son regularly asks me “Why does Dad not have a basket? It’s so handy!” and he’s right. Ridiculous, hard-coded and imaginary gender issues aside, baskets are gift but beware of overloading them as the bike will topple as the basket pulls the front wheel to one side. I’m not sure which kind of stand the Dublin Bikes have but ThinkBike in Rathmines fitted my bike with a two sided stand so neither the presence of a child on the back or a heavy basket up front will topple the bike. If the Dublin Bikes have a traditional one-sided stand watch out for this toppling. The other thing to watch out for when you have items in a basket are potholes because as you go over the hole everything leps up in the air and all over the road. Bye-bye iPod etc.
9. Dublin Transport Office have a cycle journey planner which in my experience is to put it bluntly, pure nonsense. Imagine I was a TD (hah!) and I wanted to get from my house in Crumlin to Títhe an Oireachtais for work. I put in my street address as starting point and Kildare st as ending point and the system tells me: “Unable to find a cycle route. Hopefully this walking route will be of use.” I think the reason for this is because there are a number of one-way streets on the route they propose. If only they could add in a social layer, I could indicate the actual route that I take which would then be saved and used to extrapolate for other similar journeys by others. Two nice features that they have added since I last used this is a “CO2 Avoided” widget and a “Calories burned” widget where you can add in your own weight. Nice!
10. My final word is a warning and please take this seriously: Avoid the corner of Stephen’s Green where Earlsfort Tce. and Leeson St. meet. It is a death-trap. I’m mildly tempted to tell everyone to aim for it on the offchance that one of you might be injured. This is pure evil of me, I am aware, but at least it might draw attention to this ridiculous piece of road planning. With the extra publicity of Dublin Bikes the powers that be might actually pay attention. Your sacrifice will be for a greater good. Does that make me sound kind of fanatical?

We’d love to hear about your experiences of using the Dublin Bikes so tell us your tales in the comments below or post your pics to a photo sharing site and add the links below in the comments. I’ll feature my faves in a post in a few weeks time. Happy cycling!