Being snowed in can have it’s advantages. After doing the laundry and cleaning the living room, I will no try to summarise the year 2009 on the Dublin Community Blog.

Gloomy January showed us that the recession is in full swing, as Dublin indie institution Road Records was forced to close its doors (which thankfully re-opened later due to massive support from many a successfull Irish musician) and Dublin Bus announced massive cutbacks, laying off 200 staff. Add some snow causing massive disruptions to traffic and you had a very bleak start into the new year.

February then brings more positive things: we are awarded the Best Group Blog at the Irish Blog Awards,

and my experiences as a volunteer help me to gain insight on the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.

Positiveness prevails in March, as Ireland wins the 6-Nations-Rugby-Championship. A well deserved boost. And as if to make up for the bad weather in January, St. Patrick’s Day 2009 is sunny and warm.

April then brought us all the full impact of the recession again as the 2009 budget was announced, and Dublin Bus drivers went on strike.

Sunny (almost tropical) May has temperatures of +25 Degrees Celcius, another Docklands Festival, a new bridge over the Liffey, some controversy on the media and last but not least an American expat rejoining the Dublinblog-team.

June sees the World’s best street artists returning to Dublin to battle it out at the annual Street Performance World Championship on Merrion Square.

We also start our regular musical feature for up- and coming Dublin bands and artists, Discovered in Dublin. And our biking-expert Roseanne starts blogging about bikes (amongst other things) on the Dublinblog.

Dubliners are as shocked as people all over the world about Michael Jackson’s untimely demise, so our first post in July is a sad one. Thankfully July also sees us publish Karen’s brilliant A Visitor’s Guide to Dublin to cheer us up and help tourists find their way around town without getting squashed in traffic.

Disaster almost struck in August as the Malahide Rail Bridge collapsed and all commuters to and from the north had to rely on buses for longer than expected. A more positive thing in August was the incredible illumination of Liberty Hall as part of the Playhouse project during the 2009 Dublin Theatre Festival. Very impressive.

After the summer holiday season Dublin town kicked up a gear in September as the Dublin Bike Scheme was introduced, and in our very own Dublinblog-recession-buster we showed that it is possible to get by in Dublin on 15 € a day and still have fun. Given that Twitter is working Also kicking up a gear was the driver of Dublinbus who tried to cross the street before the Luas and failed miserably:

October then was the month of festivals: Darklight X, the Oktoberfest, HWCH, DEAF and the Temple Bar Chocolate Festival showed us that the month definitively needs more days. And Daragh struck up some controversy with his suggestion that Dublin should grow up. Instead of out.

As everywhere around the world, Dublin also had its worries over the Swine Flu epidemic in November. And while RTE reported that more Irish people than ever are planning to emigrate to Australia and Canada, I felt it my duty as citizen to express my love for this dirty old town.

While everyone was preparing for the Christmas holidays in December, we welcomed two new Dublinbloggers and celebrated the fact that it is now possible to reach The Point errr the O2 by Luas. And also gave some valuable book-shopping tips for last-minute presents. And ended the year with way more snow than expected.

And there we are with even more snow now in January. And if the country does not come to a complete deadlock next week I think we all will survive this emergency as we survived others in the past. So, from all of us here on the Dublinblog a Happy New Year, with hoping for loads of great things for Dublin town. I’d like to end this post with a quote by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

As part of the upcoming Dublin Theatre Festival , the south and west sides of Liberty Hall are being turned into a giant animation canvas. Members of the public can create animations with sound and music via the Playhouse website. These animations will be broadcast on Liberty Hall during the festival from September 24th until October 11th.

Powering the display are 100,000 low-energy LED lights, installed into 330 windows on the south and west faces of the building. These lights can illuminate each window as a solid colour turning it into a tiny pixel that’s part of a giant display.

The project was born from a series of conversations and connections made in the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin. Originally inspired by the Blinkenlights installation in Berlin, Playhouse raises the technological bar with the ability to produce colour animations.

Photo above and more can be found on the Playhouse Flickr stream here.

What a wonderful idea.

If you are around Temple Bar on Sunday make sure to check out events at Meeting House Square where Dublin’s first Ukulele Festival takes place.

Along with the main Ukulele Hooley gigs, which will cost €15 to attend, there are musical workshops planned for Saturday 15th in the Odessa Club, an Open Mic session that same night in Shebeen Chic restaurant on Georges St.

Further details about the Hooley can be found here.

Green Dragon, the Irish/Chinese entry in the Volvo Round the World Ocean Race will visit Dun Laoghaire tomorrow.

The regatta concludes tomorrow with the homecoming for Green Dragon. The Irish round-the-world yacht will muster off Bulloch harbour at 12.30pm and will be escorted by the lifeboat in to Dún Laoghaire harbour.

I was in Galway for the Ocean Race stopover and the boats are very impressive. Green Dragon finished 5th in the race which is a great achievement.

Further event details on the Dun Laoghaire Regatta website.

Well worth a visit if you are in the Thomas St area. The exhibitions are open to the public from 6th June to 14th June.

Degree and postgraduate Exhibitions are located on the NCAD Campus at 100 Thomas Street, Dublin 8.

Fine Art Postgraduate Exhibitions (MFA and MA) are located at the Digital Hub, James Street, Dublin 8.

The times of opening are: Saturday 10 am – 5 pm Sunday 2 pm – 5 pm Monday to Friday 10 am – 8 pm. Closed Bank Holidays.

Further information on the NCAD website.

Image from Leinster Rugby website.

I was privileged to be present in Murrayfield for Leinsters win yesterday. What a great year for Irish rugby. Long may it continue.

RTE report can be found here.

Image courtesy of Dave Cahill on Leinsterfans.com

Oh it feels good to write that score! It felt better having being at the match and having the pleasure to witness such an extraordinarily unexpected performance from Leinster and Munster. I am hoarse. Roll on Edinburgh on May 23rd.

From the Sunday Times

Leinster came with a plan and also the determination to implement it ruthlessly. First of all, they did what so few teams do against Munster and bullied them in the collision area. They apparently shocked Munster by their line-speed and then piled into the tackle area, causing any number of turnovers, with Rocky Elsom, the destroyer in chief.

They won because they got big performances from players supposedly past it — Malcolm O’Kelly, Chris Whitaker and especially Shane Horgan, who looked like he was enjoying himself again. Isa Nacewa also made light of any doubts over his ability to play full-back with an assured display.

Most of all, though, Leinster did it because they came to play some rugby and not be distracted. Granted a beautiful spring afternoon, when they got themselves into striking position, they broke the habit of the season and actually brought their backs into play. And it worked — three tries, all by the three-quarters. Hallelujah.

Probably one of Leinster Rugbys most important games takes place in Croke Park today – the European Rugby Cup semi-final against Munster. Kick off is at 5.30pm. If you are lucky enough to be going to the game, please wear blue.

Pop over to the Leinster Fans forum and join in the many debates/discussions going on.

I’m lucky enough to be going to Croker.  Whatever the result, it’ll be a pleasure to witness such an event.

Go Leinster!

Image courtesy of AJB on Leinster Fans forum.

It seems like theres a transport strike every second week these days – if its not taxis, its Dublin Bus. Its getting beyond annoying.  The current Dublin Bus strike caused traffic chaos across north Dublin this morning. And there is likely to be further traffic chaos this evening. What I want to know is how 1 employee can cause so much disruption. Note to Dublin Bus drivers, be grateful you have a job!

From RTE:

Commuters are facing further disruption this evening due to unofficial industrial action at Dublin Bus.

Two depots at Clontarf and Harristown have been affected by the action which led to the cancellation of 29 routes this morning.

A number of drivers returned to work this afternoon, however there are still no buses on 23 routes.

Services on a further 14 routes, mostly on the northside of the city, have been curtailed.

Gardaí have advised motorists that all outbound bus lanes in north Dublin will be open to all traffic from 4.30pm until 7pm.

Limited service: 27 – 29a – 31 – 32/b – 37x – 38/a – 38b/c – 39 – 39x – 41 – 41x – 42/a/b – 103 – 130.

Cancelled routes: 4/4a – 13/13a – 17a – 27b – 27x – 31b – 32a – 32x – 33b – 40/a/b/c/d – 42 – 42a – 43 – 53 – 53a – 83 – 102 – 104 – 128 – 140 – 142 – 237 – 238 – 239 – 270.

The dispute follows the suspension of one driver who refused to work a new schedule on the 128 route.

Further information:
Dublin Bus
AA Roadwatch

UPDATE: 29/04/09 at 11:00
Service disruption has escalated to Conyngham Road depot. Further details on services can be found here.