All this good weather seems to have given the city an extra spring in its step – the streets seem even busier in the evenings with people taking advantage of the last of the sun. With the skies staying bright until 8:30 at least, it’s the perfect time of year for enjoying a few drinks outdoors. These are some of my favourite beer gardens in town:

Porterhouse North, Phibsboro
Located beside the Cross Guns bridge on the north side of Phibsboro, the Porterhouse North stocks the same vast range of beers as its sister pub in the city centre (and serves an even bigger range of food). It has a large beer garden at the back of the pub, which is sheltered but still gets the sun.

Dicey Reillys, Harcourt Street
A Dublin staple! Right in the city centre too – which means it’s usually buzzing with people.

Fitzsimons, Temple Bar
Yes, it may be in the centre of thronged Temple Bar, but Fitzsimons’ beer garden has the unique advantage of being on its roof, which means lovely city views. Worth it for a short stop.

The Hole In The Wall, Blackhorse Avenue
Arguably the biggest beer garden in Europe! The Hole In The Wall still carries on a century-old tradition of serving great pints and passing them through – yep, a hole in the wall – to the Phoenix Park. Genius.

What have I missed? Suggestions welcome in the comments…

As a bit of a musical theatre geek and (relatively) recent returnee to Dublin, I’m delighted to see that there are lots of productions being put together around the city. Most are staged by amateur societies but the quality is generally great.

The Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) has a handy guide to productions around the country, with many being staged in Dublin. There are three shows on in the city this month, the first of which – Teachers’ Musical Society’s staging of Little Shop Of Horrors – opens tomorrow night in O’Reilly Hall, Belvedere College. Tickets are €20.30 including booking fee and are available from Ticketoffice.

Following the success of their first event on Grafton Street last month, the folks at Dublin Improv are planning another public “freeze” tomorrow, Saturday March 21st. The venue this time is Dundrum Shopping Centre.

If you’d like to take part, please make your way to the Dundrum or Ballally Luas stops at 2pm sharp tomorrow. A Dublin Improv agent will be on hand to give out further instructions on the freeze, including the exact location (which is being kept under wraps for now to maximise the effect!) The freeze may happen indoors or outdoors so come prepared for either.

And, if you happen to be shopping in Dundrum tomorrow afternoon, keep your eyes peeled for unusual goings on!

The ever-popular Porterhouse microbrewery and bar is currently holding its annual Stout Festival, nicely timed to coincide with the St. Patrick’s festivities. Their city centre bars on Nassau Street and Parliament Street, as well as Porterhouse North in Phibsboro, are all taking part, and full details can be found here.

The various Porterhouses will also be showing the final round of Six Nations matches, which includes England vs Ireland in Twickenham at 3pm. Not a bad way to get the party started!

Well, Catherine mentioned about it come time ago and so…. it happed.

Maybe it was not extremely popular, but people who ‘got frozen’ were visible. And for one ‘freezing performer’ there was one photographer.

Cheers to all brave ones!

This clip has been doing the rounds recently and is proving extremely popular (on YouTube, at least).

If you like what you see, be sure to get down to Grafton Street this coming Saturday afternoon, when the Dublin Improv Movement will be attempting a similar feat on the stretch between Marks & Spencers and Brown Thomas. The fun starts at 4:30pm, and if you’d like to take part yourself, details can be found on this Facebook group. Definitely not one to miss, as a spectator or a participant!

A couple of weeks ago, I joined the L-driver brigade and started driving lessons in Dublin. I’m happy to report that all is well so far, although Dublin traffic seems so much worse when one is actually behind the wheel! I’ve been given some really useful advice and tips, which I thought I would share here for any aspiring Dublin drivers to see.

- It ain’t cheap. Expect to pay in the region of €40 per one hour lesson. Some driving schools offer discounts for blocks of lessons booked in advance, so shop around!

- Even if you own a car, it’s a good idea to take your first few lessons in the driving school’s (dual controlled) car. (This proved especially useful for me as my first lesson was in rush hour traffic!)

- Expect the unexpected, even from day one. My first lesson took me all over the north city centre which panicked me at the time, but from chatting to friends I’ve found that this seems to be a common practice. Some instructors even go so far as tackling O’Connell Street in the first lesson.

- Keep an eye on driving test waiting times. At the moment, there’s a wait of about 15 weeks in Finglas and 21 in Raheny, for example, but these are bound to increase somewhat in advance of the changes in law taking effect on July 1st.

- Find somewhere quiet to practise driving outside of your lesson time. The Dublin Industrial Estate in Finglas and Airside Industrial Estate in Santry were recommended to me as both have lots of quiet roadways, car parks and are generally pretty deserted on weekends.

Happy driving! And for all you fully licensed drivers out there, feel free to add any other useful information in the comments

I’ve just heard that Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy will be in conversation with John Kelly at the Walton Theatre in Trinity College tonight. The interview starts at 7pm and is bound to be entertaining! Admission is free and all are welcome. More details can be found here.

Iarnród Eireann are starting an improvement project on the Kildare line out of Heuston station this weekend, with some cancellations and delays to and from Heuston on Saturday evening and Sunday morning as a result. Full details can be found here – the work is set to continue on selected weekends through to the end of March at least.