The Rathmines Festival kicked off on the 14th of this month and will pick up again today, finishing late on Sunday night. The festival features a variety of events, workshops, and galleries, all happening along Rathmines Road (Upper and Lower) just south of Grand Canal. Most events are free and those that come with a price tag (like some music performances) never rise above a tenner. Dance, theatre, literature, music, photography, film, sports, history – there really does seem to be something for just about everyone!

For more, including a downloadable schedule, surf over to the festival website at www.RathminesFestival.com. Alternatively, the good folks at Cafe Moda have agreed to allow the use of their coffee shop as the festival club house, so if you happen to be in the area, stop by for brochures, booking, or any other information.

It has been on for a short while, but the Polish Art exhibition at the National Gallery is well worth going to see before it ends on 27th January. The exhibition charts the evolution of Modern Art in Poland in the period 1880-1939. This period is particularly significant in Polish history as both Russia and Germany threatened the country’s very existence by their expansionist views on its territory which ultimately aimed to eradicate Polish culture and language. In the face of these pressures, the Polish people resisted in a positivist fashion, forging themselves a strong sense of national identity, very much visible in the art of the period. In a sense, Poland shares a common cultural history with Ireland, as both forged their own national identities in the face of a hostile other. This, as well as the burgeoning Polish presence in Dublin and Ireland, makes this exhibition poignant as well as relevant.

Moreover, the exhibition is free, and thus accessible to all and sundry. For more details go to www.nationalgallery.ie

RECENTLY myself and The Boyfriend went to Dublin Zoo for the day and I was so impressed with the experience that I thought I’d share it with you here and recommend it for both natives and tourists alike.

First off I will say that for many years I was suspicious of zoos, I did not like the idea of animals being caged into a small compound in drizzly Dublin when they’re used to the scorching heat and space of the Serenghetti. I thought that they must have an awful life and be terribly depressed and suffering. Truth be told, I hadn’t been to Dublin Zoo or indeed any zoo since I was very very young, so I thought I’d go along and see what was what, before I made up my mind.

Currently Dublin Zoo can be divided into about three areas – the main zoo with animals such as tigers, monkeys and sea lions, the African Plains with animals such as giraffes, zebras and hippos and then the part almost on the way out with some restaurants, the petting zoo and the gift shop.

In the first part of the zoo, most of the compounds have literature and signs outside telling you about the animal and the area in which they are housed. You are informed that staff at the zoo have conferred and worked with animal experts in designing larger more comfortable compounds so that no animal suffers or is in any danger. Several of the animals in the zoo are endangered species and would not be alive were it not for zoos and I was even more impressed to learn that other animals are hopefully scheduled for release back into the wild as soon as they are ready.

The sea lions are currently being trained by staff to respond to a red marker on a stick, being rewarded with fish, meaning that if they have to be transferred or have medical assitance it’s easier for them, as they trust their trainers. We were lucky enough to see the sea lions being fed and the trainer in charge mentioned that recently a sea lion was sent to London and in the past she would have had to be sedated or bundled into a crate causing her undue distress, but thanks to the new training technique she simply hopped into her crate when prompted with the red marker and went to London with no difficulties at all, happy as Larry.

In the African Plains (I think about 13 hectares) I was impressed by its sheer vastness and the acres of fields the animals have to run around in. We saw hippos bathing and then being fed, zebras munching lazily while eyeing us, giraffes wandering around in the manner of supermodels with their fantasitc legs and even an unblinking lion, lounging in the sunshine.

Towards the end of the day we headed for the petting zoo (actually I think it’s called the Farm or City Farm) where we saw and petted cows, horses, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs and cats. Some of the animals, such as the cats, have the full run of the zoo and all those we saw seemed to have plenty of room, food and water and responded well to the children and adults cooing at them. Equally as impressive were the large signs all over the place reminding us to wash our hands on the way out, accompanied by several sinks boasting hot water and soap.

Which leads me on to general impressions of the zoo. Overall it is superbly clean and tidy with loads of different plants, trees, flowers and shrubs. There are litter bins and picnic tables at every turn and dotted throughout are toilets (with wheelchair access) which, while basic and functional, are clean with toilet paper, soap and handdryers. There are also a number of cafes and restaurants and even vending machines selling snacks and drinks. You’re also free to bring a packed lunch with you if you’re trying to save some cash, though it’s important to clean up after yourself. We left it too late to get into the gift shop, but I understand there are loads of souvenirs available from posters to stuffed toys to keyrings.

Adult tickets cost 14 euro per person, which you may think is a bit steep, but you can literally spend the day there for that price and when you think that cinema tickets cost about a tenner each, for just two hours maximum, it’s a small price to pay. Children under three go free, and those under 16 pay 9.50 euro. There are various other prices for the unwaged, students and OAPs, all available at www.dublinzoo.ie which also gives you admission times and other information about the zoo, as well as directions.

We spent the entire day there, from about noon til around 5.30pm and really enjoyed ourselves. In addition to the zoo itself, just outside is the magnificant Phoenix Park and the area where the zoo is boasts fantastic scenery, a lake, stream, a playground and gorgeous walkways. So the fun doesn’t have to end when you leave the zoo!

All in all, we had a wonderful day and judging by the amount of couples, families and students there, we weren’t the only ones. In order to be balanced, I did try to find some negative aspects to our visit, as I didn’t want this to come across as a puff piece but in all honesty our experience was entirely positive, as I hope it will be for you. As we went in off-season time, we didn’t have to queue and had plenty of space to view the animals, but I suspect during the summer things get extra busy, so maybe try to get in early if you’re visiting on holidays.

I had inteneded to post some pictures but I recently got a new phone and lost all my pictures on that and a disposable camera I had with me went awol, so my apologies for that. The pic of the lion accompanying this is taken from Dublin Zoo’s website www.dublinzoo.ie where there are many more splendid pictures to browse through.

I hope you all enjoy the zoo as much as I did. I was certainly reassured about how they work and how the animals are looked after and I intend to visit again in the near future. 

I moved to Dublin to have a challenge in my career and try to make a difference here. Today, I realized that I have started to do that. This has been a crazy week. Monday night, another speech therapist and myself met with some parents and explained what speech language therapists do. The parents seemed to really appreciate the talk and gained a better understanding of the field. They didn’t realize that there is a lot to it.

Speech Language therapists work with children (and adults) who have difficulty understanding language (receptive lang.), using grammar forms (expressive language), saying sounds clearly (articulation/phonology), and/or social skills (pragmatic language). Some of us, like myelf, also work with people who have difficulty eating and swallowing food.