Sigh. Back to work after a looooonnnng weekend. I’ve lost my vending card and one of the programs I use every day somehow got deleted in my 2-day absence. On the upside, the minestrone soup from the deli is lovely. I am sipping it as I write this.

OK – enough about my boring Tuesday morning, this blog post has to be about aforementioned Long Weekend! In breaking with tradition, I will give this post a title:

Shannon Does Dublin

(I’m glad my name isn’t Debbie or Doris….could result in some disturbing misinterpretations of that title.)

The ABBREVIATED VERSION of my weekend in Dublin:

A little bit of country life, a little bit of night life
Excessive eating of food, excessive viewing of movies
Hockey watching and clothes shopping

The WEE BIT LONGER VERSION of my weekend in Dublin:


Thursday Evening: Arrive in Dublin via Ryanair flight, feeling slightly nauseous due to eating a whole bag of jelly babies while waiting for flight take-off. In absence of reading material I had chosen to spend my time window shopping Vending Boulevard and selectively choosing my sweet of choice. Was greeted at Dublin airport by former flatmate/current friend, Gavin. First impression of new ban on workplace smoking was rather poor, given that two Irish blokes decided to light up on the bus from the airport. Cough, cough. (sidenote: impression vastly improved during rest of trip as was greeted by a breath of freshish air at bar after bar). Played catch up on lives (given the fact that I blog regularly I really had no news to tell, although it should be noted that this did not stop me from rambling on as I tend to do)

Friday Day: My big surprise plan – a trip to Glendalough (which stands for ‘Geln & 2 Lakes). It is about 30 miles outside of Dublin and I’d heard it was a beautiful piece of countryside. Yep..first thing I wanted to do upon landing in Dublin was get out of it J Anywho, turned out to be a beautiful & serene place. Save for the lashing of rain that we got caught in, it was thoroughly enjoyable. I wouldn’t have minded the rain at all, except that it did my hair in completely. Sigh..I am just SO high maintenance! Surprisingly , I am not made of sugar (despite excessive ingestion of cola bottles & other such sugary foods), so I did not melt away in rain.

Friday Evening: A take-it-easy-after-long-day-of-doing-nothing kind of evening. We went for dinner, then watched Shaun of the Dead, which I’d prematurely assumed would be a silly spoof of Dawn of the Dead, but was actually a hilarious, British comedy with original plot line.

Saturday Day: Shopping for clothes. Actually, was more like tagging along with shopper extraordinaire, Gavin. All my preconceived impressions of guys & shopping flew out the window. I was slightly embarrassed and ashamed of my inability to do real girl shopping, but will blame it on my lack of funds and practical approach to shopping for clothes/shoes.

We also visited the cinema and watched Anchorman – The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Hilarious! Almost as good as Dodgeball! Of course, for me, movie viewing was secondary to Pick’N’Mix experience. I’ve yet to com across another movie theatre that rivals the UGC in Dublin for its fantabulous Pick’N’Mix. Who needs popcorn and Nibs, when you have access to bins full of a lovely variety of candies including cola bottles, marshmallow bananas and sour worms??

Satruday Night: Attend leaving do for one of Gavin’s friends. This involves more eating, this time of the Asian persuasion. A Japanese sushi restaurant to be precise. I veered on the side of safety, or so I thought, by ordering a Chicken Curry Thai Style. While it was delicious to the mouth, I really think my stomach was still a bit unhappy with my Saigon Saigon Saigon stunt. Sigh. On the upside, I tried Salmon Sushi (that’s right, raw fish) and quite liked it.

Following on the food, drinks were a must, thus a bar crawl ensued. For me, it ended as a bar fall, but that’s not something we need elaborate on. Apparently my depth perception is further inhibited when there is drink involved. Why must sidewalks and roads be at different heights? Why? Anyway, finished up the bar crawl at The Outback, a v. cool bar similar to the WalkAbout (i.e. Australian themed). They were playing the World Hockey Semi-Finals via CBC. What a sight for this Shanadian – good ol CBC with Ron MacLean and the Air Canada Centre with its Canadian adverts. O Canada, O Dear..I am getting sentimental.

Sunday – A movie marathon, with Outback interlude. Back to the movie theatre – Gavin with his bloody unlimited movie pass, me with my Student Card (bless ISIC and my youthful looks!). Open Water & Supersize Me were the shows of the day. Personally, I preferred Supersize Me – excellent documentary, slightly disturbing. V. grateful I do not consume Fast Food. Ever grateful to Mom for cooking us real meal as kids,, and to QEES for making school lunches that were so unattractive (except Hot Dog Friday) That a bag lunch was always preferred. We ate dinner before Supersize Me..not sure this was the greatest plan, but anywho…

Monday I was on my own, so made my way to the ol workplace (AIB) to visit former co-workers/friends. It is so nice when you see people after a long time and they remark on weight loss. Thank You Sandra! Apparently I’ve lost loads of weight. I suppose I will take that in positive light. I neglected to review my weekend eating at this point in time. Holiday calories don’t count J

I redeemed myself in the area of clothes shopping by picking up some real bargains. In total I spent 16 Euro and got myself 2 pair of trousers and 1 top. One pair of trousers was so cheap the store wouldn’t let me try them on!


That was about the excitement of Monday. I returned home (so strange, but I refer to Edinburgh as home now) last night and am trying to catch up on sleep and recover from eating copious amounts. The next few weeks promise to be just as hectic, with Jen’s parents visiting, then my big sis coming over for 12 days! Woohoo J

On final note: Dublin is much more pleasing to the eye than it was last year, and more enjoyable (at least for me) as a visitor. I didn’t realise I missed the Irish accent until I went back there. So much nicer than the Scottish accent .

Slainte