Wednesday 1/11
9:15am

Castlemaine. Caislean na mainge.

11:03am
DunBeg Fort.                     

Bet Westropp didn't have to pay his £1 to get into this place, at least not to the two tarts in the small office, one reading her Seventeen magazine, the other sewing a patch onto the arse of her jeans.

12:30pm
Reask. The monastic site with the early Celtic standing stone, maybe a grave stone. The Reask Stone. This place could have been designed by Roger Dean, everything's twirly.

1:15pm
Gallarus Oratory.

3:47pm
Tralee.
In the Hob Nob Cafe, down the street a bit is the Flowerpot Cafe, but we had to draw the line somewhere. Driving to Tralee, from Dingle, over the Connor Pass was just the best, totally fog bound, it has spectacular views, apparently, but the fog just rolled in, mossy stone walls on the right, atmosphere extraordinaire, totally gothic. Somewhere along the road was Glenagealt, the madman's glen. It must have been there somewhere. Maybe I wasn't meant to find it.

5:44pm
Ardfert Cathedral

Coming here was more like a pilgrimage. I've cleaned so many bones that came from the cemetery here, feel like I own part of it. The bones will eventually be reburied here, but not in the cathedral. It's closed, but asked some worker there if we could look around anyway, "ask the boss, around the side and doon from the top." So, around, and through the cemetery to the front, ask again, the answers in Irish and the only thing I understand is "yer man" over there. Told 'yer man', that I 'work' for the OPW (yeah, I know, a tenuous connection with the OPW) and we're given a few minutes inside. The windows are bloody enormous, the entire building's being renovated, columns re-blocked, stones cleaned. It's a mess, but an inspiring mess anyway.

And a wander through Temple na Hoe and the Temple ne Griffin, but not a Virgin or a Griffin in sight.

Thursday 2/11
10:00am
St Gobnats. Ballyvourney.
Offerings, at the saint's grave. Rosary beads, pictures of Mary, and an asthma pump.

11.02am

	Miceal Ó Coileán D'eag 22ad luguara, 1922 Michael Collins. Ambushed here. "Good evening Mr Collins"
just the spot for a cuppa and a chocolate biscuit

12:33pm
Mallow. In a coffee shop that looks over the main street. Downstairs is a bakery. Glanced through the new Q magazine, the one with what's left of the Beatles on the front, all looking happy enough, probably knowing that untold millions are about to be deposited into their respective bank accounts. Smashing Pumpkin's "Mellon Collie" gets 4 stars, and Bono's in some kind of chat show with Salman Rushdie and Seamus Heaney.

And the Rakes of Mallow turned out to be a bunch of grotty looking travellers. Nice enough town though, and the chemist is J.Joyce.

2:58pm
Through Castletown Roche, and a plaque on the bridge commemorates the author of 'The Rustic Old Mill By The Bridge', the mill was there, and the bridge was there, but I can't say the tune leapt into my head at all.

6:62pm
New Ross. Mac Murrough Farm Hostel. There's an Irish-English dictionary on the bookshelves. Just what exactly do the Irish mean by gobshite, I wonder. But, In Irish, Australia is 'An Astráil'. The word for shit, 'cac'.

Friday 3/11
9:46am
St Mullins
Sweeney's here, under the well. Jaysus Sweeney, not even your grave is marked. In the packed cemetery over there there's Leinster Kings, and Saints, but you lie unremembered.

11.45am
Through Enniscorthy, saw the windmill on Vinegar Hill, where the Brits slaughtered 18,000 Irish. Through Gorey, boring, through l'jardin d'Irlande to Avoca, to Glendalough.

2:55pm

Powerscourt Waterfall

8:28pm
Leo Burdocks. For some reason, always stammer in Burdocks, have trouble with the word 'haddock'
"with that accent you must be Australian."
"Yes."
"Melbourne ?"
Jaysus, always thought Australian accents were the same all over. Apparently not.
However much I tell my family that Leo Burdocks are the best fish and chips in the Universe, they're not. They're pre-cooked, too fatty and too floury. I'd eat them anytime.

Saturday 4/11
4:00pm

The Old Stand
I think I could get ridiculously fond of this pub, with it's black ceiling and place green walls and the red lamps between the windows, and if this floor's ever been sealed or varnished then it's been well worn away to the bare wood for some time. On the telly, there's a replay of the AFL Grand Final. Geelong will lose.

5:06pm
Still here. Yep, Geelong lost. Jaysus, the got as much of the ball as Carlton, but every time Geelong got it, they lost it, and every time Carlton got it, they goaled.

There's a couple over there, youngish, and they've been shopping, they have bags from Brown Thomas, The Sweater Shop, and they've just had the chips they ordered brought to the table. She's not eating any, "No, no, I'm not really hungry," she says.

5:09pm
Until her bloke goes to the loo. Then she chows down like she's been ravenous for weeks. I'm imagining the conversation when he gets back.
"Where are the chips ?"
"Well, darling, while you were gone, I totally chowed down, stuffed my face, really got stuck into them and didn't leave one, the half a bowl disappeared incredibly quickly, actually."
"You didn't leave any at all, then ?"
"No, dear, I was waiting for you to disappear so I could plough my my through the lot."

6:56pm
Down at the Londis, and with the help of the Security Guy (who always seems to be having a cigarette out the front), and the old woman behind the counter, figured out that Parnell Park is the one near the Grand Canal, off Parnell Road. Dublin vs Wexford, live throughout Russia. Hi, Boris, howyadoin' !

9:28pm
The fat arsonist and his gang have just been removing a cover from the lamppost outside Tailors Court, revealing the wiring inside. Why, I have no idea, just more brainless vandalism I guess.

9:45pm
Somebody has just tried to replace the cover, but gave up the attempt. Must be too complicated if you've just sunk a few pints in Napper.

9:48pm
Been down there myself, took about 10 seconds to get the cover back on. Don't really want the wiring ripped out by some passing bastard tonight. The street sweepers don't work on a Sunday, so the charred body would still be lying there, smouldering, until Monday morning. And there's enough garbage out there already.

Sunday 5/11
8:06am

News. The Israeli Prime Minister has just been assassinated, by a Jewish gunman "acting alone". Apparently shot "on the orders of God". Strange God. And a Presbyterian Minister from County Down is in some kind of gay video importation scandal, while, also in Down, a drugs swoop on a nightclub called Circus Circus, mainly ecstasy. Wonder if they have ecstasy tablets called Stars of the County Down.

10:50am
And three of the lovable rogues who threw the small stick of dynamite at me have just walked down Bride Street. One of them has his hand bandaged. A pity it wasn't his nuts that were blown off.

later
Up to O'Connell Street, taking the lane that comes out in Abbey Street opposite the Oval Bar. There's Christmas trees being craned up to the first floor windows of Clery's. Passing the GPO, and I'm beginning to think that no revolutions are going to happen in there this year, at all. Maybe, though, if the Firecracker Kid and the Fat Arsonist get together ...
Trying to find a map, and check if Parnell Park is really the one near the canal. But everything useful is closed. The Tourist Information Office, Eason's... Back to Grafton Street, and red and yellow stars and green tinsel have been strung across the street.

2:37pm
No, you stupid feckin' eedjits, you feckin' slag behind the counter and you feckin' moron of a security guard. Parnell Park is not near the Dolphins Barn bridge, you brainless fucks. It's on the other side of town, on the Malahide Road, past Mount Temple, behind the Clontarf Golf Course, you stupid-brainless-thick-as-bricks.
Shannon and I have just walked down Patrick Street, South Circular Road, to Clogher Road, bloody miles. Nothing happening at this park, absolutely nowt. Ended up asking some man by the road. He knew exactly where it was, "hurlin' man are ye ?" he asks. Well, I'd like to be, but I think the Gods are against it. As the news today proved, Gods act in strange ways.

I may have to start boycotting the Londis in protest. The stupid dumb fuckheads.

4:41pm
Harrison Galleries, South Great Georges. The pencil drawings that are almost New Realist, like black and white photographs, a stockinged girl on a chaise longue, ballet dancers. The guy 'on duty' wondered if I was Richard Lennon, the artist. No, but if I could draw like that, you could call me anything you wanted.

6:05pm
And, in the hurling match that Shannon and I didn't get to see because of the feckwits at the Londis, Wexford 0:11 defeated Dublin 0:7.

later
Down to the Londis, for matches. I reckon our four hour boycott of the store has been long enough to really make them suffer.

Monday 6/11
8:24am
Bewleys Westmoreland Street
A man with a tattoo of a bluebird between his thumb and finger. Mr Happiness itself, bringing his tray to exactly the table he wanted, the one by the fire. Carefully clearing away the things left by its previous users, setting out his goodies before him, opening and reading his newspaper. Oozing happiness, an obviously contented man. Bid us farewell when we left. There's an photography exhibition somewhere along the quays.

1:58pm
Ended up asking in a corner shop about Moss Street.
"The art centre ?"
"Yep."
Next street up. Found it. Upstairs. Photographs of Belfast 1985-1995. Unionists and Loyalists. A boy with Jonathon on his lambeg drum; orangemen and republicans, RUC, IRA, INLA, SAS, funerals, drunks and banjo players. Kill All Taigs graffiti, the imprint of a plastic bullet on a man's chest, while another lies in a coffin and a 'soldier' in a balaclava and sunglasses stands guard; Gerry Adams, the Peace Wall, Falls Road and Shankill Road, little children playing behind bars.
   Surely there there must have been something of Belfast over the last ten years that wasn't so relentlessly ugly. But, on the way back, considering yet another photographic project, called 'Ugly Dublin'. The chewy on the pavement, the rubbish in the streets, Golden Lane, kids spitting, the cinemas turned into landfill, the SIPTU building, the beggars, the hunry and homeless, the stuff that's been flung into the Liffey, the slag at the Ha'penny Bridge on Saturday mornings ...

2:37pm
St Stephens Mall, Hickeys.
Waiting in the queue for some attention from Stella. Wondering what she really looks like underneath all the make-up that gives her an orange glow, and without the fake eyelashes. Not really tempting at all, more kind of nauseating actually. She's looking through the Butterick's patterns in the low filing cabinet. Nope, not tempting at all. I think she'd have to do a Gerty McDowell at least. Not at all like the little Elaine in Dunne's, who's now a bit of a regular at the end register. Wonder why they put her there? Maybe the mayhem of blokes heroically leaping, salmon-like, over the triple registers from both sides was too much to bear. Why has no Cuchulainn carried her away yet, why has she asked no passing Druid what it's a good time for? Sad, really. Maybe she's not into Druid bonking. Maybe the passing Druids only have time for buying milk (£1.12) and bread (49p.), like me.

4:00pm
read the November 'Top'. Didn't know that one of the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, is one of Courtney Loves' ex-lovers. Billy and Kurt. Same Hole.

6:00pm
News. 'Dunnes Action', trade union proposing strikes. Imagining Elaine, downing register, demanding an end to injustice. Yeah, Elaine, go for it, stamp your little feet.

Tuesday 7/11
11:30am
Museum. Over coffee at morning break, some underwater archaeologists' report was condemned by all. Utterly condemned. Not just the report itself, but whoever this archaeologist may be is, apparently, a total gobshite, a real feckin eedjit, and, the absolute lowest of the low, the ultimate insult which stops every conversation within earshot,, an anglophile. You cannot be called worse.

12:00am
The Westropp's. What the feckin' hell is Brookvale, and whereabouts in Clare is feckin' Clonoon, jaysus, think the old TJW's really fecked up this one.

1:55pm
'Happy Birthday', if it's to a girl, is Breithlá Shona, to a male it's Breithlá Sona.

really late
back from another session at the Auld Dub, nothing particularly memorable, except Donnica playing a brilliant version of The Ace and Deuce of Pipering, and a dozen or so Greek women appearing, two who wanted to be photographed with 'the band'. Well dressed, but absolute dogs. Aren't all Greek women meant to vaguely resemble Maria Pappas ? Not these ones.

Wednesday 8/11
9:20am

Museum
The computer is telling me that everything on 0006 has been edited or deleted. Don't think so, I deleted nowt. You stupid machine, you fooked it.

12:30pm
Hodges Figgis Cafe, with C, reading the paper, the Irish Times. Then down to Past Times, just for a browse, reading a book on the sex lives of the English monarchs. Rampant / gay / both, it seems. Anything normal in there at all? Queen Anne was a lesbian, hopelessly controlled by her maidservants. Pillowbiters by the dozen.

4:18pm
Leaving the Museum, down Molesworth, where some model is standing by the Passport Office railings, wearing this little black number, skinny legs and all exposed to the chill wind. A photographer signals, and she sashays down the footpath. Now, this one definitely wasn't with the Greeks last night.

Grafton Street, the jewellery laneway. The Bosnians and the 'hunry and homeless' having a friendly chat. The homeless inviting the Bosnians back, welcoming them to somewhere, later. Probably home, for dinner.

Through Powerscourt, and some girl opens a door for me. Jaysus, my face must be looking aged. Frail and weak. Don't feel it though, feeling pleased to be in this city again. I'm so joyful I could internally combust.

And somewhere, nine environmentalists have been sentenced to death. And Doriemus won the Melbourne Cup, and Nothin' Leica Dame came second. Whoopie. And Eric Clapton's just been awarded an OBE, services to cocaine, or something. And the first Irish issue of Playboy hits the streets tomorrow, and there's a guy on the radio arguing that it's "morally not right." Typical.

Thursday 9/11
7:09am
News. The ink that OJ Simpson's lawyer uses is mixed with his own DNA so that his signature can never be forged. And, according to some survey, in the last 24 hours, the majority of the Irish haven't had a wash, had sex, or had a drink.

9:25am
Down to HMV, early. Not even the ticket chick is there when I arrive. Why isn't the red carpet our for my arrival, and why do not they herald my arrival with choruses of hallelujah's? Ticket chick finally arrives, I wait in the queue behind some tart who's buying tickets for East 17.
Finally, my turn, but no, they don't have tickets for Andy Irvine at Whelan's, just turn up on the night

10:02am
Museum
Meath County just rang. Asking me questions about the Tara Brooch. I would have been able to answer all their questions I'd known that it dates from the C8th and it was discovered in 1850, and the Ardagh Chalice in 1865.

12:50am
Tirmicbrain? Tirmacbrain? Teerimaclane?
Jaysus, I've spent one and a half hours trying to find this townland. Feck it.

7:20pm
Waiting for the 123 in Lord Edward Street. This must be the time they let the young'uns out of McKinlay House, as they emerged in droves. To Mount Temple for Shannon's midweek gym, better than Saturdays. The bus passes through some really grungy areas, Summerhill, bejaysus, and people think the Liberties is bad.

Friday 10/11
10:51am
Tower Records has finally reopened in Wicklow Street. The folky stuff is upstairs, listened briefly to 'Elvis Ate America' on the Passengers CD.

12:06pm
Christmas trees are appearing all over. In Powerscourt. In Grafton Street there's one that looks as though it'd been made of bent coat hangers. Brown Thomas has covered its windows, undoubtedly getting their apparently legendary Christmas display together, and I don't care how good or bad it it, I'll be saying that it's better than the Myer's display in Melbourne. The covers have an Alice in Wonderland theme.

12.44pm Moore Street. In FX Buckley the Butchers. And C is really giving the poor boyo behind the counter a serve. "I don't know if I can afford to shop here, you don't put prices on anything !" says C. "But we do .." "The mince, the sausages?" " £2.50 a pound" "See what I mean ?" Nearly demanded an encore performance. Then the vegies, wanting five pounds of potatoes, finding the stall where the seller is capable of splitting the 10 pounds for £1 deal, I guess the maths is far too complicated for most of them.

2:28pm
Then up to the Flowing Tide. Nice pub, there's theatrical posters everywhere, even taped to the ceiling, The Shadow of a Gunman, Twelve Angry Men, The Ace and Deuce of Pipering (always thought that was a tune), The Rape of Lucrecia, Ghosts, My Mother Said I Never Should, Too Late For Logic.
There's a rugby match showing on the TV. Llanelli vs Fiji. Llanelli must be Welsh.

a bit later
On the radio, a bomb making factory discovered in Dunamoyne, in Monaghan, complete with 2,000 pounds worth of explosives. Jaysus, you could blow Monaghan itself off the map with that, or you could crumble the Swifts Building next door for a lot less, and I wonder what the Moore Street stalls would be selling it for, by the pound.
And on the radio, for the millionth time, "Fairground", and I'm beginning to really hate Mick Hucknall loving the thought of coming home to me. "Piss off," I'd say. Maybe, the Monaghan people could bomb Mick.

Saturday 11/11
Remembrance Day
More news. Some American group in Ireland is encouraging young people to remain virgins 'til they get married. Please don't. There's enough wankers as it is.

9:22am
Getting ready for todays epic. To the Dublin Mountains, raincoats, hats, bags, cameras, bus tickets...

10:06am
On the 44B bus, after waiting in Hawkins Street, and the young things stagger home in evening dress, she wearing his silver-black bowtie.
Hume Street, Wexford Street, Grand Canal complete with ducks, Madonna House, "Sally Anne, will you marry me," and apparently the answer was yes, Sandford Road, Milltown, Mr Ghandi Indian Tandoori, Fanagans Funeral Home, then the Dundrum shopping centre, Penneys, a Bewleys, Ryans Dundrum House black green and gold, Riverdale, Dun Emer Road, If this was your daughter you'd give her a second chance.

1:15pm
At the Blue Light pub. Drying out in front of the fire, our jeans are steaming away. Been here for nearly an hour. The walk itself, well,couldn't really get into the 'be here now' philosophy at all. Chips!

1:26pm
Followed the map directions in the 'Wicklow Walkers' book for as basically far as it was possible to see. Fog and mist and rain closed in, the narrow track between the burnt and blackened gorse just about all we can see. Reached the masts eventually, but no chance of finding the fairy cairns. Found a road, through a forest, marginally better, while the pockets of my rain coat filling with puddles. Continuing on to the pub, and we still have 40 minutes to wait for the return bus.

"Cold ?" I'm asked, as we're hogging the fire. And I'm thinking that pal, if you think you're going to get anywhere near this fire, you can go and screw yourself.

Still, a nice pub. U2 drink here.

1:45pm
The outside loo of the Blue Light has 'Elvis' scratched onto the wall. Bet it was Larry. Bet he staggered out after three or few pints, and just couldn't resist announcing his devotion to the King..

2:00pm
More logs and coal has just been heaped on the fire.

4:39pm
And, Bejaysus and his Mother and yer man the Holy Ghostie, what a trip back.
Waiting for the bus, outside the pub. In the cold, every minute seeming like an hour. Saw the bus, the 44B, coming the other way, we figure we have to wait 'til he turns around at whatever his terminus happens to be, but no, he slows and signals "get on !", so we do, getting a free ride up to Glencullen.
"Couldn't leave you out there," he says, "you'd all get colds and pneumonia !"
On the way to Glencullen, people get dropped off, not at bus stops, but at the closest points to where they live. Brilliant scenery, at least what we could see of it through the seriously misted up windows. The driver telling us what a brilliant walk it is from Glencullen to Enniskerry, takes about an hour. Not today though.

And fifty minutes later, we're passing the Blue Light again, on the way back. Jaysus, if we'd been waiting that long, we'd have frozen to death.

At Dundrum, we have to change buses. The steering has gone on the 44B. So, it's upstairs on another bus, the one behind, except this one smells seriously of kerosene. Maybe petrol.
Ten minutes later, yet another bus change, "everybody into the bus behind please," This time, it's a Cityswift, which gets us to Harcourt Street, getting off near St Stephens Green.

It's all good fun really.

6:45pm
Tower Records
Liam's telling me I have to listen to the Braveheart soundtrack. It's awesome, totally awesome. And, in the Import Section, there's a heap of Australian Crawl CD's. People here listen to Australian Crawl? Do they down their pints and sing the boys light up, light up, light up .. no, I didn't think so either.

Sunday 12/11
10:42am

Walking. Doing a Sunday Morning Bloom. Golden Lane, the Stephen Streets, King Street, St Stephens Green, the Shelbourne, and yes it's open on Sunday mornings, the rich and famous getting into their breakfasts already. Down Dawson and directing some lost Irish motorist to the Mont Clare Hotel. Hope I was right; turn right at Nassau, a block up, on the left hand side of the corner of Nassau and Merrion, except it's not called Nassau there, it's something else, and on the left side it's not called Merrion either, that's something else too. Anyway, down to Nassau, across, Molly Malone, Westmoreland Street, Trinity, Bewleys, then left at the Quays. Virgin's closed, to Parliament Street, the posterman's not there, cross the Grattan Bridge, up Capel, Secret Obsessions and Utopia, then left near Jervis, and up, Liffey Cottages, the Sunday morning market's beginning, toilet paper, shampoo, macaroni in cans, around and into the quays again, Winding Stairs bookshop, antique dealers entrance by catalogue £5 at the door, Ormonde Centre soon to be having the American Doors Show love her madly and light my fire babe, but no posterman, back to the market, the weather must have dumped a lot of the grunge that's floating in savage masses on the Liffey. Watch the market for a while, yep, he's telling someone, the use-by dates on cans is meaningless as once the sugar's in it'll last for centuries. On the trestle tables they've got Belgian chocolates "two for a pound", right then, outtamyway Paddy. One last look for the posterman, but nope. Up Parliament Street, and back. Coffee and chocolates. maybe the posterman didn't have the Andy Irvine poster anyway, let alone the Shane MacGowan one. Maybe I should try for the PJ Harvey poster too, she has nice tits.

11:23am
On the bus, the 50. First time I've been on a bus that actually goes past the apartment. If I'd been having a cigarette on the balcony I could have said g'day to myself. And damn, just saw an Andy Irvine poster. It's a horrible fluero yellow, but I want it anyway. That damned, elusive, posterman.

11:39am
At the ice-skating rink, Shannon's on the ice, with the light blue hire skates. Found the place easily enough.

1:27pm
Yep, it's finished and she's wet, went for the big slide near the end, when the ice is more like long, thin, cold puddles of water. Still, we get two plates of chips from the cafe upstairs. Served on crockery plates, and not bad at all. Steaming and greasy.

4:13pm
St Michans
Mary Robinson is meant to be at Saint Michans this afternoon, but the place looks locked and bolted, although there's a light on in the gatekeeper's house. Somehow I expected the President's arrival to be heralded with a mass of preparations, like security, and people rushing hither and yon, laying out all the sponge cakes on trestle tables, or blowing up all the balloons in Irish colours. But no, there's absolutely nowt going on here.

"I don't think she's comin'," says Shannon.
Yep, I agree.

Monday 13/11

11:00am
Up past Merrion Square, on the William Wilde side, fantasizing about owning one of those building with the wrought iron verandahs, and imagining sitting up there, with an arsenal of 'foyerworks', as it's correctly pronounced, and dropping them onto the heads of passing boyos, yelling "hey, catch !".

3:09pm
Irish Advertising
and the sweet young thing at the desk has just promised me an Andy Irvine poster, just call back tomorrow. I will then. Then back, passing Adam and Eve's, with the array of religious dolls. Little Jesus' with a red crown, little Jesus' with a bleeding heart, and a load of Mary's, and a Bible Cookbook, and wondering how many ways there are to cook loaves and fishes, maybe thousands, and maybe there's a chapter on catering for a Last Supper.

7:17pm
On the way to Tower Records, there's some kiddie buskers doing their stuff outside the lolly shop in Exchequer Street, while the adult buskers are outside the pub.
Reading some of the magazines, Dirty Linen has an interview with the Roches, bejaysus, Maggie Roche is a spunk, even her shoes are sexy, bet she wears red Doc Martens.

late
Liam's giving my Pogues tape to some chick at Mount Temple.
So, whoever this 'really cool chick' may be, here's what you're getting.

Tuesday 14/11
10:18am
Museum

"Alias 5 cool." and just what the hell does that mean, Mr Westropp ?

1:16pm
and another 20 castles in County Clare just finished. Found the townlands for all of them. What Westropp called Dunlecky was tricky, turned out to be Doonlickey.

5:45pm
Out the front of The Olympia, the huge De Danann poster has 'cancelled' written across it. I cannot express my shock in words alone. Second time those bastards have cancelled on me. I can't believe this. Not just one of the scheduled concerts, but all three.

Wednesday 15/11
3:35pm
A bit of a student demo going on in Molesworth Street, with a tad more life than the Farmers federation demo. Lots of whistle-blowing, and a stage, with a band, who stop every time someone wants to make a speech, and each inaudible declamation greeted with yells, whoops and more en masse whistles. There's jugglers, stiltwalkers, a gorilla-suited idiot, there's students in white plastic coveralls, all demanding an increase in their £42 a week allowance. Jaysus, £42. I live on £20.

7:43pm
Whelans. Upstairs.
Ireland vs Portugal on the big screen.

7:45pm
In Lisbon it's 5 to 9, and the teams are on the ground. The Irish team look beaten already, they look like boyos, the Portugese look like rock stars. The national anthems get played.

8:00pm
it's on ..

8:07pm
no score ..

8:12pm
not yet ...

8:18pm
Nope, still 0-0 ..

8:20pm
Paul McAteer, my hero. Just get a goal, Paulie, now. I want a goal ...

8:27pm
Still nowt all ..

8:30pm
Still nowt ..

8:32pm
Dennis Irwin, yep, he's out of it. On his feet, but .. here comes the mobile stretcher ..

8:34pm
A yellow card for Phil someone ...

8:35pm
They missed ... ha ...

8:41pm
Another Irish injury, I think he's dead. No, he's off the stretcher and back on the ground. An iron man ... SuperPaddy!

8:47pm
Half time, 0-0, and apparently, "everything's going to plan" ... some plan ..

9:01pm
Second half ..

9:06pm
Great Save !!

9:13pm
Another Great Save !!

9:15pm
Shit. A Portugese goal. And the flares are being lit around the stadium ..

9:25pm
Still goal-less. And "the sting" has gone out of the Irish centre, apparently ..

9:31pm
Another Portugese goal, 2-0. The Irish boyos can only chase, and hope, and pray ..

9:34pm
Just one goal, please, just one ...

9:40pm
Close. But not enough. The Irish fans leaving the stadium in droves, apparently.

9:45pm
And, to the commentator, they're "grafting out the end of the game". But not grafting well enough, I reckon, Portugal has just got another one, 3-0.
Please, just one, just one ...

9:50pm
That's it. Didn'ae even get the one goal, I think it's the baggy, hand-me-down shorts. Sad.
That's it fer you Jack - on yer bike then, you loser ...

Thursday 16/11

Museum
12:43pm

An extract from one of Westropp's essays
"To those who wish to follow it on the field, great are the fascination and interest; for the wilderness blossom with flowers and ferns; and the dainty colourings of the rock-ledges and their shadows, the lovely outlooks to distant hills and out on the sea, the ivied cliffs, the spray of the waterfalls, the loneliness, and the strange weird sounds on the uplands, here a vast and lasting charm. No one fully realizes how he loves the strange hills, glens and plateaux till, after absence, he feels the joy of returning to them again, no matter how often this may recur."

T.J. Westropp 'Prehistoric Remains (Forts and Dolmens) in the Corofin Dustrict, Co. Clare.
in Papers by Westropp Vol.4, p.233

- the old romantic! And who said the man didn't have a soul ?

1:01pm
Just found Moyasta Junction, of Davy Spillane fame. It's in Co Clare. One road of the junction leads to Kilkee, the other to Kilrush. Maybe Davy had a few pints there, maybe got laid there, maybe wrote the tune to commemorate the occasion.

4:07pm
"Can you give me 30p. ?" some bloke almost whispered.
"Pardon ?"
"Can you give me 30p. ?"
"No." And walk on, thinking why don't you give me money for a change, why don't you just drop it in my pockets, and why don't you just go and feck yourself.

Up to the Olympia. Nope, De Danann have not rescheduled. Those bastards can go and feck themselves too.

7:23pm
Tower Records, for a free Gavin Friday gig, and there was Gavin Friday, at my feet, singing 'Angel', nearly tempted to buy Shag Tobacco on the strength of that moment. Yeah, je suis l'roi. And Gavin Friday is not only a King, but a Virgin Prune as well, once ...

Friday 17/11
7:11am
Out here, it's -1 degree, predicted top of 8. And the divorce referendum is "on a knife edge", with only 46% intending to vote yes, and 39% no, while a whole bunch is "undecided".

9:15am
On our way up Thomas Street, to IMMA, the modern art gallery.

12.54pm
The Brazen Head. Chips with gravy.

1.03pm
Hmm..made short work of those chips. Should've recorded the event and stuck in the video's at IMMA. Performance Art. Calling for the questioning of the place of art in everyday life, I reckon. So does drinking this Guinness. An art work in itself.
Jaysus, what a wank that was. The best bit was C getting into a serious argumentative discussion with some red-haired boyo, beginning with the opening gambit of "everything here is crap !" Couldn't have said it better myself. It was.
Industrial photographs, thousands of 'em, factory facades, furnaces .. on and on .. the performance artiste who gets off on cutting herself with razor blades, taking drugs meant for the schizophrenic, and exchanging places with some prostitute for the night. Next room, whips made from the long shorn tresses of Korean virgins.
The Nicaraguan photographs were good though, but the souvenir boxes were better.

By a long shot, though, the photograph of the hand crushing the lily was the best, the one used on the cover of the Lament CD.   It's by Nigel Rolfe, and it's one of the 'Blood of the Beast' triptych.

4:52pm
And I got a A for Liam's essay on Parnell, with the comment "This is an excellent piece of work - Unique !". Fair enough, too, although I would have given myself an A+.

5:48pm
The Lost Scrolls of Newgrange. Apparently, Newgrange was built to protect the scrolls of Psorsis, the mathematician astrologer of Atlantis. Yeah, right ...

Saturday 18/11

8:10am Amos'n'Andy's. Parliament Street. Well, kind of. Amos'n'Andy's is the first floor of a building that has The House of Astrology at street level."It's a cold day!" yelled some guy in Temple Bar to some other workmen, "But not as cold as a colder day," came the reply. But not as cold as it was just after seven this morning. Jaysus, it's cold.

Liam's totally determined to score the £10 voucher deal from Amos'n'Andy's. The first ten people in the queue get one. He'd been there ten minutes before I arrived. Huddled in the doorstep. Looking frozen through, like he'd been there all night and was one of the hunry and homeless. Stayed a while. About five minutes.

Down Dame Street, through to Grafton Street, I have to exchange a Nike Jacket that C bought for Shannon. 45 minutes to kill 'til Champion Sports opens. Window shopping, clothes, suits of brown, shoes, Pepe ads, the Brown Thomas window display with the Alice in Wonderland theme, feeling envious of the hookah-smoking caterpillar, and the musical accompaniment to the display is playing, wondering if it plays all night too. There's breakfasters in MacDonalds. Naussau, and up Dawson, but the bookshops are closed. Then into the mall. Just to get warm. A wander. Everything's closed. And, jaysus, it's a 'Lifestyle' where C bought the jacket, not a 'Champion'. Hell. Wait. More browsing. Eventually they open. In, explain. The only other Nike jacket they have in stock is XXL, too big. So, the lovely Fiona rings the other branch. And yep, they've heaps. So, up to Penney's, in O'Connell Street, downstairs. Explain, again. And it's changed, and the Penney's woman unclips the security lead. And out, feeling like The Miracle On O'Connell Street itself.

Down Abbey Street, over the Ha'Penny Bridge, icey, slippery, but the old slag of a beggar is there, rattling her icecream container vigorously, but I'm hoping her arse is frozen stuck to the bridge.
Along the quays, and up Parliament. Liam's not there. Jaysus, maybe he's given up and gone home, maybe rushed to the Meath Street hospital suffering acute hypothermia? But some guy from The House of Astrology appears. I ask if he's seen a boy, about 16 around. Yep, he's upstairs. They took pity on him. So too did the road work crew, who said he could wait in their truck. Negligent parents, obviously.

They've taken pity on Liam, and thawed him out with a cuppa. He's been waiting in the freezing cold for an hour or so, clutching the 'Free CD' token, clipped from the Dublin Event Guide. Some people being allowed in, despite the 'closed' sign. But some blonde tart appears and gives Liam the much-suffered for voucher. Then, upstairs. The others turn out to be the Irish Beatles Fan Club, and they're decorating the shop with Beatles paraphenalia. Taking great pains to position the stuff just right, the black and white poster over the window. newspapers from the day John Lennon was shot; a real live gold disc. Beatles music. We have to wait.

10:10am
The blonde tart takes the voucher, checks that Liam has thawed out, and he's already nabbed the Oasis CD. And I had the second voucher, and bought myself the greatest Planxty CD ever, The Woman I Loved So Well, for 99p.

11:46am
Chapters has gone. The place where I tracked down Mad Sweeney is no more. Gone. Replaced by another sports shop. So many sports shops in Dublin. You could understand it if they were any good at sport. Like soccer.
Liffey Street, buy the Irish Independent and a couple of Lion Bars at the shop near the Hags with the Bags. Ha'penny Bridge. The photographer belting old slag of a beggar is still there. They may have to surgically remove her. Pathetic. Almost as pathetic as the Moore Street 'Bosnian' granny and grand-daughter, sitting on the steps of the Apollo, with palms turned upwards. Anyone with a tan is calling themselves a Bosnian.

Odd how things work out.
"..do not stay in the flat," said a voice in my head, "go to Temple Bar," it continued, "find Claddagh Records, read the notice board .." So, I go, and, yep, up there, the last poster I read, Pierre Bensusan. In Temple Bar. Trying to convince myself it's better than a De Danann gig. Well, maybe not.

a little later
There's three drummers playing in Temple Bar Square, they'd rehearsed, they knew the rhythms, knew what to do when .. again, felt like joining in, if they'd had a spare drum, but, no, they didn't. To the Temple Bar Gallery. An exhibition called 'Entwined Histories', prints. Two images in the same print, both small, connect the two with your own imagination, a maze and a tree, a leg and a cut of meat, others. Interesting, but a little samey. Still, better than anything up at IMMA at the moment.

7:04pm
And there's absolutely no hurling matches on at all tomorrow, not in Dublin anyway. In 'The Independent' there's an article on why Jack Charlton should retire gracefully.

9:23pm
And back from the Cyber Cafe in South Great Georges. Playing on the Internet. Couldn't call it surfing, more like dog-paddling. Finding out stuff like the lists of favourite Irish CD's. Altan in the top two spots, apparently. Penguin Cafe. Alan Stivell. The Cure's site took so long to load I ended up abandoning it.

Sunday 19/11
10:49am
Standing in the middle of Ballybough Road, holding a black flag. There's quite a few thousand extra's here for the funeral scene of Some Mothers Son.

later
There's an assembled throng of black flags, and I'm handed one as we arrived. Take a place in a line across the road. Behind me is someone talking about the other films he's been an extra in. Braveheart, apparently. Someone's yelling instructions, inaudible over the ambulance siren. Yep, 10 minutes, then we're going to do it all again. Walk slowly down Ballybough Road, looking sad. At least I will be, along with all the other 11:00 people. Liam's knicked off to be with the 7:00 people down the front. Jaysus, he's probably in the hearse with Bobby.

12:29pm
Waiting around. Some black flags are leaving. Some kids have put one through a shop window. My thumbs have frozen. O'Neills' Pub, however grotty it looks, looks mighty tempting. There's a billboard up there with the words:
          Freedom
          is beannaithe iad
         Slúd a bhful ocras
         na córa rthu

I have no idea what it means.
Hundreds of flags have disappeared. Still, I've made my contribution to the Irish film industry.

4:29pm
The Cyberplanet Internet Cafe on South Great Georges Street.
Finally got the words to a few hours after this. The best Cure song ever.

6:54pm
Translation time.
          Freedom
          is beannaithe iad
                is blessed/holy      them/they
         Slúd a bhful ocras
                That (?)    it (?)    be/exist       hunger
         na córa rthu
               or (?)   in the throes of death       on/in

10:56pm
Talk back radio. And, once again, the topic is sex. Yer Irish just love talking about it. This time, computer sex, Internet sex. Jaysus, been Internet surfing three times now and nary a peep o' fanny, let alone the stuff that's meant to be on there. The stuff that kids are meant to be able to find "with a couple of clicks". These people must know exactly where to click. I'd better go looking for it tomorrow.

Monday 20/11

7:14am
The Beatles new single, now on the radio, wish they hadn't. maybe it's okay, but it just kind of plods along, it's called Something Like a Bird or something.

7:26am
Now what would have made it really interesting is if there'd been a new Elvis Presley single released today too, "and in this corner ... The King !", and see them battle it out for the 1 and 2 spots on the Top 40. Jaysus, there's new Queen CD's, maybe we'll have new Doors, new Janis Joplin's, but Hendrix has never really gone away anyway.

morning Bewleys. and my film debut has been captured in all its glory by The Irish Times. That's me, down the back, carrying the black flag.

2:10pm
Bruxelles
behind the bar, there's a 'Commitments' golden LP and CD.

7:30pm
Cybernet cafe. An Internet challenge from C.
How much does Australia earn in uranium sales to France ?

8:24pm
Took some finding but the answer's 272 tonnes in 1992. 272 tonnes projected for 1995. Bejaysus, Chirac's bombing of the Pacific meant nothing. We still keep selling Chirac the stuff he wants to nuke us with.

Tuesday 21/11

7:55am
On the News, Princess Di's "bombshell after bombshell - yes, I committed adultery." Confession time for the Royals. Love it when they wash their dirty, wet-spot stained linen in public. And for a country that hasn't been part of the British Empire since the 1920's, and supposedly despises everything English, the Irish certainly do like their Pincess Di. "Lovely girl, just lovely."

9:15am
Museum
The guy whose job it is to keep the entrance leafless really has his work cut for him this morning. Huge autumn leaves everywhere.

9:40am
Cahercommaun is in the Townland of Tullycommon.

10:52am
Glencurraun?

11:31am
It's in Tullycommon too, but it''s actually Glencurran.

12:17pm
Mohernaglasha?

12:26pm
Moher Na Cartan is Mohernaglas, and that's in Knockans Upper.

1:40pm
While Mohernaglasha is Moherneglas, and it's in Slievenaglasha.

2:02pm
Clare Street. Greens, but on the other side, No.6. A woman entered. Wondered if it's been kept as it was when Beckett lived there. A complete rathole.

2:26
Back at the Museum. Outside, though the IFA is marching up and down, while schoolgirls are dancing in Grafton Street.
The other Mark that works here shows me a letter, written to the then Museum Director, an Adolf Meagher, unanswered, as he'd returned to Germany to don the uniform.

4:39pm
Yep, have the Shane MacGowan poster, from my little freckled Colleen at Irish Advertising. Two of 'em, in fact. Sinead Lohan has a Christmas gig at Whelan's on the 23rd of December. Too bad, Sinead, I'm off to see Shane.

6:44pm
The directional sign that indicates that all traffic must turn at Bride Street has been relentless kicked, the kicking continuing until well after it had ceased to work, just mindlessly thumped, thumped, again and again. The kickers are still over there, having just bought lollies from Gary's. They're hanging around on the corner, unable to speak to each other without yelling.
Now, they're leaving, up towards Bull Alley, while Gary has a hand-written notice on his door, something £1, probably today's unsold milk.

Wednesday 22/11
7:15am
And the feckin' French have just exploded their fourth one. Le Bâtards. Wonder if there was any Australian uranium in this one.

last Night's session was at the Oliver St John Gogarty, upstairs. The Auld Dub was closed, as the owner's mother had died. The banjo player from Stockton's Wing, an idiot guitarist, two pipers, a box player, another bodhran, and Tommy also on banjo. Does that make ten? It was surprisingly quiet for ten. A tourist from Sydney, at the end of the night, finally plucks up the courage to speak to me about the bodhran. He reels back when he hears my accent.
"You're not Irish are you?"

12:35pm
Hodges Figgis Cafe.
Nearly got to vote in the Divorce Referendum. Mary suggested I could take the place of her husband, who'll be out of the country, but she balked, later, when I told her I'd actually do it.

2:11pm
Museum
Caherdoonteigusha?
Yep, it's in Murrooghtoolly North, Black head, County Clare.

8:46pm
And if I'd read the flyer about Tower Records £3 off CD's over £10 deal for the 24-26th November, I could've saved a heap. Damn. Feel so stupid. That £3 could have gone a long way; a pint and a half, half of 'Ireland on Three Million Pounds a Day', a seventh of 'Legendary Ireland', a serve of fish'n'chips from Leo Burdocks, three mugs of Bewley's coffee, would've gotten change from the next Cruachain gig at Behans, another Celtic hair-clip for C, could've gotten a hair-up from the Moore Street goddess herself, six cuppas at the National Museum, half a gig at Mother Redcaps, a new block of rosin to replace the one that shattered, fifteen diaries at 15p each, or 6 at the price of this one. Heaps o'stuff. Damn.

9:03pm
The Pope himself has entered the Divorce debate, predictably urging the 'no' vote, and has been told to bugger off.

11:15pm
On the radio, Shane McGowan is singing "Cracklin' Rosie".

Thursday 23/11
7:13am
and Bill Clinton will only be in Ireland for one day. The Kerry and Limerick itineraries have been cancelled. Pathetic.

5:00pm
And according to the new DEG, the tickets for the Odessa/Dervish gig on are sale at the Amnesty International Shop. 48 Fleet Street. And, also according to the DEG, the Pierre Bensusan concert is limited to an audience of 50. If he sings I'll get spat on.

5:20pm
Yep, two tickets for Dervish and Odessa. Liam's coming too.

later
Todays Headline. "Pope Versus Bono". Love it. Could this be the Poper Roper Doper?

Friday 24/11

7:11am
news. Bono has abused Jacques Chirac, at some European Music Awards, "using what can only be described as a vulgarity."

8:12am
Apparently, it went:
"What a show !
What a city!
What a bomb! What a disaster!
What a (insert vulgarity here) you have as President!"

10:25am
The GPO. No revolutions in progress. But we mailed the books we've bought back to Australia, 22 kilos worth, £46. Bejaysus. The GPO Christmas display, elves sawing wood, and the three wise men almost jitterbugging with excitement, Santa replying to letters, a pregnant Mary, an empty crib. Maybe she was just a chubby Mary and some local boyo has stolen the Jesus doll. Deserts and snowflakes. It's kitsch, but a nice kind of kitsch.

2:51pm
The RHA Gallery. Upstairs. Works by Albert Irvin, who doesn't appear to have developed much over the years. A one idea man. Large canvasses, paint applied geometrically with what looks like a 6" house brush, using fleuro colours. C "likes this stuff", I think it's a wank.

later
The Burning Beds exhibition at the Trinity, at the Douglas Hyde Gallery. Road maps painted on children's beds. The journey of life, apparently. This is better. Best, though, where the two body-stockinged people, totally black, apart from lipsticked mouths protruding from a small slit, making kissy noises at everyone that entered. Like kissing machines, kissing robots. My thoughts were on the possible reaction if they got kissed back. They're a little scary, I guess, these anonymous kissers. And they were being videotaped. Performance Art, I guess.

4:00pm
Buying cigarette papers.
"Red, green, or blue ?"
"Green, I think."
15p.

later
The next Gallery. The Design Yard. About a hundred plastic A4 sheets suspended by fishing line from the ceiling. Clever, I suppose. I wonder if the Pope would have been impressed if Michelangelo had decorated the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel this way. I guess some artists use plastic sheets and others use paint. I guess you use whatever talent you have. The next gallery had nothing but an illuminated, but empty, fish bowl. In the tradition of Duchamp maybe.

8:32pm
Outside the Savoy, waiting for Liam.
The celebrities and well-heeled are arriving for the premiere of Goldeneye, the James Bond movie. A line of stretch limos. The crowd ten deep, waiting for a glimpse of Pierce Brosnan. There's one woman, stopping for the photographers, flashflashflash, in a low cut dress. She looked like a dork.

9:28pm
Outside Dr Quirkeys, in O'Connell Street, waiting for 'tirteen' bus, to make sure Daryl catches it home. In the window is the Sega Simulator, unused, although the sign promises that 'people throughout the world' will enjoy it. Maybe somebody, somewhere, actually enjoys the Sega Simulator.

9:50pm
Still here. There's a fight going on, over the road, outside the Burger King. The garda just drove by, ignoring it completely.

10:04pm
Still here.
Meanwhile, over at the Savoy, the crowds are gathering again for a glimpse of the celebs as they emerge from Goldeneye.

10:50pm
Finally, the bloody tirteen bus arrives.

11:54pm
But they won't know the results of the Divorce Referendum until tomorrow, at about 3:00pm. Apparently, 'lashing storms' prevented a lot of the West from voting, and 40% didn't bother voting anyway, such is the concern with protecting the rights of the minority.

Saturday 25/11

9:22am
The counting has begun. Currently it's running at 52% Yes, 48% No. Well, I guess that just about wraps it up the the strangle hold the Catholic Church has over the minds of the Irish. Guess the priests and bishops'll be packing their bags, waving a tearful farewell to their ex-faithful flocks, and buggering off.

3:05pm
You cannot buy treacle in Dublin. Golden Syrup yes, treacle no.

4:01pm
Divorce Referendum. They've been counting all day and they've only managed a quarter. Less than 1% difference, in favour of the Yes vote.

4:05pm
And next Friday, Bill Clinton will be presented with "the freedom of the city" in College Green.

6:00pm
The result is 'imminent', and the difference 'neck and neck'. The No's slightly in front at the moment. 51%, with two Dublin constituents left, both likely Yes victories there.

7:19pm
Newsbreak. Those who want Ireland to become a more tolerant, caring community 50.2%, and those who want it to remain a bigoted, stuck in a boghole closed one 49.8%.

10:00pm

Whelan's

Half-time, between Odessa and Dervish. Fight my way to the bar, "two pints of Guinness." Fight my way back, stairs are slippery, make it.
"Stay cool about it," I tell Liam.
"Do I look eighteen under these lights ?"
Well, not really, but tonight's the night for his first pint, and this is the place.

And, bejaysus, don't the audience just adore Dervish, and don't they just deserve that adoration, with the song 'Maire Mhor' being introduced, with, typically, an explanation, and this time a song "from the times before divorce". To roars of approval.

The songs, Maire Mhor, and the one about being up the rigging again or something, the sean-nos Dear Sweet Dublin in the encore. And the thunderous tunes. At the end, the two dancers. A glass falls from someone else's table and shatters where the dancers are, but they haven't noticed, and I'm madly trying to clear away the broken glass before it gets danced on. One dances on it anyway, but she doesn't notice, and keeps dancing with bloody feet. I guess Dervish does that to you. A band that people would dance on broken glass for. Afterwards, she's picking the tiny shards out of the soles of her feet.

Sunday 26/11
11:11am
And the referendum results was just a tad over 9,000 votes out of 1,600,000 voters. Close, and if the voters out in the West hadn't been hampered getting to the polls by torrential weather, it might have been defeated. Maybe it was God speaking, telling the bigots to stay home.

Down to O'Connell Street. And somebody's souvenired one of the three wrought iron arches from the Ha'penny Bridge, the one on the North side. Maybe souvenired, maybe just been thrown into the Liffey. But, I'm thinking that some rather nice souvenirs would include the Museum sign above the front gate, and maybe the Bewleys fireplace, and most definitely the Henry Street hair-wrapping goddess.

12:52pm The Long Hall. Not many in here, yet. In the corner, a mother, daughter and grandchild in a pusher pram, and a few others down the other end of the bar, and us.

4:14pm
Obscure fact. Dermot MacMurrough arranged to have nuns raped, so they couldn't be nuns anymore. I didn't know that.

5:18pm
Meanwhile, it continues to be foul and rotten outside, equal to the day we finally got possession of the Tailors Court apartment.

9:00pm

Whelans, for Andy Irvine.
At least I didn't have to queue up outside, like normal. Over there, there's a couple on the steps. Oh, to be young and in love. She's rather pretty, and drinks pints.

9:48pm
The support act, Eiglish Moore was crap. Sickly sentimental songs about Innisfree.

much later
Enjoyed the gig, although he didn't play the hurdy-gurdy this time, and his playing seems a bit more restrained, but far more political this time too. James Connolly, Michael Davitt and Woody Guthrie all got a mention. Johnny Moynihan was in the audience, Lintheads and miners, and yep "you fascists bound to lose", and a mention of Planxty after the first song, and quite a lot from the Patrick Street repertoire. Manassas Green Glade. Maybe, when he played in Melbourne back in 1984, it was the whiskey being consumed on stage for 'medicinal purposes only' that led to the monster, berserker versions of the instrumentals. Not this time. Pity, I really enjoyed the Melbourne gig more.

Monday 27/11
3:32pm

Trying to buy a comb. C's decided she needs one. Should be easy enough. But, nope, the pharmacy in Patrick Street doesn't have the right kind, it's suggested that I try a travellers shop. Down to Wicklow Street, the Beaten Track. Nope again. Try Brown Thomas in Grafton Street, nope, they wouldn't have a clue, but try the 'womens accessories', nope, then the barber shop downstairs. Fascinating, but nope. Another chemist, Conynghams. Yep, combs.

6:02pm
Christmas Pudding is being prepared in the kitchen.

Tuesday 28/11
8:25pm

News. Some kind of breakthrough in the peace process, which involves the US administration telling John Major to give Sinn Fein some slack. Yes, John, it's that bloody obvious.

9:07am
Irish Times Office
and without any hassle they hand over the two double passes to some film that's having a pre-screening next Saturday. Liam ripped the 'special offer' from the school newspaper.

9:23am
Grafton Street Bewleys.
It's really belting down outside, so this Bewleys will have to do. Don't really like it all that much, compared to the Westmoreland Street one. Being told to move by someone as we were "in the way". In the way? How could we feckin' be in anybody's way since we're sitting at a table?

9:43am
Museum
"Foul weather," Raghnall says, "God is not pleased with the referendum result." Maybe God is not pleased with the number of No votes, I reckon.

morning break
and Andy couldn't see that the terms of the divorce debate were small fry, that the scope should have been widened to question the role of the Church in State matters. Nope, and apparently I missed the main question, wether divorce is good or bad for society. This can't be serious. Why should the adherents to one religious dogma be allowed to determine what is good or bad? Bigots. That the Church should have no role in the affairs of State is utterly beyond comprehension.
But I'm just a pagan anyway, I guess.

1:02pm
Finished 115 Westropps in one morning. And what was Westropp doing a week after the Easter Rebellion? Taking photographs of St Colman's Cathedral and Round Tower in Cloyne, County Cork.
But, out there, in Molesworth Street, the sheep farmers are getting restless. Whistles, this time, and lots of 'hip hip's' for the Claremen and the Limerickmen and the Corkmen.

Wednesday 29/11
9:17am
Museum

"You must really hate that tree." "I do, I really do," replied the man whose job it is to rake up its fallen leaves every morning. Piles of leaves.

TJW15:73. The first Westropp of the day. Ballygally Castle in Antrim. Which I think was also the name of the castle in The Island Of Nose (a truly wonderful children's book by Jan Marinus Verburg).

9:21am
And while there's a Ballygally in County Down and one in County Galway, County Waterford has a Ballygally itself as well as a Ballygally East and a Ballygally West. But no Ballygally's in County Antrim. Damn.

9:29am
Because it's Ballygalley, with an 'e'. And the Giant's Causeway is in the townland of Aird, and is why isn't the Skerries Windmill in the townland of Skerries ?

2:09pm
Because it's in Townpark, obviously. Jaysus, took nearly all day to find it.

Thursday 30/11
7:28am

News. Bill Clinton's on his way. He'll be in Belfast first, John Major's been telling him how hospitable the Irish are, apparently it's 'second nature' to them. And, over Dublin, there's an 'air blanket' zone. Security has gone berserk, apparently. Wonder if they'll close the pubs, like they did for Reagan. Now there's something to really get up the nose of yer local Dub.

9:15am
Museum
Not much evidence of the security blanket that's been thrown over Dublin's city centre. Unless the guy unwrapping his newly-bought Mars Bar in Stephen Street near Aungier Street was a cunningly disguised semtex expert, or the blue woollen glove dropped outside the Museum on Kildare Street is actually a state of the art surveillance device.

9:21am
Westropp. Mount Venus dolmens (in Woodtown townland), and Glendruid (in Foxrock), and the Walnut Tree in Tallaght. Otherwise, nothing really interesting, except that Inchigoill appeared, but typically, only a few pictures of the structures there, impressive enough, entirely missing the beauty of the place.

7:46pm
"Nollaig Shona", a Happy Christmas, in Irish, wished to me by the Dublin Corporation, and about time I got some acknowledgment. It's not just Bill that's graced your shores this year, Paddy.
O'Connell Street is bedecked with Irish and American flags and bunting. Hey Billy, bend over, so the Irish can kiss yer arse a little easier.