/travel/cycling/Fuel Efficiency of a Bicycle
A back-of-the-internet calculation: ((18 miles per hour) / (1 224 (kilocalories per hour))) * 29.01 (megajoules per liter) = 385.975974 miles per gallon.
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/travel/ireland/Pizza, Donuts and Iced Tea
So this past weekend, I went to Kilkenny for a comedy festival with Clare and two of her friends. Our bus broke down on the way there, doubling our two-hour ride to four hours, much to the distress of all the Irish people who would normally drive off the edge of their island in that time. We set up camp, and walked back into town.
We went and saw some all-female standup which was mediocre, and then onto a pub/bar. The bar "wasn't my scene," and it was quite crowded and low-ceilinged, so I stepped outside. I went for a little walk up and down the street we were on looking for some food. In the end, I settled on a take-away-only place which had veggie burgers on the menu. They were out, though, so I got a personal plain pizza. There was nowhere to sit, so I stepped outside to eat it. I was vaguely aware that eating pizza on the street was a good way to attract attention, but I didn't have much choice. After about a slice, a rather large, friendly, drunk Irish bloke asked me for a slice. I was bantering with him to avoid giving him any, and his friends showed up. I pointed out that if I gave them each a slice, that'd be nearly half my pizza. Things then turned friendly when they realized I was a "tourist", and there were introductions all around. Now that we were friends, I decided to tear off a slice and give it to them to share. Not a great outcome, but whatever.
Anyway, I finished my pizza, wandered around a bit more, then decided to head back to the bar and see what was going on. I tried to walk into the bar (which was now quite full indeed), and the damn bouncer said runners weren't allowed, so I couldn't go in. I thought this was a bit assinine, especially since I had been in recently, but I hate trying to argue my way into places where I'm apparently unwelcome. So I stepped off to the side and started writing a text message to Clare to let her know what had happened.
Up walked my three new Irish friends, who had seen the whole scene, and started giving the bouncer a hard time, making fun of such a normal bar having silly dresscodes, etc. The bouncer tapped my shoulder, and motioned me in. Karma.
The next day, we went and saw a bunch of shorts. They were truly excellent. One, done in Flash, was about the transit systems in Dublin, and was incredibly sharp and funny. A good weekend, to be sure.
In other news, as Clare and I were walking down the street near city center, there was -- wait for it -- a Tim Horton's!! Now, you know I'm not a frequent user of double exclamation marks, so you can infer how exciting this is. They had a sign on it saying "So fresh it must be Canadian" and a little counter inside serving donuts. No coffee, though, which is kinda funny.
Dublin seems to be a test market for many things, and I'd guess this is another one. I'm going to have to go give them lots of business, so an unfettered supply of donuts can be assured. It's pretty bizarre, though, having a Timmy's here. (Sadly, I had just eaten a giant meal, and so wasn't hungry for a donut. They were out of Crullers and Fritters anyway.)
Finally, in other things-Canada-has-and-Dublin-doesn't news, apparently Nestle is launching Nestea here this summer. This is delightful news, since my beer consumption is...err...rising.
In closing, I'll tell y'all a joke that was delivered by the host as the comedy thing we went to. "How many men does it take to change a lightbulb," she asked, then paused for effect. "One...they're good at that sort of thing."
