/life/ireland/Wicklow, Cavan, Leitrim
This weekend Clare and I went traveling around Cavan and Leitrim, two counties of Ireland. We went canoeing twice. I've long known that what the Irish call a "canoe" is not what I call a canoe; it's any of a number of canoe- and kayak-like one and two person vessels. A "proper" canoe is, delightfully, referred to as a "Canadian-style" canoe.
The first day's canoeing was on a flat-topped thing with padded seats. You sat with legs straight out in front of you, and used a kayaking paddle. Since you're essentially sitting on top of a closed tapered raft, it's cleverly called a "sit-on-top. It was pretty stable, and sleak and fast, but I found the position incredibly uncomfortable. We were out perhaps two hours, and visited a couple of islands. The lake was cold, so I got to wear a wetsuit for the first time in my life.
We also went to see the Marble Arch caves and took lots of photos there. They had some pretty cool formations.
We crossed the border into County Fermanagh, part of Northern Ireland and thus the UK, and then crossed back to Cavan, back into Fermanagh and back once more, all without documentation. Good thing there's no border controls.
Both of the B&B's we stayed in were taking part in the EU Flower Eco-Label program. There aren't very many in Ireland, but we were glad to know that the same kind of efforts that we make at home were being made when we were traveling. The standards include things like tracking and control of chemicals used, pervasive use of compact fluorescent bulbs, and support of alternative transport. The second one was a lovely restored old home, and was run by a fairly young family. I liked that they didn't make their kids invisible, though they were far from in the way or anything. They had a hot tub — another thing I learned was distinctly Canadian — which we used...I haven't been in a hottob in a long time. The next morning We were loaned bikes for free to take a look around the countryside, and then a real "Canadian style" canoe to go out on the lake. There was a small crannog and we went through some reeds and stuff. Was nice to be out in a real canoe.
We then went and got some pizza for lunch and off to Lough Key Forest Park. Our map showed a nice-looking walk through there. However, there were far more trails on the ground than on our map, so we ended up getting a bit lost. On a tiny island, with a single bridge to access it. We went around twice, before finally understanding how we kept coming across the same bridge.
That park was right on the N4; we basically pulled out and immediately saw signs for Dublin, which was fairly funny given how much we'd been traveling around finding very obscure places in Ireland, and suddenly we saw a sign for home.
All around an excellent Easter weekend. Tonight we went out to Clare's mom's place for dinner, and I saw the house-in-progress that Clare did the architectural design and much of the project management for.
There's also new photos up from Paddy's Day.
New Albums from the Gallery
/life/ireland/Meeting the Neighbours
Yesterday I was just back from a run (actually, I walked a lot of it, and was fairly disappointed at my lack of stamina and hydration -- apparently I'd drunk more than I thought the night before. :-) ) when upon my door there came a knock. Several. More of a bangbangbangbangbangbang, really.
I threw on a shirt, and went to answer it, entering magical movie land. There stood a middle aged woman in a ping bathrobe. Amongst the first things she rambled were "can you fix my shower curtain?" and "he'll kill me if he finds it," and "you've never met me, even after today, okay?" and "I'm a pretty drunk, so I can't put it back together." It was pretty disturbing, she was pretty drunk and seemed fairly worried. The whole situation was not quite "can I borrow a cup of sugar?" but I couldn't do much but go help this desparately drunken lady.
I went up the stairs with her, which she dragged herself, like I remember my grandmother doing -- made thirty years her elder from the booze. She was muttering worried things. When we got to the landing, I asked if it was up further or not. She said "don't worry, he's not home." Well, that's one less thing to worry about. I asked her if she was sure she couldn't fix it herself, selfishly wanting out of the situation. She slurred her way convincingly through the response.
I've met her other, but I'm not sure I've ever seen her before. I fear she might be a shut-in or something. Her husband is a big burly guy, and I don't think I've seen him sober either.
In the end, I clipped the curtain onto the curtainrod and hung it back up all in about 30 seconds, and was unceremoniously ushered out, and reminded that we'd never met.
I've been living here a year, and it's a pretty big apartment block, but the entrance I use is only shared by three flats. I've barely met my neighbours, but that was hardly the way I expected it to happen.
In other news, had a killer couple weeks at work, but very rewarding in the end -- I beat on something until it worked, and built some pretty good working relationships in the process. Getting on well with my new flatmate. Finally about to book flights for a trip home in April. I'm thinking of trying to run a marathon on Hallowe'en weekend, though we're talking about going to India for a few weeks in September as a work + travel gig, which would make it pretty hard to train enough I think. We'll see.
/life/ireland/Dreams and Accidents
I've been running again lately (just three times, but that's enough to call me back on the trolly) -- I fell off with my January trip to California. It's had an immediate impact on my need for sleep; I woke up at 7:50 this morning without any prompting, and had been having the kind of strange memorable dreams that I have on Saturday mornings when I sleep in. (Does everyone get those?)
One of the dreams was about walking around my high school, looking for a course I was supposed to be taking (yes, a high school course.) I remember after graduating highschool (and again after university) I had a lot of dreams that they had realized I needed one more course...it was strange that this popped back into my head now. I think it's 'cause I just got my annual bonus (weird) and money makes me think about success and success makes me think about high school, and the various courses where we talked about such things.
On my way home last night, there was a care poised to pull out. I didn't think he would, since I was fully lit, but he did. No problem, he was being zippy enough that I could go behind him. So I don't slow down much, but then there's a car parked that had been hidden by his nose. There's too much traffic for me to pull around safely, so I clamp on my brakes and do a perfect lateral stop (i.e. my bike ended up sideways) gently into the back of the parked car. Its lights were off, and it was dark and rainy, so I thought no one was in the car. I hadn't done much damage (if any) so I was about to cycle of to chase down the fucker that cut in front of me. At least, I think that was my motive. It certainly wasn't hit-and-running but that's because I didn't really think about it as a hit.
Anyway, out pops this girl, and says "Hey mistah" in a characteristic North Dub accent. "Hello." "About to ride away, were ya?" "No," I lied lamely, obviously poised to cruise off. Anyway, I think she was expecting an Irish person, and was confused by my accent and politness. She took a look where I bumped, and I went on my way while she got back in her car in a huff. I got the sense she felt an opportunity for righteous indignation had gone unfulfilled. I hate it when that happens.
There's a ton of new photos up, from Paris and around Dublin and Canada. They're a bit out of order, but not too bad.
I've found myself a vermicomposter. I'm very excited. I hope it doesn't breach the "no pets" clause in my lease.
Oh right, speaking of new lease, I have a new flatmate. He's from Armagh (a county in the north), and seems to be a pretty sound guy. We both work a lot, and go out a lot, so we don't se much of each other.
Have I seen any good movies lately? Well, better than I expected.
/life/ireland/Economics is dumb.
Teacheth the 10th edition of "Microeconomics, 10th Canadian ed." by McConnell et al:
At a price of $2 for product B, the consumer represented by the data in the table maximizes utility by purchasing four units of product B. The decline in the price of product B to $1 upsets the consumer's initial utility-maximizing equilibrium. The consumer restores equilibrium by purchasing six rather than four units of product B.
I don't really understand how anyone can write that with a straight face. Maybe they didn't.
