belgianwaffle

Ireland

Logistics


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Travel

This came from my father-in-law: “Trust all well: [logistics for getting from Dublin airport to the in-laws’ house at Christmas] have gotten a bit complicated as, on the day, Granny is working and brother/sister-in-law are at a christening, of all things. Granny and I have come up with the following. I go to airport with the Opel, with room for all luggage, Parent A and 3 kiddies securely strapped in rear, In the meanwhile whilst car is heading back to Monkstown, Parent B (sans luggage) takes the Aircoach to a south-side destination (say the Raddisson) where said Parent B will be picked up by me after depositing Parent A and threesome in Monkstown. If this seems workable, all you need to do is decide on who A and B are.”

At present, we are trying to persuade my poor father-in-law that it might be appropriate for us to get a cab.

Comments

worcesterpark

on 06 December 2005 at 15:40

From the sound of it, one cab each would be the best bet. 0

Friar Tuck

on 06 December 2005 at 16:16

Charter a coach. It will impress the hell out of the neighbors.

kristin

(Homepage)

on 06 December 2005 at 16:32

I hate to ask, but are car seats a concern? Good Lord, three car seats. I can barely manage Lucy’s, let alone those for two infants and a princess.

belgianwaffle

on 07 December 2005 at 09:28

Oh yes, Kristin, car seats are a serious concern. I’d rather not discuss,it’s just too complex.
FT, good thought.
WP, or maybe 3?
HJB, quite. 0

formerfilmexpert

on 07 December 2005 at 15:39

or grandparents can take all 3 children and parents A and B go off gallavanting!!

belgianwaffle

on 08 December 2005 at 15:09

Hmm, is that a bit overoptimistic?

Shopping and Swimming


Posted in: Belgium, Dublin

“Fresh Eire”

As hot as Barcelona and as stylish as Paris, but just minutes from Dublin, Dundrum has all the edginess of London high style with the chi-chi boutiques of New York. Welcome to the new style council.”

Excuse me? Dundrum? A distant and dull Dublin suburb whose major claim to fame is that it houses the state’s main asylum for the criminally insane. Stay away.

In other news, we went to Bruxelles-les-bains today.
A slightly odd experience: inspired by a Parisian idea, the Bruxellois import lots of sand, stands and water games along the canal.  Herself loved it.

Comments
poggle

on 11 August 2005 at 10:28

‘Humdrum Dundrum’ sounds like a better title than ‘Fresh Eire’ then?

belgianwaffle

on 11 August 2005 at 19:23

LJ, still not good enough for me.
Pog, your way with words is marvellous.

poggle

on 12 August 2005 at 10:19

Yup – I’d be a whizz at ‘News of the Screws’ headlines, ay?

Gender Equality


Posted in: Belgium, Ireland, Reading etc.

From a national organ of record

“When it comes to fellow citizens, Ireland falls into the conservative category. A massive 81% of people think it’s more important a boy is university educated than a girl. But the Irish also feel that women have an equal right to a job” The Examiner, 20 July 2005.
Well, that’s all right then. Those women probably don’t need jobs either, sure all they do is go off and have babies. Speaking of which, my maternity leave starts tomorrow.

And a happy Belgian national day to you.

StarCorneron 21 July 2005 at 20:30Happy Belgian national Day to you too!! Maybe the Irish think women just want inferior jobs – a wee bit like the golf club I heard about, they don’t let women in until after 3.30 at the weekends cos they should be busy doing the washing and housework till then!! *Tsk!*
Bobbleon 21 July 2005 at 22:02Happy Belgiumness to you dearie x
jackdaltonon 21 July 2005 at 23:42That’s just a load of old bollox — the Examiner’s idea of a survey is to ring a few grannies in East Cork. Don’t take it personally ‘waf. You can hold onto that old UCC parchment for another while. mind you, when McDowell is TeaShock, then you may have to return same…. but that’s a day or two away yet.
😉
suson 22 July 2005 at 11:30Hope your first day of maternity leave is going swimmingly.
belgianwaffleon 23 July 2005 at 12:51Olivia, no, no, no, it means loads of blogging! Ah, Starcorner, you’re so right. I should have thourght.
Thanks Bob.
JD, I am torn between a desire to agree with you and a desire to defend the Examiner’s honour, very trying.
Well, today is technically my first day and very pleasant it is too. Thank you very much.

Malingering and packing


Posted in: Ireland, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Travel

This morning my baby was in poor form. She had a cough. She pointed pitifully at the bathroom and said “malade”.  She wouldn’t eat her breakfast. She lay feebly in my lap muttering “sucky thumb”.  Alas, today was a busy day for the parent Waffles as it was our last day at work before heading off to Dublin. What to do?  We were saved by our cleaning lady who also babysits for us who arrived to clean and then agreed to childmind. Mercifully she was free for the afternoon as well. The Princess was delighted.  So delighted, in fact, that she hopped off my lap, where she had been reclining dolefully and into the arms of our babysitter.  I explained that I had to go to work.  She was blithely indifferent and waved me off with a “bye-bye Mummy, nice day” while hurrying to show our babysitter her latest acquisition – a book on a flying bunny.  When I got home she was jumping up and down on the spare bed. Well, at least she isn’t sick, I suppose.

I am blogging and I should be packing.  Packing for a Summer holiday in Ireland is such a challenge.  The weather forecast is rotten but
you never know, it might just, surprisingly, be fine.  Have packed shorts and woolly jumpers but feel that I will need more than this to
survive. Just said to Mr. Waffle “Do you think I need a coat?”  He replied, with feeling “You are visiting Ireland in July.  Are you mad?  Of course, you need a coat.” Maybe I’ve been away too long.

Comments
poggle

on 06 July 2005 at 10:35

Coat, bikini, fleece, brolly – and don’t forget the sherpas.

Locotes

on 06 July 2005 at 17:37

Just to confirm, weather’s been pathetic over the last week or so. Welcome home!!

jackdalton

on 06 July 2005 at 19:50

This coming week will be better. I’ll organise that.
And anyway, it never rains in The Stephens Green Centre or Liffey Valley, or Dundrom, or the ILAC…. 🙂

sus

on 11 July 2005 at 12:15

Well, I heard they had a heatwave yesterday…better bring the bikini too.

belgianwaffle

on 14 July 2005 at 20:45

Bobble, it was hot. Yes, Pog, reallly it was. Locotes, unbelievable eh? JD, warm, warm, warm. Sus,your source was correct. According to the national organ of record (the evening herald) Kilkenny was hotter than Rome, Madrid or Athens on Monday. Extraordinary.

poggle

on 15 July 2005 at 10:04

Kilkenny? I’ve been there, you know. Lovely castle. And I didn’t misbehave with a blue-eyed Celt at all. Not me, guv, no guv.

jackdalton

on 15 July 2005 at 17:03

Everyone’s been to Kilkenny at some point. Either physically or mataphysically.

belgianwaffle

on 16 July 2005 at 07:26

Pog, how intriguing. Was it very warm? Right as always, JD.

poggle

on 18 July 2005 at 10:57

Well …erm …. oh – you mean the weather? It wasn’t bad at all Waffley – and it was only March.
The Celt was very warm. Very warm indeed. Ahem.

belgianwaffle

on 18 July 2005 at 19:16

Pog, you lead such an exciting life…

poggle

on 20 July 2005 at 10:29

Yes … well …. just occasionally.
Ahem.

Cure for morning sickness


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Reading etc.

As you will know, if you have been reading this blog since its humble beginnings (yes, mother, this means you), I am a big fan of fluid pudding.  Before I knew what a blog was, I was pregnant and sick and trawling the internet for fellow sufferers.  And fluid pudding was pregnant too and she had her baby just after I had mine.  And she wrote one of the funniest descriptions of giving birth that I have ever read.  And generally she perked me up.  And now she’s pregnant again, which is all to the good obviously. But she is sick, sick, sick.  And when I was pregnant, I was really miserable and sick also.  So I sympathise. It is in this mood that I encourage you to email sympathy to the fluid one and also that I offer the following: in her misery, fluid’s only comfort has been fantasising about Ben Folds (see Ben Folds Kisses the Orb) for details.  Now, I can give you six degrees of separation from Ben Folds.  Ben Folds is a big buddy of Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy.  I know this because I went to see a concert they did together and they were all pally on stage and talking about being great buddies.  Since Mr. Hannon was very much the worse for wear, he did a lot of talking about this – you know how when you’re drunk you really want to tell the world what a great person your friend is, well, he did that in spades.  Neil Hannon lives around the corner from my friends M & R (whom I may christen Gaza and Bosnia, for reasons which will become apparent in due course). Really, just around the corner about 10 doors down.  I know this to be true because it was in the Irish Times when he paid an obscene amount of money for it.   As it happens, M will be visiting us next week.  And M knows no shame, so I will give him a description of Mr. Hannon and ask him to become his friend.  It will be no problem for him.  He is good at dealing with neighbours.  Once that link is established it will be easy to get in touch with Mr. Folds and beg him to send you a get well card to the fluid one. I may have a little more difficulty with the intimate venue and the kissing. Leave it with me.

Comments
belgianwaffleon 16 October 2004 at 13:08

We aim to please. Hope you’re feeling a bit perkier.

“Home thoughts from abroad”


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland

We get Le Soir at the weekend.  This weekend the colour supplement had an article about how cool Dublin is.  It was slightly bizarre to see what the Belgians make of Dublin.  On the whole, it wasn’t what you would call entirely accurate.  Bono was described as a sort of patron saint of the city which, I suspect, locals would find particularly irritating.  Certainly, I did, but then, I’m from Cork, so I can’t speak for them.  Most of the article was about Temple Bar and how hip it is.  Well, yes, in a sort of full of pubs and stag parties kind of way.  Mostly locals wouldn’t be seen dead there.  However, some merited praise of the Powerscourt Centre as a shopping location of interest.  Didn’t mention at all some of the best things about Dublin like the boardwalk on the Liffey or, star sight (though a trifle inaccessible) the Casino Marino.  Latter not very hip I suppose, but strolling on the former, definitely is.  Lots of quotes from author Marian Keyes who was Mr. Waffle’s next door neighbour when he was growing up, so felt very well-connected ourselves.