Saturday, April 29, 2006

Food market

Saturday Pub:0 ; Alcohol uits 0; Activities:RiverFest, Rayman, Food Market
Friday Pub:0 ; Alcohol uits: loadz but 0 stout; Activities:Tartiflette


  • So due ti the River Faest this week-end, there is a French/International market in Limerick... Finally it's possible to buy some nice food (cheese, real "charcuterie"...). Actually once you know, there is a way in Limerick to have nice products.
    Every saturday (or sunday ??) mroning there is the Milk Market in the city center, where you can buy cheap and good products (I'am talking food).
    Another interesting spot, is the Asian supermarket ( I suspect it's the provider for all asiatic restaurant in the area), this is worth to tale a look at.

  • Improvised Tartiflette friday night, as a result I sadly did not go to the pub ... very good (potatoes should have cooked more) but nice. Thanks to Mikie.

  • Arte (Tracks) put his shows on the web, this is downloadable (unfortunately not free http://www.artevod.com/ , it's probably the next incoming mutation fro the media, no more scheduling, the programs will be avalaible when you want to watch it, good bye TV listings


NOT FINISHED --- NEED MORE

Friday, April 28, 2006

Limerick Guiness

Pub: 3; Alcohol Units: 2; Activities: Salsa, pub

So Munster is going to Cardiff to entertain Biarritz during the Heineken Cup Final, everybody in the city, is wearing the red jersey, every car has his flag of ithe team, and most important, everybody is seeking a ticket for the match. People book their flight, hotel... Actually all tickets are sold out, only remains 15000 tickets given to the 2 clubs... unfortunately for Munster, their 7500 tickets will be reserved to the club and sponsors and Not the supporters ! So you can see Irish people lurking to the 7500 tickets given to Biarritz... The red Army is ready to invade Scotland. Aer Lingus has added to extra flight from Dublin to Bristol just for the event.

Guinness is a cultural thing.
Diageo has introduced in Limerick for a test a "Guinness Mid-strength" with only 2.8 degree.
So it's been 6 weeks, and the Limerick Post is looking at it:
http://www2.limerickpost.ie/fullnews.elive?id=57&category=news
Where you can see the importance of drinking in the Irish society, one of my favourite quotation in this article is:
"People are very busy nowadays. They have a lot of responsibility and although they still like going to the pub, they are finding it harder and harder to drink and to execute their responsibilities. This way you can have a few pints and still have a clear head in the morning.”
For information few pints for an irish is a minimum of 3 !

I will need to come back later, on Limerick, its criminality, its horses and its street burning garbage.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Les Boulets

  • Quotation of the day:
    "Rien ne m'est sur que la chose incertaine" F.Villon

  • The incoming weekend (May Bank Holiday) the River Fest is taking place in Limerick:
    http://www.limerickriverfest.com/

  • I've just seen that Nico introduced me and some other french lads in his blog, so to re-establish the truth, let me introduce you: "Les boulets", some french lads who arewilling to spend 5 to 6 months in Ireland, (drinking beer...)

    First: Manu (aka "Schtroumpf-grincheux"/Smurf grouchy)

    2nd: Guillaume (aka Dopey )






    3rd: Mikael (aka Jojo le merou)






    4th: Nico (aka Leprechaun aka Patrick)


Monday, April 24, 2006

Bike....

Pub:0;Alcohol Units:0; Activities: Bike, work
  • Today I finally went to my work with my bicycle... It took me a bit more than one hour.... but for the return I have the wind against me so I've almost double my time -sic-
    I am quite happy with the bike-journey, even if I know what the 2 or 3 next weeks should be the hardest, to give me time to be in better physical shape and accustom myself to the journey.
  • Just for the fun a french website about "Les Crados" http://www.lescrados.com/ , the english version is GarbagePailKids (look at this website http://www.wgpkr.com/ to have the list of all cards)
  • Actually when you look at the Crados website, you'll see cards about M.A.S.K ("Illusion is the ultimate weapon !") and now I can't stop thinking of GI-Joe, Playmobil and James May. James May is a co-presenter of TOP-GEAR a show about cars, in my opinion the only one who has a good taste for cars.
    Note: TOPGEAR actually has set a quite fun challenge Celeb Laptime where they asked celebrity to race against the clock... and guess who is heading ... I let you discover.
    James is in his fourties, and for last christmas, he had a show (Toy stories) about the toys of his childhood, and it was absolutely brilliant: still playing with his toys, trying the parachute of a Action Man for real (very dispapointing), Etch-a-Sketch (in the hands of art students producing some amazing portraits) and buying a collection train (Hornby) to play with it and not too keep it in his box.... When I'll grow up, I want to be like James May !!!

If.... poem from R.Kipling

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Sunday Sport.... Irish definition

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: TV-Sport (WWE, Hurling, Rugby)

Here's the definition of a very sportive sunday in Ireland: an Hurling semi-final and the Heineken Rugby Cup semi-final opposing Munster to Leinster, all to be watch in a pub!
And outdoor it was an absolutlely perfect sunny day! Don't quite understand....
Anyway, I wanted to go to the Gaelic ground to see the hurling game between Limerick and Clare... unfortunately I made the mistake to believe the hurling game was played in Limerick, and it was in fact, in Kilkenny, the Gaelic football was in Limerick...

So lousy/lazy day... the good thing is: finally this sunday I've been able to catch up with what happened in Raw and Smack-Down (WWE)... I've almost missed the story between Cena, Triple H and Edge these last week-ends.

Munster will be heading for another Heineken Cup Final, as far as I remember it will be their third final. Great victory against Leinster (the brother-ennemy), actually the Dublin team has been crushed by the Red Army in a Landsdowne Road Stadium all dressed in red (I wondered where the blue/Leinster fans where... but the joke tells what there was a promotion in Browne Thomas at the same time). So in 4 weeks time, it will be another Irish-French clash between Biarritz and Munster for the Final in Cardiff (aka Dimitri Yachvili vs Ronan O'Gara ).
And it's been a great day for Limerick in sport as the Hurling team has won against Clare, in semi-final of the National League.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Scuba-Diving

Pub: 2; Unit Alcohol: 3; Activities: ScubaDiving, SeeSighting, Gig

Finally I went diving today..... Yipeeeee !!!!! Thanks to Mikie. Okay teh water was a bot cold (8°C)... next dive in one month (minimum.. so the gulf stream would have heat the water a bit)
kilkee_IMG_0370
Diving parameters: Max 27.2m 27min 10°C.

And we've been to Loop Head
kilkee_IMG_0388
The sea rescue tam has a nice equipment:
kilkee_IMG_0374

And finally to end happily the day we went to the Dolans to see a Nirvana Tribute band (+) and a Pearl Jam tribute band (+++).

Things Learned today:
  1. Massey Ferguson is a canadian company founded in 1847.
  2. John Deere is an american company founded in 1868.
  3. Difference between raven (Corvus corax, Fr: corbeau ), crow and rook (Fr: Corneille), all are Passeriformes (Family:Corvidae)

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Climbing a wall

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: Indoor Wall Climbing
Nice activity wednesday evening after work: Indoor Climbing...
Game take you birthday date (exclude the year) and pick in Wikipedia: 3 events,3 births,3 deaths.

Events
1815 - Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
1916 - Albert Einstein publishes his theory of relativity.
1965 - In Naples, Italy, France Gall wins the tenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (Wax doll, talking doll).
Births
43 BC - Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)
1957 - Spike Lee, American film director and actor
1964 - Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer
Deaths
1413 - King Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
1727 O.S. - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist (b. 1642)
1929 - Ferdinand Foch, French commander of allied forces in World War I (b. 1851)


Tuesday, April 18, 2006

B-movies

Reference site about B-movies: Nanarland
  • Last B-movies seen:
Ready to Rumble: the story of two sewage workers wrestle-fans on a quest to help their hero, a fallen wrestler champion.
Westworld: A curiosity directed by Michael Crichton, with Yul Brinner about futuristic leisure complex full of robots.
Thunderpants: The story of a farting boy who has his best day ever ever, when he flies in space with a ship propelled by farting.


My favorites B-movies:

Bike....

Pub: 0 ; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: Bought a Bike

Finally, I've bought a bike in Ireland, hopefully I should be soon be able to cycle to work... but not tomorrow because of the Indoor Climbing Initiation and not Thursday because there's Salsa....
I've also realised than there is a lot of topics I want to discuss in this blog:
GAA, Hurling, Gaelic/Irish, W.B.Yeats, Irish 1916 events, sailing....

I discover this fantastic website : http://www.chronique-gaelique.com/index.html while I was trying to find the origin of the famous french song "Les lacs du Connemara" from Sardou ( just to prove that Michel Sardou never put a foot in Ireland...)

Monday, April 17, 2006

Killarney Lakes ....

Sunday
Pub: 2; Alcohol Units: 3 (1 Guinness, 2 Murphys); Activities: Bicycle, He or She, Seesighting
Heading to Killarney with M&N... rent some bike and cycle around Killarney Lakes...
Ross Castle:
KILLARNEY_IMG_0261
Muckross Abbey:
KILLARNEY_IMG_0242
The Waterfall:
KILLARNEY_IMG_0228


There was an exhibit of vintage tractor/farmer machine:
KILLARNEY_IMG_0256
Some quite old:
KILLARNEY_IMG_0251
On the lake watching the making-of of a ninja movie....

Evening: Restaurant and few pubs in Killarney
KILLARNEY_IMG_0271
Night: youth Hostel without any swedish girl ....
KILLARNEY_IMG_0272


Monday (Bank Holiday)
Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0, Activities: Seesighting, beach, car

Leaving Killarney, through the Upper Lake and the Gap of Dunloe (Black Lake), and then afternoon on the beach.... Kells (Part of the ring of Kerry)
Kells_Kerry_IMG_0342
Where some people enjoyed wrestling:
Kells_Kerry_IMG_0356
  • Global Thematic of the Week-End: SpongeBob SquarePants
  • Things learned:
    1. Marsupials are mammals.
    2. Chicago is not near New York
    3. Women are complicated
    4. Do goldfishes have a memory longer than 3 seconds ? Yes...Busted myth according to the Mythbusters
    5. Claude Francois did not write the song "Cette Annee la", the original song is "Oh What a night" written by Robert Gaudio and Judy Parker.
  • Unanswered questions:
    • Is the memory of a goldfish a conscient act or an inconscient one ? (Asked by Patrick)
  • Quotation of the day:
    "I reject your reality and substitute my own!"
    – Adam Savage from Mythbusters

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Paella....

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 2-3 (sangria, vine); Activity: ??

Nice and international party at Laurent House to celebrate his wedding. And thanks to Ruben who cooked a fabulous paella....

Fun, when I came back from, I check out Flickr and saw that someone put a comment on one of my Lego pic, and linked it to the Adventures of the dinosaur and the robot.... LOL !!!!

And here's the blog of the guy who posted the comment: http://dunechaser.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow Killarney....

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Lego - Day

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: Shopping, Garden, Lego building
Main activity of my day: build LEGO numero 7903.


UPDATE photos removed from FLICKR

FYI:
Except that, today was a lot of shopping, and I've started to grow some plants in the garden (mint, thyme...)

Friday, April 14, 2006

Lazy day

Pub: 0 ; Alcohol Unit: 0 (good friday) ; Activity: Mown my lawn.

A bit of culture with some of the differents local Beers you can drink in Ireland:
  • Beamish : stout, Brewery: Beamish and Crawford (Cork)
  • Guinness : stout, Brewery: St James Gate (Dublin, Diageo)
  • Murphy (Murphy's Irish Stout): stout, Brewery: Cork
  • Smithwick's: Brewery: Smithwicks (Kilkenny)
  • Kilkenny: Brewery: Smithwicks (Kilkenny)

Some beermat (coaster):

coaster_015
coaster_014

And finally tonight TV movie: Ghostbusters , in summary: "Do not cross the streams !"

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Something like Bridget Jones...

Pub: 2 (Daffy's +++, Glen Tavern ++) ; Alcohol units: 0 (yes, 2 orange juice) ; Activities: Salsa

New idea for the blog, copied from BJ.... see where it ends....
About alcohol, irish people tend to take the booze quite seriously : MEAS ?!?!

TV Turnoff Week

Week W17 (24th April till 30th April) is TV Turnoff week....
See all spots and details at
ADBUSTERS.ORG.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Kingdom of list

Last Books read:
  • American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
  • Gone, Baby, Gone (Dennis Lehanne)
  • Soul Music (Terry Pratchett)
  • Redwall (Brian Jacques)
  • Les Jardins de lumières (Amin Maalouf)
  • Fondation (Isaac Asimov)

Movies seen:
  • Munich(S.Spielberg)
  • V for Vendetta
  • Inside Man (Spike Lee)
  • Good night and Good luck (G.Clooney)
  • Walk the line
  • Syriana
  • Whisky
  • Memoir of a Geisha

Links

WE 8-9 April

Saturday: Aran Island cancelled so we finished in Galway

GALWAYIMG_0057

GALWAYIMG_0025

Sunday: First Walk organized by the company Outdoor Poursuit Club, in the Burren

BURREN_IMG_0144

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Kinsale (2)

  • Second visit to Kinsale, this time to see the Charles Fort.
kinsale_charles_fort_144_4483

  • Munster will entertain Leinster for the Heinekein Semi-Final .... bye bye Perpignan and Toulouse.
  • Get my ticket for Radiohead concert in Dublin ....Hourrah !!!!

Brickmania

Lego Smurf castle ??   Eva.... massive build Swimming in bricks ?