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

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.

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)
  
  
  
  

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 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.

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)

Diving parameters: Max 27.2m 27min 10°C.

And we've been to Loop Head

The sea rescue tam has a nice equipment:

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)