Last instamonth May 2012

MyMonthOfMayInstagram, a photo by TOF2006 on Flickr.

Last month seen through Instagram.
A bit of work, some interesting gigs, some sea activities, clear blue sky, some rugby deception, some beer...

Franz Ferdinand in Dolans

Another brilliant gig this week, in Dolans, with the fantastic Franz Ferdinand, a great music set, all the hits and four cracking new tunes, on the top of that.
As Stuart Clarke puts it:

The morning after the Franz night before! They were deadly, as was Dolan's and Limerick in general. What a venue and city!
— Stuart Clark (@stuartclark66) May 20, 2012

Franz Ferdinand have been the band of my first years working in Grenoble, transitioning from my student life. Great tunes, all full of memory. Brief another amazing night in Limerick :D

The setlist was :

• Cheating on You / Do You Want To / Tell Her Tonight 
• Right Thoughts / No You Girls / The Dark of the Matinée 
• Brief Encounters / Fresh Strawberries / ??? / Midnight! 
• Take Me Out / Ulysses / Trees & Animals / 40′ 
• Outsiders / Jacqueline 
• Encore:
• Michael /This Fire

UPDATE:
You can also read the excellent review of the gig on the Blog IndieLimerick:
http://indielimerick.blogspot.com/2012/05/franz-ferdinand-live-at-dolans-limerick.html

A good start for the Month of May

Bank May Holiday, with his now traditional Riverfest, was planned to be a busy weekend. The weather at times was menacing, but everything turned out great.

All started out with a chill out session on Friday night in the infamous Wicked Chicken, all with good tunes and excellent company (K & P )

The infamous Wicked Chicken....

We could not end up the night like that, so off we went finish ourselves to the Costello, his sticky carpet, and relax dance-floor, made some brilliant encounter down there, from past DJ (now teacher of the place) to Mr Scruff gig's friends.

Costello godess overlooking the dancefloor...

Water the drink of legends ;)

Definitely the perfect warm up for the long weekend.

On Saturday the big BBQ cook off, took place on Arthur Quay's, we manage to preserve ourselves a table, well guarded by bubbles gun.

Almost shining on a busy Arthur Quay...

Nice free food, and free music along with great people, mostly musician and psychology student, with the odd intrusion from work colleagues.

After an afternoon baking in the - at times - sun, it was time for me to go to Thomond Park, to enjoy a game of Rugby (Munster vs Ulster )

Munster Mascot

Munster on the attack....

This end up my day, but from what I heard the festivities were to continue long after my departure.

I had an excuse to leave early (10pm), as I was going diving in Doolin the following day.

On sunday morning, I arrive in Doolin, after escaping the gates in place for the Great Limerick Run.

Stoned view from Doolin pier

It did not take long to launch the boat, and off we went to the Aran Island ( Inis Mor ) to dive the wormhole ( I am still in the process of editing the video, so wait for the next post ).

In the afternoon we went for another one, along the Cliffs of Moher, under the sun.

The Cliffs viewed from the sea....

Once we were done, we had to take care of the boat, and after complicated exchange with some locals ( not facilitated by the foreigner accent of our diving club - including mine ), we ended up finding a suitable place to park it overnight. And it was time for fulfilling dinner.

A bit later, I had the extreme pleasure to be join by G&T in McDermott pub , around some nice guinness, enjoyable trad music session, for a nice chat. And it was not till well past 1AM that we had to say goodbye.

Guiness for strength in McDermotts

The legendary G&T

Up came monday, after a restful night - not enjoyed by everybody due to the weather conditions. 

And we were off, for another dive, this time  the club boat was hosting many guests from different clubs ( Cork SAC, Burren, and Ennis )

Aughinish Boat

Delightful dive, starting with an impressive wall of Anemones displaying all their colors in patches ( Orange, Yellow, Purple, blue.... ).

Aughinish Diving boat making way for the happy hooker.

And on our way back, we were greeted by a jumping dolphin, following us up to the pier.
You can actually read a bit more about this May dive weekend on the Aughinish website:
http://www.aughinishdivingclub.com/news/159-dolphin-the-cliffs-and-worm-hole


Some more....

Happy Hooked in Doolin ... ( the ferry  name ;)

The Cliffs viewed from Doolin....

Life's a beach....

A quiet weekend to end up April 2012... Starting slowly with a visit to the Milk Market, got some lovely tart-let, which did not last very long ;)

"Om nom nom nom"

Then Sunday was off to Kilkee, for some scuba-diving activities. Gorgeous cloudless blue sky, but with with chilly wind... no hot stuff to warm us up.

Kilkee Pier

The dive on itself was a technical training ( 9meters 35minutes ) to iron up some skills, like:

•  the frog kick
• dry suit inversion
• SMB deployment
• Trim adjustement

Quite enjoyable despite the hard work and there was a great visibility underwater.

Our friends from Lough Dergh were also there, and you can read about their dives :  http://www.ldsac.ie/news/245-farewell-april

I quit my diving gear, in the afternoon, to focus on more important matters, aka the pub (the Skinny Dog in Kilkee ) and the European Rugby Cup Semi Final between my club of heart ASM and Leinster.

Arrrr SM...

Great fantastic game... probably the best of the season, sadly it was not meant to be for my team, and we lost 15-19... despite a desperate last 5 minutes push.  :( Now ASM will turn to the French championship to win their second Brennus....

Back to the beach...

Windsurf on kilkee beach

 And the day was almost over... 

Bringing the boat to Kilkee

Another gorgeous weekend, with clear blue sky in Limerick.
A very early start on saturday, in order to bring the Aughinish Diving Club boat to Kilkee, using the Tarbert Ferry.
So by 9:30 AM the boat was on Kilkee slip, ready to launch.

Anuka on Kilkee slip before launch

 We had a lovely dive in Diamond Rocks, just outside the bay. The sea was calm initially, but the weather started to pick up. Underwater there was quite a bit of movement, surprising since we were around slack water, loads of life down there, with fishes and a couple of small lobsters.

George's Head ... calm sea

 After the dive we decided, to recover the boat. Back in Limerick, I ended the day with a lovely walk up to Barringtons Pier.

Limerick viewed from Barrington Pier

  

Sunday morning, I was back in Kilkee for another dive, shore-based this time, absolutely lovely. We enter the water through the Pollock holes, and headed to Doctor's Rocks though a gap in the rocks.
We were welcome in the first meters by a conger eel swimming peacefully through the seaweed.
In the first minutes of the dive, we stumble upon a sleepy dog fish. After another snorkel in Newfie, I headed back to Limerick.
Ended up the day by a walk up to the living bridge in UL, with some French and Italian company.

The Living Bridge - UL

Born on the walk way.

Amongst the graffiti near the Locke, I found the thought of the day ...

Love is ....

First Diving Weekend of 2012

My diving club Aughinish went to Kerry in Portmagee for the first weekend away, using the pretext of Easter Bank Holiday.

So what makes a diving weekend away ?
Answer in pictures...

Towing the boat down... and back

Launching, mooring the boat in the harbour...

Anchor in Portmagee harbour...

A good bit of delicious food...

A tiny bit of drinking...

Enjoying the scenery...

Sadly no underwater pictures, since i did not bring my camera this time, but in the end 2 lovely dive with one magnificient crawfish, some anxious and damp covering of the diver in the boat, may be a head trauma or 2.... in the end a good weekend.

And as an added bonus: ASM is going to the semi-final of the H-Cup :D

Playing with instagram

I have found myself playing a lot with  Instagram recently released for Android.
The only thing missing right now is a direct upload to Flickr [UPDATE: solved via IFTT].

Playmobil

Arrr !!!!!

Lego

Legos are in formation, ready for the parade.

Dinner time

Dinner... Salad, egg, chorizo...

More to come, I feel....