Day 169 - Saturday, June 18th, 2011

The day was entered into gently, with general potterage and faffage, before setting out in Al The Almera to Danny The Swede to collect my golf clubs, and usher him and Miss Brazil to brother Austin for an eye test. Luckily, I had collected Conquer upon the way so the requirement to dally was nil, and onwards we advanced in a southward direction. At some stage on our journey, it was decided that Newbridge Golf Club would be the end-destination. The torrential downpours did naught to put us off playing a round (in truth, they abated before the round's beginning).

Disaster nearly struck when the barman of the rather spartan clubhouse revealed that they were not in possession of a Laser/Visa machine, and that Cash Was King. We scraped together enough notes and coinage to gain us passge through the 18 holes, self-imposing a slight discount from the actual price, to which the barman failed to react negatively.

As per usual, my play was utterly appalling, going round in 132 shots, but the course was a pleasant one. Conquer refused to get dragged down, thankfully, posting a brace of birdies - huzzah! A beeline was made for The Fair City afterwards, and after dropping the Conch Shell off, 'twas off home to The Lighthouse for epic chillage.

Newbridge Wateriness

Contentment : 16 / 25
Excitement :    2.5 / 10
Memorability : 3 / 15

Overall Score : 43% (51st out of 169)

Day 168 - Friday, June 17th, 2011

Friday lunch was taken with colleague Hugh at the Clarendon, offering an award-winning 2-course meal for just €8.95. The Potato and Spring Onion Soup with brown bread was fantastic, whilst Mammy's Shepherds Pie was clearly made by a mother who uses far too much gravy and not enough potato, but it was eminently tasty none-the-less.

Friday evening was enjoyed at The Good Bits, a curiously-named pub in the heart of Dublin, for which I just so happened to possess Living Social vouchers, even though the mass soiree was organised by Lara. Upon reflection, it wasn't one of their greatest discounted deals - €20 worth of Spanish tapas and 2 small but tasty and fairly potent cocktails for €15. The tapas were good - Lamb Meatballs, patatas bravas and mediterranean vegetables. The craic was good too, with spirited conversation and an excellent game of Pass The Glasses to boot. In a rare display of restraint, I decided not to move on with the party to Flannery's at 12.15am, deciding to make the 20-minute walk home instead, during which I almost decided to change my mind and hail a taxi , but stayed curiously resolute!

                                                                   Gallery Of Glasses!

Contentment : 16.5 / 25
Excitement :    2.5 / 10
Memorability : 3 / 15

Overall Score : 44% (47th out of 168)

Day 167 - Thursday, June 16th, 2011

And lo, didst Thursday NIght Darts Club 89 come suddenly upon us, and a magnificent one it was too, with no less than 14 athletes in attendance, including 3 debutant(e)s - the lovely Carla and Ida, visiting from Italia, and the promising young wunderkind Adam "The Apple" O'Brien, who crowned his debut with a brace of TNDC World Ranking points. Demand for food from Di Bella Cafe next door was phenomenal, and the chef kindly provided a large container of chilli flakes for me to douse my Chicken n Red Onion Pizza with - bleedin' d'lish! Reigning supreme at the oche was Gar "Milky Bar" Kiernan, who secured a 7th TNDC title, whilst Lara "Tryples" Della Volpe wowed the capacity crowd by hitting 2 bulls-eyes with the first two darts of her throw - a TNDC first. The lady just goes from strength to strength!

The throw with double bull! Note that others are not so accurate......

A beaming Maverick and Carla use the event to announce their engagement, slightly awkward given that Mark is married and with-child

Contentment : 16.5 / 25

Excitement :    3 / 10

Memorability : 3 / 15

Overall Score : 45% (42nd out of 167)

Day 166 - Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

High drama this morning after another splendid cycle to work - the DublinBike bank was full, meaning that I couldn't return it! After a five minute wait, I locked it to a nearby railing and headed in to work, returning an hour later, but the Full Status remained - boo-urns! Cue a speedy cycle to the next nearest Bike Bank on Stephen's Green South, which was full as well - fark! Cue a Miguel Indurain-esque sprint to the NEXT nearest on Stephen's Green East - vacant slots available - great success!


Full Up - Arrrrggggghhhh!

Contentment : 15 / 25
Excitement :    2 / 10
Memorability : 1.5 / 15

Overall Score : 37% (79th out of 166)

Day 165 - Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

It's been 14 days since the last one, signalling time for Tuesday Night Golf Club - huzzah! The virtual course this time was the short but tricky Mauna Kea course in Hawaii. Things were going splendidly until the 13th hole, when the 3rd pint of Heineken took a grievous toll on my athletic ability, and big-style appallingness set in for the rest of the round. Congratulations to Neil "Dutchy" Holland on winning with 36 points (I came 4th out of 5 with 27) - all the more impressive given his low handicap of 7. Refuge was sought afterwards in the Oarsman tavern, restoring general splendour.


Mauna Kea - a shocking kip

Contentment : 16.5 / 25
Excitement :    2.5 / 10
Memorbility :  3 / 15

Overall Score : 44% (49th out of 165)

Day 164 - Monday, June 13th, 2011

The mornings and evenings are staying dry so the regime of walking to the IFSC quays and cycling onward to Grafton Street continues, and must surely be good for one's general health. Lunch was spent in a rock-n-roll fashion, shopping for groceries in nearby Dunnes Stores, providing the key ingredients for another whopper production of spicy stir-fried chicken jambalaya. If I get through half of it I'll be doing well!

                                                    Mmmmm, bleedin' d'lish......

Contentment :  15 / 25
Excitement :     1.5 / 10
Memorability : 1.5 / 15

Overall Score : 36% (79th out of 164)

Day 163 - Sunday, June 12th, 2011

After check-out and breakfast devourage, a chatty old taxi-man scuttles us to the Metrodome, and he tries to drive off with our bags in the boot before we remind him with a gentle number of car-slams to stop again. After the obligatory hour of faffage, it’s off to officiate at Board 7 – huzzah!


Round 1 (Last 128)


Ronnie Baxter Bye

Despite saying bye to Ronnie Baxter, he continues to hang around, and eventually the officials give him automatic passage to the Second Round.

Gary Welding 6 Kevin McDine 4


Kevin seemed to be in his trademark “not bovvered” form today, with a lax style, and not the greatest amount of thought put into his finish build-up play. Gary was in his usual self-aggressive form, snarling after hitting poor scores and shouting “GET IN!” after crucial leg wins. He does however take time to complement opponents on high scores or finishes, which is always a nice touch. This match was definitely a case of the winner wanting it most.

Mark Hylton 6 Dylan Duo 2

No question about who is the Most Improved Player this year so far – it’s Mark. Dylan had been in Escapade until 5am this morning and had virtually written off his chances beforehand, so under the circumstances, he did well to register some good scores and win a couple of legs.

Michael van Gerwen 6 Matt Jackson 0


Matt put in some good scores at the start but his head dropped severely after losing the first couple of legs and MvG was not tested at all in this encounter.

Round 2 (Last 64)


Ronnie Baxter 6 Gary Welding 5

Kudos to Ronnie, he always pays the courtesy of asking the marker at the start of the game if they’re ready, recognising us to be more umpire, less ball-boy. This match was close leg-wise all the way, but if Ronnie had been better at his doubles (he missed 9 darts in two different legs), he would have won 6-1.

Mark Hylton 6 Michael van Gerwen 0


After a semi-sluggish start in the previous game, Mark produced darts of a quality that I had not witnessed in months, with constant 140 and 180 scores, and hitting 75% of his doubles (6 darts out of 8), turning the whitewasher into whitewashee.

Round 3 (Last 32)


Mark Hylton 6 Ronnie Baxter 0

Mark’s phenomenal standard of darts did not relent here, delivering a rare white-washing to Ronnie, who acknowledged afterwards that there could be no arguing with the score.

Round 4 (Last 16)


Mark Hylton 6 Denis Ovens 4


Now I could be wrong, but I do think that Mark is somewhat prone to superstition. Firstly, I’m fairly sure that he gave away the bull to Denis, hitting well outside on both occasions, as he had won his previous 3 matches having lost the bull initially. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing this, but if both players had the same wish, then the bull-off would last for a very long time!

From the previous two legs, he also had become very fond of Double 7, and deliberately left it in the first leg here, but after missing it for the first time, that fad passed! Denis was also in great form, as he has been of late, so the match was a close one.

For the record, Mark went on to the semi-finals, and Andy Smith beat Dave Chisnall in the Final.

Time to dash in the drizzle with Enda, Dave (Coyne) and Matt von Stalybridge to the train station but alas the train to Leeds had just gone, so the 45 minute wait for the next one was largely spent in the nearby boozer, over Carling and poker chips. Matt had never played poker before, so the prize-money was set at zero. He acquitted himself with aplomb, even if he probably folded a little too often for his own good.

A bus brought us onward to the toilet that is Leeds Bradford International Airport, who proudly like to display their initials of LBIA everywhere, and in fairness, the facilities are indeed on a par with those in Benghazi or Tripoli. A microwaved burger in a deep-freezed bun was served up by a young madam,who became apoplectic with huffiness when I requested that the coleslaw advertised as part of the dish be replaced with something else. She came back 15 minutes later with a bowl of salad that no doubt contained some of her personalised signature house dressing, but its zest and tanginess was much appreciated.

The Ruinair flight home was delayed for 15 minutes, which was merciful, as it spared us the dehumanizing Punctuality Bugle at the flight’s end. Alas, poor Dave would not agree, as he missed his bus home by minutes and had to wait an extra 3 hours – boo-urns!

Contentment : 15 / 25
Excitement : 4 / 10
Memorability : 4.5 / 15

Overall Score : 47% (36th out of 163)

Day 162 - Saturday, June 11th, 2011

Despite the 5am retirement to sleeping quarters, freshness levels are at an all-time high this morning upon awakening – thrice huzzah! The 65 second journey to Leeds train station is an arduous one, but it is negotiated with astonishing success. Alas, t’train t’Barnsley has been cancelled and we must wait a further 30 minutes for the next suitable candidate, but this still has me bounding up to the Metrodome at 11.45am, which as we know by now is 15 minutes early in Ireland but 45 minutes late in England and a grievous offence, as the law states that unpaid officials must faff around and do nothing for a minimum of one hour before they are actually required.


Baron Thomas Cox announces that Board 16 is to be my co-domain today, alternating marking duties with an Anglesea debutant whose name I didn’t catch. Here are the matches that I marked :

Round 1 (Last 128)

Co Stompe 6 Adrian Bolitho 1

Co was in particularly great form today, both from darting and general disposition points of view, and is full of chat. Adrian can certainly hit high scores, but not nearly consistently enough currently, and the score was a fair reflection of the match. There were no tantrums or histrionics from him when he went behind though, which is always nice to see.

Thankfully I didn’t have to mark either of Wayne Mardle’s matches on the board because he was at the exact same craic again – shouting at the marker every time to confirm what finish he needed, even though the score is clearly visible on the board. Before his game with Dave Ladley, he stopped to have a lengthy chat with the marker whilst in front of the board, preventing Dave from throwing – fair play to Ladders, he just shook his head and smiled calmly.

Round 2 (Last 64)


Justin Pipe 6 Barrie Bates 4

The Fates have unfairly bestowed poor Barrie with ridiculously more that the fair share of ailments – he now suffers from gout, rheumatism, a bad leg and now a severely swollen finger. It is testament to his fantastic character that he just keeps on playing and smiling. His opponent in Justin Pipe – The Slowest Player In Pop – but rapidly emerging as one of the best. Neither player are at their best here, but it is an entertaining and close game.

Round 3 (Last 32)


Justin Pipe 6 Co Stompe 5

A cracking game, featuring heavy scoring and sharp finishing from both players. When the scoring is so good, it doesn’t matter how slow the player is, and I can remember a wave of serenity crashing over me during this game! Justin recovers from 3-1 down to edge this one in the decider.

Round 4 (Last 16)


Justin Pipe 6 Peter Hudson 3

Both players had been in phenomenal form to reach this round, so it is always strange when the standard drops so much so quickly. A number of legs were won in more than 30 darts, and the pair were both publicly disgusted with themselves after the game, but very amicably so. Justin obviously regained form instantly as he went on to reach the semi-finals and narrowly miss out on going at least one step further. For the record, Paul Nicholson won the final against Steve Brown – two staunch members of the Nice Guy Association, so it was great to see both do well.

Time for some delicious pints of Carling before assisting in getting the Youths Competition by marking the first game on Board 3, where Dublin’s finest young darting prospect Ryan Maher whitewashes Carl Draper with some quality high scoring. These competitions are still attracting a number of no-hopers (Carl is not one of them, I should stress), but from the Last 16 onwards and in many cases beforehand, the matches are consistently excellent.

A taxi is summoned to bring us to the Encore Ramada – a bed and breakfast bargain at £20 per person. I make the schoolboy error of lying down for a quick kip at 7, and wake after 10. Hunger is at fever-pitch level so I head outside with Enda to what I believe to be a nearby Indian restaurant that I ate in before, only to remember the following day that the place I was thinking of is in Derby!, so it should have been no real surprise to have discovered naught but roundabouts and fly-overs nearby.

A Google search elicits the number of a take-away and half-an-hour later, I’m devouring a Chicken Chilli Masala despite it having fallen foul of strict Yorkshire legislation that demands that all dishes must contain neither fruit nor vegetables (Terry’s Chocolate Orange receives a special dispensation though), and must have a minimum of 25% fat content. It’s now too late to head to the nocturnal delights of Walkabout and Escapade, so instead the Top 50 Dance Crazes Of All Time presented by that funny Mitchell and Webb bloke gets watched until 1.30am, and jolly entertaining it is too.

Contentment : 17 / 25
Excitement : 3 / 10
Memorability : 5.5 / 15

Overall Score : 51% (17th out of 162)

Day 161 - Friday, June 10th, 2011

An early exit from work was negotiated with ease in order to grab the 4pm Aircoach from Suffolk Street, where travelling companion Enda awaited to embark on a magical weekend journey to Leeds and Barnsley. At the airport, the information on the screens and at the gate was that our flight was delayed for 30 minutes, which matters little when there is a bar in the vicinity and heads-up poker to be played. Luckily, however, the bar was beside the gate, for it turned out that there was no delay at all, despite the “Delayed” notice staying firmly on the screen even as we went through the gate. Yet another hilarious Ryanair ruse as part of their continuing successful anti-human rights campaign, no doubt, although some empty seats suggested that some passengers did not make it aboard and would be unlikely to see the funny side.


Over further heads-up poker, we partook of a can of Bulmers each aboard, which at EUR4.50 per can, works out at EUR7.75 or £6.85 per pint – an extraordinarily fine bargain, I know you’ll agree. Outside Leeds terminal, we were waved onto the bus into town, without any requirement to pay – what a friendly nation! Handily, our hotel (the Discovery Inn) was a minute’s walk from Leeds train station where we disembarked, so after Enda having one of his showers that he seems to require every 57 minutes, we headed to the nearly Prince of Wales pub for pints of Grolsch, which at £3.30 (EUR 3.80) each weren’t as cheap as expected.

An epic crawl then commenced – next port of call was a Yates disco-bar which was decent but had yet to attract crowds, as had the town centre in general. Hunger pangs were answered in style by Nando’s, where an extra-hot Butterfly chicken breast with added lashings of Nando’s extra-hot sauce was wolfed down, accompanied by mashed potatoes and macho peas, which were indeed exceedingly manly. This was washed down with a large glass of Merlot. ‘cos I’m dead posh and sophisticated like.

The crawling was then accelerated, with visits to many now-crowded establishments, including some achingly cool joint where the DJ plays obscure nonsense that the clueless in-crowd mistakes for awesomeness, and Revolution, where the choons were much more geared to the common populus and were therefore greatly to my liking.

A glance at the watch reveals it to be 4.30am, so it’s probably time to mosey back to the Discovery Inn for some fleeting kippage, but not before enjoying some excessively-vile curried deep-fried potato lengths in an ultra-chic chippery.

She looks just a little sexier than I do with my glasses

Contentment : 16.5 / 25
Excitement : 4 / 10
Memorability : 5 / 15

Overall Score : 51% (17th out of 161)

Day 160 - Thursday, June 9th, 2011

One’s personal health was maximised during this morning’s foray to work, with a 20 minute walk to the CityBikes kiosk at the quays, and a further ten minute cycle to the Chatham Street kiosk which is a mere minute’s walk away from the Maples office. If weather permits, this will be the daily way forward – huzzah! There is something splendid about cycling all the way up Grafton Street in the early morning., fleetingly observing the impending bustle.

Lunch was with colleague Hugh, with whom I have been professionally reunited after an eleven year gap (eleven years!), and after mulling over a few options, we opted for what we both agreed afterwards to be an unfortunate choice. Sinnott’s was the venue, and my 11 Euro carvery offering of Roast Batter with a miniscule white-fish centre proved to be most unsatisfying, whilst Hugh was even more displeased with his Arctic Chicken Breast feast.

Professional duties dispensed with, ‘twas time to strut one’s feet to Thursday Night Darts Club 88 at Doolan’s Taverna and Wine-bar where seven athletes vied for the title, including debutant Michael “Iron Duke” Sadlier, christened thus because of his hosting of an annual welly-throwing competition (Welly – Wellington – Duke of Wellington – Iron Duke). After much persistence, the Duke managed to register 2 TNDC World Championship ranking points on the board, hurtling him into the World Ranking Charts at Number 20. Refreshingly, the winner of tonight’s title was relatively unexpected, with Rory “Razor Sharp” Wilson deservedly acquiring his 2nd TNDC belt.

                                         A beaming Iceman, Razor Sharp, and Iron Duke


Contentment :      16.5 / 25
Excitement :         3.5 / 10
Memorability :      3.5 / 15

Overall Score :      47% (34th out of 160)

Day 159 - Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Today I decided to go to work again, what with the previous day passing so agreeably and all. Although a fair few lunches will be spent “at desk”, it would be rude not to explore the myriad of luncheon options in the vicinity, and I commenced this project in style with a visit to the Curry Club on South William Street, partaking of poppadums with dips, an excellent lamb kebab starter and a very-tasty-if-overly-saucy Chicken Chilli Masala, all for a laughable 9.95 Euros.


After work, a 12 minute walk found me in Cineworld, and today’s cinematic offering was Senna (7/10), an excellent documentary on the life of the now-deceased multiple Formula 1 title-winner, which I would recommend even to those who are not fans of motor racing. The documentary definitely made him out to be more of an angel that he actually was, but was highly enjoyable, powerful and poignant all the same.


An excellent watch

Contentment :   15 / 25
Excitement :      2 / 10
Memorability :  2 / 15

Overall Score : 38% (73rd out of 159)

Day 158 - Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

And thus today saw the dawn of a new chapter in my employment career with the commencement of my 5th full-time job at Maples Fund Services as its catchily-titled Vice President of Registrar and Transfer Agency. As with my previous job, I most certainly will not be revealing details of the working day itself, but everything that falls around it will be fair game, such as the commute to work, where I will be trying a number of combinations before settling on a favoured one. Today, I walked to Spencer Dock LUAS station (10 minutes), got the tram to Abbey Street (8 minutes) and walked up O’Connell Street, Westmoreland Street and Grafton Street (12 minutes) to the office which is just behind the St. Stephen’s Green shopping centre. A relatively pleasant trek indeed.


The office building (Beaux Lane House) is a fine modern building and the office on the 2nd Floor is largely open plan, with a plush board-room, some offices, meeting rooms and a large kitchen – all of which easily house the 30 Maples FS employees. Introductions to all the staff indicate that they are a very pleasant and friendly bunch indeed – huzzah!

I used lunch-hour to get some passport-sized face and side-profile photos taken, as these are required as part of the Work Permit application process for the Cayman Islands, where I am due to go on July 10th for 5-6 weeks. A foray to Dunne Stores for a host of victual, foodstuff and condiment bargains also proved to be highly successful.

After work, the route home was negotiated via a 20 minute Route 128 bus journey to Fairview and 5 minute walks either side of it. Al The Almera was then jumped into and a beeline was made to Clontarf Garda Station to apply a Police Clearance Certificate, again for the Cayman authorities, but a slight fly in the ointment reared its mellifluous head when a Lady-Guard revealed that Clontarf is not regarded as my “home” Garda station, despite it being the closest. So off I sped to Store Street, location of said beloved home constabulary.

Back to the Lighthouse to conjure up an unimaginably sensational feast of Wok Chicken Vegetables and Rice whose ingredients included chicken breast pieces, bean sprouts, cabbage, onion, carrot, green red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, and lashings and lashings of hot sauce. Utterly delicious, and luckily, there’ll be enough for the next 274 days too.

                                          Dinnirrrr Is Sirrrrrved - Name That Movie!
Contentment :     16 / 25
Excitement :        5 / 10
Memorability :    4 / 15

Overall Score :    50% (21st out of 158)

Day 157 - Monday, June 6th, 2011

Suckers for golfing punishment and landscaped beauty, the quartet signed up for another round of golf at Mount Wolseley, so after a very good buffet breakfast, Team Ski and Team Trance renewed rivalries once more. As is traditional for playing the same course 2 days in a row, my score was (5 shots) worse than the previous day, but thankfully I managed to contribute with a few points to add to Conquer's magnificent score of 86, to secure an excellent draw with Team Ski.

The relatively short trip back to Dublin was negotiated in just over an hour, allowing ample time to relax and prepare for my first day of work at Maples Fund Services tomorrow. Bring it on!

  
So farewell then, Mount Wolseley

Contentment : 16 / 25
Excitement :    3 / 10
Memorability : 4.5 / 15

Overall Score : 47% (29th out of 157)

Day 156 - Sunday, June 5th, 2011

A relatively early reveille of 10.30am saw the quartet of troubadours depart the Westgrove ad stop in nearby Naas for an utterly sumptuous breakfast at Subway. A further 50 minute drive saw us arrive at the Mount Wolseley Hotel and Golf Club, and by 12.40pm we were out on the magnificent course, which earned the accolade of Best Course Played So Far This Year in what is a crowded and hotly-contested category. In the 4Skins Challenge, English Niall ran riot again, netting a profit of €24, whilst I broke even with some good Par 3 hole play, with Danny and Conquer €12 each in arrears. My final score of 120 was not quite as horrendous as usual, but still urgent tuition is required.

Time to check in to the palatial-looking hotel itself, and as part of the ludicrous €52.50 per person bed, breakfast and golf Citydeal, a half bottle of Chilean merlot awaited in each room, which was guzzled with aplomb. A foray downstairs found us in Aaron's Bar, and before long, pints were flowing and dominoes were being played, with Team Trance emerging narrowly victorious once again, before Conquer reigned supreme in the individual event. Somewhere during the six-hour marathon, dinner consisted of soup followed by a passable Thai Red Chicken Curry.

One of the many picturesque Mount Wolseley holes

Domino Guru Conquer surveys his tiles

Contentment : 18 / 25

Excitement :    4 / 10

Memorability : 6 / 15

Overall Score : 56% (9th out of 156)

Day 155 - Saturday, June 4th, 2011

The morning got off to an unfortunate start with Al The Almera revealing himself to have only his 2nd ever puncture in 11 and a half years, which upon review is entirely forgiveable. After displaying some dextrous wheel-changing skills, I headed into town to pick up English, Conquer and Danny The Swede to embark on another epic boozy golfing weekend. First port of call was Highfield Golf Club in County Kildare, which offered a round of golf for only €10 each, via CityDeal, naturally. The course is extremely well designed, with a host of devious dog-leg holes, and much water to content with, but sadly it is not particularly well maintained. The round started with more blistering sunshine, but matters had clouded over by the 12th hole or so, although it stayed very much dry throughout, except for my golf balls, that is.

With haste we sped off afterwards, stopping soon afterwards for a pint in a country pub, some epic chicken curry n chips, and viewing of the Epsom Derby, won by 2nd favourite Pour Moi, for the record. Thirty more minutes of driving and we were in our home for the evening, the Westgrove Hotel in Clane. There were no twin rooms left, even though we had booked same, but the nice lady at reception arranged extra beds to be installed well ahead of the time that they would actually be required.

After some jacuzzi and steam room relaxation, the bar was hit at about 6pm and was not left until 3am, and that was only because some ladies on a hen night invited us to their room party but en route, the Hen Leader caught wind of the invitation and promptly but apologetically reversed the decision! Beforehand, epic games of dominoes were enjoyed, where Team Trance defeated Team Ski by 3 sets to 2. The Republic of Ireland were cheered to a 3-0 victory over Macedonia and a house band then regaled us with some excellent guitar-based choons.

  
The 1st tee-off is on the roof of the clubhouse at Highfield!

Contentment : 17 / 25
Excitement :    4.5 / 10
Memorability : 7 / 15

Overall Score : 57% (6th out of 155)

Day 154 - Friday, June 3rd, 2011

The sun shone gloriously today, even more so than yesterday, so what better than an early afternoon trip to nearby Fairview Park, to listen to choons, read the i newspaper and enjoy a bottle of Kopperberg Summer Fruits and a can of Carlsberg Export, whilst catching many rays? A word about the i (yes, its name really is just one lower-case letter) - it costs just 30 cents (20p in the UK) and it has made me fall in love with newspapers again, as it's unbiased, has great international coverage, excellent sport, and bagloads of puzzles, including a Cryptic Crossword that explains the solutions, so I have managed to learn how to solve quite a few clues after being largely clueless (snigger) in this regard for decades.

Evening arrives, and time to make a beeline to Dublin's only bar on the Liffey, the Cill Airne, which was packed but not uncomfortably so, to meet up with Trev for a few (which translates as eight here in Ireland) pints that went down extremely well.


Even this part of Fairview Park looks awesome on a sunny day!

Contentment : 17 / 25
Excitement :    3 / 10
Memorability : 4.5 / 10

Overall Score : 49% (22nd out of 154)

Day 153 - Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

An early start to the day, and a jaunt in Al The Almera back to Knightsbrook Golf Club for another Citydeal round of golf on the course that will host the Junior Solheim Cup this September, followed by a two-course lunch, all for €27.50 each. Despite the weather conditions being near perfect, I managed to score even more badly than the last time - 126, including an horrendous 9 at the Par 3 18th, where I donated two balls to the lake that fronts the green. Darren played very well in only his 2nd round of the year, going round in 89, if I recall correctly.

Lunch of vegetable soup and beef stir-fry with noodles was enjoyed on their verandah in the stone-splitting 24 degree sunshine, before heading back into the city. Time for Thursday Night Darts Club 87, where six athletes made it to the oche, despite the blistering Mediterannean conditions. Yet again, the night ended in utter drama - with John "The Equaliser" Delaney securing a 31st title, but only after surviving the High Score shoot-out at the end of the night, where Gar "Milky Bar" Kiernan was denied the 2 points that he needed to win by Mark "Maverick" Delaney with his final dart of the evening, which deflected out of the 20 (that would have been enough) into the 5.

                                          From left to right, 1st and 2nd on the night

Contentment : 17 / 25
Excitement :    3.5 / 10
Memorability : 4.5 / 15

Overall Score : 50%  (18th out of 153)

Day 152 - Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Shopping was the order of the day today, taking a LUAS into town to ebgage in a slew of purchases that were more essential buys than retail therapy. 15 pairs of black socks were acquired, allowing me to rather pleasingly dump all current ones, most of whom had seen better days - thank you Penneys for your cotton-rich wares! Shirts, black shoes, brown shoes, ties - all thoroughly unexciting but necessary for clothing requirements at Maples Fund Services, where suits and ties form the dress code.

Dinner was of the mouth-watering home-cooked variety - haddock fillets, garden peas and hot-sauce infused fried beans - utterly and sensationally tasty!

                                                                       Salivating, nicht?

Contentment : 13 / 25
Excitement :    1.5 / 10
Memorability : 2.5 / 15

Overall Score : 34% (79th out of 152)

Day 151 - Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

After a day of resplendent dossery, 'twas time to amble to Tuesday Night Golf Club, which saw a record 10 athletes tee-off on the virtual Belfry course that proved to be a sterner-than-average test. Despite several recent appalling rounds of actual golf, I produced sparkling virtuosity to record a score of 34 points and 2nd place, beaten only by new Swedish sensation Fredrik, who scored 38 points off a handicap of 10. Alas not such fine fare for debutant Enda, who came joint 9th with 21 points, but improvement will surely be nigh.

Onwards to the traditional post-TNGC venue of The Oarsman tavern, where heated debate was inevitably the order of the evening. The main motions were "That Deer Park in Howth is a toilet of a course" and "That it is fine to smash someone's windscreen with a golf ball and not report it." (For the record, I took a strong "Against" stance to both.)


Going bats at The Belfry

Contentment : 14.5 / 25
Excitement :    3 / 10
Memorability : 3.5 / 15

Overall Score : 42% (44th out of 151)
 

Day 150 - Monday, May 30th, 2011

Aha!, another blogging milestone - 150 days of it now. Thanks for all your support and comments, and here's to another 200+ days of varying contentment, excitement and memorability in the year ahead.

Lunch was consumed in a pleasingly leisurely style with great friend Dessie O'Donoghue, whom I hadn't seen in an age, mainly due to his hefty schedule of daytime travail and nocturnal parenting on the double (to Jack and Gavin, and aided most magnificently by wife Trish). The venue was Bliss - an old favourite from the time that I worked on Harcourt Street - and once again it failed to disappoint, with complimentary garlic bread, awesome vegetable soup with brown bread, lentil and kidney bean curry, and peppermint tea. Quali'y!

I then moseyed down to check out where my forthcomign place of work is specifically located - due to being wined and dined (actually there was no wine) in the Shelbourne Hotel's Saddle Room during the interview process, I had yet to find this out! Turns out that the office is located in a swanky-looking building right behind St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, which is just about as central a location as exists in this fine city.

Further moseyage, onward to Cineworld, where I viewed just one film. "Are you feverish?", I hear you ask with heart-rending concern, but in truth, there was not too many to choose from. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2, for instance, did not particularly appeal. I did view The Hangover 2 (5/10) which deserved even less marks for having the most lazy and poorly-written script and storyline, but was an entertaining watch with a few laugh-out-loud moments, most of which were at points where it was inappropriate to do so. At least 3 of the 5 points can be directly attributed to the performances of Ken Jeong and Zach Greek-name-but-crazy-American-bloke.


Toodle-oo, bitches!

Contentment : 15.5 / 25
Excitement :    2 / 10
Memorability : 2 / 15

Overall Score : 39% (58th out of 150)

Day 149 - Sunday. May 29th, 2011

Today, 'twas off to the Spa Hotel in Lucan (which ironically does not have a spa) for a family celebration, commemorating Aunt Geraldine's 50 years in nun showbusiness - FIFTY YEARS! Yes, she entered the convent at 16 and has been working as a Bon Secours nun, nurse and pastoral care worker ever since - a truly spectacular achievement.

Mass took place at the hotel, during which she renewed her vows before friends and family, and this was followed by a slap-up feast of Roasted Vegetable soup, sirloin of beef with potatoes and vegetables, chocolate gateau, and anniversary cake, followed further by the yodellings of a country 'n western band. Aunt Geraldine declared dancing to be mandatory for all, and thus it came to pass!

It was also the first time since Christmas that all McEvoys were present and correct - Mum and Dad freshly back from a holiday in Italy, Shane and Suzetta freshly back from a weekend in the swanky Monart Spa in Wexford (which does indeed possess a spa), Austin and Joanne freshly back from a wedding in Kilkenny, and Olivia and Joan freshly back from Stoneybatter, where they live.


The Spa Hotel without a spa, but charming none the less

Contentment : 16 / 25
Excitement :    4 / 10
Memorability : 5.5 / 15

Overall Score  : 51% (15th out of 149)