Busy Doing Nothing

So I am heading into my fourth week and still no sign of a job.....this is becoming a bit of a disaster but I am sure something will turn up.....I hope. 


The good news is I have seen quite a few of the nice parts of Dublin. Phoenix Park is fantastic. It is a huge city park with deer rocking around in it, sports pitches, and it is the home of Dublin Zoo. The weather was nice and the picnic was super. Visiting the park highlighted some real differences between London and Dublin. Like I say, it was a nice day. On a nice London day, any spare bit of grass is rammed full of garden-less London types  drinking Pimms and making merry. In Phoenix park it was empty....there was no-one else within 400 meters of us. There was also 6 empty football pitches and it was early on a Sunday afternoon! This is all without mentioning the 100ft Papal Cross dominating one side of the park. 


There is also a huge obelisk in honour of the Duke of Wellington  who was born in Dublin. On each side of the base there are brass plaques denoting important battles cast in bronze form cannons captures at Waterloo. Running up the obelisk itself are all his great victories which I, of course, recognised from my extensive reading of Sharpe. 


Buoyed by this sense of shared history I then headed to the National Museum of Ireland.. If you are British I suggest you give it a miss. It should be renamed the Museum of Inciting Hatred of the British (particularly the English). I came out hating the ruddy murderous Brits as much anyone else....Well not quite. After reading how much better the world would have been if the Spanish Armada had won or if Napoleon had crushed the English ,  I got in a bad mood and then went home. 


Last night went for a lovely walk on Dun Laoghaire harbour wall..beautiful

Body and Soul

Last weekend I headed to the Body and Soul Festival in West Meath. It was 2 days of camping and music. It was a great chance to try out our new tent and inflatable mattress. The tent was a  success but inflating the bed was like one of the labours of Hercules. You needed the use of a bed after inflating it. There has to be a better way. 


There was a gang of J's friends going. At festivals you have a lot of time to hang about and sitting around talking shite is something I enjoy immensely.  It was nice to hang out with them and having some shared experiences helps a lot with getting to know her friends and taking the pressure of J. 


The downside was the music...it was simply dreadful. Dreadful apart from a band called Delorean.





I also found a dislike which is always nice..... People who take babies to a festival for two days.

Thwarted

Apparently there was a lunar eclipse last night...not that we could see it though. J, M and I headed to the beach to have a look, unburdened by any knowledge about where it might appear if the clouds did break for a second. Luckily there was a chap (left) who did know and he also told us that the space station would be visible shortly after. As we stood there looking up we gathered a little crowd. They included a rather odd lady (who may have been English) who was furious with the cloud and and older chap with shorts and fag. Fag man asked us what was up and our expert explained about the moon and space station. Shortly after a middle aged  jogger came over concerned asking us what was happening. The old boy, his eyes fixed on the sky and fag in corner of his mouth explained, '" The moon is about to go in and then there will be a spaceship". I am not sure what she thought but she promptly continued her jog. 


Not wanting to be thought of as a UFO spotter I decided we should walk to the waters edge and then we made our way home. 




I write this taking a  time out from doing some work and listening to the Sri Lanka test on Test Match Special. Nothing reminds me of England more than Cricket on the radio. 

Pixie Lady

Flew back to blighty on Friday for the long awaited Bad Thing gig in Devon. I flew in to Exeter airport and I can't help liking small airports. There is less to buy and do but I would happily swop that for the friendly staff and speed you get through security. Like Blackpool (International) it was 5 mins from landing to being in the car with Firehands, of on our way to Ottery St Mary. The Bad Thing were booked to play at Pixie Day. We were to play twice. A couple of songs during the ceremony itself and later at the fair before the fireworks. 


First job though was to build the pixie cave.......

Firehands, Jem (Si's mate) and I set about building it.Despite it being made of wood, cardboard and bubblewrap in the end it looked fairly respectable.


The rest of the band arrived the Saturday lunchtime. In true Bad Thing style with only hours till we played we had no idea what we were going to play let alone in what order. 4 hours of graft and a lovely lamb meal later we were loading our kit into a van and off to the town square. 


The main Pixie Day event worked like this; 

• The roads were closed to the main square by the police
• The Legend of the Pixies was read out...(this time by Firehands dressed as a Monk)
• The Head Pixie (a local child in full pixie outfit) read a short piece and then asked where the other pixies were
• what seemed like a 1000 Pixies (probably only 50 local Cubs and Brownies dressed as pixies) came screaming into the square and ran around the square....screaming
• They then headed,screaming, up to the church to capture the bell ringers
• The crowd left behind was entertained by Elfic the Jester (very good) 
• The Pixies came, still screaming, back to the square  with the bell ringers
• They disappeared through the Pixie Cave (ignoring the fact that it was a meter too small in all dimensions....) 
• Elfic did a bit more
• Firehands read the Pixie Blessing
• The Pxies and the Bell Ringers squeeze through the tiny cave
• The Bad Thing Started to play
• The Police immediately opened the road
• The Bad Thing continued to play with cars whizzing past them. 

We then packed up and headed down to the park to get set up for the evening set. On the way I tried to by beer for the boys but failed as the shop keeper wouldn't accept Northern Ireland Sterling. I argued my case calmly and eloquently but he couldn't care less and H had to come and bail me out. 

The evening gig went well and despite our lack of practice in the preceding months we were on fire. Particular highlights were;

• BF's mandolin solo in our version of Spinal Tap's Stonehenge
• H's Drum solo. He lost his stool early on and it gave it added intensity.
• BF changing Foxey Lady to Pixie Lady (Even if the lyrics sounded a bit odd considering the age of the Pixies) 

First Week

I started my first week as I meant to go on...with a bank holiday. 

Things I achieved since Tuesday:

• Applied for a job in a University as a Student Engagement Officer
• Sent my CV to an acting Co-op
• Sent my CV to two production companies.
• Nearly got my Tax number.......nearly

I also played my first game of cricket for a long time turning out for a social team called The Architects XI. It was mixed teams and that gave it an added element of fun. I can't remember who we were playing but they were a nice bunch and their opening bowler looked like Chabal. 

Anyone who has played or indeed seen me play cricket would know I am at best a bowler and not a very good one at that. I think my accent gave everyone a false view and I ended up opening the bowling and batting. 

It was played under 'Taverner's Rules' which are;

1. 15 over innings
2. You cannot be out 1st ball
3. You cannot be out LBW
4. You have to retire at 20
5. You can only bowl 2 overs max
6. Only 2 wides an over count (everything else is re-bowled) 

Evo's Stats were-

Batting

Eveson- Bowled Aziz caught Chabal- 14

After some sublime hooks for 4 to the backward square leg the bowler spotted my weakness and bowled one outside off stump that I predictably slashed at and nicked. The wicketkeeper fluffed it and Chabal caught at slip.

Bowling

Eveson- 2-0-1-4

1st over was unthreatening but straight but  I managed to get a catch out of  their number 2.  My second over came towards the end of the game when things were hotting up. Off two steps I  let one fly and it had yorker written all over it. The opposition wicket keeper ( a 50+ Lady who plays for the womens team) was batting and took a big step and swiped it. She swiped it right off the top edge of the bat and it crashed into her eye. That was the end of her day.

It ended up an amicable draw at 73 a piece.

I saw the wicket keeper in bar after and her eye had completely closed.......It was not the best way to ingratiate myself to a nation. 

Stags and Rods

I arrived in Dublin on the Wednesday afternoon and promptly left next morning to MS's Stag. It was a great weekend and heavy on the booze but I am not going to bore you with that. 


One highlight for me was before everyone arrived on the Friday I spent the afternoon fly fishing on Sir Bob's lakes at the bottom of their gardens. Although I landed nothing at all in my 5 hours it is totally addictive and I can't wait to go again. Casting is a real skill and unbelievably satisfying. 

The Fishing Lake

The stag went well and it was great bunch of people to spend the weekend. 

Booze

Oscar Mirror drawing (very impressive)

Nottingham's new flag. Unofficially named the Outlaw

Dublin

The Evo has landed

Blackpool International

Arrived in plenty of time.
Apparently sets of darts are not acceptable in hand luggage. In fact it is quite frowned upon. Not that frowned upon though that airport security won't take them out to your Dad's car for you though.

Packing

Finished packing at 9 this morning....at 2am last night I thought it would never happen! (see pic) The suitcase weighs in at 19.75kg only 250g under the allowed amount.....perfect. I haven't got everything in there I'd like but more than enough for now.

Flight at 2:30. Leaving the farm now.