waiting in Dublin

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building, chnages, Dublin, photography, photos, waiting, waiting in Dublin

Yesterday i spent the day waiting for things to happen – a phone call, a meeting, at an appointment, on the bus, and in the end on a friend, who never showed. Waiting in Dublin isn’t uncommon – after all we are a land of queuing – but yesterday my waiting just wasn’t really rewarded.

As I sat in the cafe, waiting for my friend to show, I sipped a double espresso and watched strangers arrive in groups of twos and threes, one eye on my book one one the door I couldn’t help but feel hopeful every-time the door pinged open.  After a few chapters my cup was empty and I decided it was time to go. I swung my bag over my shoulder and began the walk home.

Currently Dublin is one big building site, the roads are waiting for the Luas to be finally finished, empty plots lie in wait for workmen to build houses on them, old building hold up signs of notification waiting for renovations to begin. It feels  as if the whole city is waiting on the brink of some sort of new beginning.

So while I walked through a waiting Dublin I couldn’t help but smile and think how well I fit in.

while waiting for some coffee I took a trip around the world

an empty lot waiting for some workmen

a window waiting to be done up

a gentle gesture

Tags

Dublin, feeling grateful, home, homeless, homelessness, homelessness crises, Ireland, sleeping rough

Late yesterday evening, when I arrived back home after lecturing, a wave of emotions rushed over me as soon as I passed through my own front door. It was a mixture of gratitude and grief for a couple of strangers I had met while walking to the bus on my way back from work.

It all began when, for reasons unknown to me, I decided to take a different route to the bus stop than I usually do. As I walked down Grafton street, just before ten at night, it dawned on me that I hadn’t been there it quite some time and the amount of homeless sleeping in doorways filled me with sadness.

Of course I have been reading the news and am aware of the problem of the increase of homeless people that Ireland, Dublin in particular, has been facing. And I know that the number of women and children sleeping rough has gone up dramatically over the last two years, but somehow the contrast of brightly lit shops and people lying on cardboard in the the doorways was something I just hadn’t seen in a while and it pained me.

Walking passed the sleeping figures I felt powerless and saddened, really not knowing what to do. As I approached the most expensive shop in Dublin, luxury brands and high-end design adorning its windows, things I sometimes covet but can never afford, I saw two figures huddled together in the doorway next to it. As I came closer I could see how a man had curled his body inwards, protectively around the sleeping woman beside him and in a moment of intimacy he lifted his hand to tenderly tuck her tightly in to her worn and tatty sleeping bag and stroked her cheek with such a gentle gesture that I felt I was invading a very private moment.

That gesture of love and caring hit me hard in the chest and I knew I couldn’t just walk by. Not wanting to disturb them too much I did the only thing I could and offered to buy them something warm to eat. His face lit up and he asked for a burger, she was deep in dreamland and he didn’t want to wake her.

Knowing that my gesture was only small I felt humbled by his gratitude and on the bus ride home his gentle gesture wouldn’t leave my thoughts. Once home I couldn’t but feel grateful for the four walls I live in, even though the rent has gone up putting financial strain on me. I felt thankful for the privacy my home provides me, that I have food in the fridge and a bed to sleep in. Closing my eyes that night I kept thinking of the couple sleeping huddled together in the doorway and hoped that at least their obvious love for each other could provide some comfort – until hopefully they too could find a home to feel safe in.

feeling grateful for my home

sunny Sunday afternoon

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Clontarf, coffee and pastry, Dublin, Fairview, front door, home, perfect day, sunny Sunday

The arrival of summer time  was accompanied by a beautiful sunny day. The sky was blue, cloudless, and while it may have looked a little warmer from inside the house than the strong wind let it actually be, it was still a perfect spring day.

Because I didn’t want to waste it by staying indoors I got on my bike and went for a cycle to Clontarf. And I wasn’t the only one!

As I rode through Fairview park multitudes were playing football and even more were populating the playgrounds. Mums and Dads sat on benches and blankets, some with picnics others with bags of deliciously smelling chips.  On the promenade the picture didn’t change, it just got a little busier.

Bikes, prams, in-liners, scooters, tricycles and pedestrians – with and without dogs of all shapes and sizes – made their way along the seafront, chatter and laughter, some shouts and barks filling the air with life.

I had thought I’d find a spot in one of the beachfront cafes to enjoy the sun and a cup of coffee while I read but if the promenade was busy the eateries were bursting. So instead of stopping and sitting for a while I decided to make my way back home and sit outside my own front door. Enjoying the wind in my back and the sun on my face I took a quick pit-stop in a local shop (some yogurt, bread and milk for my breakfast was required) and bought myself a small pastry for less than half what it would have cost at a cafe.

Once perched on my bench, a book in my hand I couldn’t help but think that I had made the right decision. After all sometimes you find happiness right on your doorstep!

my Sunday treat: a freshly brewed double espresso and an apple pastry

weather talks

Tags

Dublin, Ireland, photo photography, rain, strangers, talk, weather

After more than 24 hours of rain, wet socks, frizzy hair, and damp clothes it’s great to see a little bit of blue poking out between the clouds. Especially since the last two nights have been long and sleepless as the tattoo of heavy rain beating against my window has kept me awake for most of the night.

But no matter how miserable the weather proves to be the thing I enjoy most is the amount of strangers who strike up conversations by stating this obvious fact. On both bus rides to and fro from work – I declined to walk as the weather was just too wet – my seat companion told me in no uncertain terms that we were having  ‘shocking weather’ while their umbrellas dripped puddles onto my already wet shoes. Knowing the rules of the game I, of course,  answered the only way one can: with a pinched smile, a nod, a sigh, and a ‘I know, isn’t awful!’

Our shared commiseration about something we cannot change opened up the floodgates (couldn’t resist the pun) to stories of a few strangers lives. I heard all about the disasters of the paper shopping bags Pennys uses ‘sure they just rip, now me shopping is drowned’  and the splashing cars, bikes and buses soaking ‘me legs’.

While I nodded along to the lamentations I remembered a statistic I read a good while ago. It it it said that Irish people, on average, talk about the weather at least twice a day and 25% of the population even go so far as to talk about the sun and rain four times daily.

I suppose this means that with the ever changing of weather in Ireland at least no one will ever be stumped for conversation and weather talks will stay an easy way to connect.

leaf puddle in my backyard

 

Paddy’s Day in my PJs

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Dublin, Ireland, St Paddy's Day, St Patrick, St Patrick's Day, St Patrick's Day parade

In good old Irish tradition the skies are grey over Dublin on St Patrick’s Day, but at least it isn’t raining anymore. And while tourists and kids are craning their necks and getting their eyes poked out by umbrella spokes trying to catch a glimpse of the Paddy’s Day parade, I am at home lounging around in my PJs.

As a kid my parents took my sister and me down to O’Connell Street and I do vaguely remember wet days, marching bands, small floats and cold feet. But those were the pre-boom era parades, now they have gone a little bit over the top with samba-dancers turning blue while shaking their hips to samba beats in the Irish weather and international marching bands putting on a display.

Nowadays I like to stay home, enjoy a day off and enjoy just being home. But a pair of shamrock socks are my little nod to Saint Patrick.

St Paddy’s Day socks

going sock-less

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Dublin, fashion, photography, photos, shoes, sock-less, spring, sun, weather

Over the past few days spring has fully sprung in Dublin, the sun has been shining, the trees have been blooming and everything is waking up from the long winter sleep. With the temperatures rising I have decided to let the weather ‘knock my socks off’ (couldn’t resist this awful pun) and relegate my socks to the back of the drawer and go sock-less again. So over the last three days my feet have been bare in my shoes and I have enjoyed the freedom of unhindered wiggling of toes.

Now I only hope that my socklessness state can continue until much later this year and who knows, maybe by offering up an extra few patches of exposed skin to the sun my vitamin D intake will skyrocket. Additionally I won’t need to spend time sorting my socks – I like them in pairs – and I’ll even save some (even if only small) space in the washing machine.

So maybe I should look around and see what else I could dispel and discover what I may gain by doing so.

standing in a spot of sun

another brick in the wall

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another brick on the wall, Dublin, graffiti, graffiti Dublin, Pink Floyd, thoughts, wall art

Walking home the other day I saw something out of the corner of my eye and stopped to take a closer look. It was an unassuming line of graffiti stenciled onto the quay wall, just a little way off the ground, maybe at thigh level. It read: Don’t be another brick in the wall. First it made me smile and then it made me think.

I looked around and saw how most of the people walking across the bridge or down the quays were engrossed in their phones, faces tilted downwards, eyes glued to the screens, some were wearing headphones, others just a faraway look.

As I walked away, Pink Floyd the soundtrack in my head,  I couldn’t help but wonder what the graffiti artist meant, was it just a little joke about walls and bricks or was he trying to tell passersby to not build walls around themselves that detach them from reality, or to not become a brick in someone else’s wall but to become an active part in their lives.

However the artist meant it I did feel that the words were somehow hidden in plain sight – like a secret I was let in on just because I stopped and looked and didn’t just walk by, my eyes fixed on my phone. I wondered how many others had spotted it, how many would or would it be just another neglected piece of graffiti that, unnoticed, would wash away in time.

To me it was just a simple reminder that the world around me is so much more interesting and surprising than anything I could find in my phone with the added bonus that it is real, not just a fictional online world that in the end is often too fast-paced to make any long-lasting impact.

walking by and made to think

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shine

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Dublin, photography, photos, Shine, urban landscape, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Shine

When the autumn sun hangs low in the sky, just before it sinks into night, everything is dipped in a golden hue. For a few brief moments the whole world becomes beautiful, discarding its urban dullness in the setting sun. Even the bollards around the corner take on a golden glow and shine in the reflecting sun.

sunny days in Dublin

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autumn, Autumn in Dublin, Dublin, Dublin roadworks, Ireland, photography, photos, sunny days, walking around Dublin

Dublin has been beautiful this Autumn as we have had our fair share of beautifully sunny days. And since the roads are full of roadworks I’ve often opted to leave my bike at home and walk around town. And while it may take  a little longer I have been enjoying experiencing the city I live in on foot and thought I’d share a few photos I took with my phone this week.

roadworks are everywhere in Dublin

enjoying the sun while walking down the boardwalk

being eyed up by a bird

wisps of clouds

the Custom House is looking its best

the sun painting houses orange

friendly Sundays

Tags

Dublin, friends, guiness, local, local pub, pints, Sundays

Sundays are the days I often spend on my own, reading, cleaning, watching good/bad TV and more often than not I begin organising the week that lies ahead. But yesterday afternoon I broke from habit and met up with a friend in our local pub.

Since I’m not a big fan of beer a drop of blackcurrant into my Guinness sweetened the deal and I enjoyed the malty taste. We sat and chatted over an early pint and met a few colourful locals.

Some football was on the big screen but most sat and talked, a family with three kids sat in the corner sharing packets of crisps while the parents each nursed a pint. Three hipsters chatted in muted tones, there hair perfectly coiffed their trousers pulled low. Tucked away in a corner a couple of old men in their Sunday best talked about racing their faces wrinkly from past smiles, their hands hugging their pint. At the bar some scaffolders, razor blade bald and full of banter making fun of everyone who dared enter but making more fun of each other.

So while you won’t be finding me down in the pub every Sunday it was great to get out and jump into something new and enjoy a Sunday afternoon with friends. So maybe every now and then I’ll wander down for a pint and a bit of banter and turn my local into a place to discover more about Dublin life.

a pint with a friend