We'd already decided to move flat a while ago - what with the impossibly high rent and low salary combination we're sporting, and the new family addition - but with the arrival of the St. George magazine in our letterbox it almost felt like we were being told to leave. I had no idea that the apartment complex that we've been living in was aimed at such high rollers. This is a free magazine that advertises only the most luxurious accommodation in the most expensive London boroughs. Kind of the property equivalent of the pretty disgusting Square Mile magazine, it was full of ads for super yachts, private jets and luxury penthouses - perfect investments for those looking to keep large amounts of cash away from prying tax collectors. The cover of this issue features some ugly new apartment tower that's going to be build right on the river in central London, near the Tate modern gallery - a huge blight if there ever was one. Who do they think is actually living in our apartment block?! I guess it's not totally surprising - some of the properties that are worth well over a million pounds around London look drab and crap. Of course everywhere looks drab after 8 months of winter. link

Ok, I owe the rats an apology. It seems they haven't been scurrying around the attic at 5am every morning, chewing on wood, waking us up and causing us to gradually go insane. This is despite a pest control company having come out on site and setting up rat bait traps. We asked them whether it could have been other animals, having noticed holes in the eaves of the roof from outside. But they assured us that the traps would help the situation, and that the rats were probably coming inside during the coldest part of the night for warmth. Well now it turns out it was the birds! The feckin birds... These guys are in every tree in the neighbourhood and make up for their noisy cries by looking amazing. The sit sunning themselves on the building tops in the mornings and have no problem relaxing on balconies and our drying clothes. The pest control company spoke to some bird experts and I'm not sure exactly what happened but we came home the other day, saw that the roof hole was covered, and we've been sleeping through the night since. What a joy to sleep through the night.

Well we've finally had enough of paying through the nose for our current place and we're moving down the road by about half an hour drive. Much closer to work and much cheaper rent. On the other hand, much much grubbier apartment. The worst part of moving is the disassembling of the bloody IKEA furniture. Patiently unscrewing every bolt with the tiny allen key, trying not to breath in two years worth of dust from crevices that haven't seen daylight since then, knowing that in 24 hours I'll have to do the whole thing in reverse. Coming a close second to that is spending literally hours and hours on hold, during work and on my mobile, to various utilities to tell them I'm moving, only to have them inform me of the $50 moving fee or disconnection and reconnection fee, or of the 10 business days it will take to setup or whatever. We're definitely going to miss living near Crows Nest. So many nice cafes and restaurants open all hours right at your feet. Plenty of amenities, parks, and a really nice trains station equipped with it's own plaza and outdoor dining. The closest thing to scangers we usually saw were the magpies that would try and steal your food.

Seems like I'm referencing the NYTimes a lot recently but.. Pretty surprised to find my old neighbourhood featuring in their travel section. Smithfield was a real handy place to live for a while - by Dublin standards the apartment was great, nice supermarket downstairs, a tram stop and a ten minute walk to the city centre. Add to that a 10 minute walk to work and it was pretty sweet. However, the whole place was supposed to become a big cultural centre and tourist draw, but it just never materialised. Apart from those living in the apartments heading off to work the whole area always felt very empty. Lots of scangers at night time, the strange sight of the Traveller's monthly horse market, far too many empty shop and office units on street level; I knew the place was going nowhere after a dodgy Paddy Power opened. Still, the NYTimes seems more optimistic about the area, despite the recession.. link

By my reckoning its been Christmas since some time late in Septemeber. But thats fine, it was like that last year and I think I might soon becoming immune. However my hopes had risen slightly when it seemed like the annual outdoor skating rink in Smithfield would be cancelled this year due to apparent laziness on behalf of someone somewhere in the chain of command. My memories of it last year are being awoken at the crack of dawn (thats around 8.15am in January) to the same songs on a loop blasting out of the speakers. I never actually went down and tried it cos the place would always be full of little scangers and soggy skates. Anyway, hopes are now officially dashed as last week Dublin City Council got their act together and recruited some other company to set it up and as I write they're erecting it in the plaza, this year with a roof. via Hanging Hat

One of the advantages of living in Smithfield is the occasional little festival or show. According to posters put up around the place there was going to be some sort of parade and exhibition. So tonight we stood outside for ages as speakers blasted out the themes to Ghostbusters, Halloween and Thriller on an endless loop. Then finally around the corner came a huge procession of kids in costume and drummers and assorted monsters and we were treated to a fireworks-pupperty combo thing..

After extended practice I've attained some mastery over many kinds of culinary spices and seasonings (read: salt AND pepper) and thought I was ready to graduate to the next level - herbs. So while browsing I passed by a novel little thing called a "Pocket Garden" and kind of fell for the idea. Grow your own basil..in a bag! What could be simpler?! .. a lot apparently. I've been waiting weeks and weeks now..offering the kind of care only a horticultural master could offer (read: watering) and have even sung a few bars of some of classic tunes for encouragement. But as of yet...nothing. I was supposed to see results after two weeks. I thought I noticed some green shoots the other day but it turned out to be mold or fungus or something. Nothing really edible unless I'm really hungry.

Woke up on Sunday to find the horse market in full swing outside. This is where, once a month, farmers and assorted scruffy looking kids get together to trade filthy looking ponys for wads of cash. This monthly gathering predates the building of these apartments by many a decade, so I guess it shouldn't come as a huge suprise. But the few times its occurred so far while I've been here "business" has been over by around noon, leaving only the horse manure to be washed away in the rain. This time however it kept going until well into the afternoon, there were loads more horses and loads more annoying teenagers. The local supermarket and video rental shop had to close, while the cashier of the local Spar had to suddenly become a bouncer, preventing all the kids getting inside. Horses were raced up and down the square in small chariots all afternoon - when I returned in the evening the place was full of rubbish and horse shit. Keiko was bemused enough, but I can't even imagine what all the tourists in both neighbouring hotels must have thought when they looked out their window. Surely not the city streets of Dublin in 21st century Ireland. There was a lunar eclipse on Saturday night too. The sky was clear and judging from all the other efforts on flickr, a good chance to take a photo. My effort left something to be desire though. On Friday I had the rare chance of going to see a play again - the first time in three years and a David Mamet one again - American Buffalo. I didn't have much idea about the plot beforehand except that there guy from the Wire was in it. He played one of the main characters like a cross between The Dude and Tyler Durden. The whole thing was pretty good (even if the American accents weren't quite up to scratch sometimes) and the place was packed out, possibly full of other people who'd been waiting for the rare chance to see another kind of play in Ireland (the other ones being laments about rural life in Ireland 100 years ago..and Shakespeare).

So I was in Tesco tonight at about 11pm; one of the only 24 hour supermarkets in Ireland I think. The place was by no means deserted but the shelves were. So i discovered that you can buy 2 litres of tesco "cola" for 30cents. That must be cheaper than tap water. You can also buy a separate brand of tesco cola for 45 cents, the only difference being that the label resembled coke slightly more and had a "produced in ireland" slapped on the front. Just what the presice difference between "made in ireland" and "produced in ireland" i don't quite know. Regular 2 litre coke was 1.29 i think. Of course it goes without saying that nobody was buying tesco cola.. How can they make it that cheap? i mean, what must they be putting in it (or not putting in it that makes it so cheap). Likewise with actual coke, what do they have thay makes it 100 times as expensice. Could it be down to the amount of ink on the label? I doubt it.. This is kind of a roundabout way of complaing about food prices here. In the past few years or so, the price of food has gone up loads and is now waay to much (how's that for vagueness). There are less and less traditional newsagents, and more and more so called convenience shops like Centra and Spar. Now having come back from Japan not so very long ago, I know good convenience stores, like Lawson or Family Mart - these places stay open all night, have hot food round the clock, ATM's, friendly teenage staff and stuff. But here the price we pay for brightly lit interiors and clean sandwich deli's is sky high cots and crappy choice. But the good news is I've found an apartment!!..whohoo.. will be moving out next week. Its all happening pretty fast since I went to view the place. But its new, bang in the middle of town and the rent is pretty ok. And I've finally switched over to flickr for all my photo's..no more stealing hosted space from my uncle :) Its just a question of uploading everything now.