I remember the Smithfield Horse show with less than fondness. Once a month we'd be woken on Sunday mornings to the noise of hundreds of horses out in the square below our apartment. And then all the crap (literally) left over after they went. I really liked living there but it was always such a crazy situation to have this in the middle of a huge apartment complex and two hotels. So it was a little embarrassing to hear about the recent shooting there during the Horse market and not the kind of thing I want to show my wife to persuade her to visit her old home again. As is fitting for a classy newspaper like the Dail Mail, they labelled it a "Big fat gypsy shoot-out". It was of course on the local news. I think I'll skip mentioning it to the guys at work.

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).