Blue Moon....in more ways than one...

First: what is it with Irish men and mooning?

Saturday evening just past, I'm lounging on the couch, watching telly and possibly doing some form of needlework, when the doorbell rings. Hmmm, I think to myself, I'm not expecting anyone, so who could this be? Probably someone wanting to sell me poxy pictures or something. Anyway, I trundle upstairs to get my keys. When I open the door, this is what I see: a 10-12 year old boy standing on the footpath outside our wee front garden, with his back to me. Dotted along the street are other members of his posse, happily displaying their backsides to me (ie. mooning). When they see me, they start screeching and running off. I shake my head (or maybe I just do that internally, not being as exhibitionist as my gentleman callers), and close the door.

To be perfectly honest, I found the whole incident slightly creepy. I have absolutely no idea why they picked our house, or why they even came up with this idea, although truth be told, this is not the first instance on record (either personal or public).

A few years ago, we were walking down Grafton Street around midnight on a Friday, when 3 guys decide to moon us, completely without provocation. These guys may have had the excuse of drink to resort to, but I sure hope the same does not apply to the kids in my estate! Anyway, I sincerely hope that's the last I see that much of them......

Second: I finally got a guitar!

This has been on the list since April, when I got 'guitar funds' for my birthday. It's an Essex SX handmade acoustic, for those of you in the know (doesn't include me yet), and I think it looks pretty darn good. I got a book on how to learn the guitar so I'll get started on that the first chance I get. Yay!

BEWARE THE U2MANIAC!!

This is what happens when you say certain things about Bono in my hearing....

So, I admit it - I am really a U2maniac....it's not just an easily memorable email address.....

Havhingsten fra Glendalough - The Sea Stallion from Glendalough

Wrecks of Viking longships were found in Roskilde Fjord in the 60s. At some stage they found out that one of them had been built in Glendalough in Ireland app. 1000 years before. So then they decided to build a replica and sail it back to Ireland in homage of our shared heritage, and to see what it was like and all that.

So here it is! The Sea Stallion from Glendalough, which arrived in Dublin yesterday after leaving Roskilde on 1 July. It was very rainy when we got there, after work, but that just means there aren't hordes of people on my pictures. Hehe.


Anyway, we were sneaking peeks at the live footage from the actual arrival in the afternoon, and it was a very impressive sight, seeing the ship come up the Liffey, with the bright yellow-and-red sail blazing. They had to take it down pretty soon though, to row to shore.

Here is a picture of the big poster, where you can see the sail:

Very funny story from the Real Life

This is about a friend of a friend who has a 4-year-old boy.

Recently they went to the zoo. The boy got lost, and when the mother found him after 45 minutes or so, he was crouched in a corner, clutching his backpack. He insisted on going home, and not even the promise of a visit to the toy shop could lure him. He just wanted to go home and have a bath. Naturally, this freaked the mum out a bit - what on earth had happened to her little boy?

So, they got home and she ran him a bath. After a bit, she went to check on him, because she thought the splashing was getting a bit out of hand. Turns out he wasn't alone on the bath tub. A little penguin was keeping him company, having a grand time in the water. She rang the zoo, and they said not to worry. Apparently this penguin was very friendly and liked to take field trips. It had been hidden in the boy's backpack for the whole time it took for them to get home from the zoo. They said to simply drop the penguin back to them the next day. And I am not making this up!

Concert Report - Crowded House & Peter Gabriel, Marlay Park in Dublin, 22 June 2007

It had been raining massively throughout the day, and I kept checking the promoter's website to see if the concert was cancelled - Marlay Park might be too flooded, or the instruments might be damaged by too much humidity or whatever. At that stage I sort of wished it would get cancelled, because it meant I wouldn't have to make a decision about it. Anyway, it didn't get cancelled, and I didn't make the choice not to go, which in the glaring brightness of hindsight was a really good choice, as shall be seen.

There were 3 of us heading off from Dublin 15 onto the sometime carpark otherwise known as the M50 (for those not in Ireland, that's a motorway running outside Dublin city, making as much of a circle it can. They're still building extensions to it and now expanding existing parts of it as well). We didn't have any trouble finding Marlay Park, because there were signs up from the relevant M50 exits and all through Ballinteer. There were also Gardaí directing traffic in perfectly well-functioning traffic light junctions, which made no sense to us. Anyway, the parking in the park was very well-organised - people were directed into neat rows. It's worth noting that we actually praised the organisation skills on display here, and it's also worth noting in this context that both my companions were Irish.

We sat in the car for a while, eating sambos and waiting for the rain to stop. Crowded House would take the stage a bit after 7 and Peter Gabriel around 9. Starsailor, who were opening the show, were finished by the time we got to the actual venue, but we didn't really care - we had heard them from the car and also while walking up from the car park. There was a motley crew of people in umbrellas and assorted rain ponchos (on sale there too) waiting around, eating chips and swilling pints.

When Neil Finn & Co. came out, they seemed very happy to see us, and about 6-7 songs into the set (I actually think they'd just played 'Weather With You'), lo and behold, the rain stopped! The skies did not clear, but at least it stayed dry, and we even got a ray of light or two at times. I only knew the bigger hits, so there were a lot of songs I had never heard before, but I really really liked them. The audience were great singers and sang the chorus of a good few songs note perfect. You could tell that Neil Finn, as well as the rest of the band, were really enjoying themselves on stage, which is always lovely to see. The last song of their set was, predictably, 'Don't Dream It's Over', which we were all singing along to at the top of our lungs, of course. Brilliant stuff altogether!

Peter Gabriel began a bit after 9, I think. He said that he would be playing songs that fans had voted for online, and for the first few songs I thought it was all going to be stuff I wouldn't know, and that it would mean no 'Sledgehammer' or 'Don't Give Up'. But then he played 'Blood Of Eden', which I know because it's a duet with Sinèad O'Connor, and I was delighted that he played it - I had completely forgotten about that song. Lovely lovely version of it, even without Sinèad. Then, he played 'Family Snapshot' which I also know, and before long it was all good old stuff :) The first encore was 'Sledgehammer', precipitated by the audience singing the signature horn phrase - very funny. The second encore was 'In Your Eyes', a very lovely song and one of my favorites.

He has an almost magnetic stage presence, and when he comes out from behind the keyboard and takes to the lip of the stage, he is downright hypnotic. 'Theatrical' was also a word that came to mind, as were comparisons to Jack L, a very charismatic Irish singer I once saw give an unforgettable performance in the Olympia. Neil Finn was much more natural in a way, more laid back, even if nothing about Peter Gabriel's show ever felt fake. Maybe the theatrical aspect also came about due to the fact that Peter Gabriel had a light show - these grilles of neon lights that looked like they'd been taken from sunbeds, vertically aligned in sections of 4 across the stage, and used to display any kind of light graphics in high resolution. Above them were a grid of little points of light, arranged symmetrically, and of course a lot of spots above and around the stage. Very tastefully done I thought.

All in all, a good night, but I was happy when we got home and I could take my soaking wet shoes off.....*aaaah*