There's something about this country

Over lunch, I was reading a section from The Guardian newspaper. I came across an article titled The workers who represent Britain. It sounded interesting, so I started read. I didn't get too far, before I was reminded of something. This is what I read:

"The workers who most embody the spirit of modern Britain are a motley bunch, if a new study by the Work Foundation is anything to go by. According to researchers, the jobs that most define contemporary culture are hairdressers, management consultants, celebrities and managers."

Now, anyone familiar with the work of Douglas Adams will remember those first two groups were amongst the "useless third of its population" sent from Golgafrincham on a space ship that was "programmed to crash-land on a suitably remote planet on one of the outer spiral arms of the galaxy, which happened to be Earth".

I got a kick out of it!

Finally got my own place

After three months in London (as of today), I have, at last, moved out of the house where my sister lives! This move has taken me from South East London (Surrey Quays) to North West London (Chalk Farm). The purpose of the move is to reduce the time it takes for me to get to work. Now, instead of a bus, two tubes (8 stops give or take) and a train, I will have have a walk (10 minutes), one tube (2 or 3 stops) and the train. Though I haven't yet done the commute from the new place, having only just moved in yesterday, I reckon it will cut about half an hour off the journey each way. Unfortunately, it won't cost any less.

The new place is a flat I am sharing with three others: two British guys and an Aussie girl. The girl is a civil engineer. I think the Aussieness and the engineeringness we have in common helped me get the room. As I discovered, the race to find a place to live in London is very competitive and quite frustrating. I didn't blog about it last weekend and during the preceeding week (when I was looking) because my laptop was still dead at the time.

My room in the new place is simple but has all I need. There is a single bed, a bedside table, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe (of sorts) and a bookcase. It also has a heater, but that is pretty much a given over here! Maybe the only other thing I need is something to put my laptop on (other than my lap).

The beach, BBQs and big nights out

Today is the final day of Puck Fair. We've yet to head into town today. We didn't get back last night until 4am. We all took full advantage of the extended pub opening hours.

So far today we've reviewed photos and video from last night, sat around outside enjoying the warm Kerry sun while Cormac flew kites, watched some Brick family home videos, and been to the beach. Right now Cormac and his brother Collin are preparing for tonight's BBQ.

We had a BBQ last night as well. The lamb was some of the best I've ever tasted (no offence meant to Australian lamb of course). We also went to the beach yesterday as well. For the last month or so, I've been missing swimming, and I have especially been missing the beach, so it has been absolutely fantastic to be able to go and swim at one.

After tonight's BBQ, we'll be heading into town for another big night out. Although we went and watched the crowning of the goat on Thursday, we won't be going to see him being taken down from his tower. That's happening in about 20 minutes time. We will definitely be out to see the fireworks at midnight though.

In short, Puck Fair has well and truly lived up to my expectations, and getting to go to the beach was an added bonus. All in all, great craic.

Puck Fair Day One

I arrived in Killorglin yesterday and today was the first day of Puck Fair. I saw the crowning of King Puck (the goat) and we're about to go out and take advantage of the extended pub opening hours.

Yesterday, I left home at about 15 minutes past midnight in order to catch a bus to the tube to catch one of the last tubes to Stratford where I caught the 1am coach to Stansted airport. Although the coaches run 24 hours a day (about every half an hour or so), getting to Stratford to catch the coach would have been tricky after the tubes stopped running. That's why I left home when I did. I did have a couple of hours sleep between getting home from work and leaving for the airport, but not much.

I arrived at Stansted at about 1:40am. My flight was at 6:45am. I had a fair bit of time to kill. I read, I had hot chocolate, I bought Euros for the trip, etc, etc. Eventually it was time to go.

I arrived into Kerry airport without any problems. At least I didn't fly today. That would have been all very interesting!! Cormac picked me up from the airport and we went back to his family's place. Despite my lack of sleep (I did get a tiny bit more on the coach and on the plane), I was keen to go into Killarney and have a bit of a look around. Cormac dropped my in town and I caught the bus.

Killarney is renowned for being very touristy. Perhaps by Irish standards it is, but given the last place I visited was Paris, it didn't seem all that touristy. After having a bit of a look around, I had lunch (seafood chowder, very tasty) and walked to Ross Castle. Unfornately, entrance was by guided tour only and I didn't have time for the guided tour because I wanted to catch the 3pm bus back to Killorglin. So I had a very quick look around the outside and then walked back again.

Cormac came and picked me up from the bus stop in Killorglin and we drove to a hill Caragh Lake. We drove up as far as we could, then walked up the remaining 10 or 15 minutes. Cormac figured this was the place with the best view for the least effort. From the top we could see the late, the ocean and Killorglin.

In the evening, I had a bit of a nap (maybe 2 hours), in preparation for going out that night. It was not a big night, because Puck Fair had yet to start, and the pubs were only allowed to stay open to 1am instead of 3am.