Lanky's blog

Rip off Ireland - Dicey Reillys

Louise — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:25:33 +0000

We had a work night out last night in Dicey Reillys on Harcourt street. They have a summer BBQ and they offer different BBQ menus depending on the companies budget. It all went wrong yesterday afternoon when our S&S rep got a call from someone in Dicey Reillys to say the seating area we had originally reserved had been downgraded to another spot in the pub due to a bigger group booking in. Our Rep had asked for us to be seated at the large Bay window at the back. We got demoted to a stupid strip of seats across from the bar while ‘The bigger group’ got the nice bay window area! The bigger group incidently were leaving the bay window area at 8pm to go to a casino night somewhere else in the hotel and we were told we could move in to the bay area after them. They’re very nice altogether the staff at Dicey Reillys!!!

The BBQ food came around 7pm ish. When I say BBQ food, I’m not sure the food ever saw a BBQ (even from a distance). It consisted of a burger, one chicken drumstick and one pork rib, a “backed” potato and an excuse of a salad. Yes the token said “backed”. We were correct in assuming it was a baked potato :). This was 15Euro per head. A bit excessive if you ask me!!

When the S&S budget for drinks ran out we had to buy the drink ourselves. This is where the fun started. While the S&S club were buying the drinks the bottles of beer were five Euro, a pint was somewhere around five Euro too. When we went to the bar after 8pm the drinks had gone up to 5.90 for a bottle of Heineken, 6Euro for a pint of Heineken and 5.80 for a pint of Guinness. They put the prices up from 8pm!! A colleague had two pints of flat Beer served to him and had to return both and settle on a bottle. For 6Euro a pint you’d expect a pretty nice pint I would have thought.

I wouldn’t have gone there normally and I won’t be going back there any time soon. You can go there if you would like to be robbed completely blind!!!

The Sally Gap

Louise — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:27:11 +0000

While everyone was at Merrion Square at the Street Performance World Championship I hit the road and went looking for two trees I saw in a photo from one of my flickr contacts. Yes it was mad. Finsing two particular trees somewhere up the wicklow mountains makes me sound mad as a brush but I did actually find them. They’re at a place called the Sally Gap. Very close to the source of the liffey and Kippure. I had just purchased a new Manfrotto tripod that morning and was excited about trying it out. I opted for IR shots only. The weather wasn’t exactly ideal but I took some shots anyways. Here is one from the afternoon. Not of the two trees mentioned but a different two trees.

The Great Saltee

Louise — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:01:32 +0000

As some of you know I’ve wanted for about the past year to get a photo of a Puffin. I didn’t even mind if it wasn’t a great photo it was just to see one really.

I got up at 6am on Sunday morning. Had superquinn sausages ready to cook for my breakfast. I was cutting the superquinn batch loaf with my big bread knife and the thing slipped and I cut my finger quite badly. Couldn’t get it to stop bleeding. I eventually fashioned a bandage out of tissue and tape ate my sausage sandwich cursing the bread and went to pick up my friend on the drive to Wexford. The drive down was uneventful and the weather was absolutely fantastic. The boat left at 11am and we arrived on the Saltees at 11.30ish. We saw lots of Razorbills, Guillemots, shags, Gulls, Gannets and two Puffins. I was over the moon at seeing them. We got a bit lost at one point and had to trek through ferns and long grass. Baz was leading the way cos he was the man. A pheasant flew out from the grass and he screamed like the biggest girl ever. I could hardly stand with the laughing.

The gannet colony was amazing. They are stunning birds. It was a great day trip. I’d be half temped to head out again this month. Here are a few pics from the day.

Drinking with Bruce Springsteen

Louise — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:20:58 +0000

Went for a few sneaky school night pints after my guitar class last night. I was sitting at the bar in the Long Hall on Georges street and chatting to my friend when she saw Bruce Springsteen walk in the door. I didn’t believe her until I saw him myself. It took me a while to recognise him. He was wearing a cap covering his eyes. He was drinking a glass of Kilkenny. He left after about 10 minutes. Two people approached him and shook his hand. It was really surreal. After he left I toyed with the ideal of taking his glass and selling it on ebay but I didn’t :). He’s looking very very very well for 58

Meh

Louise — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:00:22 +0000

Just back from a weekend in Wexford Puffin hunting. The weekend started for me on Thursday. I had a half day off work to take my driving test. I passed woohoo. No grade 2s, the tester guy said he can’t remember the last time he did a test that had no grade 2s. I was well chuffed. So it was home, dump the car keys etc. Take glory in removing the L plates and then straight on a train to see Bruce in the RDS. We had seated tickets but we snuck into the standing area and had a brilliant time. Born to Run was the best song for me on the night. He’s some performer and the band are amazing. I was on a high already from the test results and then seeing him made it even better.

On Friday I picked up my friend from work and we drove down to Kilmore Quay. The weather was fab, we found a lovely little B&B, went down to the local and had amazing fresh fish and a few lovely pints of the black stuff. I got chatting to these two men in the pub with cameras and who planned on getting to the Saltees the following day just like us. We had an early night and got up in good form but I could hear the wind howling from the room which wasn’t a good sign. We got down to the pier and the weather was awful. After a wait of about 20 minutes we found out the boats weren’t going because of the winds. That’s the fourth thing this year that has been cancelled due to wind. I was so disappointed. We stayed in Gorey in a friend of a friend’s house and sampled the night life of Wexford town. It is interesting… and I’ll leave you to decide if I mean interesting good or interesting bad…

201 - 5 dart finish

Louise — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:12:51 +0000

Did this on my lunch, trebble 18, 20, 20, trebble 19 and bull finish. It’s a record in work. I am now the undisputed champion.

Tulip problem

Louise — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:36:43 +0000

I have a problem shooting the underneath of tulips. If anyone comes across a group I can attend for my problem please let me know. I was supposed to go to photo fest but due to a hangover (thanks Grace and the other culchies) I gave it a miss and went to the botanics instead to see the tulips. It was a very overcast rainy day. There was a break in the rain for a while and I did manage to shoot some of the tulips that decided to flower early despite the cold weather. There was nice little droplets on them too :). I’m a sucker for water droplets. P.S look no use of the black slider and hardly any vignette either..

The wedding

Louise — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:33:08 +0000

I shot my first wedding today. Started at about 12pm in the bride’s house and ended up after the first few ceili dances. It was tougher than I could have ever imagined. The day totally flew because I was so busy. I did have help on the group shots and thank God I did. The other photog that was there for a few hours knew how to organise people for the shots. I had to put my fears away for the everyone group shot and shout down to people to move them in at the sides and also to tell them to look at me while I took the shot. I’ve never had to organise that many people before in my life. The weather wasn’t very kind to me for the day and we only had an hour at about 4pm to take some outdoors shots. I did get some shots I am happy with and here they are…

The good Sausage

Louise — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:21:52 +0000

Jo Burger have a sister/brother place on Baggot street that specialise in Sausages. I went to Jo Banger on my lunch today. I tried the Paprika and roasted Garlic sausage. Very very nice indeed. It’s again pricy for a gourmet hot dog but it is very tasty. It won’t replace Ham Thursday as the nicest lunch day of the week but I may well be calling Friday, Jo Banger Friday.

The good Burger

Louise — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:13:18 +0000

I had to see what everyone was raving about last night. I took a trip to Jo Burger in rathmines. I was very impressed. I have been on a best burger in Dublin finding mission for a while and I have a front runner after last night. The place has a lovely atmosphere (not the sterile ryanair restaurant of Gourmet Burger co Ranelagh - their burgers are nice though). The burgers are very very nice indeed in Jo Burger. I went for one with Brie and Bacon. The homemade relish is fabulous. I forced myself to eat more chips ( I was completely full) so I could eat more relish. I am a complete pig. I am deducting marks for price. It is pricy enough for a burger place and I am also deducting marks for not being able to eat a burger as The Man intended i.e. with your hands. Fergburger (Queenstown New Zealand) burger’s are bigger than jo burgers and you can still eat them in your hands due to them being flatter and wider not tall like a Jo Burger! So there you have it. I will be back to Jo Burger for some more. Soon.