The Barge

The Barge pub always makes an effort.



Santa climbs a rope in the Omni center in Santry.

Marriott hotel in Gold street please.
You have me there,but I think I know it.
If its not the right one I will stop the meter.
I turned into Golden Lane to the Raddisson SAS hotel."Thats the one"
(Far from the Marriott which is in Ashbourne)
He was a Texan and she was from Paris.....Oh the French food,a feast for the eyes and a treat for the mouth. I love the peasant food of France.
When I take some time off I will study French cooking.
Last week I had lunch at La Mere Zou 22 St. Stephens Green.
Good food, good choice. Not cramped,friendly staff.

It did not make this years Dubliner 100 best restaurants.

Guides are not really reliable,I use it as an out when people ask me where to eat.
Well if the guide is wrong it will not be my fault.

The story I herd a few weeks ago about an Italian restaurant owner who when he was told that the guy from the Micthelin guide was outside he threw him out of his restaurant telling him he wanted nothing to do with them. The judge was going to award him 3 stars(very rare). But the chef shouted that his customers and no one else would be his judge.

Parties are in full swing and the funeral of 2 of the recent cocaine deaths took place today. The TV were doing a big expose about it tonight, probably showing us what every taxi driver sees all the time.They took swabs from work surfaces in 100 night clubs and bars 97% had traces of the coke.
The Polish and near flung visitors are making plans to fly home for Christmas.
The Chinese and Auzzies are digging in for the duration of the festival.

When I was young there would be tales of loads of characters around Dublin.
Johnny 40 coats,
Damn the weather.
And Bang Bang who used to jump onto the buses and shoot the people with his pointed finger. There will be no jumping on and off of buses now with the automatic doors.

Here is an obituary for one who recently died.

Trinity remembers eternal student 'Matt the Jap'

Gardaí are liaising with Interpol and the Japanese embassy to contact relatives of Matteo (Masahiso) Matubara, one of central Dublin's most familiar characters, following his death last month.

Paul Cullen reports.

Matubara (73), known affectionately to generations of Trinity College students as "Matt the Jap", died of natural causes in his home off Mount Street almost two weeks ago. Gardaí broke into the flat after food which had been left at his door remained untouched for days.

His body remains in the morgue while efforts continue to make contact with his brother, who is believed to live in Tokyo. College friends are planning to hold a gathering in his honour next Thursday.

His passing was marked in the classified section of yesterday's Irish Times with this tribute from the college's Central Societies Committee: "Known to generations of Trinity College graduates and students as a 'college character', Matteo was a seemingly constant and eternal fixture at student events and meetings, and his passing conjures up a sentiment of not-quite-the-sameness."

Raised in Tokyo, he studied in Norway and Paris before coming to Ireland in the early 1980s. In Trinity, with financial assistance from Saudi Arabia, he wrote a thesis on Islamic journeys in the Middle Ages. After receiving an M Litt in 1987, he stayed on in Ireland, and appeared to live on very little.

He was extremely deaf and communicated with people by sign language or, more often, by exchange of written notes. He could write in English, Irish, Japanese, Norwegian, German, French, Russian and, it is reputed, several other languages.

He was an inveterate correspondent; Prince Charles, Prince Michael of Kent and Prince Albert of Monaco were among those who replied to his letters.

He was on the Christmas card lists of President Mary McAleese and Jacques Chirac.

"He knew half the crowned heads of Europe," recalls Joseph O'Gorman, assistant junior dean in Trinity. "There was even a photo of him with Tito.

"Matteo was the last of a number of eccentrics who pottered about college over the years and whose only real link to the place is the most important: they were known by generations of students for whom, in many ways, they formed a nostalgic link with their time in college. People who can't remember what they read for the whole of second year have a clear memory of Matteo."

Mystery surrounded his background, much of it encouraged by Matubara himself. He claimed not to have any family in Japan, until friends discovered he was sending cards to a brother in Tokyo. His library card was removed as he was found to have written on old textbooks, though friends claimed he was correcting typos.
© 2007 The Irish Times

Well I saw him around and I thought he was a professor of some kind.
If you know anyone who went to Trinity college tell them about the passing of Matt the Jap

Sometimes you make a mistake and then you leave a bad impression behind you.Sh**happens.

Yes and here is another foot in mouth.

Here is a guy who is such a good fighter he should be employed as a taxi driver to deal with the runners at Christmas, yes its at least 4 on one.