Monday, July 19, 2010

My weekend begins


What is in a fireman's boot? A lot more than is in mine.

A circular bicycle 6 people pedal.



A display made up of sand,shells, stones and sticks.

One of the rose beds in St.Annes park

Cheese in the French market

Anyone for Paella?

Very French with Le Fag in de Gob.




On Saturday there was a French market down in the Docklands, it was the end of the 14th July celebrations and in St Anne's park there was the Rose Festival, as I walked through the park I noticed the happiest girl I have ever seen. She was talking to a young girl who I took to be her daughter. They were so happy,they radiated joy and I knew the older lady, but from where? They seemed to be speaking French and it annoyed the hell out of me. I couldn't place her so I went in another direction. It was a full 24 hours later that it came to me, just as I woke up. She had worked in our supermarket a year ago.
It reminded me of the time I met the girl from the Deli counter at a bus stop, I knew I knew her then she said "Hi, Don't you know me?" Then I said "Oh Hi I didn't know you with your clothes on" The people at the bus stop didn't know where to look.
Eileen is from Indonesia and has the most beautiful black hair which was always in a net and under a white hat. She is a very clever girl, studied hard and qualified as an economist, she has moved on to London now, she will do very well there too.
Most of the foreign people who work in our supermarkets and coffee shops are well educated and qualified in many skills,don't under value them.

Next weekend all roads lead to Dun Laoighre festival of world cultures, I think everything is free so celebrate your nationality, put on your Kimono and be there.

Well My working week must include working weekends and my weekend begins on Tuesday, or Wednesday. Like the Las Vegas workers weekend.

So the weekend was kind to me. Saturday night I hit on a few good fares. But today I hit on 2 strange ones only an hour apart. I was passing down North Fredrick St. when I was hailed by 2 girls with luggage. I had a passenger on board who was getting out in O'Connell St., so I asked him if I could pick them up as well.
I assured them that he wouldn't bite them and they hopped in.
They were Swiss and heading for Lower Dundrum Rd. There was a big discussion about how much it should cost, they said that the hotel had told them it should cost no more than e10. Now my mind sensed that there was something wrong, so I probed further,they didn't have a paper with the address written on it, but it was in Dublin 9.
Now all the North side districts are odd numbers (Not because all the people are odd) and the south side is even. So I probed further and I found out that they were going to Budget car rentals which I told them is on Lr Drumcondra Rd. a good 6 miles from the first address.
Still if I was in a foreign land I don't suppose I could manage too well myself.

Later on I stopped for a young Chinese couple, who asked for the City apartment hotel..No street..But the man said he knew the way..Then we came to a crossroads and she said right and he said left. They were only students so I said I would turn off the meter so that they would not be under any pressure to decide the route. The girl said it was near Temple Bar and the penny dropped in my head.. It is behind the Brazen Head (Dublin's oldest pub, or so some say not) It was a block of apartments that didn't sell and has been turned into short stay accommodation.
Strange to get 2 in the one day within an hour of each other.
I would have felt very bad if I had not pumped the information from the Swiss girls, lucky I did press them further though.
I will tell you more about my travels soon.

7 comments:

  1. See? This is a great example of the cultural gap. The "fireman's boot" thing took me a minute. To me, "boot" means a thing you wear on your foot. However, you meant "boot" as the thing at the back of your car that I call a "trunk." It's why I love reading your blog!

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  2. Wayhay. That was fun. 'Didn't know you with your clothes on'. Oh dear, oh dear!
    You may be happy to know that a 'boot' is still 'a boot' in South Africa. A trunk is an elephant's nose.

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  3. That food looked so yummy---mmmmm

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  4. I work at a grocery store in the US, so the bit about not recognizing her with her clothes on has happened to me before. Makes it awkward for all parties lol.

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  5. I do treat the people who make my coffee and the people who work the checkout with the highest respect. Most of the Polish people and other foreign nationals I have spoken to are highly educated. Theese people are stuck in a kind of time warp but they will soon become the doctors and respected people that they deserve to be.

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  6. If this is completely offensive or is gonna start something, then, please, delete the comment and ignore it. But I'm curious. I can see that "trunk" comes from there being a trunk (like a steamer trunk but not) attached to the back of a carriage or early cars and it evolved into "trunk" being an actual part of the car. So, where does "boot" come from? What cultural piece of information am I missing?

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  7. I hate it when I see people I should know, but I don't recognize them specifically because I'm so used to seeing them in a different environment. I get that with a lot of parents from my kids' school. I used to run the parent group there, so if I see them at school, I go aha and I can place them. If I see them out and about, I look for a bit, I think I should be able to get a name. It doesn't come, and meanwhile, they breeze by and say hi Vickie. Argh. I used to be good with names darn it!

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