Archive for June 2008
Dublin Pride
This weekend saw the 25th annual Dublin Pride, and, on the spur of the moment, a few friends and I decided to jump on a bus and go…
Despite the pouring rain, the four of us trapsed down to the Europa to get the bus to Dublin, and when we arrived it was still raining. One broken umbrella, and a large amount of chocolate later (they make Cadbury’s with whole milk in the South, rumour has it…), we found our way to Parnell Square to gather for the parade.
Luckily, the rain stopped just before the parade was due to start, and off down O’Connell Street we marched.
Despite the rubbish weather there was still a good turn out, and the atmosphere was upbeat.
The parade ended at St. Stephen’s Green (I think…) with a few talks from various people, including a rather good one from a drag queen. However, one of the points raised was that they believe civil partnerships, as in the UK, aren’t good enough, and they were pushing for marriage. I wonder how they feel given todays announcement of the civil partnership bill…
Then we went wandering around Dublin looking for somewhere to get some cheap food/drink, and ended up in Häagen-Dazs cafe, where we were charged extortionist amounts of money for a few scoops of ice-cream. It was rather delicious though!
After walking around a bit more we went to The George for a drink or two. It was absolutely packed because of Pride, and it did feel a little odd being in a dark, noisy club at 4 in the afternoon, but it was fun nonetheless.
Some more pictures after the jump…
My new favourite thing… Tumbleblogging
Wikipedia defines tumbleblogging as
a variation of a blog that favours short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging
You can use it to combine information from various sources: RSS feeds, Digg, Youtube, del.icio.us and twitter, to name a few.
So, without further ado, I suggest you get tumbleblogging, over at Tumblr.
And while you’re at it, check out my tumbleblog.
Volunteer’s Reception at Stormont
Okay, I just realised that this was in my drafts folder, and I hadn’t actually finished it!
So, a few weeks ago a group of us went off to Parliament Buildings, Stormont for a Volunteer’s Reception (thanks to an invite from Naomi Long MLA, who unfortunately couldn’t be there).
We were representing NUS-USI (National Union of Students, Union of Student in Ireland) for the work done as part of the Open Your Mind campaign at Queen’s over the last year.
We heard from Anna Lo MLA, the Minister for Social Development, Margaret Ritchie MLA, and a few leaders of volunteer organisations around NI.
To find out more about the Open Your Mind campaign, visit the website, or contact the Project Coordinator Elaine, elaine.kelly@nistudents.org
Open Your Mind is a five year peer-led mental health project, funded by the Big Lottery Fund and managed by NUS-USI and Rethink NI.
More photos after the jump…
Ah I do love the multi-banner “Get a Mac” ads…
Fun times were had in Paris…
Well, got back from Paris last Thursday, but I’ve only just got the photos up on Flickr, so I thought I’d blog about it!
Had a wonderful time, was kind of a last trip with my S before I head to the US in August, so it was tinged with a bit of sadness… but it was fantastic time nonetheless!
Left on the Saturday, and met S at King’s Cross/St. Pancras where we waited for the Eurostar. Compared to flying, the Eurostar is a dream. It’s so much more relaxed and civilised, and the same price as flying, if not cheaper. The other benefit is that you arrive in the middle of Paris, at Gare du Nord, so most hostels and hotels are within a short Metro ride away.
We arrived on Saturday night and found out hostel, near one of the ‘villages’ in Eastern Paris called Belleville (home to blogger better known as “Petite Anglaise“). We stayed in St. Christopher’s Inn, which was nice enough – clean, great location next to Canal St. Martin, cheap.
First on our list of things to do was to go up the Eiffel Tower. So, we queued for about an half an hour before it opened, so we wouldn’t have to wait much. Opting for the lazy elevator to the top, we crammed in, and enjoyed the ride to the 2nd floor. From there we went headed straight for the lift to the top floor. Unfortunately, we managed to choose the cloudiest day to go up, but the views were superb.
Quite an awesome song…
It’s Annie’s new song “I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me”.
It’s good. Listen to it.
Annie – I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
And while I’m at it, here’s a bit of an Annie classic. (No, it’s not Chewing Gum, in case you were wondering.)
Annie – Heartbeat
