I must commend Ireland on how delightfully easy it is to come into this country, to work in this country, and to legally join my husband in this country.
We phoned last year, knowing the rigours of getting into the UK, and figured that Ireland was much the same, trying to get the low down on what we needed. The response was 'Just show up, show your passport and marriage certificate'. And I thought that they'd gotten something wrong, because how can moving to a first-world country be that easy!
But it was.
We arrived on 16 Feb 2019, and it was exactly that easy! We turned up, and showed our passports, and marriage certificate and had to answer why we were entering. To live here and explore Europe was a sufficient answer, and so they were satisfied.
I started on a tourist visa, and then was given three months to get my paper work in order.
[insert pic of tourist visa]
Getting an appointment was the tricky part. They issue a handful of appointments each week day at 10am, actually more like 10:07. The appointments are for 7 weeks in the future. So I finally managed to get an appointment confirmed on 26 Feb for today, after 10 days of trying and failing.
You can legally work once you have the appointment booked, and proof of the appointment is sufficient to act as a work permit until the appointment.
[insert screen shot of appt conf]
I will now get issued with a Irish Residency Permit, on a card much like a drivers licence, in the next couple of weeks, but I have a stamp in my passport that says I'm good for the next three years!
{insert pic of permit]
So pleased I do not have to deal with the appointments and bureaucracy again for three years or so.
Now to get internet at our flat.
Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Saturday, 13 April 2019
Ireland: Musing on Minimum Wage
In moving here, and seeking to be employed in something that is outside of my professional training, I, currently, am scrambling for minimum wage jobs.
Today was my first official day working at a local castle that's been turned into a hotel. Wow. I had forgotten how inhospitable hospitality is to your feet. It is such a beautiful building to work in! Grand colleagues all. Rather somber though, but it is a serious kind of a destination.
As with most hospitality businesses, they pay minimum wage to their staff. Fine, I understand why a business needs to be profitable, otherwise no one has a job etc etc, however, if you are going to pay your staff minimum wage, then know that instead of an economic price, you will pay a social price.
One cost of this is turnover - staff have zero loyalty to a combination of holier-than-thou management and also a wage that means their quality of living is less than zero. In a country where the minimum wage is E 9.80, so for working 40 hours a week you make E 380-390 in hand, or E 1554 a month, assuming that you consistently get 40 hours, of which there is no guarantee. The average rent in Dublin is E 1600 per month.
I am reasonably easy to incite to anger, I understand that, but surely that maths right there is problematic. You have no hope of working full time and paying rent to live by yourself, letalone for anything else, so automatically, you're relegating a percentage of the population to sharing accommodation, and all the vagaries that come with that.
So if a living wage is E11.90 an hour, let's do the same maths
40 hour work week: 476
Monthly: 2 062
Yearly: 24 752
Net income after tax: 1 788 a month.
So if you were a single person who is just trying to live in a one bedroom apartment by yourself, that is probably going to be tight, even at living wage, assuming you have consistent hours, and are able to keep your job and fun things like that.
Income: 1 788
Rent 1 450
Mobile 20
Internet 25
Power 98
This leaves you with 195 to spend on all of your other food, medical, and fun expenses a month.
The biggest outgoing out of anyone's paycheck will certainly be rent. Ours is E1450, and that is 'cheap'. We looked at around 12 properties before we found one that we thought that worth the sizable investment that we were being asked to make - well over 50% of our final paycheck will be spent each and every month on rent.
The cheapest broadband each month was $25 a month, then goes up after 6 months - not that your salary does - to $45 a month.
Mobile phone needed for every job ever and most applications - minimum E 10 a month, 30 if you want to be able to text/call/use data
You'll probably need some power. We haven't had to pay a power bill yet so I don't know how much that is but if you refer to the average for a 1-2 bed apartment, it's around E100.
So yes, assuming that you are not shackled with debt, and aren't planning to do copious amounts of spending, you can exist while working full time on living wage.
But let's do those figures again, but on Minimum Wage.
Minimum wage is E9.80 an hour.
If you're lucky enough to get full time hours, and consistent hours then you can expect
40 hours: 392
Monthly: 1 698
Annually: 20 384
Net income after tax: 18 655 annually
Monthly: 1 555
All your bills are still the same price, though.
Income 1555
Rent 1450
Mobile 20
Internet 25
Power 98
Left with E-38 a month, so you're then forced to be looking for extra hours for food, or to be sharing an apartment. Certainly if one was a single adult supporting themselves, this would be alright, maybe. But when you're a single mother, or even with two incomes like this trying to support any version of children
Cheapest 'apartment' on Daft is currently E880 a month, this is sharing with 3 other people. So then you might be able to eat, and share other bills. There are some cheaper options than that, but then you start getting into some seriously tiny spaces, or sharing with some sometimes quite questionable people.
Perks of being poor?
No wonder there is a young person homeless on every street corner in town. The economics of poverty, and presumably disconnection here are very severe.
What are the consequences of this though? This is becoming true of nearly every Western culture, certainly in NZ and Australia, and I believe in the UK also. If the lower/middle class's spending power is completely eviscerated by giving it all to landed gentry every month, then were will that leave us? Who will buy all the books on Amazon and all the iphones if everyone is spending all their money on rent/bills?
I believe we're getting closer and closer to a social revolution. Right now, people are just doing their darnedest to get by, but much more and there will be a tipping point.
Is our idea of what is considered poverty quite modern and warped though? Did poverty use to be much worse? Is poverty in fact living with out internet or a phone?
Maybe it was just CEOs that were poorer, as they've certainly been doing a very good job of changing this.
If we were to introduce something like a Universal Basic Income, would this alleviate this, or would it simply push up the price of rent even further?
How is 'market rent' established anyway - isn't it just a collection of 'yea, wow that's steep, but I guess I'll pay that because somewhere to live is better than nowhere to live'? And if everyone does that then that's how landlords get away with 8% rent increases each year. Is this one of those instances where we need to collectively start saying no? Or will we then all just end up homeless?
I think corporate greed will be the undoing of us all unless it is severely legislated against. If only we had some pithy lawmakers that weren't completely falling all over themselves to help CEOs of big companies be complete overlords of their little serfdoms.
If you have a fix, I'd love to hear it.
Today was my first official day working at a local castle that's been turned into a hotel. Wow. I had forgotten how inhospitable hospitality is to your feet. It is such a beautiful building to work in! Grand colleagues all. Rather somber though, but it is a serious kind of a destination.
As with most hospitality businesses, they pay minimum wage to their staff. Fine, I understand why a business needs to be profitable, otherwise no one has a job etc etc, however, if you are going to pay your staff minimum wage, then know that instead of an economic price, you will pay a social price.
One cost of this is turnover - staff have zero loyalty to a combination of holier-than-thou management and also a wage that means their quality of living is less than zero. In a country where the minimum wage is E 9.80, so for working 40 hours a week you make E 380-390 in hand, or E 1554 a month, assuming that you consistently get 40 hours, of which there is no guarantee. The average rent in Dublin is E 1600 per month.
I am reasonably easy to incite to anger, I understand that, but surely that maths right there is problematic. You have no hope of working full time and paying rent to live by yourself, letalone for anything else, so automatically, you're relegating a percentage of the population to sharing accommodation, and all the vagaries that come with that.
So if a living wage is E11.90 an hour, let's do the same maths
40 hour work week: 476
Monthly: 2 062
Yearly: 24 752
Net income after tax: 1 788 a month.
So if you were a single person who is just trying to live in a one bedroom apartment by yourself, that is probably going to be tight, even at living wage, assuming you have consistent hours, and are able to keep your job and fun things like that.
Income: 1 788
Rent 1 450
Mobile 20
Internet 25
Power 98
This leaves you with 195 to spend on all of your other food, medical, and fun expenses a month.
The biggest outgoing out of anyone's paycheck will certainly be rent. Ours is E1450, and that is 'cheap'. We looked at around 12 properties before we found one that we thought that worth the sizable investment that we were being asked to make - well over 50% of our final paycheck will be spent each and every month on rent.
The cheapest broadband each month was $25 a month, then goes up after 6 months - not that your salary does - to $45 a month.
Mobile phone needed for every job ever and most applications - minimum E 10 a month, 30 if you want to be able to text/call/use data
You'll probably need some power. We haven't had to pay a power bill yet so I don't know how much that is but if you refer to the average for a 1-2 bed apartment, it's around E100.
So yes, assuming that you are not shackled with debt, and aren't planning to do copious amounts of spending, you can exist while working full time on living wage.
But let's do those figures again, but on Minimum Wage.
Minimum wage is E9.80 an hour.
If you're lucky enough to get full time hours, and consistent hours then you can expect
40 hours: 392
Monthly: 1 698
Annually: 20 384
Net income after tax: 18 655 annually
Monthly: 1 555
All your bills are still the same price, though.
Income 1555
Rent 1450
Mobile 20
Internet 25
Power 98
Left with E-38 a month, so you're then forced to be looking for extra hours for food, or to be sharing an apartment. Certainly if one was a single adult supporting themselves, this would be alright, maybe. But when you're a single mother, or even with two incomes like this trying to support any version of children
Cheapest 'apartment' on Daft is currently E880 a month, this is sharing with 3 other people. So then you might be able to eat, and share other bills. There are some cheaper options than that, but then you start getting into some seriously tiny spaces, or sharing with some sometimes quite questionable people.
Perks of being poor?
No wonder there is a young person homeless on every street corner in town. The economics of poverty, and presumably disconnection here are very severe.
What are the consequences of this though? This is becoming true of nearly every Western culture, certainly in NZ and Australia, and I believe in the UK also. If the lower/middle class's spending power is completely eviscerated by giving it all to landed gentry every month, then were will that leave us? Who will buy all the books on Amazon and all the iphones if everyone is spending all their money on rent/bills?
 |
| Example from Australia |
I believe we're getting closer and closer to a social revolution. Right now, people are just doing their darnedest to get by, but much more and there will be a tipping point.
Is our idea of what is considered poverty quite modern and warped though? Did poverty use to be much worse? Is poverty in fact living with out internet or a phone?
 |
| US Example |
 |
| Another US example |
How is 'market rent' established anyway - isn't it just a collection of 'yea, wow that's steep, but I guess I'll pay that because somewhere to live is better than nowhere to live'? And if everyone does that then that's how landlords get away with 8% rent increases each year. Is this one of those instances where we need to collectively start saying no? Or will we then all just end up homeless?
I think corporate greed will be the undoing of us all unless it is severely legislated against. If only we had some pithy lawmakers that weren't completely falling all over themselves to help CEOs of big companies be complete overlords of their little serfdoms.
If you have a fix, I'd love to hear it.
Telecommunications Companies In Ireland
"Without fear of equivocation, it can be said that these technologies [information technology and communication] have impacted the way humans communicate, facilitating the connection between people and institutions worldwide and eliminating barriers of space and time. At this time, access to these technologies becomes a basic tool to facilitate the exercise of fundamental rights and democratic participation (e-democracy) and citizen control, education, freedom of thought and expression, access to information and public services online, the right to communicate with government electronically and administrative transparency, among others. This includes the fundamental right of access to these technologies, in particular, the right of access to the Internet or World Wide Web."
- Supreme Court of Costa Rica, 2015, link here
We have lived in Ireland for nearly two months, on Tuesday it will in fact be two months. We have been trying to get internet here since the week before we moved into our apartment, so around 25 Feb first inquiries were made.
I was rebuffed by Virgin Media - we don't do super fast broadband that far out. Eir told me I needed a bank account first. I applied with Vodafone, and now 4 weeks later, I've still not heard anything back.
I tried again to apply online with Eir, and also upgrade my phone at the same time. I waited until I had a bank account, and proof of that bank account, I waited until I had an address, and about 10 different versions of proof of that address. Passports are difficult to refute, but I was sure they'd try nonethless. This was 28 March.
The order went through, and my proof of bank was not acceptable - it needed to be dated. Got a dated statement, got it in within 5 days so our order wouldn't be cancelled.
The final hurdle was that our Eircode was incorrect, and therefore they couldn't find us to be able to deliver or install anything.
I went into a store (5 April) to talk to someone about this Eircode issue and discovered that instead of being able to update my existing application, they have to delete/create a new application because the system they have in store isn't compatible with what's online.
I am baffled by this, but the store clerk assured me that someone will be out to install a phone line so that then they know where to put the internet connection, and that that will happen on Wednesday, and she will follow up.
I get to Tuesday, (9 April) and realise that the new contract isn't the deal I wanted, so call the call centre, trying to figure out if they can give me the same deal as online with this new contract,
"Do you want me to cancel your installation appointment tomorrow?"
"Are you joking? This is the first real step of actual action since starting this process 2 weeks ago!
Man on other end of the phone is initially defensive and then apologetic. I give him an ear full about how long we've been waiting and all the hoops we've had to jump through to be able to get to this point. Two full months on mobile data alone is a long time!
He assures me that they'll still be able to give me the same deal, and that I'll be able to get my phone that I've already shelled out money for, and that the promised tablet as part of the deal would also be set aside for me.
Wednesday comes. I hustle home from work to meet installation guy. He found everything he need, but he can't install it as they've given him a number to install based on the wrong exchange. It needs to be off a different exchange. He sends a message back to the telecommunications company to that effect, I assume that there'll be another technician sent out.
Thursday, there's a missed call. I'm at work. I call back.
"Someone from Eir has tried to call you. They'll call you back shortly"
No call back.
Today is Saturday 13 April. More than 2 weeks after I actually started the official application, and just short of 2 months after we made initial inquiries.
Today, I've had the privilege of chatting with someone in Eir's online help. Or not-help as the case may be. They were more than useless. They could find my file and do exactly nothing else other than tell me that the account has been cancelled. What the actual fuck. No email, no follow up, no explanation. No record of the phone call on Tuesday.
"I'm happy to help you apply again online"
Why the fuck would I do that, for a third time???
Also, no refund as yet for the deposit put down on my phone.
So I have ranted on every available platform I can find. There will be follow up calls made at some point when their call centre deigns to open.
I have subsequently applied for 4 other companies, and I'm basically turning this into a race to the finish for a complete install of full and functional internet. I don't know if there is some sort of cheat-sheet to dealing with Ireland that I'm just not aware of but it is the most maddening, time-consuming, ungratifying, frustrating series of tasks that I've ever had the misfortune to participate in.
No wonder they drink all the time here!
- Supreme Court of Costa Rica, 2015, link here
We have lived in Ireland for nearly two months, on Tuesday it will in fact be two months. We have been trying to get internet here since the week before we moved into our apartment, so around 25 Feb first inquiries were made.
I was rebuffed by Virgin Media - we don't do super fast broadband that far out. Eir told me I needed a bank account first. I applied with Vodafone, and now 4 weeks later, I've still not heard anything back.
I tried again to apply online with Eir, and also upgrade my phone at the same time. I waited until I had a bank account, and proof of that bank account, I waited until I had an address, and about 10 different versions of proof of that address. Passports are difficult to refute, but I was sure they'd try nonethless. This was 28 March.
The order went through, and my proof of bank was not acceptable - it needed to be dated. Got a dated statement, got it in within 5 days so our order wouldn't be cancelled.
The final hurdle was that our Eircode was incorrect, and therefore they couldn't find us to be able to deliver or install anything.
I went into a store (5 April) to talk to someone about this Eircode issue and discovered that instead of being able to update my existing application, they have to delete/create a new application because the system they have in store isn't compatible with what's online.
I am baffled by this, but the store clerk assured me that someone will be out to install a phone line so that then they know where to put the internet connection, and that that will happen on Wednesday, and she will follow up.
I get to Tuesday, (9 April) and realise that the new contract isn't the deal I wanted, so call the call centre, trying to figure out if they can give me the same deal as online with this new contract,
"Do you want me to cancel your installation appointment tomorrow?"
"Are you joking? This is the first real step of actual action since starting this process 2 weeks ago!
Man on other end of the phone is initially defensive and then apologetic. I give him an ear full about how long we've been waiting and all the hoops we've had to jump through to be able to get to this point. Two full months on mobile data alone is a long time!
He assures me that they'll still be able to give me the same deal, and that I'll be able to get my phone that I've already shelled out money for, and that the promised tablet as part of the deal would also be set aside for me.
Wednesday comes. I hustle home from work to meet installation guy. He found everything he need, but he can't install it as they've given him a number to install based on the wrong exchange. It needs to be off a different exchange. He sends a message back to the telecommunications company to that effect, I assume that there'll be another technician sent out.
Thursday, there's a missed call. I'm at work. I call back.
"Someone from Eir has tried to call you. They'll call you back shortly"
No call back.
Today is Saturday 13 April. More than 2 weeks after I actually started the official application, and just short of 2 months after we made initial inquiries.
Today, I've had the privilege of chatting with someone in Eir's online help. Or not-help as the case may be. They were more than useless. They could find my file and do exactly nothing else other than tell me that the account has been cancelled. What the actual fuck. No email, no follow up, no explanation. No record of the phone call on Tuesday.
"I'm happy to help you apply again online"
Why the fuck would I do that, for a third time???
Also, no refund as yet for the deposit put down on my phone.
So I have ranted on every available platform I can find. There will be follow up calls made at some point when their call centre deigns to open.
I have subsequently applied for 4 other companies, and I'm basically turning this into a race to the finish for a complete install of full and functional internet. I don't know if there is some sort of cheat-sheet to dealing with Ireland that I'm just not aware of but it is the most maddening, time-consuming, ungratifying, frustrating series of tasks that I've ever had the misfortune to participate in.
No wonder they drink all the time here!
Wednesday, 10 April 2019
Emotional Hygiene: "Our mind and our feelings are not the trustworthy friend we thought they were."
Just finished watching this TED talk, and it got me thinking about emotional hygiene, and how we talk to ourselves when we are hurt.
It really struck me how mean we can be to ourselves when we sustain a psychological injury like failure or rejection. I really thought that I had made huge progress in surmounting my jerkbrain.
In a new country, without friends, and without the comfort of a familiar career, it is basically back to square one.
Receiving a rejection letter from a job that I didn't really want anyway starts the Inner Critic's voice:
"Those who can't do, teach"
"You're transferable skills aren't really that transferable."
"You were dreaming to think that you could just walk into an awesome job here"
"You are not, in fact, God's gift to Ireland"
"Who do you think you are to think you could be [an events coordinator] without any explicit experience"
"Perhaps you should try lying more on your CV"
"You're stuck, doomed to be either a teacher or a waitress for the rest of your days"
What?
"We wouldn't get a cut on our arm, and get a knife then see how much deeper we can make it. So why do we do it to ourselves psychologically?"
Consciously, I know that 95% of those words are jerkbrain, and not truth. But "people often live their lives living so far below their potential because they failed once, and they believed their failure."
To overcome this, you must fight feelings of helplessness.
And so I fight.
And now I have a job interview tomorrow, and another two on Monday.
Now I must convince myself that actually maybe I am awesome, and worthy of these jobs.
"When you are in emotional pain, treat yourself with the same compassion you would a good friend."
And so imagining what George would say to me in such circumstances, I say to myself "Bitch, you got this, you are, in fact, amazing, and they would be lucky to have you. You have so much to offer, I hope they see that. And if they do not, that is their loss. Someone's rejection of you does not in any way diminish your worth."
And I walk into the interview, smiling.
Red Tape
It needs to be discussed.
How unbelievably painful it is to get anything done here.
NOTHING is as simple as walk in and do it with what is in your phone/ hand / wallet - even getting a Library card required proof of address and a passport. What thugs have been stealing library books that this criteria is needed?
Today's saga for example. Internet.
We have moved into an apartment that used to be office buildings. We signed up and were accepted on Feb 21, moved in March 1.
I have tried to sign up with Virgin Media - they do not do services out this far.
I have tried to sign up with Vodafone, but despite me signing up online, and also signing up using a paper form at their store, I've not heard one iota from them.
I tried to sign up with Eir, and they were really positive, with emails confirming things and all kinds of wonderful feedback. There was an app called PlanetVerify that I needed to photograph my details and use as proof of address and ID in them, and despite having to do this twice, it was accepted.
But because we do not have an Eircode (basically a geopoint for your address) so they couldn't find out apartment - there is clearly NO.OTHER.WAY. to find apartments. So they said they couldn't do it.
I tried again.
Finally, after signing up online, going into a store, them cancelling my signing up online (because we don't actually use the same systems as online,and they don't talk to each other, so I need to start again)
, and calling the helpdesk, a technician has finally come out to where I told them our apartment was.
Oh we can't install internet today - we have to install a phone line so that you can have internet.
Then we can install internet another time, with another call out.
Today was the first real tangible step - get the phone line installed. The technician finally shows up, and I guide him through the labyrinth of a car park to get to my building, then he comes and tells me that the phone line that they've assigned us is from the wrong exchange! So even if he wanted to, he couldn't connect my phone line today, to start the 'get internet maybe this week' process.
Needs to be sent back to the Internet Company, and they need to put in a request from a different exchange.
The technician is from an outsourced company, and doesn't have any power to be able to change the service order.
We must wait. Some more.
Fiddle dee feckin dee.
How unbelievably painful it is to get anything done here.
NOTHING is as simple as walk in and do it with what is in your phone/ hand / wallet - even getting a Library card required proof of address and a passport. What thugs have been stealing library books that this criteria is needed?
Today's saga for example. Internet.
 |
| Our Eircom box, sitting outside, mocking me daily about how easy this should be |
I have tried to sign up with Virgin Media - they do not do services out this far.
I have tried to sign up with Vodafone, but despite me signing up online, and also signing up using a paper form at their store, I've not heard one iota from them.
I tried to sign up with Eir, and they were really positive, with emails confirming things and all kinds of wonderful feedback. There was an app called PlanetVerify that I needed to photograph my details and use as proof of address and ID in them, and despite having to do this twice, it was accepted.
But because we do not have an Eircode (basically a geopoint for your address) so they couldn't find out apartment - there is clearly NO.OTHER.WAY. to find apartments. So they said they couldn't do it.
I tried again.
Finally, after signing up online, going into a store, them cancelling my signing up online (because we don't actually use the same systems as online,and they don't talk to each other, so I need to start again)
, and calling the helpdesk, a technician has finally come out to where I told them our apartment was.
Oh we can't install internet today - we have to install a phone line so that you can have internet.
Then we can install internet another time, with another call out.
 |
| Cables, just hanging out, waiting to be connected |
Needs to be sent back to the Internet Company, and they need to put in a request from a different exchange.
The technician is from an outsourced company, and doesn't have any power to be able to change the service order.
We must wait. Some more.
Fiddle dee feckin dee.
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
Maynooth: St Patrick's College
So we have limped through the first 6 weeks of life in Ireland, waiting and waiting for Jared to be paid, and trying to get a bank account, and trying to get an address, then trying to get proof of address, then finding that that proof of address is unacceptable, then trying again to get proof of address, then finding that that one needed a date on it and is still unacceptable, and finally, FINALLY, succeeding in opening a bank account, and finally, finally having our first collective paycheck since December.
Phew.
I can sleep again.
This is probably also helped by walking 2.8km to and from work each day, and countless steps in the 8 hours of work, but also due to having money in the bank.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, I declared it was time for some adventures, and we have set aside a small amount for an adventuring fund this month!
Our first adventure was to a place called Maynooth. It is in County Kildare, further West from Dublin. Nearly all of the buses that we catch from/to our house go to Leixslip or Maynooth, so I was very curious to see what in fact was at the end of the line. After some brief research, it was discovered that there was a castle in Maynooth, and that was enough information for me - let's go!
So we caught a bus, about another 30 minutes West of Lucan, although I think we took the meandering one rather than the direct one, we arrived in Maynooth. It is a very picturesque journey along the way. And I'm pretty sure it's only €2.50 on the bus to most places where Dublin Buses go with a Leap Card, or €3.30 cash fare each way.
We drove further up the N4 and through the delightful township of Leixlip - which, with the presence of Castletown House and the Wonderful Barn, will certainly be another adventure for another time - and then into Maynooth. We got off one or two stops earlier than we needed to, and stumbled upon a train station, and next to it a most stunning waterway, that has a walkway next to it called the Royal Canal Way and is actually part of 144km of canal that link the River Shannon to Dublin.
We went past the Glenroyal Hotel, where I have heard tell of an amazing swimming pool. through the township of Maynooth, cloaked in history and dotted with flowers and greenery throughout. It is a very pretty place indeed.
We turned left and found the castle, such as it was, rather different to my expectations, in ruins directly in front of St Patrick's College.
Alas, we thought we were in for a guided tour, but it was not to be as these do not start until May, so that just seems like a very good excuse to come back again in a month or so.
We proceeded onto the grounds, and found a stunning culmination of architecture and gardens that adorned the College.
I don't know if this fully does justice to this, but there is my panoramic of the inner courtyard at St Patrick's College. It is a completely lovely place to meditate and think (although no sunbathing allowed - boo!) with a beautiful cathedral on the other side. There were also some doors through to what looked like dormitories, but Jared wouldn't let me go sneaking through them, alas.
One of the many church-like buildings had two inscriptions in Latin adjacent to either side of the front doors, and so I had a crack at reading Latin, and discovered I'm pretty good at it - confirmed by Google Translate - an infallible source.
Behind the courtyard and the church was a lush lawn, a monument to the Irish priests from Los Angeles, and the single most beautiful tree I've ever seen. I instantly fell in love!
On our full circumnavigation of the College grounds, we also stumbled upon Logic house, where maths, science and music all live under one roof, and then also Rhetoric house, which we also lol'd at.
And there you have it! Our brief interlude at Maynooth, where I discovered I was alright at Latin and fell in love with a tree.
More adventures in the Dublin West/Kildare area include:
So watch this space for more stories!
Phew.
I can sleep again.
This is probably also helped by walking 2.8km to and from work each day, and countless steps in the 8 hours of work, but also due to having money in the bank.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, I declared it was time for some adventures, and we have set aside a small amount for an adventuring fund this month!
Our first adventure was to a place called Maynooth. It is in County Kildare, further West from Dublin. Nearly all of the buses that we catch from/to our house go to Leixslip or Maynooth, so I was very curious to see what in fact was at the end of the line. After some brief research, it was discovered that there was a castle in Maynooth, and that was enough information for me - let's go!
So we caught a bus, about another 30 minutes West of Lucan, although I think we took the meandering one rather than the direct one, we arrived in Maynooth. It is a very picturesque journey along the way. And I'm pretty sure it's only €2.50 on the bus to most places where Dublin Buses go with a Leap Card, or €3.30 cash fare each way.
 |
| Photo cred - Kildare Educate Together |
We drove further up the N4 and through the delightful township of Leixlip - which, with the presence of Castletown House and the Wonderful Barn, will certainly be another adventure for another time - and then into Maynooth. We got off one or two stops earlier than we needed to, and stumbled upon a train station, and next to it a most stunning waterway, that has a walkway next to it called the Royal Canal Way and is actually part of 144km of canal that link the River Shannon to Dublin.
 |
| The Royal Canal Way, Section 25 Mullen Bridge |
We went past the Glenroyal Hotel, where I have heard tell of an amazing swimming pool. through the township of Maynooth, cloaked in history and dotted with flowers and greenery throughout. It is a very pretty place indeed.
We turned left and found the castle, such as it was, rather different to my expectations, in ruins directly in front of St Patrick's College.
We proceeded onto the grounds, and found a stunning culmination of architecture and gardens that adorned the College.
And through this archway to the left we found a courtyard called St Joseph's Square
 |
| Left to Right pan of St Joseph's Square |
One of the many church-like buildings had two inscriptions in Latin adjacent to either side of the front doors, and so I had a crack at reading Latin, and discovered I'm pretty good at it - confirmed by Google Translate - an infallible source.
Behind the courtyard and the church was a lush lawn, a monument to the Irish priests from Los Angeles, and the single most beautiful tree I've ever seen. I instantly fell in love!
On our full circumnavigation of the College grounds, we also stumbled upon Logic house, where maths, science and music all live under one roof, and then also Rhetoric house, which we also lol'd at.
And there you have it! Our brief interlude at Maynooth, where I discovered I was alright at Latin and fell in love with a tree.
More adventures in the Dublin West/Kildare area include:
So watch this space for more stories!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)