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Nostalgia is back?

Nostalgia. It’s everywhere, especially in the form of sweet shops. they seem to be popping up everywhere. We have  a  new one in Carlow and a little 8 year old took to the Tubridy Show last week to tell everyone about her new “Pop-up” shop, guess what it was?

Yes, a sweet shop with all those nostalgic sweeties for you to buy.

One thing I get nostalgic about is my time in university-U.C.D-the best college ever. I shared a house with some great girls, 7 of us up on North Avenue, Mount Merrion. How lucky were we? £34 a week! A 10 minute walk to the stuent bar..sorry, lectures and the majority of us are still great friends. don’t think there is anything sinister about the fact I said “the majority of are great friends” but some of the girlies disappeared. Stephanie Burke aka Burpie and Fionnuala aka dry soup eater extraordinaire, where are you now?

There was something else brilliant about the Mount Merrion/Stillorgan area. No, not the 80s shopping centre or O’ Dwyer’s Pub.

The best thing about Stillorgan that I still dream about is a chip shop. Not just any chip shop. This was C.Aprille’s of Stillorgan.

They make chips the other ship shops can only dream about making. Super thick, slightly crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. We would walk down to Stillorgan and buy a big bag with a tub of the best garlic mayo and walk back home. God, life was simple.

But, all is not lost. you can still avail of these chips. C. Aprile’s is still in business! Don’t get confused by the one in Portabello. Not the same. Get your self down to Stillorgan and bag yourself a bag of the “Best chips in Ireland awarded by Rozz”

As I was saying nostalgia is everywhere, usually nostalgia takes a year, maybe a few decades to come back. That’s what makes it truly nostalgic, doesn’t it?

Not in Carlow.

I was out walking through the area of Askea (The wannabe D4 of Carlow) last week and came across a new chip shop. It’s Billy Bunter’s, it closed down about a year or 2 ago and it did bloody good chips too. We were slightly disappointed when it closed down but about a million other chip shops seemed to open and we forgot about it.

You can imagine my joy when I saw that Billy Bunter’s was back, baby!

With a big, colourful and boasting sign saying” Billy Bunter’s is back!”

It’s not nostalgic.

They have good chips but it’s no C.Aprile’s.

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Portugal:Holidays soon!

We are off to Portugal next week and as usual there will be much travel blogging! We are flying to Faro and catching a train to Lisbon and then Porto with our usual travel buddies, Marion and Terry.

Cannot.wait.

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Horrible, horrible film…horrible bosses

I am getting quite down about the lack of good summer films. Apart from “Bridesmaids”, I haven’t seen one film that I can recommend this summer.

Harry Potter was the same as the other 6 but with a stupid ending that should have been taken out. Putting Emma Watson in a Burberry mac does not make her look 19 years older.

Horrible Bosses had unbelievable potential. we have all complained over bad bosses at some point. The first 5 minutes were pretty clever. The 3 bosses ranked in brilliance, from the funniest/most convincing-Kevin Spacey and followed by Jennifer Anniston to Colin Farrell.

Colin Farrell was not funny. In the film, he has a comb over, spends his work day taking naughty things and doing naughtier things in his office. Shock. Horror.

He’s Irish too, you know?

Oh, yes, well then, he has to be funny.

Jennifer Anniston plays a nymphomaniac. Say it again.

See, it doesn’t work. She is Rachel from friends. Nice girl. Typecast. Her own fault.

Kevin Spacey was funny, to begin with. The “Gam-Gam” scene is quite funny.

But, that was it. Once, the interesting aspects of the horrible bosses were dispensed with, the film falls into madness(and not the funny kind) involving the 3 main characters, desperately trying to be the main characters in “the Hangover.”

It doesn’t work. It’s not funny. The Hangover wasn’t that funny, to begin with so why emulate it?

I mentioned the general cr$%ness of this film on twitter and was told that the film “was to a certain taste”

I agree. Anyone who likes this film has a “no sense of humour” taste. Go click here and watch the short preview, everything that could be perceived as “funny” is there for you. http://rozz.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/horrible-bosses.jpg

Don’t say I’m not good to you, just saved you €9 and a bag of pick and mix. You owe me big.

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The Killing on Channel 4

I am constantly proclaiming that I don’t really watch that much tv but looking at my recent posts, you wouldn’t say that!

The Killing is an American version of some Danish crime-mystery-Twin Peaks type TV affair. Apparently, the Danish was much better, darker and the lead character wore better, wooly jumpers. Bloody women. Has to always be about the clothes…

The Killing that i am transfixed by is the American one showing on Channel 4, we are up to episode 4 out of 13 and is rather excellent. It covers a 20 day investigation into a murder of a teenager girl.

Let me warn you that is slow beyond slow but worthwhile. Each character is interesting. Each episode ends with another piece to the puzzle.

The channel 4 website is being awfully sociable and interactive at http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-killing You can vote on you think the killer is and even debate the merits of Linden’s jumpers.

Go catch up at channel four.

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Bobby Fischer against a world that thinks chess can cause a mental illness

Last weekend was rather nice.
I got to spend my birthday weekend in the company of Gareth, Marion, Terry and Simon, of course!
Gareth took us to the place where the “cool people hang out”, namely “The Twisted Pepper”.

It was pretty groovy inside but was not overly impressed with the coffee. The coffee has fancy names and we were given samples of different ones. I don’t really care for filter coffee, preferring an americano or an espresso. So, maybe that’s why I didn’t like the ones we chose.
After the cafe bar, Simn headed off to some loud, sweaty, warm rock gig which was not our scene at all.
It was his, he got to relive his teenage years, shouting and jumping around.
The rest of us headed off to the IFI, under great protest from Gareth. The food is good there. The films are great. The staff have always been “meh”. They must train them in that way. They act moody and try to get rid of you by giving dirty looks and over charging you.
The film we agreed on was “Bobby Fischer against the world” It was odd that I was watching this and not Simon. He loves chess, playing in the Jewish Olympics for Ireland when he was a young lad. Instead, he was jumping up and down wildly and missing out on a film about the greatest ever chess player in the world.
I knew nothing about Booby Fischer but assumed he had won millions of world championships.
He has only won one. Then, he got all annoyed by the pressure and refused to play anymore, growing a big, mad beard and becoming a pain in the bottom for the US and Japanese government.
I enjoyed the film, I didn’t think I would as chess is not my friend. It made me sad though. Because the film reckoned that chess can cause mental illness. They tried to prove this by getting some chess obsessive to repeat this throughout the film. They also used cunning tactics like showing animations of possible chess positions flying in and out of a man’s brain.
Bobby Fischer had a very disturbed upbringing and showed clear signs of mental illness from a very young age.
It wasn’t the chess.
It was the world.

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Devilment

So, you know our beloved cat, precious disappeared a while back. I wanted to replace him once we were sure he’d really gone.
We bumped into our next door neighbours last week and they told us about two female, fluffy kittens that the ispca had up for grabs.
Sure, we will take a look, we thought.
They were too cute to leave behind.
Damn their fluff and lonely eyes.

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Pain of the muscles: It’s Boot Camp!

Last week, we spent the weekend in the Monart Spa resort, eating, drinking and spa-ing (if that’s a word!)

It was heavenly…

So, I have decided to shatter all blissful and peaceful memories of that time by joining one of these “boot camps”. Apparently, they are the new black.

You know all about them. They involved an over the top fit lady/man making you run, jump and carry heavy things outside for an hour whilst shouting things like ” You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t need to” “It’s difficult cos you need to be here”

It damages your confidence and your muscle. But, I know it’s good for me. Eire Og is a Carlow-famed sports/GAA club that built a rather fabulous gym last year. Their emphasis is on keeping fit in as many ways as possible, outside of the gym.

They have built a pretty amazing outdoor training area, see the photo here.

They run these boot camps throughout the year and this one ends in a graduation and BBQ.

So, I’ll “fess” up, the aim of this was not to get fit or to meet people. I have a much more simple aim.

Burgers, sausages and wine.

I’ll let you know how it works out but next appointment with pain is the running club this Saturday. Join us at 9 a.m. at Eire Og, if you dare!

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Opera for Carlow is back but not in the way you think!

We were all invited to the premiere of the first viewing of “Opera for Carlow” performance in GBS Theatre last week.

It started out all civilised in the Carpe Diem bar, sipping fizzy sodas and ended in the one and only chippy left open in Carlow Town on a Wednesday night.( See, Brian, told you I’d find one!)

It was amazing to see and hear all the hard work we had put in over the year. It looked great! I couldn’t believe how well it was and envied anyone who had witnessed the live performance! Afterwards, there was yummy desserts by Lennons alongside cups of tea. Most of headed back to Carpe Diem, where the tea and coffee continued into the late, late hours.

I knew it was time to go home when I attempted to lead an army of 8 followers through the strangely empty streets of Carlow in search of chips. I led my followers to an establishment that I cannot remember the name of. The chips were not hand cut but they did provide garlic mayo, which is a thumbs up.

I left a smaller gathering of mixed sopranos and tenor/bass outside the chip shop, fighting over beans cooking on a hot stove or something.

I miss you, guys! If you really find it hard to quell those “Opera” hormones, then listen out to Lyric FM this Friday, 1st July at 7 PM. Excite! You can check out audio boo at http://audioboo.fm/boos/397510-an-opera-for-carlow-documentary-preview

Also, if you need your addicition to John or Brian fulfilled( and who doesnt? ;)) then head to the Galway Film Fleadh. John has written a script for a film in his spare time. It’s called “Behold the Lamb”. It looks great, see it here at http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/programme.php?ct=world-cinema&cid=1&t=behold-the-lamb&id=192 So, if you happen to be in Galway around the 9th July, it may be nice to pop in there. Unfortunately, I have not received confirmation that Fergal has made any films so don’t expect to see him there!

Thanks, GBH and everyone who made our special premiere night happen!

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How can we get people to shop more in Carlow Town?

Okay, a simple question for you.
Imagine your town has an annual festival of arts and culture every year and its quite popular, actually.
This festival improves every year, adding quality acts and events for children to adults alike.
One feature it always has is a French Market, full of fresh foods and drink stalls. Smelly cheese, sauces, baklava, organic BBQ, you get the vibe?
Ethnic clothes and jewellery, fortune tellers and flowers, herbs and plants
The people associate this festival with this market and look forward to it every year. They might spend a Saturday or Sunday looking around this market, soaking it up and then venture into local cafes and restaurants, grab some lunch and coffee. Possibilities are endless, would you not think?

This year, in Carlow, it was decided not to have the French Market as it impacts on local business.

I hear the French market is on in Newbridge this weekend, I might go up there instead and pay for parking for the day, have a coffee or two, have my lunch, check out the shopping centre while I’m at it and soak up the market atmosphere

The simple question is “Was this a clever decision for the local businesses to make in Carlow?”

Grrrrr.

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Liverpool this weekend:A magical and non mystery tour awaits you!

Well, my lovely husband has rewarded me again for being a good wife.

He told me he wanted to take me away somewhere nice and I could pick!

We are massive Beatles fans and love visiting the UK so Liverpool was the next city on my hit list.

Booked the flights with ryanair and a nice, small boutique hotel for an unbelievably reasonable price within minutes.

Expect articles about Anfield, The Tate, Cavern Club, Magical mystery tours and fish and chips.

Absolutely has to be done. You might also see some photos of me eating fish and chips. Or an arty photo at the Tate.

But not one of me on Abbey Road, @anseoamuniteoir tells me that it is in London…booo. Have to settle for Penny Lane. Now, someone else will tell me that’s in Manchester.

I know you eagerly wait to hear all about it. Be patience, my precious ones. All will be revealed.

But, oh yay!