tomorrow!

My parents are arriving tomorrow. I can't quite believe it. Since they told me they were coming over, I've had at the back of my mind "I must do that with Mom and Dad when they are over" every so often -- and now they will actually be here! So funny. And I think it's really quite a big deal for them. They are not genealogy freaks, but we are still very much of Irish descent so I guess coming to the land of their forefathers and mothers has got to mean something. It has for me, I think, although not in a sappy sort of way. It just seems so cool to be studying 19th century literature in a city that saw so much of it being created.

I will still have some work to do for the rest of this week, so after they've recovered from the trip (it's only a 3.5 hour time difference so no major jet lag) I'm hoping that Mom and Dad will be kept busy with the city cards Dublin Tourism gave me. But as soon as Saturday rolls around, I want to hit the town with them big time. I've been trying to spend as little money as possible lately and I know they won't mind paying for meals and things.



Xmas lights

Someone read this blog and sent in a suggestion for a pub on Leeson Street, Hartigans. Dude, good tip. It feels like the kind of place that must've been the same for centuries and had one of the features of some of the best pubs in Dublin; you go in and there's trendy young guys and old men in cloth caps and old ladies with glasses of port and they are all talking about politics. Or music. Or something. The point is, they are having fun together, and the age difference and difference in outlook doesn't matter. Some pubs have it, and some don't. If you could bottle "it" you'd make a fortune.

I've found a cool Xmas market in the Docklands, where I have rarely been although it's a fun kind of area, with shiny modern apartments around the water and good looking people walking around with fancy groceries. I picked up some top-end playing cards for Bepe and I think he liked them although he did seem more impressed with the bottled moose which he brought with him when he left yesterday.

On the boyfriend issue, I've kind of decided that if he's not ready for me to meet his folks, then maybe he shouldn't meet mine either, except maybe as "just a friend". Not a tit-for-tat thing -- I just figure perhaps he's right, perhaps it is too soon for introductions. But it does seem a shame.