It appears that while my post from last Friday was published publicly on the blog webpage, it was never sent out via email to any subscribers… this was due to user (my) error. At some point I’ll need to migrate the blog over to WordPress because Google is shutting down Blogger.com’s subscriber email function, but I’m sticking with this for now.
Today outdoor hospitality (restaurant and bar service) has finally opened back up in Ireland. Although many pubs have been serving “to-go pints” in plastic cups that have encouraged people to gather out on the streets, this is a big turning point for the country. My friend CJ invited me out in the early evening to celebrate this milestone over a few Guinness and some appetizers. The weather has continued to be quite nice, with highs in the mid to upper 60s / high 10s to low 20s C, and I was very comfortable sitting outside in shorts.
It’s also a bank holiday today. Over the long weekend, large crowds of mostly young people flooded central Dublin in the evenings, making for quite the party atmosphere. The gardaí responded by dispersing the more unruly crowds in a few areas and arresting a few dozen young people who exhibited “anti-social behavior,” such as throwing bottles at the police and their vehicles. I stayed in almost all weekend and avoided the chaos, although there were plenty of party-goers passing through and hanging out on Crow Street. Today has been less crazy, in part because restaurants and pubs are offering outdoor seating, but the gardaí are continuing to make regular sweeps around trouble areas to prevent more large gatherings from taking place. As I was writing this blog post, a gardaí van drove down Crow Street with its lights and sirens blaring to shoo away some loiterers:
On Saturday, I did an overdue deep cleaning of the apartment and listened to my friend M’s weekly internet radio DJ set. Yesterday (Sunday) and today, I have putting in lots of study hours for my CMA exam. I successfully finished section 2 of 6 in the materials, and with only 5 weeks left, I’ll need to keep up the pace in order to get through everything. Meanwhile, I assume I’ll still be starting my new job at Jigsaw next Monday, although I haven’t heard back from the HR contact about the background check so that may be delayed.
Until next time….
