Today is our fifteenth anniversary.
Happy anniversary Cynthia! I love you!
Cliffs Of Moher
We finished up the project a little early so I was released into the wilds of Ireland to do some exploring today.
I caught a tour bus up to the Cliffs Of Moher.
It seemed a gamble with the rain, but I decided to risk it even though there would be no refunds on the tour price.
It did rain on and off the hour and a half it took us to get there, but there was no rain while we visited the cliffs which was great.
I loved the signs:
Galway Slang
Craic (pronounced “crack”) is the Gaelic word for “fun”
Actual conversation in the cab from the airport:
Cab Driver: Are you up for a bit of craic?
Me: No, I’m here on business…
—
Memorable slang so far:
Craic – Fun
Knackered – Tired
No Panic -No worries/problem
Shite – No good, awful
Dry Shite – Boring person
Deadly – Cool
Destroyed – Drunk
Plonker – Idiot
Where’s the “any” key?
When travelling to Europe a few years back I did not take a computer with me. It was pretty much “catch as catch can” in the various countries, between the odd Internet cafe and the various hotel or B&B provided terminals.
Something I knew, but did not fully consider, was that each country used a unique keyboard layout. This made it somewhat vexing when it came to typing certain characters. I recall struggling to find the key combination for the @ symbol on a French computer with the key symbols worn away from over-use.
If you know how to type without watching your fingers, and you have access to the computer settings then the easiest thing to do is go to the control panel and change the layout to US.
Microsoft offers step by step instructions in KB306560
If you’re a hunt and peck typist or you don’t have the ability to change the keyboard layout you will need to familiarize yourself with the keyboard layout of the country you’re visiting.
There’s a handy guide located at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout
US KEYBOARD LAYOUT
UK/IRELAND KEYBOARD LAYOUT
One of the most frustrating differences on UK keyboard is that the quotation marks are on the 2 key while the @ sign takes the place the quotation marks.
Swans
Flocks of wild swans patrol the river and the entrance to the bay. Hundreds of them. The bulk of them hang out near one of the quay walls, drawn to those who throw bread down from on high…
Time to explore, time to reflect
Keeping in mind that the baldheretic server is operating on local time in Houston, posts that appear to be made at 6:00 pm are actually going up around midnight due to the time difference.
In essence, I am blogging to my US readers from the not so distant future.
No flying cars or jet packs, but somewhat closer to developing cold fusion.
Haven’t found a way to play this to my advantage in regards to the lottery…curse the luck.!
Sighting of The Vagrant
Spotted The Vagrant outside of Galway.
As it happened, I was joining my friend Owen and his family at their lovely home for lunch.
Wouldn’t you know, Mr. Finn and The Vagrant are old pals.
An Irishman? A sheep? No good can come of this!
Trust no one….
Galway – Day 1
Arrived in Galway without any problem. Houston to Chicago with a 40 minute layover. Turns out the connecting flight was just on gate over in the very same terminal.
Luggage arrived safely and I caught a cab from the airport in Shannon to the Marriot in Galway.
I didn’t really sleep on the plane so I was pretty beat when I check into the hotel. I got some breakfast and decided to set my alarm and take a short nap. When the alarm went off I was sorely tempted to just go back to sleep but I knew this would be a bad idea so I forced myself to get up and get moving.
Galway is a very pedestrian friendly city. I was able to walk/shamble down to the city center and poke around. Very crowded on a Saturday. Tourists and street performers everywhere. The thing I am noticing more and more when I travel is how distracted the pedestrians are as the walk around yakking or texting on their mobile devices.
When they’re standing still it’s not so bad, they’re just clogging the pedestrian arteries. When they’re walking they’re like human smart bomb/missiles without the “smart.”
I made myself keep moving and I wandered around quite a bit. Most of the street performers were unremarkable at best, with the exception of two.
This young harpist was quite talented and a joy to watch, even if the din of the street traffic washed away much of the subtlety
Then there was this guy:
Cardboard instruments, cardboard sheet music, cardboard CD’s, cardboard pet dog. The only thing that wasn’t cardboard was the instrument case and the ever-growing pile of Euros inside it. He performed quite recognizable songs (mostly Irish traditional standards) by mouthing a series of “plinks” and “plonks.” He even brought up a spectator for a duet.
Note the paperclip capo on his “instrument.”
I must confess, it was probably one of the most sublimely brilliant pieces of street performance I have ever witnessed. Of course I witnessed it while being utterly sleep deprived.