You may have noticed a lack of blog activity recently – this is purely because there is nothing much to tell. Unemployed life goes on and I think we might have had summer already as the weather has turned grey and cold.

Some highlights of the last 2 weeks:

Went out to the Porterhouse for dinner and drinks in temple bar for Lester’s birthday. On Thursday nights there is a guitarist that plays all the classics and we sang along and drank the pubs specialty beers all night. When the pub closed we headed for the Boomerang nightclub along for a boogie. Had a great night and finally found a decent Dublin nightclub. Sue mentioned gossip about this nights activities - applications can be made to alison@purpleturtle.com (include CV and cover letter)

Watched the wallabies win over the Lions in the Down Under bar on Saturday morning – 10am is really too early for a pint! All the papers the week before the final game were bagging the Aussies so I am so glad we won. On the same vein, watched Pat lose and Dublin get beaten by the thugs from Meath in the Gaelic Football. At least we won the cricket!

Went and checked out Powerscourt, a stately house and gardens just south of Dublin. We dragged our unemployed lazy arses up the hill to the gardens and spent the afternoon lazing around in the sun…very nice.

Sue has had a couple of interviews and the prospects look good. I am hoping she will get the job and I can keep me as her gimp! ;)

We will probably be heading over to Sligo the weekend after next to visit a friend of Lesters. On the itinerary is drinking, swimming, seaweed baths, powerpuff girls...stay tuned

Pretty uneventful week except for the big news that I have another interview. This time the job sounds really good, doing web development for an IT consultancy company called Iona. Fingers and toes crossed.

After our big trip we were lacking inspiration for things to do this week so we, in true Irish style, spent the week doing a tour of the finer drinking establishments of Dublin town – all in the name of research of course!

Pub 1: The Pembroke – a nice roomy pub that serves free food and has Budweiser promotions (free beer!) On the down side beers are expensive and burgers don’t come with any bread – see Sue’s blog for details.

Pub 2: Thomas Reads – 5 stars! Been here twice now and it hasn’t disappointed. It has a really high roof and is decorated with funky tiles and posters and it has big windows that you can sit next to and watch the world walk by. Last night we started our night here and met a couple of English blokes on a bucks night. We got chatting and then the rest of the party showed up…2 girls, 18 guys, talk about centre of attention! Had a very funny night here on Thursday also after bumping into 2 people we know on the way there.

Pub 3: Kiellys – A rugby pub in Donnybrook. Jam packed with Lions supporters and a small contingent of antipodeans who bravely sang the national anthem and then shrunk in their seats as the Lions mauled the Wallabies. Seems to be quite a nice pub but I think it would be better if a) it wasn’t 10am in the morning and b) we didn’t have to watch the Aussies get slaughtered.

Pub 4: The Left Bank – Thumbs down! We stumbled into this Temple Bar pub on Saturday night and jostled our way through the women on Hens nights and packs of leering men to the bar for a badly poured pint. Dublin is a popular destination for English Hens and Stags nights, the streets of Temple Bar were packed with gaggles of women wearing costumes. Reminded me of the Retro in Sydney with tacky eighties music playing – needless to say we made a speedy escape.

Pub 5: The Duke – A great place for quieter and slightly cheaper pint away from the frenetic Temple Bar on the South side of town. Spent a while here before heading off for a boogie on Saturday night at Isolda.

Pub 6: Isolda – Back to Temple Bar to one of the few places that you can dance for free. Smokey, packed and full of extremely drunk Irish and tourists – pretty standard late bar really. We had a dance here before escaping for some fresh air (my eyes were watering from the cigarette smoke) and wandering home.

Post pub activities: Today we went to Phoenix park for a picnic. The rain managed to hold off all afternoon for us and we had a bit of a run round and then a snooze.