Crossing cultures

Dublin

This is supposed to be my short trip to Ireland before going to Poland next week (and after having visited Barcelona last week), but to be honest it's all rather confusing. Everyone working in a service industry here is Polish and most of the others seem to be tourists from all over the place.

So other than brushing up my Polish (essentially it involves not using definite article) I've been chilling with Steve and Andrew on an embryonic 'Carey lads on tour'. Dublin isn't a terribly interesting city - the centre is a mishmash of tourist buildings and bars overcharging for Guinness, but today we went out to Howth, a small town on the coast north of the city. The weather was better and the scenery was great: recommended!

I'll be back in England tomorrow and starting to prepare for Poland, where I go on Sunday evening. Busy times ahead!

Summer

Sorry my blog has been so sparse lately. Both my regular readers will know that I have a lot more to say when I'm actually doing things like travelling. It is therefore with both trepidation and excitement that I declare the summer blogging season open! My plans are mostly finalised as follows:

June: Barcelona

June: Dublin

July: Poland

August: Paris/Alps

August: Cheltenham Bible Festival

August/September: Toronto

September: Slovenia/Croatia/Bosnia/Serbia/who knows

I leave for "Barcelona" tomorrow on Ryanair. Some friends who are also going were on a pre-lads' trip trip this week in Marseilles and had their hire-car broken into (with a crow-bar, no less) and their passports stolen. They would be able to fly home alright but not out again, so have elected to stay in France and meet us in Spain tomorrow. Let's hope that one works out for them and French police reports are usable in Spanish airports!

Pimms o' clock

And now a personal announcement: this morning I finished my degree. Huzzah!

As you were...