Today is a miserably wet and cold day, in fact it’s so bad I hear the Street Performers Championships in Cork were cancelled. They are on again next week in Dublin so I hope the weather improves. To make up for the dreary grey day I thought I’d post a picture from last weekend when it was sunny and warm in St Stephens Green.
Saturday was a the first day of the June Bank Holiday in Dublin and it started off as a lovely warm sunny day. The city was packed with people walking around enjoying the sun and the long weekend. A band had set up and was busking just opposite St Stephens Green, they were pretty good and had a fair crowd gathered around them. The Green itself had an orchestra playing in the band stand and a group putting on a play in the Yeats memorial. I could easily have spent the day just taking photos but I had a list of wedding chores to do so I just managed to snap a few around the day.
I spent yesterday in town at the St Patricks Day parade. I had hoped to get an official St Patricks Festival pass but didnt qualify, maybe next year. Still the good thing about St Patricks Day in Dublin is that most of the city center is given over to events and it’s still easy to get close to the action and take photos.
I’ll probably post some more of the parade itself and the participants over the next few days but to get started here is one of O’Connell St and the Spire before the parade started that I’ve been playing with.
We spent this afternoon in Dun Laoghaire. It was a lovely Sunday Spring afternoon with lots of rain showers breaking up patches of blue sky and sunshine, which made for some dramatic photographs. Added to this there appears to be a small drill rig now out in the bay, I dont know what it is drilling for but as we walked along the pier another shower made its way towards the platform. I liked the scene with the rain clouds looming over the rig and making it look so small and insignificant. It was only later when I was processing the photo that I spotted the small sail boat between the rig and the shower, even smaller and frailer in the face of the rain and clouds.
I got delayed posting this with my travels at the start of the week. I could hold it over to next week but I figured I’d just post it today. Last weekend a street performer on Grafton St entertained the crowds on what was one of the first really spring like weekends of the year. He put on a pretty good act and got lots of interaction from the crowd, especially when he cycled his giraffe unicycle through them. I’d guess this was deliberate but the crowd definitely didn’t expect it.
Went into town on Saturday to do my usual wander around the shops, get a coffee and take photos. A street performer on Grafton St occupied me for a while and will probably make a post later in the week (after another bloody business trip). On the way to meet my fiancee and some friends for dinner and a few drinks I crossed the Ha’Penny bridge and joined the crowd photographing a stunning sunset over the Liffey. It did make me a bit late for dinner but sure twas worth it, she has grown very tolerant of me vanishing with a camera.