Well This is it....

I'm currently sitting back home in england after my 6 1/2month stint as 3d supervisor at screen scene working on last days on mars.   So its now time to wind up this blog as I'm no longer in Dublin and certainly no longer the 'man in apartment 12'.

The blog is intended to be read form the earliest posts to the most recent ones, and should you have just came across this then I should point out that it contains no 3d / CGI or art stuff at all.... this is primarily one guys guide to living and working in dublin.  its basically a rough overview of my experiences coming there cold, having never been before.

What I will say is that it was a tremendous experience and I cant wait to work over there again.  Hopefully you'l find the stuff contained within these pages of use.

Toodle Pipski


Wayne...

Food

Sooner or later your going to want something to eat as man cannot survive on coffee and guinness alone.  So here's a few recommendation of mine to check out.


Zaytoon's

ok so why have I stuck a kebab shop first?  Well I don't care what kebab you have ever had or how good you think it was, Zaytoons is the only place where you can honesty call it proper food.  The only draw back is every kebab you ever have anywhere else will taste like a turd sandwich in comparison.
Avoid any 'abrakebabra' ones and certainly avoid the little kebab place on baggot street..thats little kiosk not only produces stuff that tastes awful, but I also got food poisoning there.

Al Vesuvio

I recommend the diavola pizza, although they have some excellent italian food and its worth every penny.  Its also a cheaper alternative to Milano, or it there is full

Milano

Excellent pizzas.... worth waiting for them in fact.   Its a little more expensive but it is worth it to my mind.  It gets very busy on a lunchtime so the wait can get a bit long then.










Beshoff Brothers

The best fish and ships in dublin....  flawless every single time I have been in.  Also good if you want to give your stoma he some time to recover if you have a hangover.

The Schoolhouse Bar

Nice place, with a good selection of food and even gluten free options.  None of us ever had anything other than an excellent meal there.  Quite and perfect place if you have to have a lunch meeting or simply need to get away form work stuff for an hour.






Millers Pizza Kitchen

Excellent pizza..... I recommend the Capricossa ;)


Dominos pizza in Rathmines

Avoid, its like eating plastic...burnt plastic in fact.


Peploe's

Recommended for only one thing...their sausage sarnies.... epic and spot on.

Drink! (part 2)

Continuing on from my last post  here's  a few more places you might want to visit for a drink:


The Lower Deck

This was my local where I'd go for a quiet few pints while I sat and read my kindle.  Its not a party place, its basically a proper pub full of old guys and if your lucky some sport on the tv.  Thats it, but that is also its charm (or it was for me).








The Leeson Lounge

The 1st (and last) place I went to in dublin.... as it was right opposite the leeson bridge guesthouse.  Good beers, gets a bit packed sometimes as they have all sorts of amazing bands that are well above your average pub band standard.  Most of them are blues bands, so if you like a good blues band, your sorted.






James Toners

Excellent Guinness and they do have a covered heated smoking area and waitresses who will go and get your pint for you so you don't have to leave your seat.  I should also point out that the smoking area while heated is fucking arctic when its cold weather!!  You wont want to hang around if its cold and wet outside.  Gets busy on a weekend.

Hogans

Very handy as both a place to meet up your mates or as a place for the whole night.  Music in the basement area and bar staff are pretty fast.  Gets very busy on a weekend, so if you want a seat get in a bit early.




Doheny & Nesbitt's

Excellent place on a friday or saturday night!  For me not just as they server excellent guinness, but also as it has a massive smoking area that is warm and pleasant even in the worst weather.  Full of characters and intersting people if your into people watching.  Highly recommended.

Drink! (My Favorite Pubs and Clubs in Dublin part 1)

If your working in Dublin for the 1st time you will at some point encoutner  pubs...ok thats a slight lie, you will see them everywhere! So I thought I would do a Wayne guide to some of my favorite places in Dublin when out for a drink.  I'll give you a basic pro's and cons to each one.  This is part 1.... there may well be a part 2 and a part 3 lol.

Scruffy Murphys

Sort of the Screeen Scene local on a friday night, your normal pub, everything from guinness to whiskey is great, no bad beers and a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.  The sofa's get taken up rather fast if your not in early and there is usually some sort of sport on the television in one end of the bar.  If your a smoker you'll have to do that outside (although there is a heater thingy that you can stick on.)





McGrattans

Sort of the 2nd Screen Scene local and a bit more 'up market'  Has not one but two indoor smoking areas and the guinness is especially nice.   There are two pool tables and it does apparenttly serve meals (although I haven't had cause to have one there).   Queues at the bar arent too bad and bar staff are freindly and quick.





The Grand Social (nightclub)

Full of a lot of young un's and beer isnt exactly awe inspiring.  The music alternates between crap and pretty decent.  Not exaclty a place for an older person, they are however open late and have an in door smoking area up stairs (which is always more packed than the rest of the nightclub).  There's a cloakrom to leave your....erm  cloak and shit.


The Button Factory

 

 

Bit more swanky, has actual nice seats and I would say got for the bottled beers as otherwise you get a fucking little plasetic cup thingy (and I dont know about you, but I do not want to drink beer out of an effing plastic maxpax cup.)  They do have some good gigs and it does draw in a more sensible crowd when I've been there.  (The sound system also has a kickin bottom end!)



The Twisted Pepper (nightclub)

Probably my favorite place music wise.  I came across the twisted pepper one of my first weekends in Dublin to see Craig Cahrles do his DJ Funk and Soul show set (which was fantastic BTW!)  The pepper is like a maze of rooms and is on multiple levels.  Now it doesnt look very posh or swanky but has a good selection of techno, bands that do gigs on a weekend and an indoor smoking area next to the toilets on the top level.  It has the only cloakroom I've ever seen that has a bottom of jeagermiester in it.   It is open pretty damn late into the early hours for those into that sort of thing.

Teeth

While over here I had problems with oneof my fillings falling out, so queue a trip to a dentists.  It turned out that I had an infection, but only after the dentists had missed this (leaving me 9 injections later able to feel every thing during a root canal!) 

Now the one thing you really do not want to experience is a dentist looking down at you whilke you have what seems like a full dental surgery's worth of tools in you in mouth with a look of fear in their eyes....  What you also do not want is for them halfway through to say that this is 'beyond their skill level'  and basically get you out of there as fast as possible. 

So if you have cause to have any derntal treatment in dublin, make sure you get a good recommendation and dont just go to a one that is only capable of 'cosmetic' dentistry.  As a result I'll now have to wait until I am back at home in the UK and hope my usual dentist can sort this mess out.

I leave dublin at the end of march, so this blog will probably end around then as I will no longer be in 'Apartment 12'.   Hopefully it'll have been  / be of some use to those who are folling over to dublin to work here.

Video of Dublin

A little video of Dublin to give you a feel for the place. (Yes I did indeed write the music as well).




Dublin from Wayne Robson on Vimeo.

Random stuff about living in Dublin

Somewhere out there there are beer, tramps and people who will ask for your cigarettes!

There's a few things that I've learned in my 1^st month of living in Dublin. Now I'm going to by pass a lot of the more obvious stuff like pubs etc and concentrate on the things that slowly gnaw away at you. Like for example if you are a smoker, and are walking around places such as Camden street after dark there is a 60% chance that someone, a some point will ask you for a cigarette. (Edit: having headphones on stops this)

The same as during the day you will see beggars on most corners. If you gave to them all it would bankrupt you, some appear to be 'career beggers' who are not as desperate as some others. So whether you give to any, alll or none is up to you, but like any big city they are pretty much unavoidable unless it is pissing it down with rain.

Now as I've touched on before, thre are a LOT of pubs in Dublin, probably more than 1 person could drink in in one lifetime. Its very easy to get tempted to visit a different one each night before you turn around and realise that you're never at home in your flat. Just because everyone speak english does not mean they do things the same way as england, scotland or wales or any other country fo tthat matter. There are distinct ways things are done over here that you'll come across yourself and are far numerous to mention in detail here.

I'd urge you to set up a bank account as soon as you can to make life a bit easier while your here, and you'll need a passport and some sort of proof of your address (a bill will do fine, but you'll need to wait for ti to come first. There may well be another quicker way that I'm not aware of.)

It also rains a fair bit in Dublin and when it does...boy oh boy does it hammer it down. So make sure you have a waterproof coat as there's nothing worse than walking to and from work soaked to the skin as if you've been in a shower with your clothes on.

If you need to buy something whether it be clothes or something for your flat stephens green is worth a look and your best bet is aplace called 'Dunnes', Although there are a few places with cheap plates and cutlery etc in camden street as well.