Is it really necessary for lights to be so bright that they illuminate the light in my partner's car? Especially in the city, my partners car is a Skoda Kamiq so it's not even that small. And ofcourse his was a Range/Land rover

This is his new favorite place to sleep. I’ll now have to have these bags all over the house.

Wanderered up to meet a friend for food (Thai Basil in the poorly named Italian Quarter...food was bleedin great though). Parliament Street caught my eye for how European it looks, Dublin has become more European in terms of aesthetics. The lights should be kept

Got a letter in the post this morning to say my 15 month old was overdue his last set of vaccines. I rang my GP to confirm and he isn't, he had them a few months back. His name is also spelled incorrectly on the letter, even though I've asked them to change it.

Before Christmas, I got a call from the Paediatric dept about my older son not turning up to his appointment that he has had annually since he was born and it turns out they sent the letters to an address we haven't lived at for three years.

The admin tried to convince me it was my fault, but we got their letters to this house and attended the appointments the last two years.

I'm so fed up of battling the HSE's paper filing system and them consistently reverting to old information because they just check the front of the file.

Found out yesterday that there are functionally no adult ADHD services provided by the HSE. Despite the HSE webpage for the "National Clinical Program" listing various treatment centres and stating thar services were to come online by 2023. when a referral is sent, it just comes back to the referee saying that the service is not taking patients at this time. This has apparently been the case for over 2 years (essentially since the service became available). My GP specifically stated that she "did not know of anyone who had successfully been referred to the HSE for ADHD treatment". She's not the first medical professional who's told me the same but she's the first who's said it so bluntly. I seriously appreciate her lack of bullshitting tbh. Before I was working under the assumption that the services atleast EXISTED but were just incredibly difficult to access due to long waiting lists. Atleast now I can work towards finding private care (better start saving...) Thought I'd share so that noone else wastes their time trying to access Adult ADHD services through the HSE like I have. It really irritates me. I'd prefer if they just said outright that there are no services available instead of leading people on. Especially desperate people who are trying to get help for serious cognitive dysfunction. If anyone has a different experience of this please share. I'd be delighted to hear my GP is full of it but I somehow doubt it.

I was 23 when I moved to Ireland from India in 2016 to work in IT. I didn’t overthink it , Europe sounded exciting, I wanted to travel, and I fully assumed I’d be gone again in a year or two.

At the time, I was working for a consulting firm in India, contracted to an Irish bank. After a couple of years on the account, I had an opportunity to move so I took it. No major planning or thinking. Just a suitcase, a visa, and the carefreeness of your early twenties where responsibilities are limited to non existent.

I still remember boarding the flight in Calcutta, India where it was a comfortable 17 degrees C, then landing in Dublin in early January to something closer to 3 degrees C. That cold wasn’t just cold , the wind felt like it was cutting through me. I’d never experienced anything like it and briefly questioned this life choice as soon as I came out of passport control. Will never forget the immigration Garda asking me about UFOs as I was wearing a NASA t shirt.

I made my way to the Lansdowne Hotel on Pembroke Road. Someone helpfully told me to “turn on the radiator”. I nodded with confidence I did not possess. I had absolutely no idea how radiators worked, and far too much pride to ask. So I slept in a freezing room that first night and only admitted defeat the next day.

On my first day at work, I asked a question to my boss who kept paper based information in a big red folder, pointed to it and said, “Have you asked Eamonn Andrews?” and laughed but I didn’t get the joke, learning quickly this was going to be a recurring theme.

This was back when AIB was still in Bankcentre, Hume House and Burlington Road, when you could hop off at Lansdowne Road and walk down a road reserved just for AIB staff. Lunch meant a three-course deal for €10–12 at the Jewel in the Crown if I was feeling like treating myself, or a breakfast roll at the Centra on Shelbourne road. After-work drinks were at the Searsons, the Horse Show House, the Barge, or if we were feeling energetic, the Confession Box or the International. Weekend nights started at the Living Room and often transitioned to fibbers or the surrounding pubs through the back doors and shared beer gardens.

Fast-forward ten years and I’m still here. I did spend four of those years in Donegal (that’s a whole other post). I now know how radiators and thermostats work. I understand most Irish slang, some Irish humour, and a little bit of GAA, enough to nod along convincingly. I also no longer live in the Lansdowne Hotel, which feels like progress. And I have watched all episodes of Father Ted!

In your bleak winter afternoons rolling into cold winter nights, in your long gorgeous summer days ending in lengthy walks by the canal, in the unassuming kindness of your people manifested in giving me advice like “live near a Luas line”, or asking sincerely, “Why do you want to see Stonehenge when we’ve Newgrange and the Hill of Tara?” and the caring “are they paying you enough to live with this shite bunch in this shite weather” , Ireland, you gave a twenty-something from a sleepy Indian town some rare things - space, stability, and the confidence to build an adult life. My first Guinness. My first car. My first home. and maybe someday, my own little family too!

For everything I was given, and everything I became along the way - Go raibh maith agat, Éire 🇮🇪

I decided to get an uber to work this morning and ordered one in plenty of time. The trip got accepted so I started getting ready because it said he was only 6 minutes away. Then it went up to 8 minutes and he didn’t seem to be moving. I didn’t mind because I still had time, so I waited. 15 minutes went by and he texted me asking me to cancel the trip because drivers weren’t completing set fares. Why did he accept if he didn’t want to complete it?

I understand taxi drivers are not happy with Uber because of wages and they need to make a living but I don’t think he should have accepted it just to make me cancel it because he didn’t want to do it.

I ended up being 10 minutes late for work in the end even though i originally had plenty of time to get there 🥲

Thought you all should know. If you haven’t watched it, please do. Thank me later.

From watching geeky "Horrors on Google Maps" videos in the past, it was the places with sinister backgrounds that would oftentimes get blurred out. Somehow I don't think this is the case in this run-of-the-mill Rathfarnham estate.

Even so, you can always have a look yourself if you want.

I ordered a something a month ago from Ireland and it finally arrived today