As I mentioned last week, all the national holidays come in a big glut from now till June 1st after which we have ne’re a long weekend in sight till Christmas.

It all kicks off with the Queens day festival, 30th April, marking the birthday of the Queen Beatrix (well actually her mothers birthday, but as QB’s birthday is in January, the pragmatic choice was to leave things in March)

Anyhow, there is Koninginnenacht, the Queens Night, the evening of the 29th, mostly celebrated in The Hague, but also celebrated wherever there is alcohol. Once work finishes the bars open and all hell breaks loose. The next day is Queens Day, Koninginnedag. Amsterdam is awash with Orange, and stalls appear everywhere, selling anything from a broken teapot to a donut, from a dress mannequin to a dental mirror and everything in between. Needles to say with5 days left people are already laying claim to the “best” plots on pavements and the like, marking their turf by writing BEZET in some manner on the ground

Next week my Mum is coming to visit for the festivities, but I do promise to post a round up of it all here.

In honour of this National Day our cocktail this week includes 4 essential Dutch ingredients, no not Hash, Cheese, Tulips and Arrogance…..

Something from BOLS, Genever (Dutch Gin) Orange Colour and the word Dutch!

Comfortable Young Dutch

• ½ shot BOLS Genever (young)
• 1½ shots  Southern Comfort
• ½ shots  Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 shots Freshly squeezed orange juice

Add all ingredients to an iced shaker.
Shake and strain into an ice filled old fashioned glass.

Liquored Up? now lets get Linkered Up!

All this recession talk would have you believe nothing is happening in the shops these days, but I think thats Bull!

And so do Panti, Rick, Redmum, Ian, the Guardian and even CNN

RTE 9 0′clock news

Click here to view the embedded video.

Full CCTV Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

Last night I got a wonderful invite from @kittynel to go for a cruise through the canals on her new boat!

It was gezellig hoor!

Twitter News

We all know Oprah joined Twitter recently, but not to be outdone on the emerald isle, our own fair female shlebs piled onto the social networking train…. Twink, Lorraine Keane, Grainne Seoige, Bláthnaid NíChofaigh, Amanda Brunker and Glenda Gilson all joined very recently and are trying to figure out what the hell is going on!

Speaking, or tweeting about whats hot, Friday saw #doylejoke day. On prompt of @lecraic’s jibe about tweetbombing @darraghdoyle for his “bad” jokes, AJ offered a limited edition Helvetica Moleskine notebook to the best “worst” joke tweeted by 5.30

My last top twitter tale, is this  – Development of a method of tweeting using brain activity

That’s right, no keyboards, just a red cap fitted with electrodes that monitor brain activity, hooked up to a computer flashing letters on a screen. Wilson sent the messages by concentrating on the letters he wanted to “type,” then focusing on the word “twit” at the bottom of the screen to post the message.

The development could be a lifeline for people with “locked-in syndrome” — whose brains function normally but who cannot speak or move because of injury or disease.

Blogger News

Some bloggers need YOUR HELP

The ladies of Gaelick what to know

What the velvet hearts on the tree trunks along East Wall are for?

Panti would like your help resurrecting a lovely turn of phrase

“To Beat the Band”

The Culchies are up in arms, about the possibility of a musical based on the life of Jade Goody with songs such as “DOH! Whats a Dear” and Lottie’s suggestion of Don’t Cry For Me East Anglia? Suggestions on a postcard to the Beeb, where we are sure it will be their new 12 part search for a star.

Other thing happening in the blogosphere, Lilly Collison has moved blog home, she’s now a WP blogger!
Check out her new WWW place of residence www.lilycollison.com

My 2nd appearance on Desked – My Home desk  —>

Biff Sniff has some pretty cool tshirts to mark the demise of the global market economy – click on the image to get your shirt!

Wantsies and Other Stuff

Every Elf has wantsies – and coming up to my birthday…. here are a few of my pointlessly favourite things:

Singing Gizmo from Gremlins – you have to watch the video

Click here to view the embedded video.

Zip up headphones
Mine are always in a mass of knots! They even have a volume control on the zipper!

Noma Bar’s May 2009 Limited Edition Cover for Esquire

and finally: I leave you with two natural wonders:

Northern Lights (as I know they are @fontfiddler’s favourtie thing ever)

Click here to view the embedded video.

and
Scenes from the zoo

According to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), over 600 million visitors pass through the gates of over 1,300 zoological parks, reserves and aquariums worldwide every year. Springtime brings many new animals to these parks as well, as newborns. Collected here are some photographs from zoos and aquariums around the world from the past couple of months. Don’t forget that 2009 has been designated as the “year of the gorilla” by the United Nations. (37 photos total)

A very kind, funny, talented bloke, who is absolutely stellar to hang out with

I met him on a train from Salzburg when I did a tiny weeny spot of inter-railing in 2007.

At the time he was touring the world and in total he was traveling for 560days in a row

His blog on the adventure is well worth reading click any of the links above.

He came to stay with me in Ireland for a few days in early 2008, before jetting off to Cuba

I love his videos and his photos
Two fine examples here

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyhow, he created a new video as part of his showreel and I got a sneak peak this morning.
So here you go, a blogging exclusive, if you will….

Dan Murphy’s Showreel.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyway, as I am an elf that’s opposed to change, this makes me sad.
Somehow the fact that there were still staff (Al and Lisa) there seemed to take the edge off the pain. I know its just an office and just a company, that in the end didn’t care about us. But it was so much more than that for me.

My university experience sucked hairy monkeys balls, and really that office and the mayhem and friendship that occurred behind its creaky, sticky brown doors replaced that magnificently. Except it was better as I was earning money!!

Anyway, thought I might post one or two of the shots from that era, now passed!

So long my old friend.