Welcome to the pollybloggy. Name credit, at least the inspriation, goes to our dear friend Jack aka Ryan, who with his wonderful partner Lara visited us just a couple weeks ago. In this blog, I plan to share my adventures of our time in Ireland or wherever we end up next. My first entries will detail our physical surroundings and holidays that we have already enjoyed here. Then, who knows...
Today: Our first Irish home
Why is our address so long? You can leave out the Dunmore Road line if you wish, but it still appears to have two street names. Ballinure is the actual street that we live on – it’s a circle with a green in the middle that is a favourite play spot for the neighbourhood kids (soccer, bike riding, rolling down the end where there is a bit of a slope). We are actually at the bottom of the green and our front windows look over the green then across to the other houses on Ballinure.
Collins Ave is actually the name of the housing development in which we live. The developments are called Estates here. I really couldn’t tell you how big our estate is – I’ve walked all over it, but it is hard to tell with all the little twists and turns. Basically it’s a long centre road (“The Ave”) with lots of cul de sacs (the word for dead end here, not necessarily a circle) – maybe a dozen or so shooting off left and right of the main road. Most of the side roads are pretty short with eight to twelve houses on each, but some, like ours, are a bit longer with around twenty homes.
Almost all of the houses are du- or tri-plexes in this estate – ours is three houses in one, and we are in one of the end units. All the houses look essentially the same – some have garages (like ours), others have a den there instead. A few have added rooms over the garage – most people own theirs, and we are definitely in the minority as renters (for Ireland as a whole). The most outside décor you get around here is a different coloured door and maybe some landscaping, but not as much as I expected. No, there really is no zip code – we are beyond the Pale. (That saying originated in Ireland: the Pale refers to Dublin, which was all the British could control at the time – 16th or 17th century as we recall. Dublin does have zip codes, although they are only one or two digits.)
As you can see, we have a little front yard. Our little bird feeder isn't attracting many birds to it. There is also a little bigger backyard with very high fencing all around. To our right in this photo are John and Lisa who have a German Shepherd and a Doberman. John is a Guarda (police officer), so we ask him when we have questions about our driving test (like what are dipped headlights?). To the left is Cliona (“cleana”) and Niall (“nile” – both very good Irish names), who have a new tiny puppy named Gizmo – so cute! The large dogs that live on the right are pretty whiny actually – they squeal constantly when John and Lisa are at work, but Pixie sleeps right through it, so we don’t complain!
Behind us is more of the Collins Ave estate. In the distance, we can see the green hills across the river Suir (“sure”). Waterford city is bordered by the river, so beyond the river is green Irish countryside (and the next county north, but more on that later). The river is about a mile north of us.
Our estate is pretty much the edge of eastern Waterford city. There are a couple more estates to the east of us, but then you get into the country. Downtown is about three miles west. It is very easy to get to – you just follow the Dunmore Road until you are there. (That is where the Dunmore Road part of address comes in – locals use it because it basically tells people exactly where we are located, out the Dunmore Road).
Okay, no excuses – cards and letters better start flooding in! (Emails are great too!)
I'll try to include some quick tidbits about life in Ireland, there are today's:
Don’t like: poop scoop laws roundly ignored – watch where you walk.
Like: the candy bars! The selection is great here – it really isn’t a bigger selection than the states, but more stuff that I like (no yucky coconut). My current favourite is Moro – it’s a fudge like centre with bits of shortbread, a layer of caramel, all surrounded by chocolate – yummy! But now I've found a summer favorite, Moro is a little heavy for hot weather, the summer fav is Mint Aero. So light and minty - delicious.
As you can see, we have a little front yard. Our little bird feeder isn't attracting many birds to it. There is also a little bigger backyard with very high fencing all around. To our right in this photo are John and Lisa who have a German Shepherd and a Doberman. John is a Guarda (police officer), so we ask him when we have questions about our driving test (like what are dipped headlights?). To the left is Cliona (“cleana”) and Niall (“nile” – both very good Irish names), who have a new tiny puppy named Gizmo – so cute! The large dogs that live on the right are pretty whiny actually – they squeal constantly when John and Lisa are at work, but Pixie sleeps right through it, so we don’t complain!
Behind us is more of the Collins Ave estate. In the distance, we can see the green hills across the river Suir (“sure”). Waterford city is bordered by the river, so beyond the river is green Irish countryside (and the next county north, but more on that later). The river is about a mile north of us.
Our estate is pretty much the edge of eastern Waterford city. There are a couple more estates to the east of us, but then you get into the country. Downtown is about three miles west. It is very easy to get to – you just follow the Dunmore Road until you are there. (That is where the Dunmore Road part of address comes in – locals use it because it basically tells people exactly where we are located, out the Dunmore Road).
Okay, no excuses – cards and letters better start flooding in! (Emails are great too!)
I'll try to include some quick tidbits about life in Ireland, there are today's:
Don’t like: poop scoop laws roundly ignored – watch where you walk.
Like: the candy bars! The selection is great here – it really isn’t a bigger selection than the states, but more stuff that I like (no yucky coconut). My current favourite is Moro – it’s a fudge like centre with bits of shortbread, a layer of caramel, all surrounded by chocolate – yummy! But now I've found a summer favorite, Moro is a little heavy for hot weather, the summer fav is Mint Aero. So light and minty - delicious.
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