Where is the Guiness?

Life is moving on quickly here.  Less than a week back from Paris and I’m in Dublin for work.  I was supposed to be in Tampa, FL USA next week, but had to renege because I really need to get my check up.Anyway, it’s my first time in Dublin and it’s been good fun, but I haven’t seen as much of the local area as I’d like.  The first two days were out at a hotel and IBM which is based in an industrial estate so nothing going on there and nothing older than a few years.Last night we moved into the centre of Dublin for more meetings today and this proved to be fun.  It was of course Halloween which is very big in Ireland.  The news in the lead up was all full of council’s tidying up big stockpiles of rubbish that kids intend to light as bonfires, and getting spat on and rocks and things thrown at them.  Apparently the busiest night of the year for emergency services in Ireland is Halloween.I was out walking last night and you could smell smoke in the air, firecrackers kept going off and there were people in costume (lots of Uni students) everywhere.  It was mayhem.  The kids were trick or treating the pubs for money and kept getting booted out by the staff.Other than that, I really didn’t see much of Dublin, although I walked through the Temple Bar area and generally it looks like an interesting place to visit.  I’d love to get out into the countryside as well.I’m being very good in sticking to my diet, which unfortunately means I didn’t get to try Guiness here, and having to be somewhat fussy about what I eat.  Funnily enough I’m feeling healthier than I have in a while which is unsurprising really!