May 2009 Archives
Broken bike
Last week it was a broken pedal, and today it was a puncture. I didn’t notice anything particularly hazardous on the road, but there seems to be loads of glass on the road generally, so it was probably that.
It’s a pain in the arse, because now I have to walk to work tomorrow, and then set aside some time for the repair. I have a patch kit somewhere, but I haven’t got any tools to get the tyre off. When I was a kid I remember that we used to use spoons out of the kitchen drawer - which probably accounted for the cutlery with kinks in the handles that my family had to endure for years.
Maybe I should just admit defeat, and get the cycle shop to do the repair.
May 28, 2009
Choral Ireland
I’m mulling the idea of creating a new web site, to serve the Irish choral music scene. It would primarily be a concert listing site, perhaps with some kind of directory of choirs, so that anyone interested in choral music - whether as a singer or audience member - would be able to find choirs more easily.
I don’t think there’s anything already available on the net that serves this need. The existing music websites seems to prioritise pop, rock and traditional music ahead of classical music, even though Ireland has a large and loyal classical music audience.
The only thing stopping me implementing the idea is the software behind the scenes to run such a site. I have a bit of experience using content management engines, but I think I’ll need something a bit more customisable in order to support my vision.
Ten Weeks
I finally decided just before Easter that I was going to hand in my notice at the cathedral choir. I’m now working out my notice, and I finish at the end of term in 10 weeks time.
There’s a myriad of reasons that sit behind my decision, but if you boil it down, I’ve just had enough. I’ve been at Christ Church for just over two years now, and it’s a very demanding role. And with an equally demanding day job, something had to give eventually. And so, in the middle of July I’ll be bidding a fond farewell to the choir - although I suspect I may be back from time to time to dep.
For the time being, I’m not planning on leaving Dublin or changing anything else in my life. And I’ve not yet lined up any other singing opportunity - but I guess there’s lots of time to find something, perhaps after the summer. And in the mean time, I’m looking forward to reclaiming my weekends, and finding out what ‘normal’ people do on their Sundays.
Dublin Cycle News
A couple of interesting cycle-related news stories have been reported in the last day or so. Firstly, that Ireland is having it’s first National Bike Week from the 14th to 21st June, with lots of events encouraging people to cylce more (News Story). And secondly, that Dublin is about to launch a bicycle rental scheme in July - whereby people can borrow a bike for up to half an hour for free (News Story). Luckily, it seems, they have learnt from the failures of other rental schemes, and are asking members to pay a large deposit on the bikes they borrow - to hopefully ensure they don’t all get stolen.
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