Katie’s done a much better version of what happened in Dublin in her post.

On our last night in Dublin, with just Katie and I remaining, we meet up with Katie’s friend Gary who is also involved in making bonkers theatre, in the case of his current show, broadcasting half the performance from a house in Dublin to a theatre in Ghent, Belgium. Sound very interesting. We wound up the night with a final pint of Guinness accompanied by some raucous Irish folk music at one of Gary’s recommended pubs, the Stag’s Head.

Now we’re back after a journey on one ferry, four trains and a bus. Time to collapse.

When I told people at work that I was visiting Dublin for a long weekend, their first question was ‘Ferry?’ The answer, of course is yes, and so here I am blogging from a bright green Irish ferry (on my iPod, so it won’t get posted ’till I get back).
It was quite funny seeing the same crowd of people who got on at Birmingham over and over again, on two trains, a bus, and now finally the ferry.
We’re going to meet my brother and sister at the house (more on that later). I know they’ve arrived because Claire’s already told Facebook.
William suggested the trip, and Katie took about three seconds to decide to come along, immediately setting to work booking what looks like a beautiful house complete with grand piano, though I suspect we may be too busy sampling the famous Guiness to spend much time there.

Things are looking up now: Katie is no longer curled up fighting seasickness, and the child who threw a green spikey thing has stopped screaming… Oh no, I spoke too soon. Hold on a minute…

Still on the boat, now reading through the guides. The zoo apparently bred the lion which roars ar the start of MGM films.

I’m now writing from the Irish film institute on Saturday. I won’t bore you with all the details, but we’ve basically been rather unimaginably doing all the things that you’re meant to do in Dublin… Drinking Guinness, the guinness storehouse, the Kilmainham Gaol and admiring two pages of the book of Kells. Oh, and getting treated like an errant schoolboy in the Trinity college library.

The house where we’re staying is perhaps one of the main attractions with it’s Beckstein grand piano, wonky floors which no spirit level would condone. It’s a Georgian townhouse that has been faithfully restored (do I sound like an estate agent?) and as an added bonus probably costs about the same as staying in the novatel. Despite the warnings in the guestbook, it doesn’t appear to be haunted.

Katie is a baking genius – the banana bread is great! Mmmm. #fb

Smells that Steve likes: diesel, freshly sawn oak (or veroboard), solder flux, tarmac #steve

A watched pot may never boil, but a watched pot will certainly sell on ebay – steve’s pots now at £36

Really looking forward to having the Dutch bike at Edinburgh this year. Should be good exercise on those hills.

There was an interesting piece in E&T this month about the invention of the CCD, which we rely on every time we use a digital camera. It turns 40 this week. Apparently Willard Boyle was asked by his manager to “Come up with something different”. So he and George Smith had a chat. Within an hour they had come up with a device which would hold charge within a cell and then…

An hour or so later, they were deciding what to call it. The online histories make it seem like a film script: “It’s got charge. And we’re moving the charge around by coupling potential wells,” said Smith; “Let’s call it a charge coupled device,” said Boyle.

They didn’t mess around once they’d come up with the idea, either…

“In less than a week, masks were made and devices were fabricated and tested”

I’ve not blogged for a while, so here’s an update on all the random stuff going on in my head and life – well some of it,  anyway.

Thursday night we went to see Little Sister at the Hare and Hounds.  Apparently they now practice is bursts of a week, because one of them lives in Wales and one in Copenhagen.  This must have had been a good week, because their new stuff was great.  The opener had an Indian feel, after which they continued to work their way around the world’s folk music via Wales and Southern America.  One of the most striking aspects of the four girl group is not just their harmonising, or the range of instruments that they play, but the great big harp that sits on the stage, looming like a Renaissance sculpture while the support acts play.  Unfortunately, the sound often gets lost on pub stages, but the soundcheck had obviously been successful, so Sammy Fox’s glissandi were able to beautifully counterpoint the accordion.

This weekend @katieday is down in Bristol doing something related to interactive gaming that I’ve been struggling to explain to people, so in the meantime I’ve been getting to grips with Reaktor from Native Instruments. This program lets you create synthesizers and audio effects by stringing together blocks. I’ve been meaning to get back into effect design since my final year project at University, a DSP board connected to a MFC C++ program which would let you genetically evolve audio effects. Nowadays, these things are much easier to do, though you can still make something look absolutely horrible…