Wheres me jumpa

• @drtaz were you drunk when you typed that?! yeah looks like you guys got a bad deal the night you went! #

I finally got to dine at Carlows newest restaurant, The Grill and Grape. Thankfully their premises was unaffected by the flooding that has hit Carlow recently. Its riverside location is unique in Carlow but Im sure with the levels of water that were seen this week, they are relieved to have escaped unscathed.

Inside, you get a modern, spacious, well laid out restaurant. There are a few circular booth type tables that are ideal for larger crowds. And of course you have the window seats which over look the Barrow.

As you would expect with a steakhouse, dead cow dominates the menu. Very tasty Calamari started me off before I went for the 10oz Sirloin, while my other half went with what appears to be the signature dish, a rare steak served on a hot skillet. It cooks as you eat. It proved a novelty at first and is worth a try, but be prepared for some splashes and a slightly awkward meal.

Your steak comes plain jane, and you select a sauce which comes separately. This has a certain, American, diner type feel to it. I went for a garlic butter sauce. You expect when visiting a steakhouse to be blown away by the steak, although it was a nice piece of meat, Ive had better steaks, even in Carlow.

Plenty of sides to fill you up also. Ice cream for dessert, rounded off with a very potent espresso. Dinner for two, shared starter, shared dessert, espresso each and bottle of wine coming to a very reasonable 80 euro.

It’s a restaurant with a modern, trendy feel to it. It’s a significant change to the type of restaurant in Carlow and adds some variety. Also its location, slightly, away from the main streets, means it may attract more locals than stag/hen night blow-ins. It could be our little secret, ssshhh.

• morning all. torrential rain, thunder and lightning,there goes the weekend #
• @drtaz what flavour were they? #

• morning all, change in the weather last night, granted its raining as always but it was cold last night/this morning #

• mmm nearly 4 weeks waiting for an RBN to be processed, who has contacts in the cro?! #

I agreed to spend my Saturday travelling from Carlow to Dublin on a bus full of under 11 soccer players. Six of these players had been selected to be mascots on the day, which meant they would meet both teams and walk out with one of the teams.

The bus journey was surprisingly painless. Arrived in Dublin around 4pm and made a beeline for Fagans of Drumcondra. It was then the heavens opened up. For about two hours, there was torrential rain which caused the Tolka river to burst its banks.

Eventualy the news we were dreading came, the match was called off. The Tolka Park pitch was flooded also. Then came the tears. We got our bus back as quickly as possible. Jumped on at 7pm, expecting to be home pretty quickly. Little did we know that the drains around Dublin were giving in to the rain. It took us nearly three hours to get from Drumcondra to the M50. The M50 itself was also badly flooded, the roadworks here assisted the flooding.

Got home late last night, never drinking Guiness before a bus journey again:(

Read about the cleanup of the floods here.

Images can be found here.

Before we got on our bus, a/the marketing manager from Sunderland was also in the bar. He broke the news about the match being cancelled. However he also tried to arrange a meeting for the young’uns with the Sunderland team. This was a long shot which didnt happen but he suggested we contact him regarding a trip to Sunderland to watch a live game, play a game against their academy team and tour the ground.

It was a very nice touch and ties in with the way Sunderland go about their business. They really know how to make fans appreciated, ref: several moments involving Niall Quinn and his generosity.

• Breakfast, run, lunch, shamrock rovers vs sunderland, pints. #

Due to a repeated issue with my dish, repeated call outs to fix (including a fee each time) and Skys repeated unwillingness to resolve this issue without charging me. I decided to cancel my subscription. Cutting off my nose to spite my face, I know.

I am aware of how frustrating their phone based customer service can be and I was dreading calling to cancel. I have also read several articles on issues with cancelling your subscription. A friend of mine, who happens to work in the industry, told me to drop an email to Sky. This is probably a well known method of contacting Sky, however from I have read some people would have appreciated knowing more about it.

So I emailed skydigital@sky.com with my account number, personal details etc. Just got an email confirming my account was cancelled. Quick and easy. Just thought Id pass on the information to anyone else who has experienced Skys phone based customer service.

I overtook a truck one day last week. Its trailer was branded with an advertisement for Drive Beer. I laughed out loud. Below is an image from Flickr of a similar trailer. You can see why I found it so funny. Drive Beer does exactly what it says on the tin, you can drink and drive. Its a clever spin on the low/non alcoholic beer market, however it really is a name and advertising campaign that will raise some ridicule.

This was video was posted on the Carlow forum on Boards.ie. It was created by CroppyBoy1798. It is a series of pictures taken from days of yore, compared to modern day pictures. Great watch for Carlow locals.