Towards the end of last year it was reported that Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead and the Luas Tram operator had been fined a total of €5m by Ireland’s National Transport Authority for late and cancelled journeys. My experience of Go-Ahead is limited to the 17 bus service which has been discontinued recently as the bus routes have been reorganised. I had to visit an old relative twice every week and she was located on Roebuck Road. I travelled there by getting the Tram to Windy Arbour and then the 17 to the Fosters Avenue end of Roebuck Road. However, the 17 service was so unreliable that I often gave up and walked to/from the tram stop. There was supposed to be a bus every twenty minutes but I frequently had to wait for close to sixty minutes (especially on Saturdays).
Towards the end of 2022 the Luas service received a penalty of €2.67m for the number of journeys not operated or which didn’t run to time. However, I have not found the tram service to be unreliable but I have noticed that many trams are too crowded for my liking and it is getting worse especially on the Red Line.
Today I decided to visit the Golden Bridge cemetery I was really surprised to discover that the tram was packed and it was only 2PM. When I got to the Drimnagh stop I was surprised by the frequency of the trams as there was one about every minute. It should be mentioned that if you wish to visit the Goldenbridge Cemetery you should get off the tram at the Drimnagh Stop rather than the Goldenbridge Stop.
Portobello Harbour was opened in 1801, becoming an important terminus for barges travelling along the Grand Canal. The harbour was originally larger in size and also served as a water reservoir until 1863. Portobello House, originally the Grand Canal Hotel, opened in 1807. The building was later used as an asylum for the blind and then as a nursing home where artist Jack B. Yeats, brother of poet W.B. Yeats, spent his final years.
I have experimented with the latest PhotoShop Beta to see if I could remove people from some of my photographs – not that I wish to do so in most cases. In general Generative Fill works very well but it can produce some really weird results and in order to use the feature one needs to be connected the Adobe’s cloud service. In one instance I tried to remove a child who had walked into frame and instead of being remove he was replaced by a wheelie-bin and every attempt produced an item of street furniture.
Today I used a very old Canon 5DIII which I recently purchased still sealed in its original box. Apparently the owner won it as a prize many years ago put it on a shelf and forgot about it. Often if an electronic device is left unused for a long period of time it will will fail. I borrowed the camera for a week and was very pleased with it so I still have it but of course I had to purchase a few batteries and I also purchased a GPS unit which cost more than I paid for the camera.
Locks Restaurant was a former sweetshop and in revolutionary times its basement window provided a great vantage point for spying across the canal at the former British Army barracks, Portobello Barracks. It opened in 1815 and became the National Army’s headquarters under General Michael Collins during the Civil War. In 1952 it was renamed Cathal Brugha Barracks, in honour of one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.
Portobello Harbour was opened in 1801, becoming an important terminus for barges travelling along the Grand Canal. The harbour was originally larger in size and also served as a water reservoir until 1863. Portobello House, originally the Grand Canal Hotel, opened in 1807. The building was later used as an asylum for the blind and then as a nursing home where artist Jack B. Yeats, brother of poet W.B. Yeats, spent his final years.
When I last visited this it was under different management and ownership. Locks Brasserie was originally owned by Claire and Richard Douglas in the 1980s. In 2010, Sébastien Masi and Kirsten Batt took over. Locks Brasserie ceased trading on 18 July 2015. I am not sure when the current Locks Restaurant was established but I have heard that it is excellent.
Portobello is an area of Dublin in Ireland, in the south city centre, bounded to the south by the Grand Canal.
It came into existence as a small suburb south of the city in the 18th century, centred on Richmond Street. During the following century it was completely developed, transforming an area of private estates and farmland into solid Victorian red-bricked living quarters for the middle classes on the larger streets, and terraced housing bordering the canal for the working classes.
As a fast-expanding suburb during the 19th century Portobello attracted many upwardly-mobile families whose members went on to play important roles in politics, the arts and the sciences. Towards the end of the century came an influx of Jews, refugees from pogroms in Eastern Europe, which gave the name “Little Jerusalem” to the area.
There are volunteer groups who clean up sections of the canals in Dublin on a regular basis and what you see in my photographs is typical of what is dumped into the waters of the canals.
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