Public libraries...helping poor travellers and educating the masses.

Hmmm…what can I tell you?  To be honest, there’s not that much noteworthy going on lately.  I celebrated my first holiday in Ireland, Halloween, but it wasn’t much different than home.  It was raining rather than snowing and no kids came to my door which was ok with me because I didn’t have any candy.  Ok, that’s not entirely true.  I did have a few mini chocolate bars, but those were definitely already reserved for someone.  J  There were fireworks randomly being shot off on Halloween night as well as the nights previous. I think that was the biggest difference, we don’t have fireworks at Halloween right?  And I did manage to carve a pumpkin which is kind of a tradition for me.  Without my stencils and tools, I was forced to rely on good old fashioned knives and creativity but little Petey turned out OK. 

Before Halloween, I moved into my new place which is actually in the town of Westport.  It’s really cute and definitely warmer than the little house, not warm, but warmer, which is an improvement.  I now sleep with two blankets rather than six.  There’s a video tour and some pictures in my “Westport Apartment” album, see the link on the right, if you want to check it out.  I’m about a twenty minute walk from the town centre and it’s nice to be able to walk to anywhere I need to go.  It’s especially nice because as of Oct 31^st, I become vehicle-less.  I dropped off the rental in Galway and took the bus back to Westport.  It was nice to let someone else do the driving for awhile, although I was beginning to like the driving here. 

Did you know that Ireland also participates in daylight savings time?  Well, they do!  And I definitely did not know.  I was saved by seeing the time on my computer on Sunday morning; Windows is smarter than me and had updated my clock automatically.  Luckily, it’s “fall back” time so I wasn’t late for anything, just extra early. 

Due to the lack of internet at my current place (and neighbors that have intelligently password protected their wireless connections), I’ve discovered the Westport Public Library where they have wireless access for anyone with a library card.  And seeing as how I just recently received my first piece of mail in Ireland (my PPS number for tax stuff), I was able to provide proof of residence and get a brand new library card for only 3 euro.  Now I’m set and yesterday I even borrowed a movie to watch, such luxury!  I did receive my GNIB card finally and because I got my PPS number in the mail, I was able to open a bank account.  Yahoo!  I’m just waiting for the debit card to arrive and then I should be good to go.  Now if only I had some money to put in it.  J