[Sent to the list as this might provide the opportunity for a more
general English/Irish get-together - anyone else interested?]

> From: [...] Alexandre Bergel
> I just moved to the country of Guiness.
> Is there any of you in Ireland ?

Ah, 'tis the Emerald Isle, to be sure.  Trinity's a lovely place, but I
suggest getting out of Dublin and sampling some of the countryside.  Ask
the locals, but I'll mention Powerscourt, Newgrange in the Boyne Valley
(and Knowth and Dowth - you get a better picture if you see all three).
Go a bit further and you get the Irish midlands (peat-fired power
stations eg. at Shannonbridge), the Shannon itself, Clonmacnoise... and
some quiet pubs with three locals who look like they've been hewn out of
the peat themselves, drinking Guinness and glaring at you suspiciously
from under the flat caps as you walk in.

I'm actually nearer to you than you are to the South of Ireland... I'm
just over the Irish Sea in Manchester, England :-).  If you ever want a
break in a much less civilised country, walk-on fares to the HSS
(operates out of Dun Laoghaire, the DART will get you there) or the good
ol' vehicle ferry from the North Wall of Dublin harbour are pretty
cheap.  That gets you to Holyhead (right on the north-west tip of
Wales), from which Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester are all
easily reachable by coach or train, and the rest of mainland Britain
isn't too much further.

Feel free to contact me if you want to meet up.  Gigs permitting, I'll
happily buy you a pint or three of decent English bitter :-).  I'd love
to come back over to Ireland, but personal circumstances don't really
permit that at the moment.  Maybe next year...

		- Peter