Guinness is good for you and so are THE PRIMITIVES

---

I had a terrible night sleep in that hostel. I will say the bed they have at Isaacs hostel is one of the worse I have ever experienced and I usually can sleep on anything.

I went downstairs to eat breakfast which was a standard continental breakfast. After getting some toast, jam and juice I sat down next to Annelise and Jeff, the two American students I had met the previous night before. I will admit now it took a few moments to recognize them as I was still quite groggy.

After food, shower and packing up I headed to my first stop of the day which was the Guinness storehouse. I had gotten various advise on what to see in Dublin but the storehouse was the one place I wanted to see for certain. Dublin is supposed to have a good transportation system but I opted to walk and see landmarks on my way. The river Liffey divides Dublin and is a good landmark to orient yourself. I used the number of bridges I passed to let me know where I was going. Dublin is a very pretty city and is easier to walk around in than Paris, Rome and London which are large cities and crowded. After about 40 minutes of walking I made it to the storehouse just as it was opening.

I was one of the first tourists through the door. The storehouse is a series of floors and you don't actually get to see the brewery but they show you all the equipment they use to make Guinness along with the history of Guinness. I wandering around the exhibits and I liked the video portion of it where you approach the screen and a motion activated sensor starts the video. I was surprised to learn that Mr Guinness had 21 children and even with all his money only 10 of them survived. I opted to pour my own Guinness at the bar demonstration. I even got a nice certificate saying I had poured a pint of Guinness. At the top of the storehouse there is the Gravity Bar which gives you a panoramic view of Dublin. It was a nice place to drink the Guinness I had poured with my own hands. So anyone going to Dublin the Guinness store is worth the visit.

I headed out and went to the famous Temple Bar which serves lunch. I got there and was pleased to see they had live Irish music. I sat down to my meal of Chicken Kabobs, salad and Irish Coffee. It was a good meal but the coffee may have been a bad idea. I was fairly dizzy by the time I left Temple Bar but I made it back to the hostel on time. I collected my backpack and took the 747 bus back to the airport. No complications on check in and I boarded my British Airways flight to Heathrow.

I landed at 3:30PM and I had to make it to Highbury and Islington station by 6PM. It was another one of my narrow schedules. Thankfully since I was coming from Ireland there was no customs/immigration check. I took the Heathrow express which got me to Paddington Station in good time. My hostel was Equity points which was near Paddington station. After checking in and using their wi fi to orient myself and check email, facebook etc I was off. The London tube system is one of the best mass transportations system in the world and will get you to anywhere in the city in good time. When I got out of Highbury station I noticed a large police presence directing pedestrian traffic. I quickly realized it was because of the Arsenal game that day. The whole street was a sea of red uniforms. I was supposed to meet my friend Michiali at a bar called Famous Cocks but when I got there they only allowed Arsenal fans with tickets in. I thought that was strange because they turned away some obvious Arsenal fans without tickets on hand. I can understand why they wouldn't let other teams fans in the bar because that would cause bar fights but to turn neutral people away seemed bad for business.

I ran into other Primitives fans on the street as well and I had my first sighting of THE PRIMITIVES walking past me. I resolved not to bother them outside of concerts so I didn't go up to them. When Michiali showed up we opted to go to a nearby Italian restaurant instead. Even there we couldn't escape Arsenal because all of the waitresses were in Arsenal uniforms. A little background on Michiali. He is from Greece and I met him in a Hong Kong bar when I was with a couple of my hostelmates. He works in London and lives there as well but visits Greece. We chatted about the usual things and how neither one of us realized it was a football game that day. Michiali even had to get off at a different station and walk to the Famous Cock because it was so crowded. It was nice meal and good catchup but it was time for my concert.

The Primitives were playing at a club called The Garage. I got there shortly after it had started and went to get a lemonade. I usually don't drink at Primitives concerts but I always tip the bar staff what I would have if I had been drinking. Just a bit consideration for the people behind the bar. There were 2 warmup acts, The Lostboys and The Wolfhounds. I will say I liked the Wolfhounds and they seemed to have a lot of fans in the audience including a pair of French ladies who kept shouting "TAKE IT OFF" in French. I took my usual spot near the front and cheered along with everyone else when they came on the stage. They were singing their new songs off the album SPINORAMA. I liked there new stuff but my favourite moment remained the song CRASH. It was such an enjoyable evening we kept cheering until they came back for an encore. I didn't get the playlist this time but I managed to get some pictures of it before the guy left with it. I went to buy their new album along with a Primitives shirt to replace one I had lost in Cambodia earlier that year. Tracy than came out and took pictures with people and signed my shirt. I usually ask Tracy to put me on the list for concerts and she did ask why I hadn't ask for this concert but I told her I wanted a ticket stub for my collection but I did thank her so much for remembering.

I had such a good time that night that I had exited The Garage before I realized I was missing something. I got to the tube station and realized I was missing my Oyster card holder. If that wasn't bad enough I had my rail tickets for tomorrow and my room key card in that same container. I must have dropped them during the concert and I headed back to The Garage but after searching a bit I could not find it. Oh well it was not a terrible lost because I just had to pay for a new rail ticket and the hostel replaced my keycard for 1 pound.

So it was a good day with only 1 hiccup. I always exit Primitives concert in a good mood and today was no different. So another trip to London and another Primitives concert under my belt. Tomorrow it was Bath and my last day.

---