“Writing a city guide for Paris on an amateur travel site is about as useless as attempting to cover London, New York or Tokyo in an article of 1,000 words. Since the arrival of the internet, any such metropolis is the theme of fantastillions (© Hajo) of websites, only exceeded by the huge number of porn sites on the web.” BE’s very own Hajo takes a different approach to describing the French capital – through literature…
“The message left on my answerphone had intrigued me: two policewomen whose main interest in foreign language learning was to sing karaoke. How do you prepare a lesson with these two? No use planning a quick dash through the Present Perfect. If anything, it was going to have to be Sing Something Present Simple.” Graeme coaches El Duo Dinámico…
Thirty-five things you didn’t know about Dublin – some of which may even be true…
“There is no point in resenting the fact that your fingerprints are to be forever-and-ever-olé on some petty functionary’s computer, nor worth protesting that ‘back home we don’t do that kind of thing’. You have to go with a submissive ‘here-unto-you-I-present-my-fingers-do-with them-what-you-will’ attitude.” Dr Graeme Porte applies for his Spanish ID card.
Part Two of Tony Mason’s Dublin Pub Guide: Nos 5 to 1.
“Choosing a top 10 in this city of cracking pubs was never going to be easy. Dublin – again unlike Britain – has yet to succumb to the temptations of fruit machines, piped music, and pool tables in its pubs. People go to pubs to drink and talk – in that order.” Tony Mason lists his Top Ten Dublin pubs.