Jolly protestors

If I could have avoided it all I would have, but I really had no option but to go in to town this afternoon, and I needed to take the car. It was only when I got to the North Strand that I saw the traffic display warning about delays because of this afternoon's student protest (about college fee increases which are rumoured to be part of the forthcoming budget cutbacks).

I left the car on Mount Street and walked to Stephen's Green and Grafton Street. I don't remember ever before seeing such an extensive shut-down of the city centre, with a heavy Garda presence manning a wide cordon around Merrion Square where the march became a rally. In fact, the cordon was so strict that even students who wanted to join their marching mates weren't able to do so. This lot in Grafton Street didn't seem too upset about not being part of the rally, I must say.

The cordon seemed overdone to me, and the presence of ambulances close to each checkpoint gave me the feeling that the powers that be were trying to convey the impression that the reported 20,000 protestors were trouble-makers.

The traffic had got really bad by the time I got back to the car, so I decided to linger a while and have a cup of coffee. I ended up in the Ely Gastro Pub in Grand Canal Square, just across from the Grand Canal Theatre. It was excellent. I had beautiful soup, elegantly served, followed by a perfectly cooked gammon steak served with scotch egg and chip sticks. Add a glass of Budvar and a coffee and a tip and the total bill came to 28 euro. Worth every cent, and highly recommended.