Anyhew…. Enough of the preudo-political posturing :-) I completely unintentionally avoided almost everything to do with the riots last Saturday even though I was in the city centre (my very boring account of it and some wonderful tabloid headline are HERE)

The day wasn’t a total washout though; Oxfam Books on Parliament Street provided me with a CD copy of the first Fountains Of Wayne album for €6 and I had my first venture into the extraordinary Queen Of Tarts. I’d never been although it was a regular haunt of my wife when she was in Trinity…

In case you’ve never been it’s at the top end of Dame Street beyond Parliament Street on the right hand side and serves some of the loveliest confectionaries in the city. I had a triple chocolate fudge cake with chocolate grenache (did I spell that right?!?), my wife some lemon cream tart thing and both were lush to say the least. 2 great black coffees served in just the right size cup (not the huge monstrosities you get pretty much everywhere these days!) finished it off and the ambience is just great. It’s a small cafe but authentic looking and comfortable and great for taking refuge in the middle of a riot… :-)

R