Arriving Dublin

By Daniel Dern: Holyhead, Wales to Dublin earlier this afternoon… whether it’s a carved head walking stick or a con t- shirt, it’s often easy to spot a fellow traveller

  • Fans do believe in ferries
  • This place in Holyhead had great f&c
  • Note, the brown stuff is Chinese curry sauce 
  • Unused tracks…or elf forest portal?
  • Humps = speed bumps. No clue re zebra
  • First class on Ffestinog Steam railway
  • That’s Ffestiniog

13 thoughts on “Arriving Dublin

  1. A zebra crossing, like the one Douglas Adams mentions, is the set of white stripes on a European street that indicates thta cars should stop for pedestrians in the road. You’ve seen one on the cover of Abbey Road. A humped zebra crossing presumably (they don’t have such wildebeasts in Germany, where I live) combines the features of a speed bump and a zebra crossing.

  2. @Doug Yes, that’s right. You’ll notice that we don’t have “Z” in Welsh, so we use “S” instead!

  3. I have noticed that Dublin is much better at chinese food than Sweden. We have some kind of Swedish version of chinese cooking, based on the menue of the very first restaurant that served the dishes.

    Here I can find szechuan style dishes that I only know one restaurant in Stockholm that serves. Which is making me very happy.

  4. Zebra crossings are becoming more common in the US, replacing the older ones defined by white or yellow lines along the edges. (I think it’s because zebra striping is more visible.)

  5. @Doug: Adams was the first fannish example I thought of:

    “Oh, that was easy,” says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets run over at the next zebra crossing.

    is probably the first time I met the term, but (contra @P J Evans) they were common enough (at least in my part of the US) that I could tell what he meant.

  6. @Chip: I actually thought it was a place where zebras crossed.

    Spent the past three days seeing sights out of and in Dublin, and now I’ve picked up my badge – and two more T-shirts that I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit in my suitcase. Leaving behind my socks is not off the table.

  7. We have zebra crossings in the Boston area. I’m not sure if there are any in Boston proper, but I have used them in Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, and Somerville.

  8. Arwel Parry on August 14, 2019 at 1:33 am said:

    @Doug Yes, that’s right. You’ll notice that we don’t have “Z” in Welsh, so we use “S” instead!

    By a process of elimination then “Thwmpathau” means “humped”?

  9. @ Camestros Felapton: “Thwmpathau” is an onomatopoeic word describing the sound your car makes when you drive over one too fast.
    .
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    Nahh, just kidding. I know almost no Cymraeg.

  10. @Camestros: Close: “twmpath” is a hump or mound, plural “twmpathau”. It becomes “thwmpathau” after “a” (“and” – the Welsh version actually translates as “zebra crossing and humps”) – this is one of the various mutations which make learning Welsh so much fun.

    A twmpath is also a type of musical gathering, rather like a barn dance or ceilidh, apparently because musicians would use a convenient hummock in lieu of a stage when performing outdoors.

  11. Pingback: Dern — File 770’s Dublin 2019 Coverage | File 770

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