Something From Your Wallet

28 - Volume Two - The Rex Oct 16 2009

2009-10-18T13:41:00.004-04:00

On Friday, October 16th I headed over to the Rex to hear Artie Roth and his trio du jour. I sat at one end of the bar and enjoyed the music and the people-watching. A couple of guys came in and asked me very elegantly if the two chairs next to me were free. They spoke beautiful Spanish to each other and they both ordered Creemore. I immediately thought to myself that I liked these guys! It was pretty easy to strike up a conversation with them. I found out they were from Bolivia, one of them had been working in Toronto for four years and his buddy had just arrived in Toronto about a month ago.

The four year guy was introducing the "new" guy to The Rex, which he agreed is one of the best things about Toronto. The "new" guy was already in agreement that Creemore is one of the best beers he's ever had in his life.

The four year guy gave me his buddy's number on a yellow stickie, since he could get his number again. His nickname is Chelo (his name is Marcelo).

27 - Volume Two - Scotland 2009

2009-10-18T13:11:00.003-04:00

In September of 2009, my two sisters and Stephen and I went to Scotland for two weeks. I didn't have a lot of opportunity to get something from people's wallets - only 3 entries.

We did the Balvenie whisky distillery tour, one of the Speyside whiskies. Balvenie is not found in bars very much around Toronto, but it sure is good! Most distilleries in Speyside that offer tours charge you about 10 pounds and give you a one hour tour, part of which can be a video. The Glenfiddich tour, for instance, had about 30 people on it. Balvenie, on the other hand, allows only 8 people at most and gives you a much more detailed tour that lasts 3 hours, and concludes with nosings and tastings of five of their varieties (10 year, 12 year, 15 year, 21 year and 30 year). They charge 25 pounds for their tour, but the generous ounce of 30-year whisky is probably worth about 10 or 15 pounds on its own, and you don't often get a chance to drink such fine scotch. A bottle of 30 year is about 300 pounds (about $600 Canadian).

This entry is from the German couple who were on the tour with us. He is working in Inverness and his wife visits now and then. Balvenie is her favourite Scotch so he was treating her to a tour on this visit. She didn't speak very much English, but he was a really nice, funny guy.

This next entry is from our tour guide. As he notes, I asked the German couple and our tour guide (Rob, a retired Balvenie employee) after we had done the tasting! We are pretty sure that Rob does the tours so that he can get to drink the 30-year whisky. He said it's his favourite of all of them, but he can't afford to buy it. Crafty.

This last entry from Scotland I will post in two images. This comes from Mr. Galloway who greeted us as we pulled up to the Linlithgow Union Canal Society docks to tie up our canal boat and take a stroll around the town. We ended up spending more than an hour talking to him. He was very proud and knowledgeable about the canals and the history of the boats and the business of the canal. He didn't have a wallet, so he gave me one of the brochures from the Union Canal Society. Mel Gray, who has since passed away, worked very hard to make the Union Canal Society what it is today, and to preserve a lot of the history, and also to build a little education centre for visiting school groups.

There is a reference in his entry about the "centre of the universe" which has a bit of a story to it. When we were tying up the boat, he welcomed us to the "centre of the universe", which we found funny since Toronto is the centre of the universe (tongue planed firmly in cheek). He asked us where we were headed and when we replied that we were going to Edinburgh and back, he suggested we just stay in Linlithgow, and take the train into Edinburgh for a visit and back. There's plenty to do and see in Linlithgow, no need to go on to Edinburgh by canal, he said. Turns out, I think we would all agree that he was right!

For anyone planning a trip to Scotland, we highly recommend renting a canal boat. They have converted the old narrow boats that used to carry coal, into house boats that are very comfortable and indestructible. Linlithgow is a place that we should have spent more time in.

26 - Volume Two - The Rex August 15

2009-08-16T22:15:00.004-04:00

Another wonderful Saturday afternoon at The Rex. Went to enjoy Laura Hubert sing old jazz standards. Sitting next to me was a woman who regularly participates in the Wednesday night jazz jam at Chalkers, another jazz club that I must go and check out sometime (maybe this Wednesday). She gave me an Indigo gift card, complete with the little paper envelope they always come in, and the receipt showing the balance ($4.44). This is a first - a little complete package added to the journal.

On the other side of me were Stan and Pamela (my sister and I call her the Ella Fitzgerald woman, or the Dionne Warwick woman - she is a very striking lady). Stan and Pamela each made an entry just a short time ago (in the blog entry #22). But after getting Jacky's entry, they had taken the book from me and were putting this in. Very sweet. It's fascinating to me that people give thought to what they want people to see of what they put in here. Total strangers that - for the most part - they will never meet; they want them to read something important or meaningful.

Sitting at a nearby table was another pair of regulars, the couple we refer to as the Scottish couple (even Stan and Pamela call them the Scottish couple). They live here now, but they have wonderful thick Scottish accents. Stan grabbed the book and told them that they had to be in the book. He went over to sit with them and explained the journal to them while I continued chatting with Jacky. It was very funny to me that other people are recruiting new entries for me.

Also love the fact that there is a theme to the two entries provided by this couple.

Oh, and .... a bandaid! Another first.
Stephen made the funny observation that a small bandaid would suffice after almost cutting off her finger.

25 - Flashback - Volume One - Kerri

2009-08-16T22:06:00.006-04:00

So .... Kerri's over at my place the other day and we're talking about the blog. And she points out to me that her page is not on the blog. She made her entry when we were in Daytona together. I get Volume One, the actual journal, and ...yup, there it is. But I searched the blog site and ... nope. So, long overdue, here is Kerri's entry.

I think it's ironic that her opening line is "Holy crap, I'm finally in the book".

24 - Volume Two - Toronto Beer Festival

2009-08-16T21:46:00.005-04:00

Beer Festival, or as it is officially known, Toronto's Festival of Beer.
August 8, 2009

Went to the Beer Festival with my friend, Kerri. It was in a new location this year - the bandshell park part of the CNE grounds. Most people seemed to think it wasn't as intimate as Fort York, but Kerri and I liked it just fine.

Didn't get a lot of entries at the Beer Fest, but we hung out at the Steelback booth for a bit, talking to Jonathan, the owner of Steelback who was working the taps. We also got to chatting with one gregarious guy. He said he was in the business of ideas, so I asked him for something from his wallet. Very unique entry idea ... a game of hangman. He had us play hangman to guess the name of the movie he had rented on this card.

The movie is a documentary about Wilco, and he highly recommended it. He was very impressed that we guessed the movie with only one wrong letter.

Since I'd started the ball rolling, I asked Jonathan for something from his wallet. Although I normally object to business cards, getting the business card from the owner of a brewery is pretty cool. For more info on Jonathan and Steelback beer, check out this blog entry by the beer blogger guy: Meet Jonathon Sherman: Owner Steelback Brewing Co

After Beer Fest (which, by the way, is a time warp zone - six hours goes by way too quickly), we headed to "The Brazen Head" in Liberty Village. The group at the table next to us were having a lot of fun and got to talking with us. Here are a couple of entries from a couple of them.

The reference to "Puma guy" in the next one is because I had complimented him on his hat. It had the pouncing cat logo of Puma on the side of the ballcap, and the legs of the puma are the guy's side burns. Pretty cool visual.

23 - Volume Two - Big Music Fest in Wiarton

2009-06-28T17:31:00.008-04:00

Big Music Fest, Wiarton - June 27, 2009

The musical line-up: The Spades, Arkells, Sam Roberts Band, Tragically Hip

The good: Arkells totally rocked (as always) and had a fun little autographing session after their set

The bad: waiting in lines to get to wait in lines to get to wait in another line to get a beer

The ugly: on the shuttle bus to the music festival, one incredibly drunk young man didn't quite hold the liquor he'd had before boarding the bus (ew!)

There were between 15,000 and 20,000 people at the event. I was there with my friend, Kerri and her sister and brother-in-law. In a crowd of 15,000 people, with line-ups for everything you ever wanted to do (drink, eat, pee), you can imagine how hard it is to keep track of each other. So while separated from everyone else at one point, I was walking through the crowd when a woman yelled out to me that she liked my shirt. Excited to have been found by a fellow Dan Griffin fan, I walked over and started up a conversation, only to find out that they were a group of people who are big fans of birds and they were impressed by the owl on my Dan Griffin shirt. They didn't even know who the Arkells are ..... Anyway, after I got over that, I spent a lot of time hanging out with these guys and they were a lot of fun and really cool people.

This entry is from Pat, who is a photographer.
Pat Fowler Photography

Excuse the legibility. By this time of the night, much beer had been consumed and it was quite dark.

Though the three of them (Pat, her husband Charlie and Pat's best friend Cynthia) didn't have their wallets, Pat sacrificed parts of her carton of smokes.

This is Cynthia's entry. it reminds me a little of an entry from "6 - Volume One: Post-Dublin (cont'd) "

22 - Volume Two - Stan and his gang at the Rex

2009-06-28T17:28:00.004-04:00

Stan is a guy I see all the time at The Rex. He is ALWAYS there when Godboo and Rotundo are playing (the case on this date), or Swing Shift or Laura Hubert or Jivebombers....

On this particular Saturday, I showed up at The Rex around 1 pm to stake my claim on a good spot for Godboo and Rotundo at 3:30. Stan was sitting at a table, seemingly surrounded by empty chairs with half-empty glasses of beer in front of them. He told me later that he had ordered a beer for every spot he was saving so that people would stop asking him if they were free. By the time I got to chatting with him, he'd probably had the equivalent of about 5 beers. Okay, maybe not that many. But it was funny.

Three of his seats were actually free so I took one of them, and another familiar-looking couple sat across from me. They're from Georgetown and they frequently drive into the city and spend the weekend, hitting up The Rex when one of their favourite acts is on. We had a great chat about downtown condos and bidding wars and living downtown. The only thing that Steve could free up was this Starbucks card with $10 on it. If ever I am down and out, I can get a thing here and there just from the contributions to this journal. :-)

One of the Stan's seats was being saved for his son, who didn't show up until the second set. A friend of Stan's sat there for the meantime, a man who is a beer judge. A beer judge! How do you get a job like that?? I need to talk to that man some more sometime.

When Stan's son showed up, Stan accosted him for something from his wallet. Since he didn't have anything, Jason very subtley tore the label from his shirt and offered it up. Another first!

About a week later, I was back at The Rex to catch "Michael Herring's Vertigo featuring David Binney" and ... there was Stan (he was there for the preceding show, the Jivebombers). He was happy to see me and this time, he had his wallet with him. I think Stan gets the award for the prettiest hand-writing by a man.

Normally I block out emails and addresses and phone numbers, but I will take a cue from Stan's entry and I will leave this man's info displayed in case anyone out there needs some home reno work done.

Sitting beside Stan was a woman I have also seen many times at The Rex. My sister, Lynn, and I call her the Dionne Warwick woman. She looks a bit like Dionne Warwick, or maybe Ella Fitzgerald...??? In any case, she is a very beautiful lady and we remark on her every time we see her. As soon as Stan started asking me if I brought the journal with me, she wanted to know what was going on and before you know it ... she's fishing through her wallet, too.

On this evening, I almost felt like it was getting to the point that I would walk into the Rex and people would be approaching me about submitting something from their wallet. Many times, people who have watched other people make a contribution tell me they will have something the next time they see me, as was the case this evening - a woman named Linda was sitting beside me and promised to have something the next time she sees me. She thought the whole idea would make a great book and that one day I will be on Oprah and become a gazillionaire.....

Maybe one day .....

21 - Volume Two - Stanley Cup Play-offs 2009 - Game 7 of 7

2009-06-28T17:06:00.003-04:00

It was a Friday night, the last weekend of the Luminato Festival in Toronto. It was the last night that Raoul was playing upstairs at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was the day that a Bosnian musician (Goran Bregovic) had more people packed into Yonge-Dundas Square than we'd ever seen before, and ... It was Game 7 of the Finals in the Stanley Cup Play-offs. Penguins versus Red Wings. Stephen and I decided to watch the game on the big flat screens at the bar of the Hard Rock Cafe, so we'd be able to just walk upstairs to enjoy Raoul once it was over.

Sitting at the bar, we met Wanda and Eric, and had a great time cheering for the Pens (well, except for Eric who's a Wings fan, for some reason). I hit them up for something from their wallet, but they had just shoved some cash in their pockets. But! Wanda was a trooper and she peeled the prescription off of her Ventolin inhaler (same one I have). It's a first! Love it.

Standing at the bar next to Eric was another Wings fan. He was wondering what was going on and before you know it, he's looking through his wallet. If there really is $50 on this card, then that would be the largest amount of all the cards that have been sacrificed from peoples' wallets. Oh, and he is from Grand Haven, MI, home of Dan Bylsma, coach of the 2009 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!

20 - Volume Two - funny old men in bars

2009-06-28T16:08:00.005-04:00

Stephen says I have a knack for attracting some real characters. Here are two great examples back to back.

One Saturday afternoon, I picked up my Mom and met Lynn at The Rex to see Abbey's Meltdown and then the Swing Shift Big Band. At some point during Swing Shift, Lynn took Mom back home. Stephen showed up. Also going and coming back was a very gregarious funny guy named Jo from Washington, DC. He was there enjoying Abbey's Meltdown, sitting next to us, and then he had to leave. We couldn't believe he had such a great seat lined up for Swing Shift and he was leaving! He said he could come back in time to catch the second set, and we offered to save his seat for him (if you have ever seen Swing Shift at The Rex, you know this is a big favour to offer!) Sure enough, he did come back. My Mom had been replaced with Stephen in the meantime, and I hit him up for something from his wallet.

The following week, while I sat at the bar at Quotes (I was there solo, since Stephen had a race that night), I got to chatting with Merv. Merv is at Quotes every Friday for lunch and stays for the afternoon, catches the 7:30 train back out to Burlington. Merv is a 77-year-old retired lawyer with a great sense of humour, even though he is cantankerous (which just adds to the humour, in my opinion).

Merv's comment is hard to read, so I will interpret. It was a snippet of our conversation from that evening.

Merv: "Can I buy you a drink?"

Lee: "You can, if you must"

Merv was disgusted at my response. Young people today ... mutter, mutter...... "you can if you must"...what kind of a response is that ...mutter, mutter, mutter....

While I was showing Merv the Something From Your Wallet journal, he mentioned Jazz FM. I was just in the middle of showing Merv the entry by Jaymz Bee when .... Jaymz Bee walked in. He felt compelled to add an update to his previously journaled entry.

I thought it was kind of funny when I grabbed him as he walked by to say what a coincidence it was that he should walk by just when I was showing someone his entry in my journal and he said "oh THAT'S what happened to that picture!"

19 - Volume Two - Olive

2009-06-28T15:26:00.009-04:00

One Saturday afternoon in April, I walked over to the Rex. Don't recall at this time, who I was going over to see, but it was likely to catch the Swing Shift Big Band.

As is often the case, The Rex was fairly packed. There was one free chair near the stage, so I asked the woman sitting across from it if it was in fact free, and it was. We got to chatting. She is a fascinating woman and we had plenty of good laughs. She lives in the neighbourhood and is at The Rex quite often just like me.

I told her about my little project and she offered up something very special that she has been carrying with her for years. Her grandson's fish tank was against a blank wall, and Olive figured it could be jazzed up a bit. So she painted this backdrop for the fish tank. She had been carrying this photograph of it with her and now it is in my journal.

This is one that I suggest double-clicking to see it in more detail.

Within a week, Stephen and I were at our usual Friday night after-work locale, Quotes and .... sitting just a couple of tables over....is Olive! She was there with her husband, and her daughter and a friend of her daughter's. Her daughter, Toni, offered up a (hopefully expired) membership card for the AGO, and she also had with her the print-out from having ordered tickets to see La Boheme by the COC. My sister, Lynn and I were going to be seeing La Boheme within the following week, coincidentally. Toni created one of the types of entries I really like: an expression of what the journaller feels very strongly about.

A week or so later, I snuck in the back door of The Rex on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, saw an empty chair, snuck over and sat down, looked up and .... there across the table from me was Olive! She had apparently grabbed something and put it in her purse to add to my Something From Your Wallet Journal the next time she saw me, so she pulled it out and asked me if I had the journal with me (which, of course, I did).

It is a very heart-warming story about a snippet of her childhood. Olive and I had discussed the fact that she and my Mom grew up in the same era, and lived through the same challenges of being a youngster during the Depression, and then as a teenager, staying at home while all the men went off to war. Olive is a couple of years younger than my Mom. If my Mom still had her wits about her, she and Olive would have gotten on famously.

Here it is unfolded:

18 - Volume Two - Club Med Turks & Caicos

2009-03-15T17:47:00.013-04:00

Stephen and I spent the last week of January ( wonderfully, it was a frigid and snowy week in January) at Club Med in Turks & Caicos. People generally don't walk around an all-inclusive resort with their wallets, but on the day that they are leaving, they are lounging around the main bar, getting their last mango daiquiri and exchanging emails with the new friends that they have made.

Several people we had been hanging out with during the week were leaving on the Friday, so I brought out my Something From Your Wallet journal.

The above entry is from Cher, who was on the same snorkeling boat as us one day. It was the day that Stephen spotted a nurse shark and took a great video of it, as well as many photos.

Here is the link to the nurse shark video that Stephen put on You Tube:
Nurse Shark video

If you look at this image in the right light you can just barely see Renee's contribution - a peppermint lifesaver! Not the easiest thing to scan. Renee is a friend of Cher's.

Zalida, who we met down there at Club Med Turks, who lives not too far away from us. The little yellow stickie note is the air miles she has, on what airline I do not know, but it seems to be a lot of miles.

Melissa from New York City. Bit of a hines story here.

When we first met Melissa, she was constantly checking her Blackberry. A bit later the same night, we were sitting in the theatre area talking to Melissa and another fellow Club Medder, Bob. Throughout the conversation, Melissa would be checking her Blackberry and writing emails (this was at about 10 at night, or even later). So ... I bugged her about it. You're on vacation, for crying out loud, get rid of the Blackberry. Melissa explained that she runs her own business, she just hired a brand new assistant who is holding down the fort while she was gone, she simply cannot jeopardize her own business by ignoring her clients and not replying to her new assistant. .... I continued to bug her. You've made that choice. You've put yourself in this situation where you're on vacation but you're not really on vacation. Although I continued to stay on her case about it, I ended up feeling pretty shitty about how I was talking to her. I was not cutting her any breaks.

The rest of the week, I felt a bit of tension every time I talked to Melissa. And I felt like crap about it, because she is a really nice person, and I was an ass towards her.

On our last day at Club Med, the dreaded day when you are forced out of your denial and forced into airplane clothes, Melissa was bound and determined to give me something from her wallet. She had put together a whole pile of things and wanted to let me know that I had made her take a look at her life in an otherwise neglected perspective. I think that the collage she put together in my journal and her words are wonderfully cathartic (I hope it was, anyway).

I will definitely try to get in touch with Melissa the next time I am in New York City. And I will be hoping that she has been taking the time to enjoy life and her hobbies a little bit more. And I will be more careful in my words and my judgement towards others.

the Elizabeth story

17 - Volume Two - GRTTWaK January '09

2009-03-08T13:41:00.010-04:00

On a cold and snowy night in January 2009, Dan Misener hosted the sixth rendition of "Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids", affectionately known to the regulars as GRTTWaK, the king of all acronyms.

Thanks for the plug, Dan, and for the folks who follow this Blog, please be sure to check out Dan's project at http://grownupsreadthingstheywroteaskids.com/

Dan's submission to this journal can be seen at Blog entry #6 (go to the bottom right of this screen and click on it - his entry is towards the end of that post).

Jenna, wife of Dan, one of the sweetest human beings I've ever met. I always enjoyed her boy-obsessed journal entry readings at the early GRTTWAK nights, but it seems that Dan's project has become so successful that he needn't rely on friends and relatives to fill the roster any longer.

As it happens, Stephen and I will be going to Edinburgh this coming September, so perhaps this list will come in handy.

Another example of something carried around by someone for MONTHS ...... Love it!

An expired health card, this is a first! Aaron read at GRTTWAK, so I guess he was not a friend or relative of Dan's. I remember Aaron's reading was quite humourous, and that he was extremely composed on stage. Turns out, he's an actor.

Hmmmm....maybe he was only acting like a grownup reading something he had written as a kid.

A ringing non-endorsement for Kensington Market Organic Ice Cream.

Love the "old school Blackberry" comment. Colin is a sound guy, works usually at Hugh's Room, I believe (we've seen him there, anyway). The meeting he is referring to was in preparation for a night at the Delta Chelsea when Raoul & the Big Time were playing, a band that we have been following for a while. Stephen and I had every intention of going to see them at this Blues Summit, but for some reason never made it to the show. Unfortunate.

Top marks for funniest entry of the night, perhaps the entire journal.
(click on it to blow it up big enough to read more easily)

16 - Volume Two - Wood Guy

2009-03-08T13:36:00.002-04:00

One night at the Horseshoe, we were there super early. We sat on the stools against that little ledge between the open floor and the seating. One other guy was there as super early as we were, so we asked him for something from his wallet.

So if you need any furniture designed, look this guy up.

15 - Volume Two - Chester, Nova Scotia

2009-03-08T13:21:00.005-04:00

Perhaps one of the oddest entries. In October 2008, Stephen and I spent a weekend in and around Chester, Nova Scotia. His paternal grandparents had a stunning property nearby and Stephen spent many summers there. Something from Stephen's wallet in Volume One is a small sticky note with the lattitude and longitude of this property, known as "Swallow Point".

One night in Chester, we went to the Fo'c'sle Pub. We stood at the bar and had a pint, while a rather inebriated gentleman told us all kinds of tales. Although a questionable decision, I asked him for something from his wallet. This in itself was quite a task. He was very concerned about giving me something that could lead people on the Intenet back to him or give away anything about him. He gave me one card which I glued in, but then he changed his mind and pulled it off the page. He then gave me this card and we got a piece of tape from the bartender to tape it in, in case he wanted to take it back. Luckily, the fact that it is taped in allows us to see what is written on the back of the card.

Puzzling.

14 - Volume Two - Another Afternoon at the Rex

2009-03-08T13:07:00.003-04:00

Months go by ...... the city has so much going on, and we saw so much great music. The "Give Me Something From Your Wallet" journal did not come out again until the fall.

Another afternoon at The Rex .... got to chatting with this woman who was sitting beside us, down near the stage. Stephen insisted that her entry had to be something from her wallet, so I believe she pulled a fast one like my friend Lisa and put the Rex calendar in her wallet, if only for a moment, so that it could be taken out of her wallet and contributed.

Justin Bacchus's Mom. Justin is a regular performer at the Rex, and has a very proud and promoting Mom.

I think this entry might be the closest I will get to Obama.

13 - Volume Two - An Afternoon at the Rex

2009-03-08T12:38:00.007-04:00

Many a Saturday afternoon is spent at The Rex. One of our favourite acts to catch there is Jerome Godboo. (http://www.jeromegodboo.ca/)

On this particular afternoon, Dave Rotundo, Jerome's regular Rex co-hort, re-joined Jerome after being away in Mexico for a time.

When Godboo & Rotundo play the Rex, you best get there real early. The place gets PACKED; much foot stomping and hooting 'n' hollerin' goes on. Good times.

On this particular Saturday (June 21, 2008), we arrived late and ended up asking a couple of ladies if we could join them at their table, the table all the way in back next to the kitchen. Little did we know...

This is Jerome's Godboo's (now) mother-in-law. (At the time of this contribution, Jerome and her daughter, Jane, were engaged). We became part of the extended family, sharing that table with them. Jane showed up, and Jerome came back to chat between sets. Wonderful folks.

After Godboo & Rotundo, we moved a little closer to the stage and started up a conversation with the people sitting beside us. They were staying in Toronto to learn English, and they were very happy to get tips and suggestions from us on places to go, things to see, and bands to catch in the coming weeks.

Her blog, mentioned here, is http://100fronteira.zip.net/
Check it out! Some great photos of Toronto. Brush up on your Portuguese.

This couple, I believe, were sitting on the other side of us. It was the week of the Toronto Jazz Festival (I will stifle any commentary, being someone who grew up and went to University in Montreal, a city with a PHENOMENAL Jazz Festival...... biting my tongue........) and Margaret contributed her ticket stub from the previous evening's performance by Dr. John.

I can't recall the difference of opinion about the bass player, but I do remember the bass player, a beautiful young woman (her photo is on a poster on the east wall near the front). Women bass players, and really young bass players are both fairly rare and unusual occurences at The Rex. I remember thinking she was very engaging.

12 - Volume Two - Mimi

2009-03-08T11:03:00.002-04:00

For Christmas 2008, my boyfriend, Stephen, bought me another "paperblanks" journal, same size and format as Volume One, different cover. Going up to someone with a completely empty journal is a bit daunting, and I had also decided that I would have one self-imposed rule: no entries from people I know. 100% strangers 100% of the time (we'll see how I do on that one .... stay tuned).

Stephen and I were at the Horseshoe one night and, just as I had started off in Dublin, I thought I'd ask a bartender. I already had an entry from Bob, so I asked Mimi.

This is Stephen's favourite entry. It's a bit special when people give up things that have a history, that they've been carrying with them for a good extent of time.

11 - Volume One - Birthday Pub Crawl (part two- The Horseshoe and Queen Street West)

2009-01-20T22:09:00.015-05:00

So ...if I recall correctly, we left the Rex around 6 or 7 pm and headed to the Rivoli for dinner and to shoot some pool. After the Rivoli, we headed to the LEGENDARY HORSESHOE TAVERN, one of (if not THE) best places to see live bands. I'm guessing we got there around 11 pm, based on how crowded it was in the front bar. And ...again, if I recall correctly (a lot of beer had been consumed by this point!), the Something From Your Wallet journal was whisked away by Stephen and Kerri, maybe even Knob, to collect entries. Thus...most of these people, I did not personally talk to and honestly, I have hardly any recollection of them. Maybe Kerri or Stephen will pitch in a comment for anything they can remember.

Wouldn't it be funny to follow these directions and knock on the door of the house that is at that first driveway? And do you think that he was related to the band? or decided to see the band because they were named after where he was from? I do recall, that there was this one really tall guy at the 'Shoe. Guess this was him. He was really tall. 6'8" is really tall.

Part one of a mystery entry. Lift the little paper.

And....

Part two. "my hat"???? What kind of Irish humour is that?

How many tarot card readers do you figure there are in the world, who are MEN?

So... ya. This person apparently had a good time with whoever it was that accosted them for something from their wallet.

You can't really tell from the scan, but this is, in fact, and entire Frommer's road map of Ireland. it folds out to the size of a couch. It's nice and worn and well-used. She had it in her purse and had returned to Canada two and a half months earlier.

It's a two-fer. I'm thinking it's a couple. No idea who these people were, but this is probably the third or fourth donation of Canadian Tire money. Just like my brother, a whopping 5 cents.

I'm also thinking that there was a Leafs game on that night. Then again, maybe not. Leafs fans are so darned dedicated - any opportunity to cheer their poor losing team. This entry might win the award for the neatest printing.

A smashing endorsement for a Subway sandwich.

Since they are scammers, I didn't block out their phone numbers. Go ahead, give these numbers to all of your mailing lists - telemarket them like crazy!

What an odd entry.

Another flip entry. Part one (sounds like a cool event!)
And....

... there we go. Guess it WAS a great event. "utopia night" ... wow.

Now this one I remember. The guy who gave me this is the guy in the centre of this photo. This is a photo of his nephew, I believe, on the day he was born. He has kept this photo in his wallet for more than two years and gave it to me to add to the journal.

BOB! Our favourite bartender at the Horseshoe. I asked him for something from his wallet, and in his terminally grumpy way told me he didn't carry a wallet. So he grabbed this from amongst all the crap stuck to the wall behind the bar. Poor guy who lost his wallet and keys at the 'Shoe, probably years before.

Half a buck from her Dad....awwww.....

Could get the award for the worst hand-writing. Not even quite sure what it says, but it's quite entertaining to guess.

Wow. Creative. Sometimes you end up just bugging someone to give you something from their wallet and they do it just to get you off their case. This might have been one of those.

Didn't cover up these numbers since they were just her guesses that didn't turn out to be the right number. Now... why would a person jot down some numbers to try to reach a friend of theirs, find out that they are not the right number,... but then.... keep the scrap of paper in their wallet? Love it.

Belgian guy number one. "here for Daryl"???? "kisses"????? Very puzzling.

Belgian guy number two. "Speak to Anthony"???? Weird. What was the story with these guys??? I hope that Kerri or Stephen remembers.

ANDY. So classy. Similar to Bob, he did not have a wallet on him. Oh, I should mention that Andy is our un-favourite bartender (me and Kerri) from the Velvet Underground. So Andy has no wallet and he turns around and grabs something off the bar. He said he brought these cards (he took this one from a whole pile) back from Las Vegas. Good ole Andy.

That's the last entry from the legendary Birthday Pub Crawl ...

10 - Volume One: Birthday Pub Crawl (part one - The Rex)

2009-01-15T22:22:00.010-05:00

For my 40th Birthday, I invited friends and family to join me in a Pub Crawl along Queen Street West. We started at The Rex, then moved on to the Rivoli, then the Horseshoe and lastly, Velvet Underground. Only Kerri, Liz, Knob, Stephen and I made it to the bitter end, but a great time was had by all, regardless of how much of the Pub Crawl they took part in.

This blog entry is comprised mostly of friends and family who were at The Rex, at the beginning of the Pub Crawl. My next blog entry will include the entries made after we left the Rex.

My rocket scientist nephew, Jaime. He is on scholarship at UC Berkeley, doing his Ph.D in something more complicated than my brain can handle.

One of Jaime's McGill friends, Andrew, who joined us for the Pub Crawl.

My niece, Becky (Jaime's sister).

Hey, look at this! A duplicated entry!! These are the entries of my sister-in-law Debbie, and Jaime's friend, Liz. Both of them happened to have the business card of this health centre in their wallets! Total coincidence, totally cool. Not quite sure about the "STD" slogan.

My two brothers, Jim and Keith. Jim used the little circle stickers that Canada Post graciously includes with holiday stamps (my Birthday is December 26th and we did this pub crawl on December 29th).

My other brother, Keith, is fixated on colonoscopies, and gave me a related business card, PLUS a generous donation of 5 cents of Canadian Tire money. Awwww........

Dorothy, the girlfriend of my brother, Keith. They had just purchased, the previous fall, their 30 foot Catalina.

KNOB! Knob (Mark K.) and I went to High School together, and then ended up being the only two people from our high school (graduating class of 17 of us) to go to McGill. He drove into the big smoke from Ottawa to partake in the 40th Birthday Pub Crawl. He was toying with the idea of parting with his McGill student ID, but decided to keep it (pack rat!).

This is one of the members of the band that was playing that night at The Rex. Currently living in Toronto, but originally from Israel.

Another one of the members of the band that was playing that night at The Rex. Currently living in Toronto, but originally from New York City.

My sister, Anne, who has already made an entry, already given me something from her wallet. More double-dipping!

Another double-dipper, my friend, Stacey that I work with. I chose to sit in the middle of her department after sitting in the middle of her department for almost two years because there was nowhere else for me to sit. But now, sadly, I have to go and sit with my own department. I will miss sitting in her department.

Stacey's husband, Andrew. Very odd that he had this rather feminine looking hair salon business card in his wallet.

9 - Volume One: New York City (part three)

2009-01-12T19:03:00.007-05:00

On the Saturday night, our last night in Manhattan, we went back to the Channel 4 Irish Pub, feeling like regulars.

Diego was a nice young guy who worked somewhere nearby, stopping in to his regular after-work pub for a drink. I seem to recall that he had a very large thick wallet. This is a concert stub from three months earlier. He thought it was really funny that he was giving me a stub for a Def Leppard concert. They were in their heyday probably before he was born.

George, and his wife Celeste spent a good deal of time hanging out at the Channel 4 Pub, chatting with us and other patrons. They had been there a year or two before on Thanksgiving weekend and Greg, the bartender, remembered them and even remembered what they ordered to drink! Her daughter used to work at the Marriott on Times Square and so that is why they visited the previous year (or two), and they were back this year to visit a son, I think it was, who lived somewhere north or west of Manhattan. They were spending some time in Manhattan while they were in the area.
George and Celeste were in their 50's and an adorable couple, lots of fun.

One of my all-time favourite entries!! Tuesday (no, really, her real name is Tuesday) gave me her name-tag from a busted button (the name tags at TGIF). She worked at a TGIF nearby and was just an awesome cool chick. Very funny, very friendly, great attitude. A regular at the Channel 4, knows Diego, enjoyed talking to us and to George and Celeste.

Celeste, wife of George of two entries ago.

Celeste spent a bit of time talking to this guy (both are teachers) and called me over to get something from his wallet. Celeste told me little bit about him while he made his contribution. He has spent a lot of time with kids in New York, making a difference. One of those people that makes you reflect on your own contributions to your community. Really like his sign off: "Life is love and learning".

I believe this entry and the next were collected in an Irish Pub other than the Channel 4. When the Channel 4 closed for the night, Greg, the bartender, told Lisa and I to join him at another Irish Pub that was open until a later time. We met this guy who was into quoting movies. I remember being a bit leery about taking his benefits card, but he assured me that he didn't work for the same company anymore.

This is Danny, a guy we met at the other Irish Pub. He is from Australia. And that is about all I remember! It was a late night, and we had to get up in time to make our flight home the (next/same) morning. It was a great trip to NYC!!!

8 - Volume One: New York City (part two)

2009-01-11T21:14:00.004-05:00

On the Saturday afternoon of our long weekend in Manhattan, Lisa and I went on a Literary Pub Crawl.
Here is their link:
http://bakerloo.org/pubcrawl
At the end of the Pub Crawl, we asked several of our fellow crawlers, as well as the guides, to give me something from their wallets.

One of the Pub Crawl guides, Justin. His girlfriend met up with the group at the end of the pub crawl. For a moment she thought that she still had her movie stub from Bee Movie (they saw it together in Florida), but she didn't. Would have been neat to have the same thing from two different wallets. I am still aiming for that idea one day.

The other Pub Crawl guide. This was only her second time doing the Pub Crawl. The guides not only describe the historical significance of the pubs and other buildings along the route, but they also tell wonderful little gossip-y stories about famous authors and recite poetry now and then. Very entertaining pub crawl, highly recommend it.

This is Lisa's entry, with a very good little saying.

These are two girls we got chatting with on the Pub Crawl. They were British and Lisa found out that one of them was from the same town in England as where she was born.

A British family were on the pub crawl - I think this was the Mom. I believe her comment ("from the educated to the educated") was in reference to a discussion we had about my iron ring.

This was someone else from the British family. Can't recall if she was a daughter-in-law or a daughter. This is another example of things people carry around with them for such great lengths of time. I guess it was nostalgic for her to hang onto, and here she was, giving it away to me (love how she put it - "I'll surrender it")

The British family were all along this big banquette along one wall, and this woman was sitting across from them. She is (was) the girlfriend of Justin, the Pub Crawl leader. She didn't have the Bee Movie stub, so she gave me her Dad's tongue-in-cheek business card.

The son of the British family. His family were bugging him to give me his membership card to a football club, I believe it is. He wouldn't give it up; he showed it to me, but he just could not part with it, it was too nostalgic for him! I really wanted to collect something from him, though, because he looked so much like Andy, a guy that Kerri and I refer to as our un-favourite bartender at Velvet Underground. (Andy's entry is coming up in a few more pages!)

That was it for the Literary Pub Crawl. Great times, neat people. Coming up next, another night at the Channel 4 Irish Pub.

7 - Volume One: New York City (part one)

2009-01-08T19:42:00.013-05:00

US Thanksgiving 2007

My friend, Lisa, and I spent the long weekend of US Thanksgiving in Manhattan. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in a little Irish Pub near Rockefeller Centre (the Channel 4 Irish Pub). We first went in there because we were stumbling around one late afternoon, freezing cold after shopping most of the day on "Black Friday" and we were looking for a place to warm up. On a very unassuming street (48th between 5th and 6th), with a very unassuming facade, was an Irish Pub and it looked warm, so in we went. And stayed. And returned another night.

The first couple of guys we spoke to were dropping in to their regular after-work pub. I can't recall where the one fellow worked, but I know that the other one worked at Rockefeller Centre, and his job was to oversee the maintenance of one of the Rocks (you know, like 30 Rock). He dealt with all the contractors (HVAC, elevators, cleaners, electrical, etc) and basically keeps the building running. And he was YOUNG - I was fascinated. He told me the schools he went to and I'm sure if I was American I would have recognized them and been very impressed. The entry above is not that guy (John), but the other guy (Ben) who I can't remember as much about. They had a great time teasing us about being from Canada. One of our discussions was about how much of Canada is French Canadian. Lisa was very impressed with our first chat-mates because they were two fun and funny and good-looking guys! They left after a few drinks for the long commute home to their wives and kids.

While we were chatting with Ben & John, the guy sitting on the other side of us, at the bar, asked us about the book and wanted to make a contribution. The only thing he could find was a winning scratch & win ticket.

Hey look, it's John, the guy who works at one of the Rocks. He didn't know what to write, so I suggested he write something about our conversation. Just like a geeky engineer, he wrote a list of the topics of discussion. So funny. I don't even remember half of these..... The second French province was Manitoba! Grateful Dead was a reference to a concert he went to in Toronto, I believe, the only time he had been to Canada. Scottish Bar.... no clue. Summer songs... yes, I recall a discussion about how there are songs that remind you of a particular time of year and it's just wrong to listen to them at the opposite time. I can't remember the song, but something came on that was just WRONG to be listening to during a frigid November night. Ex-girlfriend (insert spectacles) - my glasses reminded him of an ex-girlfriend, and I thought it odd that he said "spectacles" instead of glasses. UES and Bray ... no idea. Maybe he had some tie-in to Bray in Ireland, where Joe and I spent a day hiking, the week that we were in Dublin.

This is the entry made by the bartender, Greg, at the Channel 4 Irish Pub. The card is from another place he worked, in Fort Lauderdale, but he is originally from County Armagh in Ireland. He was a great bartender. It would not surprise me at all if I walked back into Channel 4 now, all this time later, and he would remember me. While we were there, other tourists walked in that he remembered having been there years before.

Don't actually remember much about this guy. It seems to me, though, that everyone sitting around the bar wanted to give me something from their wallet.

Irish guy in the Channel 4 Irish Pub who had barely anything in his wallet (the one for pleasure - read his entry, if you haven't already), so he carefully folded up a dollar bill and asked Greg, the bartender, for a stapler. A very unique
entry.

Gladys was the hostess of the restaurant part of the Channel 4 Irish Pub. Her "station" was right near where we were sitting at the bar, so she came over with this when she had a chance. I think that this is actually a coat check number from the restaurant. Okay, so maybe not technically from her wallet.....

Sarah was a striking looking girl (her heritage explains that) who came in with her friend for a quick drink. By this time (on our first night at the Channel 4 Irish Pub), Lisa was grabbing people as soon as they walked in, to get them to give me something from their wallet!

Laurie, friend of Sarah.

Another woman we met at the Channel 4 Irish Pub (another of Lisa's "victims" - I'm telling ya, she was grabbing people as soon as they walked into the pub!)
This is a neat entry because it is in fact her Disney pass. This is a little fan-fold of paper and the last part of it is a little sleeve or pocket and the ticket (a 2 day pass) is inside.

6 - Volume One: Post-Dublin (cont'd)

2009-01-06T21:57:00.017-05:00

This entry and the next were collected around 4 am one Friday or Saturday night. Kerri and I were out dancing at the Velvet Underground, no doubt. On our walk back to Yonge Street to catch the Vomit Comet (Yonge Street night bus, for you non-Torontonians), we occasionally would stop in at the Tim Horton's on Adelaide around Bay Street. Kerri would get a bagel with light vegie cream cheese and I would get a coffee. So this one time, we were sitting at the front window eating/drinking and these two really drunk guys from Barrie or there-abouts were chatting us up. So ... we asked them for something from their wallets. The one guy gave me someone else's business card and wrote in his own info. I cannot even read his name!

The other drunk guy gave me his organ donor card! At 4 am, he didn't seem to think that he should hold onto it. It's good and beat up, too, been in his wallet for a long time.

My sister, Anne, who lives with her hubby on a farm in the middle of nowhere (between Algonquin Park and Pembroke). She comes into civilization once in a while, like she did for Mother's Day of 2007. Her daughter, Liz (an earlier entry) lives in T.O.

FEKRY! Fekry and I work together and he is originally from Egypt. He brought this bookmark from Egypt with him to Scottsdale, Arizona (we were both there for a meeting). I think I didn't bring the "Something From Your Wallet" journal with me to Scottsdale, which is why he wrote in it when we were back in Toronto.

My ex-husband, Brad! He was and still is living in Florida. My friend Kerri and I were in Daytona for a long weekend (Kerri WON an all-expenses paid trip to a NASCAR race in Daytona - not the Daytona 500, but another race later in the season). While we were there, Brad drove into Daytona (from the Orlando area) and had brunch with us on the Sunday.

Myles, the bouncer at the the Velvet Underground, a dance club on Queen Street West that Kerri and I frequent. Myles asked me for ID (okay, I was THIRTY-NINE to begin with, and Myles pretty much knows us because we go there so often, or at least we did at the time) and I refused. So I said I'd show ID if he would give me something from his wallet.

My friend, Sue. She had been carrying this in her wallet for ages. I think there is some tie in with a relative of hers, I will have to ask her. She and I met for breakfast at Fran's Diner the day before the announcements of winners for several contests we had entered. We didn't win any of them.

This is a funny story. The Velvet Underground, once again. I was in the washroom and when I came out of the stall, a girl was struggling to do up her garter (all walks of life listen to alternative rock and industrial). She couldn't get it hooked, so I helped her out, which is pretty funny because it meant I was kneeling on the floor of the women's washroom with my face inches from her butt. I managed to get it hooked and then asked her for something from her wallet (naturally).

Erin, a co-worker is double-dipping!! She made an entry before I left for Dublin, and when I showed her the journal months after coming back, she had saved this intentionally to add to it.

Stephen!! This is the latitude and longitude of Swallow Point, the property that was owned by Stephen's paternal grandparents. There could be pages of blog entries about Swallow Point, it is such a beautiful and fascinating place. We have since visited Stephen's Dad's cousin and her husband, who have a gorgeous house on the property next to Swallow Point. The current owner of Swallow Point, Laura, even let us wander around inside and talked to us for a while. Stephen and Laura chatted about its history and its interesting little characteristics.

Wondering where this is? Go here: http://tinyurl.com/swallowpoint

Dan Misener, CBC radio personality and overall neat guy. This was collected when I was at one of his "Grown-ups Read Things They Wrote as Kids", a very cool project itself.

http://www.grownupsreadthingstheywroteaskids.com/

...

Also collected at "Grown-ups Read Things They Wrote as Kids". He was sitting beside me at the bar when I asked Dan to contribute something and before you know it, out comes something from the wallet!

5 - Volume One: Post-Dublin

2009-01-04T16:13:00.009-05:00

When I got back from the trip to Dublin, I showed my little project to lots of people. Many of them wanted to contribute after looking through what I collected in Dublin, so the following entries are from people I work (or worked) with and friends.

Rick, ex-co-worker. This is the security clearance card he received when working with GDLS, a customer of ours with government defence contracts.

The mystery entry! I think this is from Patrick out in Vancouver. He gave me what to put in the journal but then never got around to writing his name.

Wendel!!!! Co-worker and good friend (what's left of him!) This entry was made when we were both out in Vancouver for work. Both this entry and the next one were collected over beers at the Elephant and Castle in the Delta Airport hotel.

George, a co-worker who works out of Texas. He and I worked on some US-Canada ground projects together. He was in Vancouver to meet up with Wendel and I and then all of us were going to go to a meeting with some US Hub folks in the Seattle area. The Seattle meeting never happened.... it was Easter weekend and the line-up at the border was HOURS long. Still in the record books as the most time I have ever spent in a car crossing the border.

George's entry is a card he has had in his wallet for years, the business card of a friend of his who is a Texas Ranger. He was promoted to Captain after solving the Blackthorne murder case. I found this description of the case on a CBS news web site from 2000:

"Ever since Sheila Bellush's body was found on Nov. 7, 1997, her ex-husband had been a suspect in her murder. And from the beginning, Allen Blackthorne maintained his innocence. "I had absolutely nothing to do with this. Period," he told 48 Hours. Two and a half years after Sheila Bellush's death, the murder trial of Allen Blackthorne began in San Antonio, Texas.

The chief witness against Blackthorne was his old golfing buddy, Danny Rocha. In three days of testimony, Rocha fingered Blackthorne as the mastermind and financier of the murder plot.

...Everyone involved in the conspiracy to murder Sheila Bellush - including its mastermind - was now behind bars. Allen Blackthorne will be sentenced to life without parole in November."

Brian and I used to work at UPS together. He and his (now) wife, Anouk, lived in Toronto for a few years, just around a couple of corners from where I was living at the time. (Almost) every time I am in Vancouver, we get together. This was collected while we were out at a martini bar in Tsawassen.

Anouk (the afore-mentioned wife of Brian) who acknowledges that she wrote something very odd.

Same night. This is from my friend, Lisa, also from Tsawassen, who works for the same company as me but in Vancouver. Lisa had "NOTHING!" in her wallet, nothing even in her purse, so she grabbed this little martini menu off of the table, stuck it in her wallet and then took it out as her entry. There will be more Lisa-related entries later in the journal, from when she and I went to New York City together for a long weekend.

4 - Volume One: Dublin (cont'd - Ha'Penny Bridge Inn Pub)

2009-01-02T21:47:00.015-05:00

All of the entries in this post are from one night at the Ha'Penny Bridge Inn, the upstairs pub. The Sick and Indigent Song Club were playing and the place was PACKED. I mean, so packed that if you needed another pint from the bar, you would ask someone who would ask someone who would ask the bartender for your order. Money and pints were passed back and forth. The bar was staffed by one slightly ornery (but in a funny, Irish way) man and his son. I think there was a friend of the son helping, but not really 100% committed.

The man who made this entry was from France. He was there with his wife. Joe and I were within reach of the bar, so this man developed a bit of a friendly relationship with us so that he could use us to place his order with the bartender.

This is the wife of the man described above. We did not speak to her until the end of the night when the pub started clearing out at the end of the night (early morning). She thanked us for being the conduit to the bar for her husband through the night.

This woman was part of a theatre group from somewhere outside of Chicago. She was quite animated and wearing a bright red dress, if memory serves me right. She was about my age and was with a guy who was also in his 30's. The rest of the theatre group were ... older. They were a good laugh and said that the rest of the theatre group, the old folks, were tucked in their beds for the night, but that they wanted to get out and party.

It was this guy's birthday. He was another one of our fellow patrons who needed our help getting drinks from the bar (thus the "ducking and diving" comment - ducking and diving through the crowd to get to the bar) On a related note, another big memory I have of this evening was the rows of poured Guinness pints lined up behind the bar, the bartender trying to stay a step ahead of the patrons.

Another member of the theatre group, the guy that was with the woman mentioned above. He was the spitting image of Jim Carrey (thus all the references in his entry).

This is from one of the army guys who were there that night. We didn't even know they were there all night (we basically got to talk to the dozen or so people who were pressed up against us at the bar!), but when I was getting something from the wallets of the theatre group people, they came over to check out what I was doing and started searching through their wallets for what they could contribute. It was at this point that I realized that the "Something From Your Wallet" idea was a smashing success!

Another one of the army guys. They were all stationed in Germany, I think, and on leave, spending St Patrick's Day weekend in Dublin.

Another one of the army guys. Picture it: it is the end of the night, the pub is closing, the bartender and his son are trying to kick everyone out so that they can close up. A bunch of big hulking army guys are all hovering over me at one of the tables, making their entries in my journal. So funny...

Last of the army guys. He gave me his Army Values card!! Love his sign off.

This is the son, who was bar tending and clearing glasses. This guy and his Dad really earned their keep that night - it was the most packed, most energetic scene I have ever been in, with an insane amount of pints being poured constantly.
The army guys had just left and this guy came over to see what the fuss was about. I explained what I was doing and that he had to give me something from his wallet. He grabbed a pack of matches from the bar. I told him that was not good enough because it was not from his wallet, to which he replied that he didn't have his wallet on him (I think he and his Dad lived on the premises). He reached into his pocket and pulled out a penny. So the penny and the match box face made it into the book.

There was one small group left in the pub (so a hundred or so people have finally made their way out of the Ha'Penny Bridge Inn upstairs pub). I think I approached them and asked them if they would like to contribute. I believe they were all pretty drunk. Very young, probably didn't even know each other before this evening, all from France. This guy was currently living in Dublin and gave me his LUAS (commuter train) pass from the previous month.

Another of the small French group that lingered as the staff were trying to get us OUT of the pub so they could close up!

And finally, the last entry made that night at the Ha-Penny Bridge Inn upstairs pub. It is incredible what people keep in the their wallets for long periods of time. This a boarding pass from August 2, 2006 that was contributed on March 16th, 2007. She was also one of the small group from France lingering to the bitter end.

So that was it, the "Something From Your Wallet" experience in Dublin. Joe and I had spent the week leading up to St Patrick's Day in Dublin with a goal of visiting as many historical and "traditional" Irish pubs as we could manage, with at least one pint of Guinness in each pub. We certainly had some repeat visits to some pubs, and we certainly drank more than one pint in quite a few of the pubs, but we did manage to get to 24 pubs in 7 days.

For each pub, we came up with one line to describe the pub.

I will list them here:

Long Hall - interior gate, quite unusual

Neery's - the place with the arms

McDaid's - small, nice roof, dark, off Grafton, North Star

Kehoes - reminds us of pubs in the Annex

The Bank - unusually ornate bank with skylights

The Brazen Head - like a country pub

Oliver St John Gogarty - great people-watching and live music

Brogan's Bar - great floor, puzzling column

Ha'Penny Bridge Inn - downstairs quaint, upstairs great band

Kruger's (Howth) - peat smoke, sheperd's pie, toilet mirror

The Oak - clean, tidy (dark) pub, lots o' wood, nice lighting

The Porter House - more than 999 bottles of beer on the wall

Temple Bar - MUCH bigger than it looks

Nancy Hands - on Parkgate Road, before heading to Guinness

Kavanagh's - turretted exterior, very bright interior

Beach House (Greystones) - on the beach, horse-racing on TV

Stag's Head - most intricate pub we've been in

Davy Byrne's - art deco!

O'Neill's - so deceivingly small on the outside

The Pale - great for getting people on the street to wave back

Grogan's - toast-y pub filled with art ("crap")

Messrs Maguire - lots of levels and nooks and crannies

Fitzgerald's - St Paddy's Parade break, Italy vs. Ireland

Doheny & Nesbitt - there's always space under the TV

3 - Volume One: Dublin (cont'd)

2009-01-02T21:34:00.008-05:00

This is from the bartender at the Brazen Head, the smallest pub in Dublin. It's a Paddy Power card, basically it is like a credit card for betting on the horses.

The lead singer from "The Sick and Indigent Song Club" a talented and eclectic band that were playing at the Ha'Penny Bridge Inn (you guessed it, the Inn (and pub) are near the Ha'Penny Bridge on the Liffy, just at the edge of Temple Bar). This band played at the upstairs pub of the Ha'Penny bridge Inn. They played 40's and 50's country music, had a wide assortment of instruments and were incredibly engaging. We enjoyed their show so much that we returned the next night (more things from peoples' wallets collected on that night).
Oh ... and by the way .... his contribution, as seen above, is his membership card for the Dublin International Film Festival, which took place the previous month.

We stopped for lunch and a pint in a pub called Kruger's in Howth, north of Dublin. We had great shepperd's pie there, by a peat fire. Fireplaces typically burn peat, not wood.

This is Joe's contribution to the "Something From Your Wallet" journal. I think he made the entry while we were sitting in the Tourist Info Centre in Dublin - it's in a remodeled church, very neat.

2 - Volume One: Dublin

2009-01-02T21:14:00.006-05:00

This is the man who sat beside me during the flight over to Amsterdam (on my way to Dublin). He was a dentist who went back to medical school to become a specialist in jaws because that was the root of most of the dental problems he saw. Once he started working on people's jaws, he realized that most issues people have with their jaws are related to stress, so he went back to school once more to become a psychologist!
He was, at the time, dating a Canadian woman and they would see each other a few times a year. He was just returning to the Netherlands. We had a great chat and many laughs.

My first entry from Dublin. The is from the bartender at McDaid's, a pub on a side street just off of Grafton Street in Dublin. It is small and dark and has a great stamped tin roof. Since this was only our third pub, we asked the bartender what was up with the "North Star" beer on tap. He explained to us that it was a Guinness product. Guinness produced a set amount of a different test brews and distributed them to pubs in Dublin. Only once one was gone, they rolled out the next one. The idea was to find out which of these brews proved to be the most popular. Turns out, North Star was not it. It was in the pubs forever, and we came across many bartenders who were tired of trying to give it away. We tried a pint at McDaid's and never had it again, I believe.

Joe and I were in the smallest pub in Dublin (The Brazen Head) and a group of Americans walked through the door, all boisterous and ...well... American. It was a DJ from Chicago and his wife and his Mom, I think and a brother or sister and their spouse and daughter. This one was from his wife, I think.

This is from the Mom.

This is the DJ. Great voice. (go figure...)

1 - Volume One: Pre-Dublin practice!

2009-01-01T19:13:00.006-05:00

In order to have some samples, and to get a some "practice" with my little project, I started off by asking family and co-workers for something from their wallet.

My Mom!

Kyle, ex-co-worker

Erin, co-worker

Stacey, co-worker

Sean, co-worker

Mike, co-worker

Curtis, ex-co-worker

Liz, my niece

Marge, co-worker

Andy, co-worker

the idea

2009-01-01T18:54:00.004-05:00

In March of 2007 I went to Dublin with my friend, Joe. Since we were going to be there for the week leading up to St Patrick's Day, I knew that we would be talking to loads of people from all over the world. I am a journal addict and wanted some way to record my time in Dublin, but figured that most people would not want to write a blurb in a journal. Too much pressure! But ... I thought .... what if I collect things from people, things that are small enough to put in a journal! Thus, the idea was born: give me something from your wallet.