A guide to what's going on this week
When we were young we used to dread my mother saying the fateful words to mark the end of the Christmas holidays: "It will be great to get back into the routine."
If you want to keep the festive spirit alive a while longer (and work off some Christmas kilos) there is still time to whizz around some of the seasonal ice rinks. Smithfield on Icefinishes tomorrow, but there's a whole week left at 7Up Christmas on Iceat the RDS in Dublin.
In case your attempts at ice skating are, like mine, embarrassingly awful, you can see some experts in action, and have your faith in skating restored, in Peter Pan on Ice, at the Helix in north Dublin, from Wednesday until tomorrow week. (Call the box office on 01-7007000 for more details.) This adaptation of JM Barrie's story, by the Russian Ice Stars, is choreographed by Cavaliere Giuseppe Arena, who staged the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
The National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ireland performs a New Year Galaat the Mahony Hall in DCU this evening at 8pm (following a show at University Concert Hall in Limerick last night). These concerts see the return of the renowned Estonian conductor Eri Klas. The programme includes Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 1 Winter Dreams, followed by Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. Call the box office at 01-7007000. Tickets cost €15.
It's mainly a miserable week for gigs, with promoters apparently believing we are all too skint to buy tickets. But Christy Mooreplays Vicar Street tonight and tomorrow night, with Declan Sinnott, and again next weekend (Friday and Saturday) - unsurprisingly, tickets are sold out. On Wednesday Killswitch Engageplay the Ambassador in Dublin; Nina Hyneswill be at Cyprus Avenue in Cork to release the first single from her follow-up to the critically acclaimed album Staros.
Metal fans can head for the Ambassador in Dublin on Friday night for the Kerrang! Tour 2007, headlined by Scottish band Biffy Clyro and also featuring The Bronx, The Audition and I Am Ghost.
Aidan Dooley's award-winning one-man play Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorertells the story of the heroic Kerryman, who was the only man to serve with Scott and Shackleton on three expeditions. You can catch the play from Monday until Saturday at the Olympia. Tickets from ticketmaster.ie.
Over at Andrews Lane, Look Back in Anger, by John Osborne, runs from Monday until Saturday, January 27th.
Tomorrow from 3pm to 5pm at the National Museum of Ireland, Decorative Arts and History, at Collins Barracks in Dublin, you can catch a performance of a traditional Mummers' Playby folk-theatre ensemble group the Armagh Rhymers. The masked tradition of "mumming", a unique blend of drama, song and dance, dates back 2,500 years.