Summertime

DaytimesDublin-based office workers can enjoy a little jazz over lunch tomorrow in the free lunchtime performance by the Michael Buckley Quintet from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Civic Offices, Wood Quay. Tel: 01-6723374.

Nighttimes

Join Americans in a celebration of their national holiday in the National Concert Hall, Dublin with Paddy Cole and his band and Prof Peter O'Brien on piano playing Joplin, jazz and American song on Thursday at 8 p.m. Cost: €20/€25/€15. Tel: 01-4170000.

Childtimes

The children's TV character - Postman Pat - will be wooing audiences in the Grand Opera House, Belfast from tomorrow until Saturday (show times vary). Tickets: £28 sterling for a family of four. Tel: 048-90241919.

Website: www.goh.co.uk

Sylvia Thompson

My native county: Dublin

Playwright Bernard Farrell

Three favourite places in my native county:

1 White Rock, Killiney - 60-odd steps down from the Vico Road, it is secluded, sandy and, best of all, the flies from Killiney Strand don't know about it.

2 The Dublin Mountains - especially the drive south from Killakee car park, through colourful gorse, heather and turf-fields. All our visitors get this tour. . .and a sample piece of turf.

3 Glasthule, where I was born - once a humble dairy-town but now a trendy, boutique/bijou village where everyone wants to live. . .and rightly so!

Justin Comiskey

Countingtimes

76 million tourists visited France last year, ranking it the most popular destination. It is followed by Spain, the US, Italy and China.

10 is the number of countries that John Travolta will visit in his own Boeing 707 this year, ostensibly to rebuild confidence in airline travel. The fact that Qantas has its logo on the actor's airplane is surely incidental.

20 million dollars is what South African Mark Shuttleworth paid for the world's most expensive holiday - a week orbiting the Earth in a Russian spacecraft.

Peadar Browne

Just-in-times: late offers

The city of Derry is not just the gateway to the north-west but a fascinating place to visit. The Everglades Hotel is offering three nights' bed & breakfast and two dinners for £90 sterling (around €140) per person sharing, mid-week in July and August. Tel: 048-71346722 or www.hastingshotels.com.

Vilnius on the Baltic is full of history and architectural gems. You can explore it for three nights from €599 at the Radisson SAS Astorija Hotel. Citiescapes: 01-6775533.

John Scales