Daytrippers

7 things to do this week

TODAY Wooden Educational is the new compilation album being launched tonight by those purveyors of hectic, heady musical chemistry, the Alphabet Set. The collective was set up to support the indigenous electronica scene and there will be live sets from a sprinkling of the 16 artists featured on the CD at the launch in The Hub, Temple Bar. Admission free before 9.30 p.m. Contact www.alphabetset.net

TOMORROW Gorey Garden Festival in Co Wexford is sure to be buzzing today. There'll be the usual gardening displays while experts will be on hand to advise enthusiasts. Gorey Community School, 11 a.m-6 p.m. Admission 5 for adults and 1 for children.

MONDAY It's too late to enter but supporting participants in the Women's Mini Marathon in Dublin can be just as much fun - or more - as running it yourself. Get a good spot around St Stephen's Green to cheer on the fit finishers or the puffed-out stragglers while you relax on this Bank Holiday Monday.

TUESDAY Take care of your eyes this morning if watching the planet Venus passing between the earth and the sun - or you could be struck blind. The event - not visible from Ireland for 122 years - will take place between 6.20 a.m and 12.20 p.m. Astronomy Ireland will be manning nine safe Public Venus Transit Watches across the country, the largest of them in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. The Astronomy Ireland Shop has sheets of Astrosolar filter material for binoculars and telescopes. Contact 01-8470777, www.astronomy.ie

WEDNESDAY  Don't miss the chance to get a look at several important letters and manuscripts due to be auctioned by Sotheby's in London on the July 8th. There are love letters from James Joyce to Nora Barnacle, the original Irish Proclamation of Independence signed by the printer, and the working manuscript for Imagination Dead Imagine by Samuel Beckett. On view today and tomorrow at Brownes Brasserie, St Stephens Green. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Contact 01-671 1431.

THURSDAY The Music in Great Irish Houses Festival kicks off today with the topical theme "The New Europe". The opening concert, Contrasts, at the King's Inns, Dublin 7, brings composers together from Ireland, Austria, Germany and Hungary, and is led by the festival's director, Hugh Tinney. Tickets 40 from the booking line: 01-2809850. See also: www.musicirishhouses.com.

FRIDAY On your way back from voting, check out the KB Band in the Lower Deck, Portobello, Dublin. This new Dublin band tonight launch their first CD, The Dancer Who Stole Your Shoes. Worth a listen purely for the plaintive Make His Day, a song with sumptuous vocals by Keith Burke and Ciara Allen. Starts 9 p.m. Admission 15. Contact 01-4751423.