Weather

Well if the weather was like this last week, all the time I dont think the Irish would have emigrated at all regardless of how many potatoes there weren't, to be sure. Its been bonny. I met two of my neighbours this morning and they seem nice, Angie has the car today so I'm on foot, I got the number for a bloke who rents out bikes but he hasnt rung me back, it would have been handy having one this next wee while untill mine arrives from Sydney. I'm on a health kick (again lol) they had a special offer on at the Oughterard agricultural show, yesterday, for the gym so I joined, also been copying my sister in law and cutting out a lot of carbs. The show was good mostly horses and farm stock but they did have a wee dog show with obedience on display, watch out Gus !! it was a clear sunny day and today is the same.

I'm going to have a bash at mosaic making as a hobby / sideline, there was a girl selling mirrors in Galway at a market that I thought were awesome and I think I'll give it a go myself, small outside tables with mosaic tops and the like.

moved

Well we are moved into the big house in Oughterard, and it is big too, you may be wondering why rent such a large house? there were a few different factors, I want to have an office and a workspace in the house and have plenty room for visitors, I'm hoping friends and family will come visit now we are a bit closer than Australia. This place costs less to rent than a wee flat Angie had in Galway city, Gus and Jessy are coming so we needed a dog allowed home that is relatively dog proof, actually this one isnt lol, I was looking for a smallish community that doesnt have a PC repair man and Oughterard fills this criteria. And this house is really nice.

The house is really empty untill we get our furniture but its not that long till it arrives really so we will survive.

I got my PPS number the other day and have registered a business "Robbo's" this week I'll design a logo and have some cards made and look into advertising in the local paper.

moving/packing and miners

Well I'm packing up things here ready for the move tommorow, this flat is kinda small but imagine what things are like for the gold miners trapped alive at 700 metres underground after a tunnel collapsed in Chile. there are 33 of them in a space about the size of this flat and they will be there until December not even able to see the sky. Mining isnt high on my list of jobs to apply for, infact I havent got a list, I registered a company name today "Robbo's" I think it sounds kinda Aussie and kinda Irish to be sure. I chose it so I can do anything from selling turf to training elephants. My first training job right enough is to be with Gus, who is Sheena's dog, apparently he has taken to chassing garbage collectors which is no good. Theres a dog training course in Galway that I will join, it wont do Jessy any harm either to get some more training.

I cant wait to get moved into the new house although the company that Angie signed up for, for tv dont seem to have a service there so we shant have tv or a tellephone or any furniture lol, giggling here. Ohh well at least I'll be able to see the sky ehh.

Rose of Tralee host Dáithí O'Sé was the blokie I was havin problems understanding last night, I didnt wait up to find out who won but it turned out to be the Indian sheila. "And lookit, he made a grand enough fist of it so he did. Flirting for Ireland, breaking out into song every five minutes, only fluffing the auto cue the very odd time"
Was a bonny day here and I was watching boats out in Galway bay wishing I had a boat just now to give me something to do, this week has been boring and I cant wait to get moved into the big house and for all the furniture to arrive along with the Subaru. This high pressure system that is off the coast today could well be one of the last Summer ones before Autumn is here. Theres a round Britain and Eire yacht race on the go just now and what a difference a day makes they had <50knt winds 24 hrs ago.

Rose of Tralee

Well I'm watching a show on TV called the Rose of Tralee, I have not a blinkin clue what its about but suspect its like a beauty pagent without any worry about how they look, no wait a min they are going to sing,  theres a kiwi lassie on now ? well it was this or sheep dog trials and actually she sings very well and apparently her great granny was Irish. The girl comes on and is asked questions about her history by an Irish comedian. I googled it and The Rose of Tralee festival is an international competition which is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world. The festival takes its inspiration from a nineteenth century ballad of the same name about a woman called Mary, who because of her beauty was called The Rose of Tralee. Its going  me a while to actually understand what the heck they are talking about but it sounds a bit like he is asking her about a pet goldfish, this one isnt singing she is playing a Bodhran. I wonder if it would be sexist to say I miss the swimsuit section, too bliddy rite, you biggot to be sure.

The weather

I have come to the conclusion that if you live somewhere that isnt sunny all the time you appreciate the sun more, today has sunny spells and showers which has been par for the course over the last 2 weeks, its certainly makes a bonny countryside when there is plenty rain to keep it green. I know last winter was an extreme one here and my Dads weather records show this spring was really dry in the West of Scotland but they are nothing to the Russian heatwave that country is being consumed by wildfires caused by the worst heatwave the country has endured in a millennia. A state of emergency has been declared in 35 regions of the country — seven for the fires themselves, and another 28 for crop failures caused by the drought. Meanwhile, Pakistan is struggling with unprecedented flooding that has killed more than a thousand people and affected millions more. In China, flash floods have so far killed more than a thousand people and destroyed more than a million homes. On a smaller scale, European countries like Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic have also suffered serious flooding. global temperatures in recent months have been at their highest levels in records that go back 130 years. Arctic sea-ice cover reached its lowest ever recorded average level for the month of June. In Greenland two huge chunks of ice broke off in July and August.
Part of the Ocean Conveyor Belt—a great river of ocean water that traverses the saltwater sections of the globe—the Gulf Stream stretches from the Gulf of Mexico up the eastern seaboard of the United States, where it splits, one stream heading for Canada’s Atlantic coast and the other for northern Europe and Greenland. By taking warm water from the equatorial Pacific Ocean and carrying it into the colder North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream warms up the eastern United States and northwestern Europe by about five degrees Celsius (roughly nine degrees Fahrenheit), making those regions much more hospitable than they would be otherwise. Among the greatest fears scientists have about global warming is that it will cause the massive ice fields of Greenland and other locales at the northern end of the Gulf Stream to melt rapidly, sending surges of cold water into the ocean system and interrupting the flow of the Ocean Conveyor Belt. One doomsday scenario is that such an event would stop or disrupt the whole Ocean Conveyor Belt system, plunging Western Europe into a new ice age without the benefit of the warmth delivered by the Gulf Stream. The house in Oughterard has really good insulation :) and I'm going to do a course on how to operate the heating systems.

So recycling garbage may help the global warming, in Sydney we had three bins a smallish red general waste bin that went to landfill, a green bin that was for garden waste and a yellow bin that you filled with glass paper tins and plastic, was a great system that was paid for by your rates, in Ireland there are no rates but you have to pay for your garbage to be collected, its E$220 a year and that gives you two bins the green bin takes Paper - newspaper, magazines, waste paper, envelopes, leaflets Cardboard - cereal boxes, postcards, cardboard packaging Plastic bottles and containers Tetrapak - milk and juice cartons Steel cans - food tins, dog and cat food tins Aluminium cans - soft drink cans, beer cans. The have to be clean and dry. the other bin takes other garbage. I'll recycle as much as possible of any green kitchen matter in a compost bin, I had a worm farm in Australia but not sure how they would do here.

scraped bonnet

Well I went into Galway this morning to give the insurance company photocopies of no claims I had in Australia and photocopies of licences etc. They hadnt heard of me lol the insurance was for someone with the surname Thairp, I came back and googled "Thairp" and it comes up with a website http://www.thairp.com/ its a website with nothing on it apart from the words thairp.com a bit weird ehh wonder why someone has gone to the expense of paying for a domain name registering it and puting a website up with just that? maybe to confuse my insurance company. Anyway I left the office and promptly bumped Angies three day old car, my foot slipped off the clutch and I ran under the barrier scratching the bonnet :(  in the car park.

pyrite infill

You have a new house built in Dublin in 2007 it costs a bomb as that was close to the peak of housing costs here, then in November 2008 your house starts to swell, more value for money? nope the case still in court two years later claims that the cracks and swelling are caused by defective infill containing high amounts of pyrite, the lawer for the defence stated that the “vast majority” of defects were of “no significance whatever”, he sounds like a careing sort of chap, probably doesnt have negative equity in a cracked swelling house with absolutely no chance of selling as the estate its in is in all the papers.

I see in the news, Tourists travelling on a sleeper train from Spain to Italy woke up nearly 200 miles away in Switzerland after French railway staff made a signalling mix-up in Lyon. Holidaymakers expecting an early morning glimpse of the ornate spires of the Duomo, Milan's landmark cathedral were instead greeted by Zurich. And two British climbers were rescued after they texted a message to raise the alarm, I used my mobile phone to locate fishing spots in Australia, handy things the old mobiles ehh. Talking about climbers what's the difference between a Climber and a Golfer? Golfer goes: Whack, bugga! Climber goes : Bugga, WHACK.

Kinvara Regatta

Well it was a nice day to be sure it twas it twas, drove down to Kinvara and inland to Ballyvaughan /Ennis where we visited a cave and bird sancturary (jail)  then back to Kinvara to see the classic Glaway Hookers end their race. It was a nice day with sunny intervals and brief showers just to remind one we were not in the Med to be sure.

The cave and bird sanctuary were interesting although I dont really like to see birds caged especially birds of prey, anyway I think the owls face says it all.

I have worked out that the Irish kilometer is actually a different measurement than the usual kilometer, the equation is take the Irish km times it by 5 and devide by 3 that give you a true distance, either that or take the "km" off and add "mls"

We drove through the "Burren" on our travels as well which was an experience.

Unemployment

Well I just spent 2.5 hrs queing at the dole office sheeeeeze all I was after was a PPS number, not sure what PPS stands for, hang on i'll google it, ok its a Personal Public Servic number, and a microsoft powerpoint presentation file. It was blinkin depressing the que went up the street and round the corner and there weren't many happy faces in it. The girl that ended up serving me after > 2 hrs was the only one doing the PPS section and she was slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, at one point she went to photocopy my documents/ passports etc and I could see her chatting to her pal, felt like saying hey theres another 700 people waiting but I retrained myself. Ireland has 13.7% unemployment at the moment up from 4% in January 2008. She took about 10 mins to photocopy my things, I recon a spell in the que would help her work ethic. Anyway in 7 - 10 days I am to expect the number to come through the post and I can start to get moving with forming a company etc gawd knows how long the que will be there lol.

Another whinge is the difficulty involved opening a bank account, this is due to the amount of fraud apparently, and money laundering. We are still waiting money to be transfered so we can buy a car. I have been looking for a estate car the dogs can jump in the back of without demolishing the seats.

Gawd I hate queing.

Waiting in Line

A minister waited in line to have his car filled with gas just before a long holiday weekend. The attendant worked quickly, but there were many cars ahead of him in front of the service station. Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant pump. "Reverend," said the young man, "Sorry about the delay. It seems as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long trip."
The minister chuckled, "I know what you mean. It's the same in my business."

The Motorway

Took the Motorway to Connemara, Jesus, Mary Mother of Christ to be sure, it twas a fine day. The day started off Foggy but cleared to a top sunny warm one, we drove from Galway to Carna on the coast road and then back via Oughterard where it look like we may be renting for a year, the picture below is part of the Loch Corrib at Oughterard.

Here is the house

 

Galway Hookers are wee sailing boats used for fishing roundabout this area in the past and a lot of them are still to be seen, infact there is a Regatta for them next weekend I might go to.

There were a lot of bonny views along the way

And Angie made me take a photo of her doing this strange Choochter like squat in the sea at a wee beach called Moruss,

No postcodes

Ireland doesnt appear to have any post codes, this normally wouldnt bother me but it also doesnt seem to have any road signs or house names, this makes finding houses that are for rent a bit like meandering through a maze blindfolded with cars maniacally trying to get you to crash into the hedge. I bought a wee satnav Tomtom to help me on my way along with the iphone application that shows the position of the home on a map.
Normally you would put the postcode in the satnav and away you go, thats prob one, prob two is the iphone application with the homes for sale/ rent is made by a company called "daft.ie" I know why now, as they dont put the position of the house in its correct place on the map???? yep that has me scratching my head too but hey this is Ireland. So  have worked out what to do, basically you study the photo of the house for rent until it is dead set in your memory then you drive around the whole county at 120 mph looking for it and throw your satnav over the hedge.  

Its taking a while to take money from Australia so buying a car shall have to wait till next weekend probably, its a shame as I will have to rent another car this next week to get around the place. I had a wee Toyota Yaris this week, which after coming from a v6 Ford station wagon is like sitting in a kids pedal car with a sewing machine for an engine, but hey it runs on the smell of an oily rag which is real handy.

house hunting

Well I have been out hunting for a house to rent for the last 2 days, I have a few criteria to meet namely, be within 30 mins drive of Angies work, allow dogs, be able to get the internet, have double glazing and be well insulated and be close to a community that may require a PC fixer. Its not proving easy lol. Anyway tommorow I have my hopes set on one in Ballygarriff which is near Clarinbridge and one of the favourite areas. I just had a run out the road to Furbo which looks over towards the Arran Islands its nice there too so I have added the place as a pottential.

My first impressions of Ireland are, stone dykes, pubs, freindly people, huge houses, road speed limits that feel  as if someone in charge is having a laugh, 50kmh on good roads and 100kmh on single track ones, I think it may be cos the Gaurda cant be bothered patroling the small roads, ohh and the sun as it has been out since I arrived.

First car

Catriona (my neice) was in with her first car so we had a photoshoot with it, my first car was a Renault 4 I had 3 at one point in various stages of disrepair. My Dad was just telling me his first car was a Singer Bantam he bought it for 15 pounds and sold the 5 wheels for 25 pounds after a few years. My younger brother had a Lime Green Ford Escort which he rolled and was lucky to climb out of, he demolished one of my cars a Renault 14 as well. On the single track roads here its just knock for knock in an accident and of course mine was only 3rd party fire and theft insurance.

I took Cara out fishing the other night for a wee while and she caught the Laithe in the picture on her own she didnt fancy holding it though.

19 years was a long time away from my folks, I dont regret going but am glad I'm back in the vicinity, I think my Mother is glad too as she keeps hugging me :)

Sats figures show reading standards droped for 11-year-oldsthis year , according to the gaurdian newspaper.  The proportion of children leaving primary school in England with a reading age appropriate to their age group has slipped, statistics released by the Department for Education show, they dont want to do a survey on bloggers or online chat addicts as, lol,  m8, lmao, 2moro, 4ever, and cu2moro dont hack it m8. My speling age is approximate to a 3 yr old, mushroom. I know spelling has two ls, Mom, its a joke.

West Highland Week race to Oban

The view from my parents home with the yachts in the Crobh to Oban race passing. Dad and I drove down to the south end of the island and got some shots there too, I was wondering why this film crew were concentrating on one particular boat until I realised it was Griff Rees Jones and 3 men on a boat. They were doing OK for 3 comedians.

Bealach in the background between Scarba and Lunga islands with 3 men in a boat and their entourage passing.

I think Shuna was enjoying the race after she arrived in the pickup with the monsters.

Their are races all week and if I get a yacht I'll enter next year. The most impressive views are when all the boats have a following wind and have their spinnakers flying, I hope they have a nice week for their races there are 7 I think  http://www.whyw.co.uk/