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.