world wide madness

If all else fails, and there's not much happening, its good to see that the local politicans are always good to provide a bit of light relief with tales of bickering, double crossing and (literally) knives and daggers out... - i know its limerick but its only meant as a pun this time.. and at the end of it all we have a new Mayor. The story is well worth a read and just proves that even though we are in Celtic tiger ireland and a whole new modernist report, some things just stay the same!! Anyway, congratulations to Councillor Diarmuid Scully, who after all the bitch fighting and fighting on the beaches emerged as Limerick’s 809th mayor!!

In other news, and it will probably concern the new Mayor just as he is settling in to his new chair, the City Council is once again going to be in deep shit - and this time i mean literally!! as they have just lost a case against Uniform construction who they sacked from a contract on doing part of the main drainage scheme for the city! The bill for the Council could be up to 25 million euros!! that works out at a lot of money per person within the City!! God help the poor businesses in the city centre, there will probably be more of them pulling out to the retail parks in the suburbs (and some of them in the county area) when they get the bill for their rates next year!.

Also in related news a Limerick man was sentenced for his involvement in a horiffic incident that took place in Cratloe last year.

the weekend trawl through the papers reveals a holiday from hell that some of the locals suffered, bet they are wishing that they went to kilkee now!! The JP Mcmanus Pro-Am is on next month and it seems that Michael Owen will be coming over to play a few rounds with the likes of tiger woods and other friends!! And just to prove that crime never takes a holiday in or around limerick a few people paid a visit to the District Court this morning!

Click here to read an article in todays Irish independent ( you may need to log in or register for free or something) about how a local shopkeeper dealt with someone who tried to rob his shop!! a brave man.. and indeed a lucky man!

a body was found out near woodcock hill in cratloe earlier today. Even though its in co. clare, it will obviously be deemed as suspicous and get loads of media coverage because its close to limerick! (UPDATED- Now, not suspicous!!).

A bit of a do at city hall this evening when numbers 57, 58 and 59 received the freedom of the city and now they can obviously graze sheep or cattle somewhere. they follow in the footsteps of other half famous people JFK and Pope John Paul 11.

Also announced this evening is the news that the local Bishop has sold the official residence on the North Circular rd. No price available as yet but odds on, it didnt go cheap as its a well sought after part of town!

there were some developments in town over the weekend and also some more action to report so things are getting a little bit more lively than they were. Back to more mundane issues it appears that one of the local solicitors has a bit of a grievance with the local health board or health board executive or what ever its called now! Out the county, a 74 year old retired farmer has had a bit of a bad encounter with the revenue comissioners. And just to prove that big brother may indeed be watching, there is a report here about how a mans stolen car was recovered with the aid of satellite navigation... aint technology only mighty!!

it appears the fire brigade were busy this morning with four units at the scene according to the local radio.

There is an article in the post about the aftermath of the selling of tickets for eminem last friday!! looks like we will have to get our hands on the post to see the pictures. why people wont use rubbish bins to throw their rubbish into is beyond me. It winds up that the shop selling the tickets has to clean up the mess which in all reality isnt their responsibility as they are only providing the service for people to buy the tickets. But, then again it is typical of celtic tiger ireland that people just dont give a shite aobut anything or anyone except themselves... leave the mess to comeone else to clean up..
Next election time will see the end of an era out the county after the announcement by Fianna fail td Michael Collins (brother of Gerard) that he is to retire. Just as well all the places out there are bypassed coz there will probably not be much more money for that neck of the woods in future!

Batman begins is out on friday and is supposed to be a return to form for the caped crusader, it is a prequel to the other films from the late 80's and 90's and shows how young bruce wayne became the caped crusader.

# posted by grumpy : 7:31 p.m.  0 comments

Ul has announced that it is to create a School of Architecture on campus from this september. the fella in charge of it is an american - Merrit Bucholz, whose local claim to fame is that his company designed the new Limerick County Hall in Dooradoyle.

Other news with a local twist concerns liverpool star Steve finnan who was arrested by police in England this morning in relation to a fatal road traffic accident last january.

In rugby news Munster have got a rough enough draw in the Heineken Cup heineken cup Heineken Cup draw:
Pool 1: Munster, Castres Olympique, Sale Sharks, Newport Gwent Dragons.

And just in case, limerick is the only planet you live on, he may have been Bad, dangerous and a thriller in his time but Michael Jackson wakes up this morning (on his own ..in the bed.. hopefully for his own sake!!) a free man!

As stated in a previous post, i took a spin on the vomet comet from shannon over to chareloi to watch the first night of the european u2 vertigo tour. twas a good night with lots of tricolours and things like that to be seen although many of the people carrying them couldnt be described as native paddies!! Ex president of paddy land, Mary Robinson was in the crowd and got a polite round of applause when bono gave her a big shout out for her work with regards to human rights. its a big old production and should look well on the hallowed sod of croke park at the end of the month although i am sure some people will find something to complain about..

it wasnt all good news for the band this weekend though as according to the uk top 40 chart their new single, city of blinding lights was kept off the top spot by the crazy frog!!
While on the music thing, a new album worth listening to is that by the walls. its called new dawn breaking and is available in a shop near you! So go along to empire music on O'connell st and buy it now!! Also available around now is the new album from ex Cranberries band member Noel hogan. His new group are called mono band and no, Dolores doesnt sing on it. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but will soon hopefully.

Praise be for low resolution photos!! in its proper size, this is shite but at this size, it looks ok i think!! the show probably wont change that much between here and the gigs in croke park, which could mean that the first song u2 play is vertigo... and the last song they play is... vertigo.. a bit strange coz its not like they are stuck for material, however i doubt very much if they give a shite about what i think!! anyway twas a good enough show.

apologies for lack of updates, but was out of the country listening to 4 fellas playing some music in the home of Zooropa! More on that later...
The Limerick papers arent that libellous or scandelous this week, although the Limerick Leader does have one or two crime related stories.

Meanwhile the neighbours in the Clare Champion seem to have all the scoops this week. Maybe it has something to do with the forthcoming launch of a rival weekly newpaper in the banner county!! Apparently Clare is not a good place to go if you are looking for a conviction in a judge and jury trial. There is also a report on the ongoing need for a sexual assault unit in the mid western region. Submission have also been made by some of the local radio stations who are bidding for a new mid west radio station aimed at the over 40's market! And just to round it all off, some tips for the ladies to take during the summer to avoid getting your skirt burnt!!

Normally our politicans are calling for speed limits on roads to be reduced but Michael Noonan has called for some of the limits on the new roads around the City to be increased . While on the whole speeding thing, its a good job Michael Noonan hasn't seen what some of the traffic boys in blue in the good old U S of A have got up to out in Florida.
It appears that they're not content like our local finest with hiding behind a ditch on the N18 with the hairdryer, but instead A police officer in full camouflage gear lay in the brush alongside Minton Road, pointing his radar gun and relaying information on speeding vehicles to fellow officers.Within two hours on Wednesday, the team issued 40 tickets to drivers traveling at least 15 mph above the 45 mph limit. Using an officer in SWAT gear to catch speeders was a first for the Palm Bay Police Department, but not the first differerent thing they have done to try and catch speeders. The deputy chief said the department likely won't use a camouflaged officer again, but other, even more creative, tactics may be used. "The next big box you see on the road may have a police officer in it," Muldoon said. "An officer could be in the back of a work truck or in construction gear."In fact, in February, Brevard County sheriff's deputies dressed as construction workers to nab red-light runners at Wickham and Murrell roads in Viera. What next, the Garda chopper catching speeders...

Paying the price

Sample fines for speeding, according to Florida law:
10 to 14 mph over, $100.
15 to 19 mph over, $125. Violators also must pay court costs.

Looks like some of the city centre businesses are a bit justified in complaining about the high rates that they have to pay. the current trend of shops moving out to retail parks and industrial estates is gathering momentum and if it gets much worse it will reach the stage where all that will be in the city centre are apartments and offices.

i used to think that it was only animals that were sold at the local Mart but apparently not!! Things are getting fairly hi tech in the sticks when DVD's are being sold at da local mart!!

As a means of showing the effect that Ryanair and the arrival of other low fare carriers has had on shannon airport, Figures released by the Shannon Airport Authority are fairly impressive, showing that passenger numbers using the airport for the month of May have increased by a record 43% when compared to the same time last year. A spokesperson for the Authority says Shannon Airport is set to become the fastest growing airport in Ireland with an additional one million passengers expected to travel through the airport in 2005.

Just to prove that bureaucracy Ireland is still alive and well , there was an article in The Clare Champion about how the DEREGULATION of the electricity market has led to more paper and delayed the implemtation of a 200,000 euro installation of traffic lights on the bridge in Killaloe and Ballina.

i Know its the bank holiday and everyone must be gone away somewhere but there is very little news doing the rounds locally this weather unless you want to get your wheels clamped in Dooradoyle. Also as a supplement to the news about houses in Monaleen going for tinky winky money, the Leader has an article about the river point project. it does look nice as one crosses over the shannon bridge, but time will tell to see how long it takes to get run down. At least its not totally made of red brick so that at least is something to be happy about!! And while river point is going up some houses in Garryowen are going down!

work ongoing in the city centre at the site of the old george hotel. the hotel is being renovated and i'm sure a load of apartments and other stuff will also be there by the time its all finished! the new entrance to the hotel will be on shannon street.

there used to be a time not so long ago when anything to do with a shooting in shotgun city was HUGE news, nowadays with the old gangland scoreline for the year so far at dublin 7 limerick 0, not even a half time pep talk from rafa benitez would be able to swing the score back in favour of limerick. possibly we might win in extra time but it seems that at the minute its only people getting wounded - not killed around town and the boys doing the shooting are getting caught!

One man with no intentions of leaving town it appears is Anthony Kelly who has denied rumours that he is going to leave and go to Spain to live. And to finish the local round up, a well known City solicitor has been appointed judge of the district court and good luck to him in his new job.

Keeping up the liverpool theme and keeping it local this article in the Limerick Leader gives the limerick angle to the lazarus style events that happened in istanbul last week. And stretching the theme even further to the saviour for a while until he's sold type thing - the limerick post has an interesting article about the number of jerzy dudek compatriots that have arrrived in the city. If there are 3,000 of them here already, why do the city council still want to invade clare? and the county? just build some nice accomodation for these people in the city limits and keep the numbers up!! a lot of them seem to be working in the shops in the city centre and very nice and courteous they all seem to be too. they could teach a lot of the natives how to behave and show a bit of respect. As for the rest of us, even if we lin the lottery we would still have to get in line and form a queue to try and buy houses in Monaleen for - €507,000 . The celtic tiger is still roaring around limerick obviously!!

On to music matters now outside of the treaty city, but keeping up the city theme, two of the hoodied dudes, aka eminem and half a euro are going to headline Slane this year. i can just envisage the queue of the hoodied and be decked tracksuited brigade outside empire music when tickets for that go on sale. i am also severely traumatised to learn that the proposed spice girls re union is off. Instead though, there will be a load of concerts in london, rome, paris, berlin, philadelphia and a few other spots to promote the political plight of Africa. It appears that bob geldof also want to ask the new Pope, - Benedict xvi along, probably as father ted used to say - "for a bit of a pray".