world wide madness

Oh well, every now and again a good news story hits Limerick and i suppose this one has a few reasons for celebrating. Around €115 million reasons give or take a few euros as a lady from Garryowen has WON the huge euro millions lotto draw!! And i thought i was great coz i won 13 euros on it last week!! Needless to say, the track bar probably had a good night last night as the lucky winner was having a few sociables as she checked her numbers!!

While loosely associated with spare chage, there are more changes afoot around the city centre. After the closing of upper Bedford row and the moving of taxi ranks now it seems that people will soon not have to go looking to buy parking discs in the nearest shop as they will be able to top up their account by mobile phone . Jaysus, the whole place around here is getting very technologically minded, what will happen next?? Will the banks in Limerick give money out by cash machines??

The picture, left , courtesy of the Limerick Leader is of the remains of two houses in Lilac court after an explosion, cause as yet unknown that happened the other night. the full story is here. Luckily, there was no one injured as a result of the big bang. The people in the house on the right are on holidays in Spain so will get a bit more than they bargained for when they come home, ie a nice look at the stars... Both houses will probably have to be demolished.



And while speaking of explosions, it looks as if Limerick's Minister for Defence has had a bit of a blast at the Irish Times newspaper over the 'tasteless' cartoon that they carried during the week. i suppose one could take it both ways, but then again it would hardly have the same affect if the cartoon said Al Qaeeda were less likely to attact Dublin 4! Da boys in da smoke probably wouldnt see the funny side of that..so lets everybody not buy the irish times.... then again we probably dont buy it anyway so that wont work!!

Duck tales of a sinister type courtesty of the Limerick Leader describing how some of natures finest have er gone missing!! Out in university land it looks like UL are looking to start teaching people how to become doctors. And to finish, the limerick post carries an interesting story about a man who went out of his way to find a toilet .

Promised a picture of the demolition work going on down at the Savoy. Sorry for delay in posting it, managed to misplace camera for a while which didnt help! And just off Henry St, on Bedford row upper the road has been closed to pave the way (literally) for the street to be pedestrianised!

Another episode this year of a person with a head for heights, this time at Arthurs Quay and thankfully it all worked out ok. This time the search and rescue helicopter wasnt required. Also a murder suspect charged in Galway the other day was from Limerick and woe betide if that wasnt the first thing that all the media said before actually saying anything about the accused. The body count has been fairly non existant around Limerick this year so i suppose they need to link something to Limerick lest any of us think that things might actually be quiet or something.

And then for something completely different. We can look forward to total chaos on William Street in all probablity in the near future. The City Council boys were out yesterday with their white paint marking out the new taxi rank on William Street which stretches on the right hand side from the Junction of O'Connell Street up as far as Michael Guineys. It also appears that there will be a rank on Sarsfield Street. This is all because the next phase of pedestrianisation of Bedford row is starting on Tuesday and the rank there wont exist anymore.

Scotty aka actor jimmy doohan, beloved chief engineer of the starship enterprise ncc 1701 passed away the other day. He was 85. Another tribute is here Some bits of trivia, Even though, scotty was famously Scottish, the actor was in fact from Canada and saw service in WW2. His second marriage lasted 28 years and he has a five - YES five year old daughter! The dilithium crystals were obviously well maintained and still working correctly!! And for the record, just a bit like play it again sam was never said in gone with the wind, the words "beam me up Scotty" were never said in the original series.

Three posts in one day, things are gone mad!! What with all the activity around property that has driven the country mad over the last ten years or so, it is interesting to see an article in the Leader as to how some of the locals are spending loads of money abroad. They have probably realised that things are gone too dear here to make anything but a total killing so have gone to pastures new! Meanwhile back on Henry Street people will have noticed that since last friday, builders have been tearing down the old Savoy building. (will have a photo to upload soon) Old being meant as a bit of a pun as it was only finished back in 1990!! A 15 year lifespan for a building could be classified in the "not great" category. I wonder will some of the apartments down in Steamboat quay last that long??



It looks like they have counted all the euro from the   JP McManus Invitational Pro-am and charity auction in Adare and wound up with the nice round figure of having raised €30 million for local charities. Very impressive indeed! Nice to see that it did Tiger Woods preparation for the Open no harm as he won major number ten at the weekend. Maybe he should come to Limerick more often!
And just to finish the sago over the Mayors job down in city hall, Diarmuid Scully has been de whipped by Fine Gael as a result of the events that happened in the lead up to the job being decided on.

And now somewhere different, - "down the road and turn left" if you believe all the ads on the radio!! but it seems that there are a whole lot of new bus routes and air routes down Shannon way! Fair play to progress as they say. Anyway it wasnt all good news for Ryanair over the weekend as they got in a spot of bother over an ad that they ran in the UK newspapers last week. Under the headline "London Fights Back", the newspaper advert shows Winston Churchill giving his famous V for Victory sign and saying "We shall fly them to the beaches, We shall fly them to the hills, We shall fly them to London".The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that those complaining had spoken of the advert being "offensive and insensitive" but Ryanair said a lot of people had supported its message. At the foot of the advert is the message: "Let`s keep London flying." Peter Sherrard, head of communications for Ryanair, which is based in Dublin, defended the advertisements as an attempt "to stand by the people of London after these terrible terrorist atrocities. "We are trying to ensure that the terrorists don't succeed in paralysing people with fear, which is their primary objective, and that people continue to lead their lives as normal and continue to fly." Ryanair should be making a united stance with other major operators to ensure that visitors return to London. I dont think that the ads are meant to offend but most people know that Ryanair do some very well thought out and provocative ads. Recently their ad "for pools dat leak and airports dat creak" with Bertie the builder was well received!! either way, as they say theres no such thing as bad publicity...

Gone to the dogs is a great catch phrase but things are literally gone that way at the markets field dog track if the article in the Leader is to be believed. Apparently the protesters were upset about cruelty to greyhounds, but in true limerick fashion for a finish it wound up that most of the protesters themselves were complaining about the verbal abuse being hurled at them by the greyhound enthusiasts on their way in to watch the nights action!! It appears that there is concern about the treatment of greyhounds sold on to Spain from the Dog track and what happens them once they reach la viva espana. Personally i would have thought that was a problem for the people in spain as i was of the (perhaps mistaken) opinion that all Irish greyhounds were well treated by their owners.. certainly better treated that some of the poor animals that some of the locals have mutilated and hung from lamposts and other spots around estates in the city over the last few years- but thats another story for another day. Anyway, it seems to have provoked a bit of a debate so at least we have something new to "bitch" about.....

Back after a bit of an enforced absence which should have been more prolonged but however!! Its summer time in Limerick and if the sun is shining here, it certainly must be also in Kilkee and Santa Ponza where half da population is. The good weather must be having some form of an effect on the locals because there is very little controversial happening around at the minute!! Anyway the Limerick Leader has some good reading this week,

Amongst other things, the City Council seems to be getting prepared for a bit of a war footing in relation to the (literally deep deep..) shite that they are in with relation to the case they recently lost to Uniform Construction. Still down City Hall way, the row over the new Mayor rages on with Fine Gael having a bit of a think about what they are going to do to Diarmuid Scully after he went against the party line and wound up beating the official party candidate.

Limerick will have a contestant in this years Rose of Tralee which if memory serves is being hosted by Ray D'arcy this year. Out the county it seems some people are getting in a bit of a huff about a website giving details of Garda speed traps throughout the county. Also, out in Abbeyfeale the Minister for Justice, Michael (mad dog/ rottweiler/mad mullah/take no crap etc) McDowell opened a new station and very nice it looks as you pass by it too. Out in Adare, i am sure they are still counting the euros after the JP love in, Pro -Am and mega auction. Quite interesting to see the amounts of money spent on the various items and of course the proceeds are all going to local worthy causes so no cynicism from this side! fair play to the man...

Having browsed through some of the daily papers over the weekend one or two of them have picked up on the fact that tourism in the city and its general environs has imroved dramatically in the last few months, one of them even going so far as to state that limerick was losing its stab city image!! well knock me over with a feather, do the journos not know that the knives have been out of fashion for years, its now shotgun city!! But seriously, it doesnt take an idiot to fathom out the reasons for this - Ryanair and cheap flights!! Fair play to the bright spark out in Shannon Airport that figured out what anyone with half a brain in their head could have figured out ages ago- as the man says put on the flights and they will travel.. Good to see the city get some good publicity for a change.
Down City council way, the bean counters are going to be busy busking on the streets trying to meet the bill from the ruling over the main drainage contract. According to the leader the figure could be upwards of €40 million . And i doubt that even JP Mcmanus would extend his generousity that much!! Speaking of JP there is more information on the Pro -Am at Adare Manor next week. As mentioned previously Michael Owen will be there along with Martin O'Neill and Alan Hanson to name but a few.

And finally just to show that things are still lively down in City Hall the new Mayor has got in a bit of a huff about the
grass not being cut in some of the local housing estates...