little fluffy clouds

ITS been a beautiful week, well mostly, apart from mad downpours overnight which is fine by me. But spring is really here and the sun is out in force. So its back to sunglasses and sandals.

Anyway been out and about with my camera and took these shots of clouds and reflections. Don't you just love clouds?

* dublin and drugs

DUBLIN has had its fair share of drug related problems over the last number of decades, resulting in devastated communities and families being torn apart.

You don't have to go far to see it because its all around. I was at work over the weekend at a conference and during one section on anti-social bahaviour I nipped outside for a ciggie.

A couple who were obviously off their heads approached me asking for the loan of a light and ciggie and then preceeded to make a joint, smoke it and then go about their business. I quietly snapped a couple of pics from about two feet away, had my ciggy and went back to work.

* hating Harney

IF there is one person in the Irish Government whom I have no respect and no time for it has to be Mary Harney, the current Tanaiste and Minister for Health. I have never been much in favour of career politicians, ie those who have never ever lived in the real world choosing instead to live their life within the hallowed and protected halls of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament). And top of that pile in my head is Harney.

Certainly I can give her the pat on the back for her many personal achievements, the first woman to lead a political party in Ireland, etc, etc, however, I could equally boot her up the arse for her blinkered, view..... which has been born out of the 'I'm alright Jack' school of thought. There is almost a view that if she can do it anyone can. Yeah right!

Let's put things in perspective, Harney was made a senator at the age of 24 having made all the right contacts whilst in Trinty College Dublin (where incidentially very few working class students attend). Dublin at that time in the mid 80s was a bleak place. And I mean bleak so to have a job with that salary at that time, certainly set a person aside from the thousands on the dole queues. Somewhere between then and now, Harney's head disappeared up her ample arse.

A few years back, she made the great suggestion of single parents returning home - whatever that means!!!! Being a single parent, living with my child in my own flat, I was already home... I found this incredibly insulting particularly as she has never had to 'want' for a better word. She may work hard and I won't deny that but she has been finanically well set up for life also. So to have some buck eejit who knows nothing of the life and struggles of a single parent, particularly one who has lived a life without want... What I want to hear from her is how lucky she has been to be in the situation she is in, not preaching mindlessly to me, or those like me, about what we should or shouldn't do.

Harney represents an area in Dublin which has some money as well as a lot of poverty with rife unemployment. There are or should I say were schemes in these areas called Jobs Initiative and Community Employment Schemes, where someone who had been on the dole for some time could earn a few extra pound on top of their benefit, while learning skills and providing a service which was lacking in the area, such as childcare provision, drug user support programmes, local media, environmental issues (such as cleaning up areas, etc) and Harney decimated them. This put people out of the work they had, it meant that those people benefiting from the schemes lost out and as a result, areas in Dublin which have little to begin with have also lost out.

Here's a funny cartoon from when the cabinet was reshuffled here, go back to the main home page for a couple of other funny snippets. Harney is the big woman with supersize written on her hat....

Check out http://www.langerland.com/cartoons/dail_reshuffled.html

* four seasons in one day

ITS an absolutely beautiful day in Dublin, people are smiling, the sun is splitting the trees and for the first time in a couple of weeks, there is a warmth in the air.

Its hard to believe that just yesterday it was freezing. Yet despite being cold Ireland is one of those few countries, I believe anyway, where it can be muggy, clammy yet bloody freezing. However, today is just beautiful, feelin cool to cold in the shade and just fabulous in the sun.



We have had a mad couple of weeks here, one day the sun is out, so are the t-shirts with coats left behind at home. And the next day, its scarves, hats and gloves and brrrrrr.

For now, I am going to enjoy this beautiful weather...

* three is the new four

IT was cliche city over the weekend when me and two friends went out to dinner in Dublin. Three is apparently the new four, cleavage is out, staying in is the new going out and we all agreed that our 30s is the new 20s.

* the smoking ban is only a bollox....

ITS just over a year since the smoking ban in the workplace was brought in here and being a smoker I hate it just as much as last year.

I am 34 and in all my working life, I have NEVER worked in any company where smoking was permitted and I have always found that completely acceptable and sensible. However last year's ban hit pubs. This did not extend to prisons and hotels. Though there is a lot of nonsense concerning hotel staff who have to wait for an hour before entering a room where a smoker has been staying.

Now when I say I am a smoker, I am not inconsiderate when I do smoke. I would never dream of being in someone's face whilst have a puff as it is something I hate myself. However I do like a smoke when having a drink. I believe the emphasis should have been placed on pub owners to install suitable air purifying units, its about time that was done here anyway. Ireland is freezing in the winter and (often) humid, clammy and warm in the summer, with no sign of air conditioning units.

The cafe society aspect of the smoking ban came into the fore last summer, which was a lovely one here. And many pubs opened the sections in front of their pubs with tables, canopies and outdoor heaters. One of the worst parts of this is the fact that non-smokers are taking over some of these sections. While I realise that it is unfair to expect these people to get back into the smoke-free pubs which so many of them took wild pleasure in poking the smokers in their company in the eye about, it is even less fair that I cannot sit in predesignated seating outside enjoying the pint I have bought in the pub, all because non smokers are taking up the seats. I would have no problem letting them have outside seating whilst I sit inside, but feck off back into the smelly pub with you all.

And speaking of smelly, the foul stench of Irish pubs was unmasked after the introduction of the smoking ban. Auld farting guinness drinkers have been polluting the air and now with the smell of ciggies gone, we are all gagging on the underlying odour of the Irish pub.

Between all that and the outrageous price of a drink here, staying in is the new going out. You can smoke, listen to whatever music you want and you are not lining the pockets of some rich pub owner.

Certainly there are some positive points to the smoking ban, the craic outside pubs, clubs, etc, the emergence of a cafe society, however, there's nothing worse than enjoying a pint and having to leave to go outside for a ciggie in the cold, wet evening. Does that balance all this out, nope, not for me anyway.

* the pope appeared on my gown...

IN the midst of all the reporting on the Pope's death, the Irish Mirror's front page today featured a woman who claims the pope appeared on a gown she was wearing whilst at the hairdresser's last Saturday, the day the Pope died.

Now really, there's so many things wrong with this, where do I begin? Possibly with the fact that the Mirror believed this story was worthy of front page news. And ok it's a tabloid but come on lads, this is front page material for the Daily Sport or some other similar publication, not something which purports to be a newspaper...

The woman was in her local hair salon last Saturday (some hours before the Pope died) and noticed the Pope's face looking up at her from the gown thrown around her shoulders. She allegedly showed it to one of the hairdressers who said 'that looks like the Pope' (therefore it must be true...) and this spectacle was 'witnessed' by six other women in the salon. What utter nonsense and an outrageous front page story by a newspaper.

But, this is the paper which ran a story two weeks ago 'My granny appeared at her own funeral' or something like that. The story centred around the fact that during a wake for the deceased woman, someone took a picture which showed a foggy mass, apparently not visible to the eye during the time the pic was taken. *sigh* It's obvious some ludramon* opened the camera and the film fogged, no mystery, no mysticism, no ghosts. The Mirror is obviously dragging the barrel for stories...

*ludramon, Hiberno-English word for a fool

* clear the gangway...

LIVING close to the city in Dublin , it has always made more sense to travel by public transport. However, all that changed this morning.

It was 8.55am and I was standing on the top deck of the bus waiting to get off behind a group of chattering tourists, whom I asked 'are you getting off', to be told 'yes' when the bus began to pull off and away from the stop.

Impatiently, because travelling on would make me late for work when I wasn't, I pushed the bell a couple of times only to be told by one of the waiting tourists ' I did that already'. So I waited until the next stop, only to have the tourists stand like complete eejits again while the bus pulled off. So ringing the bell again, the driver stopped the bus and I squeezed my way past all the buck eejits who were still standing on the stairs.

And what do you think the tourists did, yup, they stood like tools doing nothing. So thank you all for making me late for work!

* in disgrace, yet again.........

THE young wan is in disgrace. And been there for some time, so much so I am beginning to think that it is their favourite place. Maybe people can be forgiven, particularly those who are not parents to teenagers, that teenagedom begins at 13 - far from it...

Teenagedom, or in medical terms the replacement of your beautiful, well-mannered, loving child with the spawn of Satan, is a nightmare for many parents. It can begin from 10 onwards, and has more to do with the young one thinking they are young adults. In reality, they had more sense as babies, more charm as seven year olds and more wit as a toddler.

Having spent the last 12 or so years patting myself on the back for a job well done - little did I know what would be in store ahead of me. It wasn't enough to go to college with when the young wan was a toddler, no mean feat, pay for a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin out of my wages, defo no mean feat, and rear the young wan completely on my own, oh no, now it is blood and tears they want.

So I have decided to lock them away until they are at least 25 and capable of normal interaction with the unsuspecting public, actually to hell with that and with everyone else, until capable of normal interaction with me... I have also decided that the doggie gets the inheritance and family jewels.