De Luas

A few pics

THERE'S no particular theme to these pictures other than being taken either going home from work or going to work. There are one or two more on Flickr.




I am really enjoying the light in the mornings and evenings when it isn't raining, it is low, long and lovely.

Near Lewis

I SPOTTED this during a long bus journey yesterday. Its the viking harbour one.

Friend of the Earth

He he, Friends of the Earth website is foe.ie

Sometimes you can't make these things up.

No matter what age you are

YOU are always your Mammy's baby. (BTW this was my Mum's/Nanny's doing for me.)

Two tits and a vote

SABRINA, who made all the cool badges for the different events around Irish Blog Awards week, has just launched Two Tits and a Vote, a website intended to help Irish women become politically active around the issues that affect them.

The site offers a range of ways that you can make a difference, sign the petition for one.



View it large here.

Explaining the site Sabrina says: “"Women make up more than 50% of the Irish population, but as a group, we're not particularly politically active, nor are women or our issues well represented in government. Of the current lot of TDs, only 12% are women. Because we're not vocal enough as voters, we're not regularly demanding attention where we want it to be focused."

“The site has launched with "Better Access to Breast Health Care, Now" as its first campaigning issue. Highlighting service withdrawal from hospitals, excessive waiting times and Dail debate on the issue, Two Tits and a Vote enables women to send real world letters, postcards and petition signatures from the website.

"Women today face unprecedented demands on their time," noted Sabrina Dent, the campaign's creator. "Women care passionately about the healthcare issues that affect ourselves, our friends and our families, but to channel that passion into action, many of us need streamlined mechanisms that will put our views in front of politicians without taking up vast amounts of time we don't have."

Sabrina also talks about Alison who had to wait for a scan on her breast after having some problems. This post condenses the awful treatment given to Alison before Christmas.

Alison says on her own blog: “My heartfelt thanks to Sabrina for highlighting my issue. It is my sincere hope that more women will come out of the woodwork and people will know what is really going on and how ridiculous it really is.”

A petition is also planned to be delivered to Mary Harney just in time for International Womens’ Day so get over to the site and see what you can do.

You can also check out some of the press coverage the site has received today, the Indo and the Mirror.

RM colum January 18 - Free Gaff

Just updating my columns, so apologies for having to read about Christmas again in the columns below.

RM column January 18 - Free Gaff

WHILE it is something that has only reared its ugly head once or twice so far in our house, free gaff is a phrase that should strike fear into most parents.

When I say once or twice some readers may remember I wrote once about the Young Wan bringing pals into the house while I was at work, a mortal sin in my book.

However they were horse playing about, hit my phone inadvertently phoning me and leaving a very loud, long and incriminating message.

When I heard it I was in doubt that there was a gang of galoots hooping and messing about in our home.

That was about two years ago and now she is a big grown up of 16 years old I would be more worried about the mischief they could get up to now.

When I first moved to Dublin some 17-odd years ago, a pal was summoned back to his hometown of Letterkenny after his sister threw a party having been left for the evening. The damage was immense and included a totalled car only it wasn’t carried out by her or her pals; it was the gatecrashers who behaved without thought or concern for someone else’s home.

Free gaffs seem to attract a certain amount of collateral damage. My own free gaff stories are quite tame, with no real damage to report. Though I do remember a friend’s house party which ended with us hiding in bushes at the back of the house as her Aunt Kathleen was on her way following a neighbour’s complaint about the noise levels.

We managed to get away with it, or so we thought, until her Dad on his return discovered an Anarchy sign whittled into the dining table, various dodgy items and men’s watches for some bizarre reason.

Speaking of being caught rightly, you may have seen the Australian teenager who was featured in the news recently after throwing a party where some 500 teenagers invited through social networking site MySpace attended causing utter mayhem. The party was eventually broken up by the police who called in a helicopter and dogs as reinforcements.

This galoot of a teenager, Corey Delaney, has now become an internet antihero with blogs dedicated to him and even a page on another social networking site Facebook dedicated to raising money for the $20,000 fine imposed by the police.

You may have seen the unrepentant 16-year-old posing like a big eejit on the news with large sunglasses, shirtless revealing a pierced nipple while sounding a little more than stupid. And I thought ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ in a previous column we already established that teenagers are stupid and this specimen is no different at all.

This new celebrity is now on the run from his parents who are understandably irate. Meanwhile if reports are to be believed, this young man could make a lot of money from the weekend’s free gaff mayhem.

Sometimes it feels like anything is possible on the internet. Here we have one teen who invited people to a party using the internet. Via the internet we hear how it all went horribly wrong and now courtesy of the internet we have websites dedicated to this guy with offers of money coming in due to his now global recognition, within days he has almost become an international brand.

Mmmhh makes you think, doesn’t it? Speaking of which I have a free gaff fancy a party?

RM colum January 11 - Growing up too fast

RM column January 11 - Growing up too fast

I HAVE never been someone who is comfortable judging other parents and their parenting skills at all. But sometimes you see or hear something and you think ‘what on earth’.

I had a moment like that over Christmas when I heard about the presents given to a seven-year-old and was absolutely shocked.

Santa was very good to the little dear when he gave her a laptop, an ipod AND a Prada phone, seriously a Prada phone.

Firstly I think seven years old is far too young for a mobile, I really do. Presumably a child at seven is not out running about so other than finding out where they are they really have no need for a phone, let alone a bling bling designer phone.

To be honest all that sounds more like the parent’s want than the child’s. How precocious does a child have to be to hope Santa brings them a Prada phone.

I really don’t want to be holier than thou about it but I cannot help myself. To be honest I am sickened by the amount of money spent on all those presents and I am sickened by the commercialism of it all.

This yen for designer stuff for children puts so much pressure on other parents and brings a whole new meaning to keeping up with the Jones.

I have been lucky that the Young Wan never pleaded and whined about where her clothes came from because I do realise that some kids now have ridiculous and expensive tastes. Besides I wouldn’t tolerate whining over clothes and labels or the lack thereof.

But I do know that some parents have completely and utterly spoiled their little dears and probably have no one but themselves to blame when the child will not wear something unless it is a designer brand.

Which brings me back to the Prada phone, bear in mind a seven-year-old is only a handful of year away from playing with a plastic toy phone and to me buying them a mobile and a designer one at that is taking away some of their innocence by allowing them to grow up that bit quicker.
We have make-up kits for pre-teens, clothes that wouldn’t be out of place in a lap dancing club and now hair removal cosmetic company Nair are marketing a range called ‘pretty’ aimed at 10 to 15 year olds.

They even have a slick website which tells kids that growing hair is all part of growing up ‘chill, you’re growing up, it’s all good’ before showcasing a range of products for these pre-pubescent kids to ‘remove unwanted hair’.

The site even has a section for ‘Mom’ where Nair advise mothers on what to tell their daughters about puberty and a myth-busting section on hair removal.

Jaysus it is tough enough being a teenager without products being aimed at them encouraging the thought that pubic hair and therefore puberty are things to be ashamed of. The thought of an 11-year-old removing hair from her, as the website puts it, ‘legs (and other part of your body)’ is ridiculous.

The site itself parades all this as if it were normal and the company parades itself as being on the child’s side, it isn’t. All they want to do is to capitalise on the tween buying power and shame on them for doing that.

It is hard enough to keep your child exactly that a child without giving them the message that there is something unnatural and horrible about the changes that are happening to them.
When we grow up we are adults for a long time, childhood doesn’t last that long. Our children should be concerned about silly things, having fun and playing games not designer phones and hair removal.

(With many thanks to the gals at Beaut.ie for bringing the Nair website aimed at youngsters to my attention.)

RM colum January 4 - WHHHAAATTTT

RM column January 4 - WHHHAAATTTT

ONE of the things that used to annoy my Mum no end when I was a kid growing up was the ‘WHAAAATT’ scenario.

You know the one; she would call me because she wanted me to do something or help her and I am elsewhere in the house. When she called I replied back ‘Whhhatttt’ only for her to call me again and for me to once again shout back ‘Whhhatttt’ before she would irritatedly yell ‘I need you, come here NOW’.

Her response to that was always the same ‘when I call you, you come’ and over the last while I have found myself becoming my Mum circa 1980 as there have been more than a couple of occasions where the Young Wan and I have been in exactly the same situation.

And it is more than frustrating and something that has seemed more so recently because of the house move. This has meant at times I have found myself with a heavy bag perched over my head and about to tumble down causing either damage to myself or something around me.

And I have called for the Young Wan and she answers ‘WHAAAATT’ so I call again a little more urgently and get the same response before I start yelling “when I call you, I want you; I do not want to hear ‘what’”.

This is made all the worse by the fact that we do not live in a mansion with an east and west wing. There is no need to yell for someone in a house which is small and compact that you could practically touch them if you reached out far enough.

So enough of the yelling back, just come now because you are needed. Or maybe it is because she is going deaf, recent research has shown that smoking stops teens from listening to adults.

I have already said before the Young Wan has had her dalliances with smoking (I won’t go into it anymore for fear of ranting and raving about my complete and utter dismay at this).

Maybe this research explains the recent ‘Whhhatttt’ factor. Apparently nicotine disrupts brain signals in young people making it harder for them to concentrate on what parents and teachers are saying to them. Ha that sounds like a handy excuse to me.

“Sorry I cannot follow what you are saying because I have been smoking ciggies behind the bike sheds so I am going to ignore you.”

It is funny that research shows this, you could also put the slant on it that if a teenager is going to smoke they are probably going to be a little more mischievous that a child that doesn’t and probably less likely to listen to people in positions of authority.

In many instances research can probably be shown to prove and disprove all manners of theories.

I have a few of my own and many of them involve laziness.

RM colum December 28 - Shopping Hell

RM column December 28th - Shopping Hell

WELL thank God that’s over for another year, it is mad to think all the preparations, the panic and the running around like a headless chicken are all done and dusted by Christmas Day afternoon.
Like every other year Christmas was an expensive occasion in our house, made all the more so by moving.

I decided early that I was done and I wouldn’t allow myself to fall into the ‘I haven’t done enough’ syndrome that sometimes falls in the couple of days before Christmas. Going into town for last minute shopping is hell between packed out shops, the element of sheer panic in the air and the enormous will power it takes to continue through banging bags and rude shoppers.

If you were to do that a lot in the run-up to Christmas you would just take yourself off to somewhere quiet, away from the madding crowd. There is something quite nauseating about the mad commercialism over Christmas. I know its been said already and I know there is nothing new in my rant but the older I get the more I find it urrgh.

It is not even that I am mad religious but the sight of people nearly knocking me over with their avalanche of shopping without so much as a backward glance leaves me absolutely cold and not to mention annoyed. I am not very good dealing with massive shopping crowds, I just want to run away when forced into the shops.

My ideal shopping moment is to have an idea of what you’d like, run in, get your purchases and get out. Anything more and I am in danger of turning into a mad woman screaming at passers-by. If I do that I think I will take up residence on the island on O’Connell Street where I am more likely to get a patch of space to do my ranting and raving.

I often play the ‘I am walking in a straight line and nothing or no one is going to deviate me from that straight line’ game when walking down Henry or Grafton Street.

The trouble is that even though it is my game, I am dreadful at it.

I started it many years ago when I was a teenager as it seemed to me that I was the only one who was stepping out of people’s way as they thunder past me. So I started the ‘walking in a straight line while shopping’ game.

I regularly get clipped on the shoulder often nearly sending me tumbling over to the side but I persevere with the game in the hope that someday I will become master.

I am no good in the shops at all unlike the Young Wan and Nanny, neither mind traipsing in and out of shops, looking through all the rails, delving into bargain bins, sometimes it is as if we were given the wrong daughters.

Though Nanny and I had a great day yesterday in the sales, I needed a mirror so off we went. We saw an option we liked, I bought it and before long we were sitting in the pub talking about how mad the sales are.

Now that is a perfect day’s shopping for me. Happy New Year everyone.

Communion Dresses on sale in Stoneybatter

IF ANY of you stopping by here are having a Communion this year particularly those with wee girls, Grants of Stoneybatter are selling Communion dresses for €50.

Having been through one of those days a few years ago I can tell you it is more than expensive and I didn't even go mad. Dresses at that time went from £150 upwards and that is not to mention the shoes, veil, gloves and all the other little bits of paraphernalia. And no I am not talking about Cinderella coaches, sun beds and make up. Presumably there will be someone who will be delighted with a beautiful dress at a fraction of the normal cost.

Anyway they are available at the moment at Grants of Manor Street, phone number (01) 679 1626.

Psychic moments

NANNY and I are having a lot of psychic moments lately. Te kind where one of us is thinking something random and the other will randomly ask about it. This is normally met with retorts of ‘get out of my head you’ and the like.

I put this down to me and my little known amazing psychic abilities. I once lived with a pal and the same thing would happen. The mother daughter link probably has a lot to do with all these goings-on at the minute. It was always something I remember growing up. If I did something wrong I would be sitting at home willing her subconsciously ‘don’t ask about (fill in as appropriate)’ and you could bet nine times out of 10 she would ask.

We had a funny one last night.

Nanny says pointing at a punnet of strawberries ‘put away those….(as she searched for the word strawberries)

Red Mum thinks ‘mushrooms’

Nanny says: ‘put away those... mushrooms’.

So it would appear my psychic powers are becoming stronger and I am learning how to influence others. That could come in handy, the only question is do I use my powers for good or evil?

Photowalking tour - Irish Blog Awards 2008

THERE seems to be a great level of interest in the photowalking tour being held the weekend of the blog awards. I was thinking then 'okay what will we do?' and I thought about themes and projects and decided against them all thinking if we are to attract newbie and oldie people at all levels of photography it was best to keep it simple.

So I thought it best that we meet somewhere like O'Connell Street around lunchtime and take it from there. One place I was thinking of which was mentioned to me also by Simon is to make our way along the docks, there are lots of things of interest there for us.

Again what do people think?

PS: Thanks to Sabrina for the excellent graphic :)

Corey Delaney - antihero

I WROTE my column this week on that eejit Corey Delaney who had a free house/(as we called them in Belfast) gaff. The gormless fool is becoming an internet antihero with offers of money all over the place. He is also still on the run from his parents. Given the interviews I have seen I am not surprised, he is a first class brat.

All sorts of funny things are popping up on the internet about his antics and it looks like he could make a lot of money from his free gaff. First up on his spending list should be something amazing for his parents to say sorry, like a long family holiday with no one left at home alone. Here's a little song dedicated to him. God if the Young Wan did anything like that I would string her up (touches wood).

You must check this out

WOW talk about coincidence, I was thinking yesterday about the frames I bought over Christmas and what to put in them. The only thing my mind is made up on is that I want black and white prints for the 40x50 frames and that got me thinking to the fact that the Library of Congress in the States offer many amazing photographs for sale and would be well worth looking at.


This shows the cross section of a 900-year-old Red Wood tree with important dates marked such as the pilgrims landing and the Battle of Hastings.

You can buy some seriously classic shots. For example Dorothea Lange was employed to cover the American depression in the 1930s and you can see her amazing shots on the website.

Her Migrant Mother shot which is an iconic image of the time depicting the absolute pain of a woman’s family situation etched on the woman’s face. She told Lange how the family were eating frozen vegetables from a nearby field, birds the children had caught and how she had just sold her car tyres to buy food. The photographs have to be seen to be appreciated.

And they are for sale and reasonably priced too. I have been threatening to purchase some of these shots for years, imagine having history on your wall printed from the original negatives. Imagine having an original Eve Arnold photograph on your wall or any of the other iconic images.



And then by coincidence Flickr Blog has a piece today about the Library of Congress and how we punters who have been tagging some 2 million times a day on Flickr can now tag images in the library.

Not only that but the Library has the most amazing Flickr photostream which they have been submitting images to since Jan 3 and have now clocked up more than 3,000 photographs. Talk about losing yourself, expect light blogging as I trawl my way through history both on the library website and their Flickr photostream. They also have a blog and in this post talk about using Flickr.

Overview of 2007

I HAVE had most of this post written for over a week now listing the top pages on the site during 2007. I had hoped to do a bit more work to it, but not having the internet at home has put paid to that so I am just going to put it up now as is.

A quick trawl through Google analytics has shown me the top ten pages here during 2007.

1. Red Mum homepage
2. Podge and Rodge classic quotes
3. Post your secret to Twenty
4. Talking Pictures
5. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
6. World School Photos
7. Yet another Moo card use – moofobs
8. Leinster ladies are not bruisers
9. Where are the mini-pops now
10. Is your child an emo?

The top posts of posts actually written during 2007 are:

1. Stomach bug anyone?
2. Rainy Days
3. Happy International Womens’ Day
4. Gizzajob
5. Great Irish Women part 4 – Mary Field Rosse
6. Let Sleeping teens lie
7. Great Irish Women part 3 – Susan Jocelyn Bell
8. Discover Ireland – all these highs and lows
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
10. Moving on – a big rant

Other honourable mentions (well I consider them honourable) are the Junior Cert entries, Grumpy Old Women and the Belfast Flickr Meet up.

The top 10 referring sites to here are:

1. Google images
2. irishblogs.ie
3. Awards.ie
4. Twenty Major
5. Beaut.ie
6. Mulley.net
7. Google.com
8. Slugger O’Toole
9. Blogger.com
10. Dublin Blog.ie

Coming up close behind are Arse end of Ireland, Flickr, Bloglines, Sinead Gleeson, Jason Roe and Gingerpixel. Many thanks to you all, I hope this site has reciprocated in some way back.

The top key words are nothing out of the ordinary as in they are keywords you would expect.
1. Red Mum
2. Podge and Rodge
3. bebo names
4. Overheard in Dublin
5. The boy in the striped pyjamas
6. Guilty Pleasures
7. Stomach bug
8. Emo phrases
9. Post your secret
10. Regulation knickers

There were also some other strange searches, aren’t there always, such as “Red Mum – what does she look like?” or “Who is Red Mum?”, “teenagers who lie” and loads more, some 25,000 of them so there is no way I can get through them all.

I also had a fun year with photography. You may have seen some of these before but here is a month by month round up of some of the images I took last year.

January - Rainy day on Baggot Street





February - Shots taken during filming of Capital D feature on Dublin bloggers.



March - Lots and lots of photo ops during March







April - Full moon and chimney pots





May - Dogs, shoes and little feet, oh yeah and elections...











June - Into the West and rest and rain







July - Jesus loves, more elections and strange sights







August - Turkey lots and lots of Turkey









September - Flickr meet







October - Free Burma and commuting









November - Rain





December - Far too much

Meet Dublin 7 - Flickr meet part 2

SATURDAY saw myself and a band of merry photographers once again pound the streets of Dublin 7 as part of the latest Flickr meet. Another good day indeed with more planned, check out the group for more details. I have also put out a call for a photo meet on the afternoon before the Irish Blog Awards, comment in this post if you are interested and keep an eye out for developments.

Meanwhile here's some shots from the weekend.





WhatcyadoinMissus?