Got up early enough this morning considering it's a Saturday, at about about 8.00am. Seems nice out although a bit overcast. I'm still waking up and trying to decide what I'll do today. I got a recipe for a desert from a restaurant chef in Nice that I might try out today. It's called Pain Perdu which I think is the equivalent of Bread & Butter Pudding, but much, much nicer. It'll probably turn out horrendous and sit in the fridge for a ceremonial 5 days until we decide to throw it out, but what the hell.
Apart form that, I have a few bits and pieces that I should get around to doing. I've revamped my blog design - the old one was just plain depressing - and I really want to have a bash at making more than one post a year on it. We'll see...
Right, better start with a shower and follow it on with a to-do list otherwise the day's just going to be gone before I know it.
Ciao all...
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Same thing every year... I feel guilty!
For some reason at around this time each year, I get the creative urge to start writing and blogging again. In fact, not just writing but also the motivation to start taking more photos, cooking and eating better.... generally, taking a bit more care of myself. The urge to do some exercise has also been creeping in but thankfully, this is now fading and should be gone soon.
I think most people go through this phase after the Christmas and New Year excesses. It's probably a normal reaction, but each year, I feel bad about the fact that the motivation seems to dwindle by mid to late March (at the latest). So, as I do every year, I make my guilty contribution to my blog in the hope that it might be more than just a guilt reflex.
It's not that I don't have anything to say, particularly this year. We had flooding in late November, followed by a cold snap that brought us snow eventually in late December. As is often the case in Ireland, the few centimetres of snow brought the country to a virtual standstill. Roads remained untreated, footpaths and bike lanes were unusable except to the very brave and daring. As the snow eased off, the cold temperatures ensured that its remains would be compacted into a solid layer of ice which remained over most of the country until the middle of the second week in January. Almost immediately as the thaw set in, the burst pipe damage to the main water supply kicked in.
We lost our water pressure and supply last Friday afternoon and have had to resort to using an old well in the back garden, dating to the 1800's to feed the loos in the house. I spent all day today helping a guy to replace the booster pump we have in our basement so that we could draw on the little water that was reaching the house so that it could be pumped back up to our tank. Having just finished this task, it is possible that we may even get to shower in our own house tomorrow rather than the local sports centre... Oh, the luxury of it!
One thing that I have learned from this whole experience though is how much we take our water supply for granted. In a country where we don't pay for water and where it tends to rain pretty much every second day, you do tend to be a bit thoughtless about how you use or waste water. Having gone without a water supply for the best part of four days, you learn pretty quickly how big a role water plays in your life.
We couldn't shower at home. We couldn't use the washing machine or dishwasher. Even cooking was a problem if you wanted to boil water or cook vegetables. Everything gradually came to a halt as the house drained itself of every last reserve.
I think it's quite frightening that a cold snap that lasted about 2 weeks, with temperatures dropping to minus 10c on some occasions, would have such a crippling effect on the country. It highlighted for me, the very fragile condition of our infrastructure in this country and for many people, left them wondering about the competence of those people whose responsibility it is to maintain and operate that infrastructure. Have we let our civil servants sleep on the job for the past decades? What exactly have they been doing? What has our so-called government been doing that this has been allowed to happen for so long unchecked?
Having seen the economy and banking system collapse around our ears, we then had to watch as thousands of people lost their jobs, homes and businesses. All brought down by the incompetence and sheer incredible greed and stupidity of those we thought were in charge. Those very people who now not only claim that it was in fact the system that was at fault, but also those same people who now feel fully entitled to pay themselves large bonuses while our government tell us that a public enquiry into what went wrong in our banking sector is not really a priority.
I'm going to stop writing now for a few minutes until my blood pressure goes back to normal and my thoughts resume their normal patterns. I will be back - if only for another rant.
I think most people go through this phase after the Christmas and New Year excesses. It's probably a normal reaction, but each year, I feel bad about the fact that the motivation seems to dwindle by mid to late March (at the latest). So, as I do every year, I make my guilty contribution to my blog in the hope that it might be more than just a guilt reflex.
It's not that I don't have anything to say, particularly this year. We had flooding in late November, followed by a cold snap that brought us snow eventually in late December. As is often the case in Ireland, the few centimetres of snow brought the country to a virtual standstill. Roads remained untreated, footpaths and bike lanes were unusable except to the very brave and daring. As the snow eased off, the cold temperatures ensured that its remains would be compacted into a solid layer of ice which remained over most of the country until the middle of the second week in January. Almost immediately as the thaw set in, the burst pipe damage to the main water supply kicked in.
We lost our water pressure and supply last Friday afternoon and have had to resort to using an old well in the back garden, dating to the 1800's to feed the loos in the house. I spent all day today helping a guy to replace the booster pump we have in our basement so that we could draw on the little water that was reaching the house so that it could be pumped back up to our tank. Having just finished this task, it is possible that we may even get to shower in our own house tomorrow rather than the local sports centre... Oh, the luxury of it!
One thing that I have learned from this whole experience though is how much we take our water supply for granted. In a country where we don't pay for water and where it tends to rain pretty much every second day, you do tend to be a bit thoughtless about how you use or waste water. Having gone without a water supply for the best part of four days, you learn pretty quickly how big a role water plays in your life.
We couldn't shower at home. We couldn't use the washing machine or dishwasher. Even cooking was a problem if you wanted to boil water or cook vegetables. Everything gradually came to a halt as the house drained itself of every last reserve.
I think it's quite frightening that a cold snap that lasted about 2 weeks, with temperatures dropping to minus 10c on some occasions, would have such a crippling effect on the country. It highlighted for me, the very fragile condition of our infrastructure in this country and for many people, left them wondering about the competence of those people whose responsibility it is to maintain and operate that infrastructure. Have we let our civil servants sleep on the job for the past decades? What exactly have they been doing? What has our so-called government been doing that this has been allowed to happen for so long unchecked?
Having seen the economy and banking system collapse around our ears, we then had to watch as thousands of people lost their jobs, homes and businesses. All brought down by the incompetence and sheer incredible greed and stupidity of those we thought were in charge. Those very people who now not only claim that it was in fact the system that was at fault, but also those same people who now feel fully entitled to pay themselves large bonuses while our government tell us that a public enquiry into what went wrong in our banking sector is not really a priority.
I'm going to stop writing now for a few minutes until my blood pressure goes back to normal and my thoughts resume their normal patterns. I will be back - if only for another rant.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
If you ever need a tailor or alterations.....
Then I recommend Bogart Tailors on Capel Street, Dublin 1. The tailors used to be run by an Irish owner but was bought over some time ago by a lovely lady who's name I think is Jolanta.
We've been in there several times at this stage and our clothes (mostly trousers etc..) have always been altered extremely well and for very little. They're located on the top floor of an old building on Capel Street (number 17). You'll find them if you by keeping your eyes up on the lookout for their sign which sticks out on to the street, above their door.
I don't blog about businesses unless I think they deserve it and they do!
We've been in there several times at this stage and our clothes (mostly trousers etc..) have always been altered extremely well and for very little. They're located on the top floor of an old building on Capel Street (number 17). You'll find them if you by keeping your eyes up on the lookout for their sign which sticks out on to the street, above their door.
I don't blog about businesses unless I think they deserve it and they do!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Unfortunate marketing....
I saw this in Easons in town recently. I bet the Lonely Planet Marketing department were kicking themselves after publishing this year's guide for Mexico. Not surprisingly, they're going at 20% off!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Things you don't see everyday...
I've decided to start posting pics of things I snap while travelling or around town.
This was something I came across in Nice during a recent trip. It's a VW open backed micro-bus, where the restaurant have put a table and chairs for the patrons to eat out! Isn't that cool?
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Cortix web design - scam or cowboy?
I got a call about 2 weeks ago from this woman from Cortix - a leading web development company which was expanding into 'my area'. After a long sales pitch, she said they were going to have a representative in my area on 3rd April and, pretty much, what time would suit me to meet her... A hard sales pitch to say the least... She specifically stated that although they were 'leaders' in their field, they needed my business as a foothold to establish themselves further in my region. As a confirmation of this fact, they would fulfill my web requirements for free...
There's a saying.. if it sounds to good to be true, it normally is!
And this is the case with Cortix. I got suspicious with these guys for 3 reasons..
He eventually said, if I didn't want to receive calls from them anymore then I should just give him my details and he'd remove me from their call list. At this stage, I was furious, so I hung up.
I decided to Google them... This is why I'm blogging about them. They have almost no entries in English about the company, service or anything.... But in French, there is a wealth of entries about them.
Here area a few to start - cortix complaint 1 - cortix complaint 2 - cortix complaint 3
These guys have a very dubious reputation - be very careful and in my opinion, don't give them a cent. They will sell you a 'free service' but you'll pay dearly later - a website or design or similar. They get you in the contract's small print and in the poor post-sales service. They'll charge you for every change after the intial template is done, but more to the point, they will charge you for hosting, for traffic and every other thing you can think of.
This stuff is normally free, cheap or at least very reasonable elsewhere.. These guys seem to prey on the less e-commerce savvy and extract their money that way. And, let's be honest, they're doing really well... 28 million Euro turnover in 2008 and listed on the Stock Exchange...
My advice - you work hard enough for your money - don't hand it over to these cowboys.
I'll post again about these guys soon when I've read more material. (It's in French - give me a break... it takes time..)
There's a saying.. if it sounds to good to be true, it normally is!
And this is the case with Cortix. I got suspicious with these guys for 3 reasons..
- 1. the first call was such a hard sales pitch, it made me cautious
- 2. the second call was equally hard pitched, but when I said that I wouldn't agree to a meeting until I had reviewed their site, the rep actually hung up on me!
- 3. I called the number listed on the Irish site for Cortix Ireland and spoke to a guy with a foreign accent.. not sure what nationality. I ask if I could speak with a manager or supervisor. He asked me whyI wanted to speak to a senior person and I told him because I wanted to complain about a call I had just had from one of their reps. He then told me that they had no managers in the Dublin office!! Now that's a new one to me - no managers operating in their offices in Dublin! Must be a great place to work - a bunch of staff with no boss. So I asked for the contact details of a manager in whatever relevant office I could direct my complaint to. His reply was, and I quote verbatim " do you expect me to really give you the name of a manager so that you can complain?" - I replied yes, admitedly a bit shell-shocked by the attitude of the guy I was speaking with.
He eventually said, if I didn't want to receive calls from them anymore then I should just give him my details and he'd remove me from their call list. At this stage, I was furious, so I hung up.
I decided to Google them... This is why I'm blogging about them. They have almost no entries in English about the company, service or anything.... But in French, there is a wealth of entries about them.
Here area a few to start - cortix complaint 1 - cortix complaint 2 - cortix complaint 3
These guys have a very dubious reputation - be very careful and in my opinion, don't give them a cent. They will sell you a 'free service' but you'll pay dearly later - a website or design or similar. They get you in the contract's small print and in the poor post-sales service. They'll charge you for every change after the intial template is done, but more to the point, they will charge you for hosting, for traffic and every other thing you can think of.
This stuff is normally free, cheap or at least very reasonable elsewhere.. These guys seem to prey on the less e-commerce savvy and extract their money that way. And, let's be honest, they're doing really well... 28 million Euro turnover in 2008 and listed on the Stock Exchange...
My advice - you work hard enough for your money - don't hand it over to these cowboys.
I'll post again about these guys soon when I've read more material. (It's in French - give me a break... it takes time..)
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