Somewhere to Chat.

[keeper]

Good for you Rocker sounds like a wonderful trip, welcome home

[bugrock]

There's always the Moon!

[Jemser]

Fair play to you Rocker and HID, Chile no less. Sounds like a great trip, I think I feel a holiday coming on.....

[Toss]

Well far from it I was reared but I've just come back after a long holiday in Chile. I had no idea what to expect and was thinking that Santiago de Chile would be filthy and bedraggled!! well it was spotless, beautiful, full of smart shops, restaurants, hotels and well too expensive for us!! I know there probably are poorer ghettos and miserable areas but we travelled for miles around the city and it was impressive. The madly expensive trip to Patagonia was unreal and it will take me a long time to assimilate all I saw and experienced. Up and down the Andes, in and out of vineyards, on about four rocky boats! all the time trying to understand Spanish ( not a word). We met a huge gang of ex pat irish and they are all doing very well and the irish dancing classes run by Matt Mulvey are inspirational. None of your wigs and make up just beautiful girls dancing all the old dances in the good old fashioned way. Brought a tear to my eye. Oh, of course it was tooooo hot about 40 degrees...no one goes out in it so I am as white as when I left Ireland. The ozone layer is very thin and you burn up without 100 factor cream!

yer putting the longing on me

[Strum]

Wow Rocker what a trip. Sounds amazing.

[Sinead]

Well done Rocker. Travel while you can, there is nothing to beat it.

Sounds like a great trip.

Sinéad

[Micheál]

This is one (mainly) for the ladies.

Would you ever consider attaching your address to your house keys?
Of course not. That would be daft, wouldn't it? Personal security implications and all that.
And yet . . .
I'm betting the vast marjority of you do exactly that and probably don't realise it.
How is this so?

M.

[Rocker]

This is one (mainly) for the ladies.

Would you ever consider attaching your address to your house keys?
Of course not. That would be daft, wouldn't it? Personal security implications and all that.
And yet . . .
I'm betting the vast marjority of you do exactly that and probably don't realise it.
How is this so?

M.

Ha I'd say its because the keys are in the famous "handbag" which has every concievable piece of identification known to man!!!

[Micheál]

Yes Rocker
But I'm thinking of a particular piece of information that most of us have and never give it much thought.

[keeper]

Yes ! Our so called "loyalty cards" from various stores as in Tesco, Super Valu etc etc, wasn't that how they connected keys found in Roundwood with Elaine O'Hara murdered by Dwyer.

[Holla]

Or our driving license as you have to carry it these days.

[Toss]

Or our driving license as you have to carry it these days.

I thought of that, but you dont attach it to your keys ... I think Keeper has the best answer.

[Micheál]

That's right Holla.

The (compulsory to carry) Driving Licence has name and DOB in plain sight. And if a handbag is stolen, the thief will find house keys and location of property.

Lesson: Never keep licence with keys.

[spudseamus]

If you use a smartphone or take your gps on holiday make sure you don’t have “ home” entered in it !

[Toss]

If you use a smartphone or take your gps on holiday make sure you don’t have “ home” entered in it !

Unless like me, you have your local Garda station saved as home

[Rocker]

That's right Holla.

The (compulsory to carry) Driving Licence has name and DOB in plain sight. And if a handbag is stolen, the thief will find house keys and location of property.

Lesson: Never keep licence with keys.

Ha, I keep the licence in the glove compartment on its ownieo!! amen't I smart

[Holla]

I got two of those telephone calls to-day!

Folks, this morning I visited Epic Ireland which is housed in what I knew as Stack A (bonded warehouse) and is now called CHQ Building. It is a fantastic museum all about our Emigrants. If you take the bus/dart to Pearse Station walk down Lombard Street and across the river and you are there. Well worth a visit, I will be back.

Sinéad

Well Sinead I took up your recommendation and paid Epic a visit and thoroughly enjoyed the experience it was like a refresher of all they thaught us in history class but so much more easier and enjoyable amazing all the Irish have invented and the high profile people around the world of Irish decent, and of course those involved in music and sport we spent nearly 3hours there great for a rainy day but I do think fourteen Euro entrance is a bit steep,let's say you had two adults two kids dart fare and grub expensive day out.

[Micheál]

More on cards and ID and all that . . .

Had recent experience of renewing lost cards . .
Public Service Card - a simple phone call and its already on the way
Passport - online process - a few minutes - its on the way
Bank cards - a simple phone call - they are here already
Driving Licence - paper form - visit to a cop shop (who have no idea who I am) - them home to set up an appointment to visit Licence centre in person - & wait 2-3 weeks for the pleasure . . . . . . how is this possible? Someone is surely withdrawing the urine here

M.

[Rocker]

Bakers Pub and adjoining building housing Paddy Powers etc is up for sale about 5 million!!

Wonder if Bradys are consolidating?

[Toss]

Bakers Pub and adjoining building housing Paddy Powers etc is up for sale about 5 million!!

Wonder if Bradys are consolidating?

Its an old pub that has probably got to the stage where the maintenance costs have become an issue (theres quite a few around the same). The legal requirements for maintenance has changed a lot over the years in order to create employment .... for example its no longer good enough to have your local plumber looking after your industrial heating unit (his or her insurance would not cover it) and certain services must be checked quarterly if you are to meet the standards.

I note that the rental income from the apartment block was €150k ...... that alone would have alarm bells ringing with me as its a big building with tennants like Paddy Power and the upkeep would very quickly eat into your income. The smart money will be on knocking the lot down (if theres no presevervation order) and building a few hundred Apartments including a pub and some small shop units .... a built in mini community !

The pub trade has changed a lot and its noticable that many old pubs are struggling ... the drink driving probably started the decline with the customers starting to drink more at home due to the increased price of a pint. Add to that, we have lost a generation of good bar staff (I think it was grammer who said he had given up on one of his fav haunts due to the staff being beyond useless), gone are the days where the bar man knew your name and knew that you were in effect his employer .... today you are just another punter. The pubs that are surviving are the ones who have a good walkable catchment area, offer food and music and most of all .... have good staff that take some pride in their work. I think it was Charlie Chalke who said that he sees no point in having a barman who wont talk to his customers, Charlie may not be everyones cup of tea .... but you wont be ignored in any of his venues.

[skins]

Good post, interesting observations. Thanks Toss.

[gingertom]

https://www.solocheck.ie/Irish-Business ... ner-187699

One can check company solvency easily nowadays. The status of the pub company (Nordica) appears currently normal and not in difficulty as the above link notes.It is very expensive to run a business and this promotes some small and larger business owners to exploit the 'on demand' worker. Paddy Power attracts a rental of some €80k of the full rental income of €150k p.a. The other adjacent smaller units are somewhat isolated and successful businesses that decide to locate there would, just like Paddy Power benefit from the pub activity in a symbiotic fashion, such as a fast food outlet but such would compete with the pub food so may be problematic. But a fast food outlet would benefit from the trade available from the nearby IADT facility. Not sure I would like to live so close to a pub with a loud music element and associated possible disturbance, especially with the absence of Kill of the Grange Garda Station. If I had €5m........

[Micheál]

So here's a puzzle . . .

On a moving train, what part is constantly moving in the opposite direction?
By which I mean a real physical part that demonstrably moves - not just in relation to the train, but in relation to the static track!

Rocker, I'll bet you and HID know the answer - so if you don't mind - shhh for the moment

M.

[Toss]

So here's a puzzle . . .

On a moving train, what part is constantly moving in the opposite direction?
By which I mean a real physical part that demonstrably moves - not just in relation to the train, but in relation to the static track!

Rocker, I'll bet you and HID know the answer - so if you don't mind - shhh for the moment

M.

Without having a clue about trains and their workings and not using google ..... I'm lost and can only guess the seats facing the rear of the train as you travel backwards (but the seats are not a moving part) or maybe its within the wheel pistons. I await enlightenment

[Micheál]

Good thinking there Toss. Yes, the passengers would be moving "backwards" - in relation to where they are facing. But they are still physically moving in the same direction as the train.

M.