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Incredibly I've gotten myself to the age of almost 50 without learning to drive  .
Circumstances have now dictated to me that I must learn so I've taken 3 lessons this week. I've been shocked at the level or aggression other drivers have shown to an obvious learner driver in a fully marked up instructors car.

Any tips for me??

Reading there about all the people carted off it today https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0730/893998-croagh-patrick-injuries/

What's the story? Why would you put yourself through something like that on a day like today.. anyone here do it or ever do it?

Almost upon us again, it's definitely one of my favourite sporting events every year.

It's one of the most open Opens  I can remember with most bookies going 14/1 the field... I haven't really studied the betting yet but will have a few speculations. I'm not sure what the forecast is but if it's calm I might chance Rory, he's in a similar vein of form as he was the last time he won it when I'd a decent few quid on him at 20s!

Can anyone tell me is there someone on in Dublin this week that I don't know about? I need to be in Dublin early Wed morning for a hospital appointment of someone close to me. Sometimes I travel up and stay the night before, usually for reasonable price. Tomorrow night though I can't even get a grotty b&b for anything less than €200 (for 1 person). I know it's tourist season but is accommodation really that hard to get in Dublin.. I could stay in Manhatten for less!!!

I won't provide the link but its all over internet if you want to look.

Appears to have been done by one of his own security detail who does the 'Allah Akhbar' shout and ISIS one finger salute.

Edit: Appears he was a serving Turkish Policeman

Anybody watch?

Basically the same as they were on Top Gear,  same format, same jokes, same innuendo, but the chemistry between them is good and it works in a 'it'll pass an hour' kind of way...

I updated my phone to the latest operating system the other night (IoS). This morning I noticed as I left the house it was offering to calculate a route to work for me, I clicked and sure enough it offered me a route right to the front door of my business. I'm pretty sure I've not got anything on my phone or social media that links me to the address. It knows where "home" is too but I've never actually told it..

I guess I've always known that we're being tracked but i'd say with social media and all the apps on our phones now the information we're passing on, sometimes unwittingly, is staggering.

Starts tomorrow, brought forward this year to allow all the big names time to prepare for the Olympics ;-)

I'm going for Rory, he was on the wrong side of the draw and putted like me at Troon but still managed to finish 5th. Back in the American conditions he thrives I reckon he'll be hard to beat.

I saw this SpecSavers ad yesterday in Malahide train station and it nearly drove me mad last night and this morning but I've eventually got them all. Some are extremely cryptic and the last couple I probably wouldn't have got only for the process of elimination. There is also the chance to win All Ireland tickets..

http://www.lookforlonger.ie/play

With the Euros over and the transfer silly season about to crank up a notch we might as well get this started.

Most open league in years? Leicester winning last season meaning that all we previously thought about the league is out the window :-).
There are currently 7 teams at 20/1 or less in the betting.

I suppose this depends on your vintage, I was born in '68... What are your earliest sporting memories?

I remember the World Cup Final of 1974 but nothing about it. Similiarly I have vague re-collection of being in Croke Park for All Ireland hurling final the same year but nothing about the game. The FA Cup Final in '76 and Dublin/Kerry from the same year are the first vivid memories I have of being actually interested in what was happening, I was sorely disappointed with both outcomes!!! I also remember in 76 there being great excitement about Eamon Coughlan hopefully getting a gold for Ireland in the Olympics in Montreal and the disappointment when he didn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSw7xskxJZk

In the South

Whats the deal with this? how long does it go on for? Mine has always arrives in my account the day before my mortgage goes out, this month nothing... I've just completed 7 years but my understanding was that it was reduced further at this stage but not cut altogether.

thanks

30 years dead today.

F**k me where does time go I remember it like it was yesterday. Coolest dude ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU93u7RhB-U

Gillian and Ronan Treacy's young son was killed by a drunk driver last year, their impact statement was read out in court today. I read it on RTE website earlier and for some reason it has stuck in my head all day.

Anyone that has ever considered getting into a car and driving with drink taken would do well to have a read....

Full story here http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/1027/737737-ciaran-treacy/

The family's victim impact statement read:

On Thursday 17 April 2014, both Sean and Ciaran spent the day with their grandparents, a perfect day that ended in tragedy.

On our way home, we were involved in a head-on collision with Finbar O'Rourke. The collision happened within seconds, leaving me crushed and trapped in our car, unable to get my boys out of the car having to wait, which felt like an eternity, for some passers-by to help.

While we waited for help to arrive, the panic, shock and pain was unbearable.

I fought for my life thinking the car was going to burst up in flames at any moment, while trying to comfort both Sean and Ciaran.

They were crying and screaming with shock and pain. All of a sudden Ciaran became silent. It was a silence I had never experienced before and as a mother I knew was not right.

I then feared the worst for Ciaran. I knew he had been badly injured, or the unthinkable - dead.

Sean remained crying while I tried to calm him and get him to get himself and his brother out of the car, fearing that the car could go on fire at any moment.

Thankfully as people came on the scene we were finally getting help and they phoned for the emergency services. Sean was first to be taken from the car, then Ciaran.

Shortly after this somebody phoned my husband and held the phone to my ear where I told him what happened and to come quick.

The last sighting I had of Ciaran was him being carried to the side of the road, with the evening sun beaming through his blonde hair.

The next time I saw my little boy, was on a stretcher - dead.

Soon afterwards my husband, Ronan, also arrived at the scene with our other child Caoimhe.

We both had to look on at our two sons on the side of the road, Sean being comforted while Ciaran was being resuscitated.

The look of horror and disbelief on his face told me that our lives were falling apart.

After an hour of the firemen cutting me from the car, all this time I was watching the panic and fear etched on their faces while they tried to free me from the car and as they worked on me and both my boys.

Sean and Ciaran were taken to Portlaoise Hospital, while I was taken to Tullamore Hospital.

I constantly asked the medical staff, was there any update on Sean and Ciaran, but I was so critical they could not tell me about Ciaran's death.

I was brought to theatre for my first of ten surgeries in the early hours of Friday, 18 April.

Hours later I woke up but was being supported by a ventilator.

Ronan and his brother Fergus arrived shortly after I woke, unable to speak because of tubes down my throat, the only way I could communicate was to make the letter 'C' with my finger on the sheet.

It was then that Ronan confirmed what I already knew in my heart that Ciaran didn't make it.

My whole life was shattered and my heart was broken when my worst nightmare had been confirmed.

Early Saturday Ciaran was brought to me on a stretcher. I tried to hold him on my best side with total disbelief, none of this made any sense.

I spent that night with Ciaran, talking to him and making the most of our final hours together. I spoke to God about Ciaran's favourite toys, food, colour and all the things that made him unique.

My injuries were two fractured ankles, a compound fracture to my left leg, a fractured pelvis and hip, a fractured elbow and sternum, but the worst injury was the pain which came from my broken heart.

Ciaran was taken from me on Sunday morning to be waked in our home.

That was the last time I saw our little boy. I attended Ciaran's funeral by ambulance, on a trolley with the aid of two paramedics and an ICU nurse. It was a day that no parent should have to endure, seeing their child's coffin, their families devastated with grief and sadness.

The days after the funeral, I wanted answers as to what happened. I could remember the car coming towards us at speed, the colour of the car, the make of the car and part of the registration.

Over the next few days the devastating news filtered through that the other driver was drunk, what made this worse was that he was a so-called professional driver, a representative for a confectionery company, Cadbury's, one who should have known better.

When it all was put together, I had been driving home with Sean and Ciaran when a drunk driver at high speed collided with our car.

Five long weeks, ten surgeries later, I returned home. It was only then that we as a family could be together and grieve for Ciaran.

I missed all this time away from Sean and Caoimhe, while their little minds were trying to come to terms with what happened.

Five weeks is a long time to be separated from two very vulnerable children and a heart broken husband. Again this I will never forgive Finbar O'Rourke for.

Since then we have struggled every minute of every day trying to be parents to Sean and Caoimhe. To be able to support each other while we are paralysed with grief and in the depths of despair.

Several milestones have taken place since. Ciaran's 'month's mind' mass took place on Ronan's 40th birthday, instead of celebrating we were going through a repeat of Ciaran's funeral.

Before the collision, Halloween was a very exciting time in our house, but we had to get through it for our other children.

Christmas, which should be a time of happiness and joy, was filled with despair and heart wrenching moments without Ciaran.

Then came the New Year, Ciaran's Birthday - January 3rd. His 5th Birthday celebrated for him but without him, surrounded by our families, heartbroken watching Sean and Caoimhe blow out his candles.

Then Easter we relived every minute of the time coming up to the collision. On 17 April, It was Ciaran's anniversary, after this day we could no longer say ''This Time Last Year''.



We have gone through hell and back since Ciaran's death. Torn, between being parents, while we ache for our son.

Keeping a face for Sean and Caoimhe and as the day goes on we find ourselves smothering with grief and devastation.

Some of my darkest moments have been at night when the children slept, trying to come to terms with everything, from the trauma of the crash, the nightmares, the feeling of being on fire and the screams of my children and being unable to be a mother to them.

On nights that it was unbearable, I just wanted to die. Ronan would hold me while we both cried and ached for Ciaran. We have had to watch our parents, brothers and sister, nieces and nephews and extended family and friends of Ciaran go through this nightmare, the complete devastation of Ciaran's loss.

I have spent months torturing myself looking for reasons that would have made the outcome different. If I had gone home earlier or later, taken another road, but through counselling I now know that this was not my fault.

I was a mother taking her two children home to her husband and their father and our daughter to get ready for Easter. We lived our lives for our children. Everything we did was for them and our needs came last, but we were happy with that because they were our world.

Ronan all this time had to care for me while I was non weight-bearing in a wheelchair, while I had to learn how to walk again. He had to care for Sean and Caoimhe and tried to keep our business afloat.

Since the collision we have lost our business because of the financial strain of hiring extra staff to cover both myself and Ronan's jobs.

I am a trained beauty therapist and had my own salon for ten years. I took a career break from my business to be a stay-at-home mother while trying to work evenings in Ronan's shop.

Due to financial pressure we have had to put the premises where I operated the salon from up for sale. My plan was to return to my career when Caoimhe started school but now I cannot due to my disabilities from my injuries. While Ronan tried to run the business, we had to travel to Portlaoise to bank with AIB as the Portarlington branch had closed.

Physically every day is a struggle. I have days when I cannot function with pain. My left leg requires more surgery and if this surgery does not work I could face a lower leg amputation.

Even though losing my leg will never be as bad as losing Ciaran. Family life will never be the same without Ciaran. We speak his name and try so very hard to include him in everything we do.

We try to keep his memory alive with the children and they both speak of him as if he has just gone away and will come back.

Children do not understand that death is permanent and over time they will have to come to the realisation that their brother will not be coming back.

We as parents comfort them when they ask where Ciaran is. We tell them he lives in heaven but he still is also in their hearts.

We as parents, Sean, Caoimhe, our parents and extended family will never be able to come to terms with Ciaran's loss. We will always wonder how life would have been.

He never got the chance to start school, make his Communion, Confirmation, go to college, get married or have children.

These are the things that will break our hearts even more knowing he did not get to live his life, a life that was so brutally taken through the drunken actions of Finbar O'Rourke. Again this I will never forgive Finbar O'Rourke for.

What keeps us alive are Sean and Caoimhe. They need us and it is our goal to be good parents to them and they deserve nothing less. They have suffered enough and will suffer more missing Ciaran in their lives.

We carry on knowing we have an angel in heaven watching over us. The only glue that keeps our hearts together is Sean and Caoimhe. We all will miss Ciaran every day of the remainder of our lives.

We thank God for four precious years with him but grieve for the life he was denied by the actions of Finbar O'Rourke, a drunk driver who shattered and devastated our family.

Gillian and Ronan Treacy.

I've just read on the Independent website that local residents today stopped work taking place on the building of a temporary halting site for the survivors of the Carrickmines fire. Have to say I'm flabbergasted on first look. Anybody any thoughts in it???

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/minister-alan-kelly-on-protest-against-new-temporary-halting-site-for-carrickmines-blaze-survivors-it-says-an-awful-lot-about-irish-society-and-in-a-very-disturbing-way-31607191.html

Where is he? Is he unwell?

He came into my head the day of the All Ireland and I've been trying to think when was the last time I remember him being about... It must be a couple of years anyway?

I see a plane went on fire at McCarran airport, luckily they managed to get everyone off but what struck me about the photos is the number of people who seemingly stopped to take their hand luggage with them on the way out... ffs people the fecking plane is on fire


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34193767

I couldn't figure what thread to put this in so I made a new one 

This is fecking brilliant

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/02/gibraltar-u16s-macedonia-goal-celebrations

We're due a partial solar eclipse next Friday the 20th I read, anyone up to speed on what we can expect?? I believe we're due over 90% cover so should be spectacular enough??

As the title says what time to you go to bed at and how many hours do you sleep for?

I've always been a bit of a night owl, nothing major but would have rarely seen bed before 1AM any night of the week regardless of what hour I was getting up. In recent years though I've been going earlier and earlier I'm at the stage now where I seldom see 11PM often its 10PM... I also never seem to have a good sleep and feel tired all the time..