thebricktestament.com tells the stories of the bible using lego. Truly this is divine inspiration!
Here we see Moses throwing down the tablets with the ten commandments...he looks really angry! Those naughty people have been worshiping false gods!
What a game! Real heart attack stuff! After the first 10 mins Liverpool dominated the game and simply didn't make mistakes. Chelsea win games by capitalising on mistakes. If you don't make them this is what happens. Lessons for next years premiership should be learned from this game not just for Liverpool but for all teams.
The atmosphere in the Sports Cafe in Liverpool was electric. I've been going there regularly to watch the Liverpool games with Gavin and we have a nice routine going for ourselves now.
I'll be keeping an eye today now the Middlesborough v West Ham game to see who we're going to get for the final. Many said yesterdays game was the real final, but complacancy looses games. I'll not be happy till the cup is in the cabinet.
Went home to Ireland for the Easter. Yolanda said she needed a break, the flights were cheap, it was a good opportunity for Alia (Yolanda's sister) to see Ireland, and well...I don't really need a reason to go.
The weather was fantastic when we arrived in Shannon airport. My parents met us there and we took a bit of scenic route home. We stopped by Bunratty Castle to show it to Alia, but Yolanda hadn't seen it either. We had lunch there. I was surprised that they were serving roast beef on Good Friday.
The Castle was closed for the day but I was interested to see that the Cliffs of Moher were still open! I thought this was hilarious and just had to take a picture. How exactly would you close the cliffs?
We then drove up through Ennis where the world Irish dancing championships were on. We popped in for a look. This brought back many memories as my sister was an Irish dancer and dance competitions were a regular thing in our family. Although I’m told I was very good, I never took to it and perhaps a life of riverdance and such. What a relief!
On Saturday we had a bit of a look around home and took a walk over to the lake before heading off in the car with Henry to show the west of Ireland to Alia.
Headed up to Galway, then Clifden where we stopped for lunch.
I want to take you to a guys bar, guys bar…
I also spotted this great piece of Irish engineering. As I was squaring up to take the picture a man claiming to be the inventor was passing by. He told me that it was intended as temporary solution but as it seemed to catch so much attention he thought he’d just leave it.
We then headed up past Kylemore Abbey
And on up to Westport and stopped in for a surprise visit to my sister Nuala. She works in the Spa Salveo in Knockranny House Hotel. A quick visit but it was great to see her.
Then it was off home for another feed before heading to Glenamaddy for the night. We met loads of friends in Jim Pete’s and had a drink in Mac’s too before going home.
Sunday we headed up to Dublin. We got as far as Dermot and Sue’s but started eating and drinking and got settled so we didn’t bother going out. We had a good laugh and were entertained by their neighbour Lisa-Marie, who seems to be a bit of a lunatic and deserves a post of her own to do her justice. (there appears to be something kindling between her and Henry so I’ll wait and see what happens there before I say something I might regret)
In the morning I took a picture of Lisa-Marie’s mini...
If you can’t read them, the stickers on the windows read “Kindly refrain from parking in this area”. These and one saying “I’m blond for a reason” or something to that effect were put on her car by some kind or arch nemesis of hers. This requires a long story. I’m guessing I’ll come back to Lisa-Marie in a future post.
Monday we went into the city centre. We drove through Phoenix Park by Áras an Uachtaráin. Sue told us some interesting facts about the place. She knows it well because she used to live there when she was a personal aid to the president, Mary McAleese (Sue’s a captain in the army). We then took advantage of Sue’s privileges and parked in an army barracks, taking the tram the rest of the way into town.
After the girls had finished a bit of shopping we went for a coffee in the John M Keating café/restaurant.
I hadn’t taken note of the name of the place on the way in and was deep in conversation with Dermot but it seemed strangely familiar. I then realised that I’d seem photos of it on Rick O’Shea’s blog post “Drinking with the Dead…”. Ah! I thought, I had meant to come here for a look but I hadn’t remembered it was so close to the centre. Lovely place and I recommend it as a place to go to get away from it all when you need a break from the hustle and bustle of Dublin.
We then raced back to the car, if you can race on a tram, and off to the airport. It was a great weekend and I’m looking forward to going home again in a few weeks for my stag party.
A Ryanair plane flying from Paris to Dublin was escorted to Prestwick Airport near Glasgow by three RAF tornado jets after a message was found in a magazine saying there was a bomb on board.
The plane with 172 passengers, including 71 students from a girls secondary school in Carlow, was searched and no bomb was found. The plane then continued on its journey and arrived in Dublin at 11:30 last night. It has not been found out who planted the hoax bomb warning.
Came across this site last night. New York Hack is interesting for me because I lived for a short while in New York and have visited there many times. It's an interesting viewpoint on the city that never sleeps.
I managed to get a ticket for the match yesterday. Yannis got two tickets from someone who couldn't go to the game so he called me and off we went. Not the best game, it must be said, but still enjoyable to be there and see Robbie score one. Great stuff, but it looks like the goalfest is over.
Yippie! I picked the winner of the Grand National again this year. If only I had more confidence in my own ability I would have bet more money. But then that would have been greedy and another horse would have won. I'm happy enough with my few quid.
In Oslo they are using raw sewage to heat homes and offices. In Oslo, a problem is that the flow in the sewers is irregular -- Monday mornings between 4-6 a.m. are especially dry because people go to bed early on Sunday. But at weekends, the flow is good. "When people have been out to parties there's a lot of beer going into the sewer," said Oyvind Nilsen, the project manager for the Oslo plant. Full story at Reuters
It's here! Well it's in Scotland so it’s very close. I imagine it won’t be long now till it’s found in Ireland. I’ve heard lots here about the preparations made for bird flu here in England in terms of stockpiling drugs. How is the preparation going in Ireland is what I’d like to know.
I watched a program recently on channel 4 about the ‘Spanish Flu’ in 1918 that stated that flu was actually a bird flu too, and that was how it spread so rapidly, killing over 20 million people.
Resent studies have shown that ‘Spanish Flu’ was in fact a type of bird flu that mutated so that it could be transferred from human to human. Scientist are using this information to try to prepare for when H5N1 mutates and is able to be transferred from Human to Human. However, the 1918 and H5 flu’s hemagglutinins are different so apart from understanding what in principle is going to happen it is almost impossible to predict in what way the H5 virus will mutate and little can be done other than plans to contain any outbreak after a mutation occurs.
As long as the area where the mutation occurs is secured and this mutated version isn’t allowed to spread then the virus should remain contained. This could happen anywhere though, and if it is not contained immediately then the virus could spread rapidly.
Anyway…back to my main point. What is being done in Ireland to prepare for what might happen?
In a strangely similar story to the plotline of Wallace & Gromits Curse of the Were-Rabbit, a monster rabbit is reported to have been rekking havoc in Felton, near Newcastle in the north of England. Reuters have reported the action.
First he was stupid enough to get married with a crazy woman, then he divorces her, covers his body with tattoo’s to say how much he hates her and says he wants to kill her in his songs, so what does he go and do next? He gets married to her again! Only 3 months later to file for divorce again! Duh! He might write a half decent rap but in the real world he’s a complete egit.
On a lighter note…I came across the MC Hammer Project site some time ago but forgot to mention it before in relation to my discovery of MC Hammers Blog.
It's been reported that Condoleezza Rice gave up her cabin bed to Jack Straw and she slept on the floor in the aisle. I realise that there may have been limited space on the place but surely for a plane to take off everyone must be securely seated. Therefore I deduce that she would have had a seat to sleep in. I find this whole story to be a farce and I would even go so far as to say a contrived political stunt by Condoleezza to assert her dominance over Mr Straw.
Denis Donaldson has been found dead in a house Glenties, Co. Donegal. He was a member of Sinn Fein for 20 years, but was in fact a double british 'double agent'. He was expeled from Sinnn Fein last december when this information was discovered.
The news available to date on his killing is meager but the facts seem to be that he was shot twice with a shot gun. He had been living in a run down cottage with no electricity or running water.
There will be a lot of speculation over his killing as no one has claimed responsibility. Gerry Adams from Sinn Fein had said Donaldson was under no threat from Sinn Fein and he has condemned the killing saying:
"We are living in a different era, and in the future in which everyone could share.
"This killing seems to have been carried out by those who have not accepted that."
The IRA has denighed any involvement. The Irish and British govenments have obviously condemned the murder.
But of course Ian Paisly, Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, has his usual spin on events;
"If what I have heard is true that they cut his hand off, that would show that they were saying 'here is a hand that signed away, what we would say, his obligation to IRA/Sinn Fein and we will deal with him' - it looks like that sort of murder.
"There are serious talks that are going to take place and I would say that this has put a dark cloud over those talks.
"If this man has been murdered because of his connection with IRA/Sinn Fein and because of the past happenings, then it strikes a blow at what the two governments are trying to do - to say that the IRA has forsaken these ways and they are seeking peace."
I'm not a big fan of Mr Paisly as it seems to me that he always likes to put the worst possible spin on things. He for me is one of those people who refuses to move on.
Hopefully time will tell what has actually happened , but it seems to me that there was nothing to gain from this killing except for those who wish for the peace process to be stalled once more.
A couple of nice goals have us victory, keeping things on track to give Man-U a run for the second place spot in the Premiership.
