The pub Tig Coili in Galway - from my trip to Ireland in 2009. Also, here's famous musician, Alec Finn, performing for us at his home, Oranmore Castle in Galway.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Slainte!
Couples don't walk like that anymore, you know? Classic John Ford (director) - and Wayne and Maureen O'Hara and Barry Fitzgerald. Watch it.
The Irish goverment, it seems, will be clamping down on these peat cutters. There are laws in place to limit the amount of peat harvesting - for ecological purposes - that one can do but the restrictions have never been enforced. Bastards!
...Celtic artist Kevin Dillon has rediscovered the same mediaeval techniques used by these monks. Using a mortle & pestle, Kevin crushes semi-precious stones - lapis lazuli, cinnabar, azurite, orpiment and malachite to make his paints. Using a dip pen or goose quill, the letters are meticulously applied by hand to the calf skin vellum. One at a time the colors are applied - first blue, followed by the reds, then each remaining color in turn, The final illumination is achieved using 24K gold leaf. The artist's seal, a stylized design of his initials, is imprinted into a molten, charred wax at the bottom of each piece...Click on READ MORE for a couple detailed photographs. You can purchase more of Kevin Dillon's artwork here.
A big fan? Drunk? Who knows. Who cares - he was having a ball. That's "Go-cha". Lazy FB users who won't go to my blog can see this video here.
Great band. And Aine ain't too bad to look at either. See them below on Balcony TV. Again, lazy FB users who won't go to my blog can catch Goitse here.
You can find more information on the band on their website.
Being an Irishophile, I get why Northern Ireland hates England. I think most people get that. When the Queen visited the Republic of Ireland last week - first time since a UK monarch has set foot there since the Republic gained its independence in 1922 - I wasn't quite sure why a UK monarch hadn't visited Ireland since 1922 until I read the accounts of Queen Elizabeth's visit. Most, I think, welcomed her. Many didn't.
In 1920, British troops opened fire on a crowd of people attending a Gaelic football match at Croke Park Stadium, killing 14. The killings, it's said, were a retaliation for the murder of 14 British intelligence officers by the IRA.
That's a long time for an independent Ireland to carry a grudge, though I do empathize. It's also a fucking long time for a UK monarch NOT to visit Ireland. What's their rationale for that? Still pissed and holding a grudge that Ireland gained its independence? Is that why England's still holding onto Northern Ireland?
Fuckin' Brit parliament. FREE NORTHERN IRELAND!
A good Irish door is easy to find - unless you're Irish politician Don Lydon. After a heated discussion with Charles Haughey (left), then Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Lydon (right) was having difficulty finding the door out of Charles' wood panelled office in Dublin. After a few moments, Charles looked up.
CHARLIE
What are you still doing here?
LYDON
I can't find the door, Prime Minister.
CHARLIE
Then why don't you jump out the fucking window?
One of Dublin's most notorious bloggers. Check it out - and may God be with you.
I come from Dublin, Ireland. This is my blog. I am a kind, considerate, gentle person who always sees the good in the world.If you want, you can see Twenty Major take a poop all over the world.
I also have four arms, a hundred brothers and I own Tallaght. Some people ask “Is Twenty Major’s real name really Twenty Major?”. To them I say “Twenty Major’s real name is Horace Understudy. Or Twenty Major’s real name is Arnold Micstand.”
I drink in Ron’s bar. He has the best Guinness in Dublin. He is also a big cunt so I wouldn’t bother dropping in. I drink with my mates Jimmy the Bollix, Stinking Pete, Dirty Dave, Lucky Luciano and sometimes Splodge who has a big fuck off birthmark on the side of his face, hence the name.
I have a dog called Bastardface, he is enormous and eats knackers. I also have a cat that I rescued from the banks of the canal near Dolphin’s Barn. He is called Throatripper and he kills stuff.
Filmed at Tig Coili (pronounced, "chee coli") - the home of traditional Irish music in Galway - in October 2009, a "cèilidh" is a traditional Gaelic social gathering. I felt the song would make for a fitting New Year's bit of cheer. Happy New Year.
Ireland's Ryanair once ran an ad campaign headlined, "Expensive Bastards!", comparing Ryanair with British Airways. This time around, it's Ryanair that's the "bastards"...for charging it's customers to pee.
Based in Dublin, Ryanair operates over 1,000 routes across Europe and Morocco. It's reputation as a low-cost airlines with no-frills isn't a kept secret. Its vinyl seats don't recline, there are no seat-back pockets, safety cards are stuck on the back of the seats and life jackets are stowed overhead rather than under the seat - all to save on costs. And if you miss a flight, Ryanair won't compensate you.
But Ryanair's not finished. The airline is introducing a "toilet tax", forcing passengers to pay around $1.30 (U.S.) to use the toilet. On top of that, Ryanair is reducing the number of toilets on its planes to ONE.
Hold on to your shamrock, lads and lasses...I'm not done. You'll also be charged $22-$30 for your carry-on during the summer months. Saving costs? That's what you'd think, but really it's for our own good - 'cause Ryanair cares about its customers. Ryanair spokesperson Stephen McNamara told the New York Daily News:We are determined to incentivize passengers to travel light this summer by increasing our checked-in baggage fees for the months of July and August only...By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behavior so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight. That will enable us to remove two out of three of the toilets and make way for at least six extra seats.
If you know me, you know I love the Irish. And I love Ireland. But this is shite. As the old Gaelic saying goes, "Cùm do chù ri leigeadh". Translated: "Hold back your dog till the deer falls." Really?
Not that this will effect many U.S. travelers - yet. You know the airline industry. They love to follow suit. So thanks, Ryanair, for setting a precedent. Thanks for charging for carry-ons (Spirit in the U.S. is already doing this). And for taking away all the bathrooms but one - then adding more seats. And then charging us to poop and pee. Shucks. I didn't know you cared that much.
Check out these Ryanair links: Ryanair parody on cheap travel and the making of the Ryanair cabin crew calender.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here are a few posts I featured on my Irish travel blog - "Good Craic. Welcome to Ireland" - recounting my trip to Ireland this past fall. You can click here to see the Irish blog in its entirety.
"Teach tábhairne" means "pub" in Gaelic. I think half our trip was spent in pubs. Click on READ MORE! to see me standing in more Irish pub doorways than you can spit at. And no we didn't have a drink in every pub whose doorway I stood. But no doubt there were plenty o'pubs we drank in that we didn't snap a shot either. Slan! 
West Clare, Co. Clare 
Swords, Co. Dublin. And no, it wasn't a gay bar. That was back in Galway.
Kinsale.
Kinsale.
Cahir, Co. Tipperary
Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare
Cashel, Co. Tipperary
Cahir, Co. Tipperary
Cahir, Co. Tipperary
These last two are blurry but I included them as they were, I felt, important pubs on our travels. Tig Coili in Galway, Co. Galway is the home of traditional Irish music in Galway. We spend a few hours there.
The other pub is The Local Bar in Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary, where our cottage was. It's run by Thomas and Gavin and their father and we spent many evenings here with the boys. More on Ardfinnan later.
"Mór" means "grand" in Gaelic. And Johnnie Fox's is the grandest, best ever pub/tavern I've ever been in (The Safe House in Milwaukee is #2). The only way to describe it to you is to have you see what I saw. So I shot this very crude video of me entering the front door at one end of the pub and then meandering through it.
Situated in Glencullen, south of Dublin in the Dublin Mountains, Johnnie Fox's was established in 1798 and is the highest pub in Ireland. NO trip to Dublin should be without a visit here. And they run cabs back and forth from the B&B's and hotels to the pub so no one inadvertently drives off the road. It's steep and curvy. Check out Johnnie Fox's website here.
"Mé" means "me". Click on READ MORE! for a few more shots of me traipsing around Ireland this past fall.
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