Just trying out the new slide-show on www.picnik.com
http://www.picnik.com/show/id/5323113940_BFnfk
It’s not that bad. I wish I was able to embed it on here though. It would be a lot handier. Oh well. Maybe some day I might. For now you’ll have to clickey, clickey. 
I really have to laugh at these modern times. As some people know the Galway Races are on this week in Ballybrit. Today is what’s known as ‘Ladies Day’ where the women dress up to the nines. However of late the young men of Galway/Ireland have decided to smarten themselves up for ‘Ladies Day’ too. Now this is where I start to laugh. Today as I was driving home I was watching them all, dressed up to the last, heading out to the races. A lot of the women were dressed beautifully, with the heels a minimum of 6 inches high. There was one girl in particular & her feet were cover in plasters, & that was before she had even gone anywhere. It doesn’t make sense to me.
But then we get on to the men. & I tell you, Robert Palmer had it right when he said “Every girls crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man“. There were some really sharp dressed young men walking around town. But as I said to Nic, they looked like they were either going to the races or court.
What really got me though, was one particular group of young men. All done up, shirt & ties & everything. Everything pressed perfectly, not a seam out of place, all of them with their hair gelled & primped to the last. I tell you, they were a bunch of lads you’d be proud to be in the company of. But then you look again & see that every single one of them have a bottle of Buckfast in their hands & they’re swigging straight from the bottle. Talk about a let down. But it’s just a sign of evolution. The wheel seems to have gone full circle. We have come from Neanderthal Man, evolved into Modern Man who seems to like devolving back to Neanderthal Man again at every possible opportunity.
I wonder why?
Not a baby any more.
I’ve found the last week very hard. Nic is growing up now & she’s wanting to spend more time with her friends, going into town, going swimming & stuff like that. I know this is a great thing. I’m delighted she has friends I can trust to let her out with. I loosened the reigns a little & now I feel I’ve loosened them too much & she’s running away from me. I see her running so far ahead of me. She doesn’t want to spend time with mum any more.
I guess this is what my own mother went through when I decided to grow up & spread my wings, but the difference with me was I soared so high I was like Icarus, I burned my wings on the Sun & came crashing down to Earth with a bang.
I know Nic isn’t going to do this, but I’m still not ready to let her go. I miss her so much already. I just want to have her here with me, to hold her & never let her go. I don’t want her go grow up & go out into this big bad World. There are so many horrible things out there. Things I don’t want her to have to deal with. Things I want to shelter her from. I don’t want her to live the life I did. I don’t want her to get hurt the way I did. I don’t want someone to take her childhood the way mine was taken. When she’s out there & I’m not there to stop bad people hurting her.
I miss her so much. I miss my baby.
To the horrible grey sky coloured ‘06 Land Cruiser & the filthy dirty black ‘07 VW Van who decided this morning they wanted to try & make a sandwich out of me at the Browne roundabout this morning, learn how to use a bloody roundabout. It’s very simple. I promise you it’s not rocket science. The only difficult part for most people is they have to move their stubby little fingers to put on those horrible things called INDICATORS!
For those of you who don’t actually know how to use a roundabout here, this is a page out of a very handy book you might actually like to look into buying, it’s full of little things called “The Rules of the Road!” They’re only little things, but they come in quite handy at times. Can’t understand why.
How to use roundabouts.
I just had to share this little gem I found on that wonderful site www.tmz.com.
Posted Jul 28th 2009 12:05AM by TMZ Staff
U.S. Swimmer Ricky Berens cracked under pressure at the World Swimming Championships in Rome yesterday — and suddenly people cared about competitive water sports again.
Berens’ wet wardrobe malfunction — caused by a pre-swim stretch — only made him more aerodynamic… he helped the U.S. win the gold medal… by a split second.
Just a little fun. Remember the Spot the difference we had when we were kids, well here it is again. I’ve decided to edit some of my photos & make them into a Spot the Difference game. So here are 2 for anyone who’s interested in playing.
In this shot there are 11 differences. Can you spot them all?
Can you spot all 11 differences?
& here is a bit more difficult one. How well do you think you will do? There are 15 differences in these shots. Happy hunting. 
Can you spot all 15 differences?
& here’s another. I’ve gone all out with this one. There are a massive 24 differences in this one. Lets see how well you can do.
Can you spot all 24 differences?
Have any of you had these new Tayto Toobz yet? Firstly I’d say I’m not gone on them. I really don’t like the taste of them. I got them for the first time the day before yesterday & when I opened them I had to take a photo of them. I didn’t open a full tube of Toobz, I opened a half full tube of Toobz. See for yourself:
Half a tube of Toobz.
So the next time you buy a tube of Toobz make sure they’re a full tube & not a half a one.
Ok, I know in Galway we don’t have too many cycle lanes, but the ones we do have were resurfaced recently. Since they were resurfaced they have not had the little white bikes painted on them again. This results in cyclists being reluctant to cycle on them, not being sure if they’re a cycle lane or not. This then leads to the cyclists cycling on the road, where it’s actually very dangerous for them to do so. Take coming across the Quincentennial bridge this afternoon. I had to go out into the passing lane because the inside lane was taken up by a cyclist when there was a perfectly good cycle lane right beside him.
I think this is mostly because people think that it’s just a path beside them because there is nothing there to indicate that there’s a cycle lane.
It’s the same as with Droughiska road & the ramps. There are loads of signs saying about the traffic lights, but there is nothing to say about the huge ramps that are there too. You are nearly on top of them by the time you see them then you have to slam your breaks on so as not to rip the bottom off the car.
So get your act in gear Galway Corporation, before someone gets hurt.
The Mad Mutt.
I’m so terrible, but it was so funny. Every minute or so he would hic-up, but it wasn’t the hic-up that was the funny piece, it was the look on his face afterwards. He would hic-up & scare himself. It was the funniest thing ever. After the hic-up he would look about in as much to say “What the fuck was that???” Then he would look at me with a pleading look saying “Don’t just sit there laughing, help me! There is something inside me trying to escape!”
Needless to say I was feck all help. I couldn’t stop laughing. Poor baby. Eventually he got pissed off with me & went out the back. When he came back in they were gone. Pity, I was enjoying the giggle.
I don’t know why this hasn’t been thought of before, but I would love to know why there isn’t a proper guided tour around Galway Bay, by boat. We have countless amounts of open-topped buses going about town, there are too many walking tours to count, we’ve got the Corrib Princess going up the river to the mouth of the lake, but no proper tour around the bay! Why? It’s not as if there isn’t enough boats in Galway. I think if someone started up a proper guided tour of the Bay they would make a clean fortune.
The reason I’m thinking of this is because on Thursday Dad & Vonnie brought Davie, Suzi & Nic out on a tour on the bay. I think this was started for the Volvo Ocean Race. The problem was it seems to have been quite badly run.
Firstly, the tour was run by two fisher men. That’s not a bad thing, but they are not tour guides, they don’t know how to be tour guides. They spent the whole time in the wheelhouse talking Irish to each other. Secondly, to actually get on the boat they had to climb down the ladder on the sea wall, onto someone else’s private cruiser to get across onto this fishing boat, there should have been some where for them to pull right in. Thirdly the seating consisted of rows of timber bolted to the floor of the boat with holes drilled in them so that a garden chair can be sat in them. & fourthly, life-jackets, don’t even get me started on that.
Now don’t get me wrong, they loved the trip. They are still going on about it. Nic even said that when she got cold one of the crewmen went & got her a blanket. They said that the trip was great. They went almost out to Silverstrand, & even though the sea was rough they got to see so much & had a really great time.
But then they had to turn back because the weather was getting bad & the seas more rough. Again the boat pulled up beside the cruiser, & again they had to climb across onto the cruiser to get to the ladder on the sea wall. Only problem was this time the owners of the cruiser were on board. They were all so embarrassed. Then came the task of climbing back up the ladder on the sea wall. Davie had a bike crash just 6 weeks ago & his shoulder is seriously injured, he’s not a small man so I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you how much it hurt him to get up the ladder. He was in so much pain.
All of this could be easily sorted. & it could generate so much economy for Galway. I think if Galway created a proper marina, say over behind where the isolation hospital was, it would bring in so much revenue to the city. I think for a big city like this it is stupid that the closest marina we have is in Oranmore. I think if there was a proper one built that so many more boats & yachts would come to Galway city.
So come on Ireland West Tourism Board, get yourselves together & sort something out. It will benifit everyone.
