Out for my daily walk yesterday evening down to the seafront in Strandhill, listening to this episode of Distributing the Future, minding my own business. Car slows, guy pokes his head out and shouts what sounded to me like “I’m looking for a 15 tonne sperm whale called Sam – have you seen him around?“.
Hearing this alone from Colm O’Rourke after the All-Ireland Football Semi-Final between Mayo and Dublin, took some of the pain away from not having a ticket on the day. For the privileged Mayo fans among the 82,000 who saw the game – you will really have a treat when watch it again.
We’re travelling later this evening from home in Sligo to Tullamore, Co Offaly for the Phoenix Festival. Lots of hot air balloons will be gliding silently in the skies – the weather forecast looks great for the weekend.
I went to give blood last week. I knew that it had been quite some
time since my last visit, but I was really surprised that it was 1995 since the last 8th pint donation. Obviously, after leaving Dublin, updating
the Irish Blood Transfusion Service of my new address was not a priority, but this service now ensures that’s no longer an excuse.
Yesterday evening, I was lucky enough to catch a photograph of a Hummingbird hawkmoth in the back garden.
Hummingbird hawkmoth
These are pretty unusual visitors to the North West of Ireland (Sligo) – they are more at home in southern european climes. This guy seemed to particularly like chive flowers.
Meanwhile, to other images. The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) website is an excellent resource for those in the profession, and is well maintained. However, the banner image they use for mobilisation on their day of protest in support of their wage demands gives me the shivers.
I hope I’m not going to hospital any day soon…..
Some weeks back, I got a bit of a shock when an old workhorse machine, stony grey in colour and shouting “retire me” in a thin, high pitched whine from its power supply, finally decided to euthanase itself.
The last issue of the Irish Medical Times from February 2006 publishes a short article by yours truly on blogging. You can access it here for a limited period.
I’ve recently had reason to revisit my engineering/work journals from the past few years, and they are a revelation.
Like school copy books, its fun to look back and see what WAS your life like back in 1992 – a pre-web, 486 based world.
Near Cappyroe Bridge on the Grand Canal
Even after a refreshing and long awaited break over the Christmas period, it feels good to be back in harness. We travelled to Co Offaly for the New Year to stay with Gráinne’s brother and family – her parents and sister also came along. Good food, good wine – a lovely few days. The Grand Canal runs nearby – a great place for walking, particularly at this time of year.
VIZ 601 
