Twenty Ten
31/12/09 22:05 Filed in: General
Nonsense
I don’t really go for
the big New Year’s Eve festivities, and honestly
can’t remember the last time I was out on the town
to ring in the New Year. I don’t know what it is,
but I just can’t get all that excited about it. I
usually spend the night at home with herself, or
maybe we might be in the company of family or
friends, but it’s in a house as opposed to a public
place. Once or twice over the past decade, I have
even been tucked up in beddy-byes as the strains of
Auld Lang Syne started to fill the air.
Overall, 2010 looks like it will be another year like the one drawing to a close tonight - lots of uncertainty and economic gloom. We’re nowhere near the end of this recession yet, nor will we be until people actually get the confidence to start spending again. When recovery does eventually come, we Irish will need to have taken a long hard look at the past and make sure we have learnt the lessons of what we did wrong in both the Celtic Tiger era and the recession that followed it. Next time around we need to make sure that our economy serves our society and not the other way around.
I’m not really one for making New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I’m crap at keeping them. One or two have been successful though. In 1989, I resolved to learn to drive and to have passed my driving test within the year. In November of that year, at the second time of asking, I passed my test. In 1995, when I was living in London, I resolved to improve my French, which by then had almost completely atrophied from my Leaving Certificate standard attained twelve years earlier. I enrolled at Alliance Francaise in Marylebone and attended night classes there. However, this resolution led to an even bigger decision - in September of 1995, I left London to go and live in France.
Other big life-changing decisions have had nothing to do with the change of the year. I eventually packed in smoking in April 1995, having tried several times in successive Januaries and failed. That was brought about by a dose of spring hayfever morphing into asthma, and lying in bed at night barely able to breathe.
This year has seen another such transformation. Several times over the last ten years or so, I have set myself the task of shifting some weight. I have been overweight for some time, and now in my forties, overweight is not a good place to be. I can’t work out what exactly it was that got me onto this most recent, and quite successful attempt this time around. I reckon it was the discovery that my 2½ year old daughter had the word ‘manboobs’ in her vocabulary. I started in June, and used the Motivation Weight Management programme, albeit on a fairly a la carte basis. Basically, I cut back on carbs, upped the protein, upped the water intake, started taking some exercise and cut out the wine. So far I have lost 20kg, or about 3½ stones in the old money. I need to get rid of another five kilos to be where I should be, but I’m going to blitz that over the next few weeks.
Hang on - that sounds like a New Year’s resolution!
All the best for 2010, dear readers.
Overall, 2010 looks like it will be another year like the one drawing to a close tonight - lots of uncertainty and economic gloom. We’re nowhere near the end of this recession yet, nor will we be until people actually get the confidence to start spending again. When recovery does eventually come, we Irish will need to have taken a long hard look at the past and make sure we have learnt the lessons of what we did wrong in both the Celtic Tiger era and the recession that followed it. Next time around we need to make sure that our economy serves our society and not the other way around.
I’m not really one for making New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I’m crap at keeping them. One or two have been successful though. In 1989, I resolved to learn to drive and to have passed my driving test within the year. In November of that year, at the second time of asking, I passed my test. In 1995, when I was living in London, I resolved to improve my French, which by then had almost completely atrophied from my Leaving Certificate standard attained twelve years earlier. I enrolled at Alliance Francaise in Marylebone and attended night classes there. However, this resolution led to an even bigger decision - in September of 1995, I left London to go and live in France.
Other big life-changing decisions have had nothing to do with the change of the year. I eventually packed in smoking in April 1995, having tried several times in successive Januaries and failed. That was brought about by a dose of spring hayfever morphing into asthma, and lying in bed at night barely able to breathe.
This year has seen another such transformation. Several times over the last ten years or so, I have set myself the task of shifting some weight. I have been overweight for some time, and now in my forties, overweight is not a good place to be. I can’t work out what exactly it was that got me onto this most recent, and quite successful attempt this time around. I reckon it was the discovery that my 2½ year old daughter had the word ‘manboobs’ in her vocabulary. I started in June, and used the Motivation Weight Management programme, albeit on a fairly a la carte basis. Basically, I cut back on carbs, upped the protein, upped the water intake, started taking some exercise and cut out the wine. So far I have lost 20kg, or about 3½ stones in the old money. I need to get rid of another five kilos to be where I should be, but I’m going to blitz that over the next few weeks.
Hang on - that sounds like a New Year’s resolution!
All the best for 2010, dear readers.
|
Merry Christmas
23/12/09 22:14 Filed in: General
Nonsense
So here we are again
- the Christmas. I finished up work today and won’t
be back till the 4th of January. It’s been a
stressful few months, so the break will be much
appreciated.
For all of October and November, it was very difficult to call how the wine market would play out coming up to Christmas. I deal mainly with retailers, and everyone was being really cagey, not wanting to overstock. The general feeling was that it was going to come late this year - and it did. Once the Budget was out of the way, things started to pick up. Some retailers were in a bit of a bind, having bought all their Christmas stock before the duty came down. As far as the public are concerned, once the duty was reduced, the price came down there and then, and that was it. So the retailer had to make a decision - drop the price and lose money (particularly on cheaper wines - 60c is a big chunk off the margin of a sub-€8 wine), or risk pissing off their customers.
We’re off to Cork in the morning, to the in-laws. The whole family will be there, so that means that there will be eleven adults and four toddlers in the house for Christmas Day. Should be lively to say the least. We’re back sometime between Christmas and New Year.
Merry Christmas, all.
For all of October and November, it was very difficult to call how the wine market would play out coming up to Christmas. I deal mainly with retailers, and everyone was being really cagey, not wanting to overstock. The general feeling was that it was going to come late this year - and it did. Once the Budget was out of the way, things started to pick up. Some retailers were in a bit of a bind, having bought all their Christmas stock before the duty came down. As far as the public are concerned, once the duty was reduced, the price came down there and then, and that was it. So the retailer had to make a decision - drop the price and lose money (particularly on cheaper wines - 60c is a big chunk off the margin of a sub-€8 wine), or risk pissing off their customers.
We’re off to Cork in the morning, to the in-laws. The whole family will be there, so that means that there will be eleven adults and four toddlers in the house for Christmas Day. Should be lively to say the least. We’re back sometime between Christmas and New Year.
Merry Christmas, all.
The Munster Way
21/12/09 22:04 Filed in: Sport
There is a thing
about Munster and respect (as Bock
noted yesterday.) Famously, whenever a kicker
- home or away team - is addressing the placed
ball at Thomond Park, the crowd fall silent to
allow the kicker to concentrate. You never see a
Munster player showboat when scoring a try. He
may celebrate, of course, but he will do so
respectfully. Munster have only lost one
Heineken Cup match there in the entire history
of the competition, but it remains the top
ground for rugby fans all over Europe to come
to. Your team may take one hell of a beating,
but at least they and the supporters will be
treated with respect. (The only visiting team to
depart from that script was Leicester, when they
beat Munster at Thomond in 2007. But there is
huge mutual respect between Munster and
Leicester, so we have no issue with that fact.)
What you should never do when you come to Thomond is abuse that respect afforded to you. In the home fixture last Saturday night week, Phillip Burger of Perpignan scored a peach of a try. Most Munster folk, rugby people to their fingertips, would have applauded the score had it not been for what Burger did once he’d touched down. The cheeky pup cupped his ear as if to say “We don’t hear you signing any more.” Bad mistake.
The great thing about Munster is that most of the players are actually from the province. We have a few high-profile imports, who by and large, a bit like the Anglo-Normans who came to Ireland in the 12th century, have become as much Munster as the natives. Given that such a big percentage of the players are of the province itself, it follows that their supporters should be made up of many of their family members, friends and neighbours.
Burger’s gesture was fundamentally disrespectful to the Munster fans, and by extension, the team. And when you do that to Munster, they will punish you. Just as Munster did to Perpignan yesterday.
Before the match, I wasn’t too hopeful that Munster would get much out of their visit to Stade Aime Girail. A losing bonus point would have been a decent day’s work, I reckoned. Munster hadn’t put in a truly convincing Heineken Cup performance since they dismembered the Ospreys in last year’s quarter final, and their away form this season was dismal. Things just weren’t clicking. The scrum was not performing as it should, the backs weren’t making their presence felt and ROG seemed to be trudging across the Valley of Lost Confidence.
Now, of course the reason behind Munster’s incredible performance yesterday may have had nothing at all to do with Burger’s little sideshow. It may have been Vivalda’s comment that he felt he was playing the Munster Academy in Thomond (mind you, the Academy provided a good few player to the team that only narrowly lost to the All Blacks last November twelve months.) Or maybe it was the players collectively deciding that they simply were not going to allow themselves to come out second best any more. Whatever it was, it worked.
As well as watching the match live (a big thank you to Aoife for taking her nap while the match was on), we Sky+’d it too and I watched it again last night. When you’re not concentrating on how the match might end up, it’s easier to be more analytical and appreciate the individual performances of the players. There were huge performances from all areas of the park. The dominance of the breakdown was a pleasure to behold. O’Connell at the lineout and the restarts. Leamy, Wallace and Quinlan hitting the rucks. Earls taking the ball at speed. ROG’s kicking. O’Leary’s breaks. Wallace’s defence. Warwick’s presence at the back. Quinny’s garryowens (his what??)
As the press said today, this was up there with the best of Munster’s previous smash and grab forays in the south of France. But, going back to my original point, did you see any Munster player disrespect the home crowd or their team?
No. Because it’s not the Munster way.
What you should never do when you come to Thomond is abuse that respect afforded to you. In the home fixture last Saturday night week, Phillip Burger of Perpignan scored a peach of a try. Most Munster folk, rugby people to their fingertips, would have applauded the score had it not been for what Burger did once he’d touched down. The cheeky pup cupped his ear as if to say “We don’t hear you signing any more.” Bad mistake.
The great thing about Munster is that most of the players are actually from the province. We have a few high-profile imports, who by and large, a bit like the Anglo-Normans who came to Ireland in the 12th century, have become as much Munster as the natives. Given that such a big percentage of the players are of the province itself, it follows that their supporters should be made up of many of their family members, friends and neighbours.
Burger’s gesture was fundamentally disrespectful to the Munster fans, and by extension, the team. And when you do that to Munster, they will punish you. Just as Munster did to Perpignan yesterday.
Before the match, I wasn’t too hopeful that Munster would get much out of their visit to Stade Aime Girail. A losing bonus point would have been a decent day’s work, I reckoned. Munster hadn’t put in a truly convincing Heineken Cup performance since they dismembered the Ospreys in last year’s quarter final, and their away form this season was dismal. Things just weren’t clicking. The scrum was not performing as it should, the backs weren’t making their presence felt and ROG seemed to be trudging across the Valley of Lost Confidence.
Now, of course the reason behind Munster’s incredible performance yesterday may have had nothing at all to do with Burger’s little sideshow. It may have been Vivalda’s comment that he felt he was playing the Munster Academy in Thomond (mind you, the Academy provided a good few player to the team that only narrowly lost to the All Blacks last November twelve months.) Or maybe it was the players collectively deciding that they simply were not going to allow themselves to come out second best any more. Whatever it was, it worked.
As well as watching the match live (a big thank you to Aoife for taking her nap while the match was on), we Sky+’d it too and I watched it again last night. When you’re not concentrating on how the match might end up, it’s easier to be more analytical and appreciate the individual performances of the players. There were huge performances from all areas of the park. The dominance of the breakdown was a pleasure to behold. O’Connell at the lineout and the restarts. Leamy, Wallace and Quinlan hitting the rucks. Earls taking the ball at speed. ROG’s kicking. O’Leary’s breaks. Wallace’s defence. Warwick’s presence at the back. Quinny’s garryowens (his what??)
As the press said today, this was up there with the best of Munster’s previous smash and grab forays in the south of France. But, going back to my original point, did you see any Munster player disrespect the home crowd or their team?
No. Because it’s not the Munster way.
The Rag - Special Eco Edition
08/12/09 00:07 Filed in: General
Nonsense
It’s Copenhagen
Climate Summit Jamboree time, and all the major papers are
on-message. Not wanting to be left
behind, UnLaoised’s occasional publication, The
Rag, has jumped on the bandwagon
published a
special edition for this monumental global
event.
[Click for big.]
[Click for big.]
