This past weekend I did a bit of a spur-of-the-moment trip to Dundalk to do some coastal walking. What looked great on the map turned out to be a series of salt marshes that are a pain in the *ss for walking. So, I didn't explore as much as I wanted to, and ended up spending part of the afternoon exploring the lovely (?) city of Dundalk.
Not much to report about the town. Fairly large, a bit dreary, prosperous perhaps in a bygone day. But one thing did really stand out at me. Walking along some old but anonymous backstreet I spied one of those blue tourist signs attached to a building that usually designates the birthplace, deathplace (?), or former residence of someone barely famous. But this one got me excited....this run-down, fairly large house (for sale too!) was the birthplace of Sir Francis Leopold McClintock. Who? Well, a houshold name amongst those with an interest in the Arctic, McClintock explored huge areas of the Arctic in the search for Franklin in the mid-1800's, he mapped Melville Island and discovered both Price of Wales Island and Prince Patrick Island. Not bad for a kid from Dundalk.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Friday, 23 October 2009
Letting the days go by....
It's been a while since my last post. Just letting the days go by I suppose. Maybe it's because I'm becoming very drained by my commuting situation. The train bridge is still not fixed so I'm relegated to the bus still.
I must say that Dublin Bus has done a surprisingly good job of putting on plenty of buses to serve our town, but it still adds 45 minutes each way to my commute and also means I have to leave an hour earlier to avoid traffic. If I arrive at the bus stop anytime past 7 am, then the traffic on the highway into town is way too heavy and it becomes a nightmare. Oh well, I'm sort of getting used to the early mornings but I do yearn for the train to come back.
On other notes here in Ireland, it looks like there will be a public sector strike coming soon. Public sector workers have been told they'll have to take a 7% pay cut to 'do their bit' during the recession. This on top of the 5-7% pension levy they also had to pay. While Ireland does apparently have the highest-paid public sectors in Europe (and by the looks of things, the most bloated), this is a bit steep. I'm not public sector but this still raise my hackles. Especially when AIB Bank, which is now effectively owned by the government and taxpayer and something like €80 billion in the hole, has just voted themselves a 3% pay rise.
I also wouldn't mind paying my share if I saw a solid government plan for getting out of this deficit. Taxing your way out of a recesssion doesn't work, neither does continually cutting wages. Let's face it, this country is in a very bad state, and the government has no clue how to get out of it. Banana Republic economics all around.
I must say that Dublin Bus has done a surprisingly good job of putting on plenty of buses to serve our town, but it still adds 45 minutes each way to my commute and also means I have to leave an hour earlier to avoid traffic. If I arrive at the bus stop anytime past 7 am, then the traffic on the highway into town is way too heavy and it becomes a nightmare. Oh well, I'm sort of getting used to the early mornings but I do yearn for the train to come back.
On other notes here in Ireland, it looks like there will be a public sector strike coming soon. Public sector workers have been told they'll have to take a 7% pay cut to 'do their bit' during the recession. This on top of the 5-7% pension levy they also had to pay. While Ireland does apparently have the highest-paid public sectors in Europe (and by the looks of things, the most bloated), this is a bit steep. I'm not public sector but this still raise my hackles. Especially when AIB Bank, which is now effectively owned by the government and taxpayer and something like €80 billion in the hole, has just voted themselves a 3% pay rise.
I also wouldn't mind paying my share if I saw a solid government plan for getting out of this deficit. Taxing your way out of a recesssion doesn't work, neither does continually cutting wages. Let's face it, this country is in a very bad state, and the government has no clue how to get out of it. Banana Republic economics all around.
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