England Away

As I said a couple of weeks ago, one of my cars has no NCT disc and an expired tax disc. It is apparently illegal to drive a car without valid discs. When I was getting the Volvo NCT tested about 2 weeks ago I saw a sign that said you could get fined 1500 euro by the Gards for not displaying an NCT disc. Anyway, today I am driving the Volvo down the back roads of County Kildare when we (my wife and I) get stopped by, not one, but 2 f****ing Gard roadblocks. WTF - Is it national roadblock day? The first roadblock was a proper one - both sides of the road job, about 4 Gards. I could see them pulling people over to the side of the road. I saw one Gard go and lift the windscreen wiper of a car so he could see the discs better. He wouldn't have to do that with me because I my discs are in plain sight. At least they would be IF I F***ING HAD ANY THAT WERE VALID. So, he stops me, looks at my discs and waves me on. I even give him a wave that says ' all is well here officer, good to see you doing your job'. At the second roadblock the Gard actually walked over to the side of the car with the discs on and had a good look before waving me on. I was even winding my window down in preparation for some serious ass-kissing.
The good news is that even though the Volvo failed the NCT when I took it 2 weeks ago, it only needs a couple of bulbs replacing. It's getting serviced on Friday and will be sorted then. It doesn't even need a full re-test. After that I can get the road tax, be fully legal and stop shitting my pants every time I see a roadblock.

Slan Agat.

As you get older you find it easier to deal with women...you look better, I think, more self-assured, confident, depth of experience, financially secure (hopefully), but, you're already married, so it's wasted. Maybe I can take it with me to the next life....


Link added to my photoblog: County Kildare views

Bouncy castle in full swing. 

Thank God....30 small children descended on our house yesterday like a plague of locusts, invading every room of the house and opening everything, including the presents they had brought for my son. They ate, they drank, they bounced on the castle, they demanded drink and more drink. One of them was sick (only one - a bonus), but thankfully not on the castle. My youngest son (3 in august) had a fine old time. He seemed to take the invasion of his house in his stride and wasn't bothered at all. That was the hardest 2 hours I've had to endure in a while and I can safely say that there won't be any house parties for a while. Another bonus: no parents stayed behind so we now have a house full of booze.


Poetic moment:

Winter, slumbering in the open air
wears on his smiling face
a dream of spring

That is a quote from 'Groundhog Day', one of my favourite films. Watched it again the other day for about the umpteenth time.

busy trying to sort things out for eldest son's party (he will be 7) on saturday. Went straight from work to Tesco and Dunnes to buy loads of alcohol. Not for the kids, obviously. A lot of children from the street will be coming, so their parents will drop them off. Drink seems to be offered at any social situation - it is a given, there is no option. You have to offer it and have it available, it is the polite thing to do. It's the same when you go round to someone's house - you have to have a drink, it's impolite not to, not that they give you any option: 'Ah go on, have a drink, you will, you will, go on.' An opened bottle is then thrust into your hands. When the bottle is about a third full another full one is given out. The house will be cleaned tomorrow and then the bouncy castle arrives on saturday morning, ready for the party in the afternoon.

Below are some links to an Irish site called 'Langerland'. They do some very funny flash animations. The latest one is having a go at the english.

Dail reshuffle

Batman and Robin

British top 10

What they are really saying. Six weeks wages....£230,000...it beggars belief. 

Not mechanical trouble, more of a driving-while-not-strictly-legal problem.

Let me set the scene.

In Ireland cars should display 3 things in the windscreen - a road tax disc, an insurance disc and an NCT disc (NCT stands for National Car Test, which is equivalent to the english MOT). I have 2 cars over here, a Ford and a Volvo. The Ford has all 3 discs and they are all in date. The Volvo only has 2 discs - insurance and tax, and only the insurance is in date. You can only renew road tax when you have a current NCT certificate. The NCT is booked for next week, so I can't get taxed until after then at the earliest.

You see my problem. It is a problem of my own making, so I can't complain too much. When I brought the cars over from the UK (wading through levels of bureaucracy you would not believe) I got the Ford sorted out, but somehow forgot the Volvo i.e. couldn't be arsed. The fact that I never saw any Gardai (police) on the roads only encouraged me to delay it. I'm only doing the NCT now because I have to renew the tax.

Anyway, to the point of this post. This morning I was just entering a slip road to join the N7, going round a corner. When the road straightened out what do I see? A Gard doing spot-checks. I thought the jig was up and was winding the window down to start grovelling when he just waved me through. He was holding a clipboard and only looked at my number plate, so I guess he was looking for something specific. I nearly crapped my pants though.

When I was coming back from the airport about 4 weeks ago, I was stopped by some Gards (they're fond of checkpoints over here) who did check all my discs, but luckily I was in the Ford.....just as well.

I am finding that I enjoy reading blogs more than I enjoy writing one. That is not good, is it? I think of things during the day, but when it comes to the evening I am usually too tired or have forgotten what I was going to say. I also enjoy playing games on the PC more than writing. It doesn't help when Blogger deletes your post when you try and send it. I am thinking about either turning this into more of a photoblog, or starting a photoblog from scratch and updating this occassionally. I have to be able to maintain my own level of interest if this is to continue (deep down I want it to).

Aaaannnyway, the death of the Pope doesn't seem to have had the impact over here that I thought it would have. The local catholic church is flying the Vatican flag at half-mast and that is about it. But then again, I don't know what I expected them to do. I will see what happens on his funeral (the day before my son's birthday party).

I was working nights this friday, saturday and sunday. I finished at 07:00 this morning (monday) and was in bed at 08:30. Unfortunately I was woken at 10:30 so that I could take the wife to a hospital in Dublin. So, effectively, I have been awake since 16:00 on sunday, with only 2 hours sleep. I will not sleep agan until I go to bed tonight.

I will post again tonight. I have something to say. I will remember it.

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