Month: June 2018

Gary Lineker, the former England footballer now pundit with the BBC, posted a comment on Twitter about a match that had just been played between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs won the game and Mr. Lineker was delighted with the result because he used to play for that team and he said so on Twitter.

His comment was liked 19 thousand times and there were 322 replies. Many of those replies were nothing short of insulting, abusive and full of foul language. The vitriol expressed, and the amount of bad language used was difficult to understand and I just don’t get it.

I enjoy Twitter and I appreciate a witty comment and it can be a very entertaining forum, but this other type of nonsense should not be allowed on any site. It’s unacceptable and there’s no place for it. I have no doubt that Gary Lineker is well able to mind himself and I’m sure he doesn’t let those comments get to him. But there are other people who aren’t as resilient and can be affected by this kind of abuse.

I don’t know what the answer is or even if there is anything we can do to prevent it, but it was annoying me. I was annoyed that these people were spouting rubbish and were not being challenged for their behaviour, so, I tried a little experiment.

I replied to a few of these Tweets and in some cases, I corrected their grammar and in others I sarcastically complimented them on being so articulate. I marvelled at their extensive vocabulary when, in reality, they were unable to get beyond the use of four letter words. I didn’t have to wait too long before I got a reaction.

A few of them discussed among themselves the fact that I had appeared on the thread and they were wondering who I was. Then they began to tell me to get lost for myself, but they didn’t put is as nicely as that. Some users liked my comments to the abusers while others liked the abuser’s messages to me but all in all I seemed to be winning the popularity stakes by about two to one.

I have to say, I found it amusing and I got some pleasure from calling these guys out. I have absolutely no idea if I had any impact on any one of these muppets, but I would be delighted with myself if I made even one of them feel a bit daft. Sometimes, even something small can hit a nerve and make an impression.

There is a guy called Arno Michaelis from America and he wrote a book called My Life After Hate. He was a founding member of what became the largest racist skinhead organisation in the world. Today he has switched sides and now works with Serve2Unite, an organisation that engages young people of all backgrounds as peacemakers.

He says; “I grew up in an alcoholic household where emotional violence was the norm and as a kid who was told I could achieve anything, I reacted to that emotional violence by lashing out and hurting people. I started out as the bully on the school bus, and by the time I was in middle school I was committing serious acts of vandalism.”

“I radiated hostility, especially towards anyone with a darker skin complexion than mine, and I had a swastika tattooed on the middle finger of my right hand. One time I was greeted by a black lady at a McDonald’s cash register with a smile as warm and unconditional as the sun. When she noticed the swastika tattoo on my finger, she said: ‘You’re a better person than that. I know that’s not who you are.’ Powerless against such compassion, I fled from her steady smile and authentic presence, never to return to that McDonald’s again.”

That lady in McDonalds may not be aware of the impression she left on Michaelis but her decision to challenge him had a profound effect. So, should we be doing more of this with the Internet trolls?

What exactly is a troll? Well, according to Wikipedia, a troll is a class of being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. They’re described as beasts that dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves. They usually live together in small family units and are rarely helpful to human beings.

They live far from human habitation and are considered dangerous to humans. Depending on the source, their appearance varies greatly; trolls may be ugly and slow-witted, or look and behave exactly like human beings, with no particularly grotesque characteristic about them. They have also been described as obese and warty creatures who live under bridges who only venture out by night.

A modern-day troll is someone who deliberately annoys others online, typically through inflammatory, offensive, or provocative comments. Their intent is to upset others and elicit an emotional response. In the pursuit of their goal, trolls might rant, post death threats, or spew hate speech.

So, the only difference between the two definitions, is that the modern version uses technology and the Internet. But both species hide in the dark and belong under rocks.

Most of what they have to say makes little or no sense and is designed to be offensive and to get a reaction. So, I suppose if they can get you wound up to the extent that you get angry and start showing your anger in your replies, then they have achieved their goal. They’ve won.

From my bit of research, a lot of these creatures have absolutely no command of the English language and have no idea about grammar or punctuation. My four-year old grandson has a larger vocabulary than most of them, so don’t let them get to you.

According to a story in the Evening Echo last week, a report by Transport Infrastructure Ireland 2017 showed that 30 million cars travelled on the South Ring Road last year and that many of the county’s primary and secondary roads were operating way above recommended capacity.

In other words, there are too many cars on the road but that shouldn’t come as any great surprise.

We have survived the recession and we’re getting back on our feet. We have learned a valuable lesson about living beyond our means and we are all the better for it. We are a lot wiser now and we won’t be making that mistake again.

We are going to be very careful with our money from now on so there will be no more loans, not even for life saving operations. We’ll die first.

Well, maybe not. It seems that we are borrowing again, particularly for holidays and cars. Lending to Irish households for consumer spending has increased and loans are typically for cars, furniture, domestic appliances and holidays.

So, whatever about all the rest of the stuff, it looks like we are going to see even more cars on our already congested roads and that’s not good news. We’re going to see more bicycles too because a by-product of the recession has been an increased interest in cycling.

The number of commuters cycling into Dublin city during the morning peak reached its highest level last year, since records began 20 years ago. Almost 11,000 people cycle into the city each day. There is no doubt that cycling is becoming more popular and while that won’t please everyone, it might not be such a bad thing for car owners.

As Transport Infrastructure Ireland pointed out, our road networks are full to over flowing and we are running out of room. Houses that used to have one car parked outside the front door now have two or three and it can often be difficult to find a parking space outside your own home.

This is only going to get worse. Some of our roads have barely moved on from a time when the horse and cart was the dominant mode of transport and they are struggling to cope as it is. It’s a challenge to drive through most towns and cities these days and it doesn’t take much to bring traffic to a complete stand still.

The problem is magnified at certain times of the day when we all want to use the road together. The schools open every morning when most of the workforce is heading out the door, so we don’t have much choice but to compete for the same space.

I can remember a time, as a youngster, when we used to play football on my street. One goal post would be marked by an ESB pole and a jumper thrown in the middle of the road would be the other. We would play uninterrupted for long periods and only be disturbed by the occasional car. You’d hear the car coming from a distance, almost certainly driving slowly, and you would have plenty of time to pick up your goalpost and get out of the way.

Today, the goalkeeper would be mangled before he could even get into position. It’s impossible to even stand on that street for a few seconds these days because of traffic, not to mention having a kick about.

Our towns are congested too, and bad parking isn’t helping. There are far too many drivers who either don’t know how to park a car properly or else just couldn’t be bothered and they end up taking up more room than they need. It’s not unusual to see a car taking up two spaces and I’ve seen drivers who are fitter than Sonia O’Sullivan, walking out of disabled parking bays.

Trying to find a space is becoming increasingly difficult and you can clock up serious mileage and wear out a good set of tyres driving around in circles waiting for a place to become available. High rise parking is ok for an hour or two, but it can be expensive if you use it regularly and it’s not available everywhere either.

The average cost of running a family car for a year is €10,671.37 according to the AA’s annual survey of motoring costs. The AA calculates the annual cost of motoring each year using a figure that includes the obvious things like fuel, insurance, servicing but also factors in a whole range of other costs. These include costs like depreciation and interest charges, as well as replacing tyres etc over the car’s life.

Those who can survive without a car should be grateful for not having to deal with the expense and aggravation of car ownership. It’s not cheap by any means but those of us with no alternative will have to struggle on. We’ll also have to accept that parking is just going to get more complicated unless you own your own parking spot.

In the UK, there was a parking bay in the heart of Westminster that came with a price tag of £350,000. A double garage in Edinburgh was priced for sale at £85,000, and at Manchester Airport there were 45 spaces available for £35,000 each. Closer to home, there was a parking space in Dublin for €10,000 and there was one available in Galway for €15,000.

So that’s it, there’s no need to panic. If you’re struggling to park the motor, don’t worry, you can always buy your own personal spot.

One solution to our congestion problem is to encourage more drivers to take up cycling. While they are like a red rag to a bull for some motorists, we should cut them some slack. They might be our salvation yet.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is upon us and for those of you with no interest in football, it’s going to be a long month. If you really want to avoid it, you probably need to take a holiday in some far-flung jungle or in a very deep cave.

It’s a huge sporting event with wall to wall coverage. All the top professional players in the world will be on display, competing for the biggest prize in football, the Jules Rimet Trophy. It’s named after a former president of FIFA who organised the first tournament just in case you’re interested.

I have been a football fan since I was about ten years old. As a child, I went to my room every Saturday afternoon and lay on the bed with my transistor radio and listened to whatever match the BBC were commentating on that day. Football on TV was rare in those days.

That’s all changed now and these days we have an abundance of televised football. It comes to us from all over the world but it’s the English leagues that we still mostly follow in this neck of the woods. So, as a fan, I should be excited and looking forward to the tournament, but I’m not.

There are two reasons for this. In the first place, I think we’ve reached saturation point with televised football. Every week of the season, Sky Sports and BT Sport provide us with three games on Saturday followed by two more on Sunday afternoon.

Then there’s Monday Night Football and Champions League matches, with games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. That’s before we talk about the Europa League, FA Cup, League Cup, International friendlies, European Championship and World Cup games.

That doesn’t include coverage of other European football from the Italian and Spanish Leagues or our own domestic football with the League of Ireland. There is an awful lot of it but that’s not the only issue.

The behaviour of many of those involved in the sport like players, management and officials are testing my patience.

Too many players are blatantly cheating by diving and feigning injury to try to influence the referee. They regularly act as though they have been struck by an Exocet missile and roll around in agony as if mortally wounded. Yet, it only takes a quick spray of water to bring them back to full fitness. They look foolish, but it doesn’t seem to bother them.

They complain about every decision that doesn’t go their way and abuse match officials constantly. The Juventus goalkeeper, Buffon, was involved in a very unsavoury incident with referee Michael Oliver recently because a decision went against him and there are plenty more who can’t keep their mouths shut either.

The pushing and shoving that goes on during free kicks and corners is more suited to a rugby field. Coaches have no difficulty expressing their dissatisfaction with match officials either and the fourth official regularly has his hands full on the touchline. It’s doing my head in.

These guys are being paid vast sums of money and it’s about time they started behaving professionally. I don’t want to watch over paid prima donnas throwing themselves on the ground and screaming like banshees.

At the start of the last season, referees tackled this nonsense and for the first few games there was a definite improvement. When players realised they were going to be penalised for bad behaviour, they cut it out. But it wasn’t long before things went back to normal.

The day before the start of the US Masters this year, Tony Finau, an American golfer, was playing in the par three competition which is a warm up for the main event. After getting a hole in one, he ran down the fairway to celebrate and when he started running backwards, he tripped and dislocated his ankle.

It was shown repeatedly on TV and you could clearly see the ankle popping out when Finau fell on his backside. He immediately reached down and popped the ankle back in place, then picked himself up and hobbled off the course. It was assumed that he would not be able to take part in the Masters, and that for him, the competition was over before it even started.

Finau went off and had an MRI, had his ankle heavily bandaged and turned up the following day to take part in the competition. For a part of the opening day he even led the field.

Mick Cleary writing in The Telegraph had a story about Saracens rugby player, Brad Barritt, who fractured his cheekbone during a game on the Sunday before the Champions Cup quarter-final against Leinster.

A scan on Monday confirmed his fears and an appointment was made with a specialist surgeon on Tuesday where he underwent an operation under local anaesthetic and had a titanium plate inserted. He was back training on Wednesday and lined out against Leinster on Sunday.

According to Barritt; “They numbed the side of the mouth, created an incision on one side, used what looks like a shoehorn to pull the cheek back, scraped away to the bone and put in a vertical plate and then drilled it in. It sounds more painful than it was, more like a routine wisdom tooth procedure or something like that.”

While Finau and Barritt are probably out of the ordinary, they put the cheating footballers to shame. These guys could legitimately have screamed in agony, but they didn’t. They just got on with it.

Professional footballers and match officials are well paid for what they do, and they have a responsibility to make an honest effort. Hopefully we will be treated to some good refereeing and less theatrics in the World Cup, but I won’t be holding my breath.

The HSE has been rocked in recent times with scandals and it would appear that they are getting very little right.

Hospital overcrowding, patients on trollies, misinterpreted cervical smears, failings in audiology services, staff shortages. it’s a mess and it seems that they’re even struggling with the simple things.

This morning I drove up to the HSE Community Equipment Services in Cork to collect a piece of equipment for my 99-year-old mother-in-law. I decided to go up before lunch to avoid the Friday afternoon traffic but of course, it was never going to be straight forward.

I got there at 12.15pm only to discover that they were closed. It would appear they’re not too fond of early starts because they don’t open up until 10.am. Then they close after a couple of hours, at 12 noon, so they can chill out and have a long lunch before they open again at 2pm. They work for two more hours and close at 4pm.

Maybe, handing out these bits and pieces to patients is very stressful and requires extreme concentration which prevents them from working normal hours, but it might help the rest of us if they put the opening times on the docket.

It’s that time of the year again when we start to consider our plans for the summer holidays. After a long winter of rain, wind, snow and storms, we’re entitled to look forward to a bit of a break, to relax and recharge the batteries before we face the next onslaught.

For most of us, the thought of spending a couple of weeks in the sun and lounging around the pool with a cold beer is enough to get the juices flowing. Making the morning dash to the poolside to grab a sun bed ahead of the Germans, is all the excitement we need.

But not everyone sees it that way and there are certain people who want to be stimulated. They’re not happy unless they’re sweaty and breathless. They crave excitement and it’s even better if there is danger involved. Some arrange their holidays to coincide with various festivals and events, so they can take part. Like the festival of San Fermín for example.

That might not ring a bell but, if I told you it involves an event known as the ‘Pamplona Bull Run’ in Spain, then you would probably know straight away what I’m talking about.

Basically, it involves a bunch of adults running down a hill while trying to avoid being gored or trampled to death by a lot of angry bulls. These animals weigh 700kg and they are all enthusiastically trying to stick their horns into some human flesh.

The madness starts when a rocket is fired into the air to warn people that the gate has been opened at the bull pen. The runners dress in white with a red neckerchief and before they start, they say a prayer.

If you’re about to face the prospect of being flattened by tons of angry beef, then it makes sense to make peace with your God of choice. A second rocket lets everyone know that the bulls have left the pen, and it’s time to start running. As fast as you can.

The organisers suggest that this is a dangerous activity and under no circumstances should anybody consider running while intoxicated. Drunk people are a risk to themselves and to everyone else. That advice makes total sense, but who in their sober senses would agree to take part?

If danger is your thing, you could always try the Cheese-Rolling festival in Gloucestershire in England. It might sound harmless enough, but it is considered an extreme sport, and some say it is so dangerous that it should be banned.

All you need, is a steep hill and a 9lb Double Gloucester cheese. The cheese is rolled down the hill and then everyone chases after it. There isn’t a chance in hell of catching it because it can reach speeds of up to seventy miles an hour, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

I’m not sure what the objective is, but the end result for the contestants is bound to involve pain. Running as fast as you can down a grassy hill can only end badly, and sprains and fractures are not uncommon. The first person to get to the bottom of the hill, dead or alive, is the winner. Where the cheese ends up is anybody’s guess.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is another activity which is much more sedate but is equally as baffling. If you’re looking for a quieter life, you could always head off to Norfolk in England for the World Snail Racing Championships. It’s important to have a health check before you go though, just to be certain that your ticker is able for the tension.

Snail racing is advertised as a fun event for young and old alike and it has been going on for more than 25 years. There’s not a lot to it really, you just go out into the garden and collect snails. You’ll find them underneath big stones and in wet areas, but you already knew that.

The snails race outwards from the centre of a circle. They are put in the middle and pointed in the right direction and each owner just hopes for the best. What you are supposed to do if the snail decides to turn around and go in the opposite direction in unclear.

If all this excitement is too much, then you could try something else. There is an event held in Derbyshire, England, called the World Toe Wrestling Championship and it has been going strong for more than 40 years.

It’s like arm wrestling except that you use your toes instead. Competitors lie on the floor opposite each other, and interlock their big toes in between two small planks of wood. Whoever manages to make their opponent’s foot touch the wood wins a point.

It might not sound like the most physically demanding sport, but toe wrestling is no walk in the park. World champion Alan ‘Nasty’ Nash has suffered his share of cuts, bruises and broken toes over his career. One year, he broke four toes, but it didn’t stop him from going on to win.

If you want to take part in something less adventurous, you could try the Blackawton International Festival of Worm Charming in Devon.

Teams are given a square metre patch of earth in the middle of a field and they must ‘charm’ as many worms as possible to the surface in 15 minutes. You can do what you like to bring the worms out to play, except digging them out.

You can attract them by singing, by beating on the ground or by dancing, whatever tickles your fancy. Some prefer to copy nature by sprinkling water on their patch of ground to replicate a soft spring rain.

Alternatively, you could just pray for an early death.

My daughter brought her car to Little Island yesterday for her NCT. She failed the test because of a problem with a ball joint in the front wheel. Now, she must get that fixed, which is fair enough and then she has to bring it back to the NCT centre to have it checked again.

I went with her and it was noticeable on the way up, the number of pot-holes and dips in the road the she went into by just doing what she is supposed to do which is keeping to her own side of the road. It’s no wonder that cars are developing problems with ball joints among other things.

When she bought the car, she paid dearly for it and a chunk of that money went on tax. She pays a huge amount of tax on every litre of fuel she puts into it. A large portion of her insurance premium also goes to the tax man and the road tax is another substantial offering to the exchequer.

Motorists are making generous donations to the Government but what do we receive from them in return?

We get roads that are in such a poor condition that they are causing damage to our cars. Then, as if that’s not bad enough, we get penalised by the NCT system because the cars are damaged, and we have to pay for that test and we are charged for the re-test as well.

But there is no accountability for the condition of the roads. If there was a system for testing them, I suspect that not too many of them would pass.

You couldn’t make this stuff up.