Month: March 2024

There’s a programme on Channel 4 at the moment called ‘4 in a Bed’. It’s a competition that goes on for a week with a cash prize at the end for the winner. It’s a simple format. Four B&B owners visit each other’s premises, spend a night there and have breakfast the following morning. Before they leave, they rate the B&B under different headings and mark them accordingly. The owner with the highest mark wins at the end of the week gets £1000.

The participants are competitive. At the start of their visit, the guests inspect their rooms, picking up on anything dirty, untidy or out of place. These inspections are taken seriously, over the top in fact. A speck of dust found over the door frame is an offence against humanity. Similarly, a cobweb found on the ceiling lamp shade would lead to lots of tut-tutting.

A single hair found on any of the beds would be reason enough to send for the police so, as I say, it’s a bit over the top. If you search hard enough in the cleanest of properties, you’ll surely find something to complain about.

At the end of their stay, they provide feedback to the owner on the different aspects of their stay based on the performance of the host, the quality of their night’s sleep, the cleanliness of the property, the facilities and the quality of the breakfast. The final question on the feedback sheet is “Would you stay here again?”. The aim of course is to get a “Yes” answer.

I’m not a fusspot but I would definitely answer “No” if the place was dirty. Whenever I stay in a hotel or a B&B I don’t expect to find a dirty room, but I don’t go looking for trouble either. I don’t get down on my hands and knees searching for grime or run my finger over the curtain rail looking for dust.

You never know what a close inspection might reveal. There may even be a few things there to keep you awake. I was talking to a friend of mine recently who worked as a chambermaid in the hotel industry when she was a student.  As a result of her experience, she has a golden rule when she stays in any hotel.

As soon as she enters the room, she removes the cushions, and blankets or duvet from the bed and puts them in the wardrobe. She doesn’t want them anywhere near her body because she reckons, they’re rarely cleaned.

Because she has no idea what the previous guests got up to on these things, she wants them out of harm’s way. To back up her theory she says you’ll always see clean sheets going into hotel rooms, but you rarely see fresh duvets or covers. When I thought about it, she had a point.

She had other issues with the cleanliness too. In her day, the drinking glasses, cups and glasses in the bathrooms were often rinsed in the bathroom sink and dried with the dirty towels. That made me think twice about using these things in future.

Low standards like this might be more common than you think. A team from Upgraded Points, a US travel website, analysed the bacteria present on communal features at a range of hotels, from two-star up to five-star properties and the results were staggering.

They compared some of the most touched objects in hotels to common household items. Here’s t what they found: Overall, the average hotel elevator button has 1,477 times more germs than the average household bathroom door handle and 737 times more germs than a household toilet seat.

The average hotel door handle has 918 times more germs than a household toilet seat. Besides elevator buttons and door handles, there are plenty of other dirty areas to avoid in hotels too like the remote control, which is a big germ catcher. The chairs in the room usually aren’t cleaned like sheets and towels, so they can harbour germs that are invisible to the naked eye.

Respiratory viruses can linger on a desk for up to four days, and don’t assume that the curtains in your room are clean. Consider the time it takes to take them down, clean them and put them back up.  An ice bucket can retain many germs since it is often used by guests for purposes other than those originally intended.

A good idea when checking into a room is to take a good breath of air and if you smell something off, then maybe you should trust your instinct, return your key to reception and ask a few questions. It might save you an unpleasant experience, especially if the room was previously used for nefarious activities.

1982, three car thieves met up in New Jersey to do a bit of business. They booked into a motel room and after a dispute, two of them decided to do away with the third guy so they fed him a burger laced with cyanide. They stuffed his body under the bed and left it there where it was found four days later.

During the intervening four days, the room had been rented out. Guests had complained about the smell, but none thought to look under the bed.

In 2010 in Memphis, Tennessee, a lady was reported missing after she failed to pick up her children from school. Forty-seven days later, homicide investigators were called to the room of a motel where she had been living just prior to her disappearance. Her body had been discovered inside the frame of the bed even though the room had reportedly been cleaned and rented several times since her disappearance almost seven weeks earlier.

Suddenly, dirty glasses don’t seem like such a  big issue.

An article in the Guardian newspaper reported that more than 1,800 police officers recruited under Boris Johnson’s manifesto pledge to increase numbers, resigned last year. Johnson had promised to add 20,000 police officers to forces in England and Wales by March 2023 in an attempt to address the austerity cuts.

More than 15,000 officers had been recruited, according to the government but, following a freedom of information request, the newspaper found that at least 1,837 of officers who joined under the scheme had already quit. The newspaper suggested the figure could be much higher, as 19 of the 43 forces in England and Wales did not provide data.

That sounds familiar. According to the Department of Justice, 164 garda members resigned from the force last year, compared with 109 the previous year, 94 in 2021 and 70 in 2020. A total of 72 resigned in 2019, 77 in 2018 and 41 in 2017.

It’s not that long ago that joining An Garda Siochana meant a job for life but it seems that many of the new recruits these days are finding it isn’t the job they thought it was and they’re throwing in the towel in increasing numbers.

Antoinette Cunningham, the soon to retire General Secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors says the job is no longer attractive, largely due to the core issues of health and safety, working conditions, excessive oversight, bureaucratic systems, pensions and the heightened levels of abuse. With 33 years’ experience behind her she’s certainly in a position to comment.

I retired in 2015 so I can’t speak about the current working conditions, but it’s obvious that garda management has a problem with resignations and attracting new members. Changes to pension, pay and conditions are being cited as the main cause but reputational damage from some controversaries hasn’t helped either.

Representative bodies have reported poor morale is also a factor. An abundance of oversight has been cited as another issue with the Garda Inspectorate, Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission, the Policing Authority and now the Garda Anti-Corruption Unit (GACU) watching every move.

When I joined in 1979, we had more freedom to use our initiative, but we were still a disciplined organisation. We operated to a set of rules laid down in the Garda Siochana Code and if we stepped out of line, we were called to account. There were rogue operators too but the vast majority of those I served with played by those rules.

Most were working and living in the community and doing their bit to enhance the quality of life for everyone in a safe environment. It’s what An Garda Siochana was instructed to do on its formation in 1922; go out and live and work among the community. For over a century they have become part of people’s everyday lives, but hat could get a garda into trouble these days.

There was a story earlier in the year in the Irish Independent concerning a garda who was suspended for three years after giving an elderly man in the midlands an unclaimed bicycle that had been lying around the garda station. It was during Covid, and the older man was living in an isolated area and needed a bicycle to get out to the shops.

His own bike was unusable and the garda became aware of this. He knew there was a bike in the station that nobody had claimed so he gave it to the older man to help him out. That good deed brought the wrath of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation down upon him.

In 2020 they raided his home and also called to home of the older man and took possession of the bicycle. The Garda Commissioner suspended the long-serving garda for three years while the case was investigated by specialist investigators in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

At the end of their investigation, it was decided the garda had no criminal case to answer and the officer concerned was reinstated.

That wasn’t the end of the matter though. Disciplinary proceedings were instigated against the garda because he neglected to fill out the necessary paperwork. While that process was underway, he was confined to “restricted duties”, which meant he could not deal with the public he’d sworn to serve.

That case came before a board comprised of a legal professional, a superintendent and a chief superintendent unconnected to the case. The garda faced five disciplinary charges including discreditable conduct, disobedience, misuse of property and neglect of duty. That garda has now been cleared of any wrongdoing by the disciplinary inquiry.

A four-day hearing was held last February and by early March the board rejected all five disciplinary charges. The board’s decision was sent to the Garda Commissioner who can decide to accept or reject it.

In light of that, you’d have to wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place? How was a seemingly innocent good deed identified as a case with such potential criminal implications that it required the services of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation to investigate it? And who made that initial determination?

An Garda Síochána has an obligation to protect people from the risks and effects of corrupt behaviour, and to prevent and prosecute any form of corruption that impacts upon the delivery of a quality policing service to the community. That’s as it should be, but in recent times, they seem to have gone over the top with their interpretation of corruption.

During my 35 years in An Garda Siochana, I was fortunate enough to serve under many fine officers who held senior positions in the organisation, most of whom were blessed with some degree of common sense. Unfortunately, that commodity appears to be sadly lacking in the Force today.

We’ve reached that time of the year when people start making preparations for summer holidays. For some, that will mean long haul flights. The kind that take forever, cost a fortune and give you a dose of jetlag when you eventually arrive at your destination. They’re not easy.

Thanks to my daughter’s decision to relocate to Australia for a few years, my wife and I will be dealing with that challenge at the end of the year. As much as we are looking forward to seeing them all again, the thought of the travel doesn’t excite me. I’ve made the journey down-under twice before and I swore I would never do it again.

It takes about 30 hours to get there, give or take, depending on lay overs etc. and most of that time is spent sitting in a confined space at high altitude. Apart from the discomfort, there are certain risks attached to long flights too like deep vein thrombosis (DVT) which happens when a blood clot forms in your body. That can prove to be fatal if not treated in time.

Flight socks are designed to prevent this condition and the last time I flew long-haul my wife pestered me to wear them. I eventually caved in, but I didn’t like them. I found they made my legs hot and itchy, nevertheless I persevered for a quiet life. I secretly questioned the value of them at the time, but I’ve since worn them in hospital after surgery, so they’re obviously regarded by the medical community.  

Whatever about wearing them on long flights, I never considered them for shorter trips. I fly to Cyprus regularly which takes about five hours, and I haven’t worn the socks on those flights. I’m about to reconsider that and I’ll tell you why.

Not long after arriving in Cyprus last September, I got a flare up of gout. That wasn’t out of the ordinary for me. I need to keep hydrated in the heat of the sun but sometimes I slip up. A blast of gout soon reminds me to start hosing down the water but it’s a bit late at that stage. It’s a painful condition which usually affects the big toe.

It occurs when uric acid in the blood stream crystalises in the joint of the toe and it feels as if there are splinters of glass in there. The area turns red and becomes inflamed making it difficult to walk. A course of anti-inflammatory tablets with lots of water usually fixes the problem.

Gout sufferers get absolutely no sympathy. When you explain to someone that you’re limping badly because you’re having a gout attack you can expect to be laughed at. Henry VIII suffered from it, and it was considered to be an illness that only afflicted the wealthy brought on by a diet of pheasant and red wine apparently. Not in my case though.

My gout attack cleared up and when I got a similar sensation in my left heel a week later, I wasn’t too alarmed. It was unusual though in so far as it was attacking a new area. It spread as the week wore on, extending further up my calf. It was extremely painful, so I made my way to a local pharmacist and showed her the affected area.

She gave me strong anti-inflammatories and advised me to see a doctor if it didn’t improve in three days. She was worried it might be thrombosis. I asked her what that meant and she tried her best to explain in English, which wasn’t her first language, and when she mentioned heart, I switched off. There is no history of heart trouble in the family, so I tuned out.

Three days later, the swelling had decreased but it hadn’t disappeared completely. In fact, it took a couple of weeks before the leg was back to normal, and in the meantime, like most men, I ignored it. When I got home at the end of November, I took myself off to my GP and I showed him some photographs of my swollen calf and I could tell he was concerned.

He handed me a referral letter and told me to take it to the emergency department at the Mater Private Hospital. Sooner rather than later he suggested. I headed there the following morning bright and early and after a battery of tests, they discovered two blood clots in the calf area of my left leg.

Clots can develop if you don’t move for a long time when traveling a long distance or when you’re confined to bed after surgery or because of illness. They’re painful things and can cause swelling but sometimes there may be no noticeable symptoms.

It’s a serious condition because clots in the veins can break loose and travel through the bloodstream into the lungs, blocking blood flow. I always associated DVT with long haul flights but that’s not the case apparently. My consultant recommended wearing flight socks or compression socks for flights over three and a half hours which pretty much covers many of the regular hot spots.

He says that our legs swell on flights at the best of times and that puts pressure on the veins which over time could interfere with the circulation. He stressed the importance of keeping hydrated during flights too.

If not wearing flight socks, the advice when traveling is to take frequent breaks to stretch the legs. Stand up and walk around occasionally and if traveling by car, stop every hour or so and move about. If that’s not possible, do lower leg exercises. Raise and lower your heels while keeping your toes on the floor. Then raise your toes while keeping your heels on the floor.

Better still, just wear flight socks.

Vera Hartland was a well-known local councillor in Cobh back in the days when we had an Urban District Council. She lived in St. Patricks Square at the top of East Hill with her brother Ernie. She operated a small sweetshop from her back garden, but as children, we were half afraid to go in there because she could eat you alive.

Miss Hartland as she was known (only the very brave dared to address her as Vera) was famous for her sharp tongue and could be very direct at council meetings. On one occasion in 1960, she was unhappy with a decision the county council had taken.

She took it up at a meeting of the Southern Committee of Cork County Council, and asked the Chairman, Mr. M J Corry, T.D. for an explanation. She said the chairman did not have the power to do this on his own. “I challenge him to give the facts so that you may judge him here with me.” she said.

Fighting talk and she was well able to fight for the town. She didn’t always get her way, but she wasn’t beyond banging a few heads together. It’s a pity we don’t have Vera around today because it seems to me that Cobh has become a forgotten land. And has been for some time.

Back in 2008 I wrote a letter to the Irish Examiner complaining about the rising cost of motor tax and the poor condition of our roads. Something I had been banging on about for a while. I had just bought a new car in 1997 when I hit a pothole in east Cork. The car developed a permanent limp as a result.

The road into Cobh back then was in bad shape too, littered with bumps, humps, depressions, potholes and general uneven surfaces. In fact, it was difficult to find a stretch of roadway that was free of blemishes all of which were contributing to a reduction in the shelf life of my car. I finished my letter by looking for accountability given that the grit and liquid tar system for filling potholes wasn’t fit for purpose.

Fast forward to today, 28 years later, and sadly that same letter could still apply to the condition of the road network in Cobh. I was driving home from my early morning swim recently when my car went into a pothole with a thump. A little later after dropping my wife to work, I forgot about it and went into the damn thing again.

Putting four new tyres on any car isn’t cheap, so I was rightly peeved at the prospect of having them damaged. The roads around Cobh do nothing to extend their life expectancy and if you drive up the hills coming into Cobh, you will notice an amount of hardened concrete on the road surface that has come from overloaded cement trucks.

They spill part of their load on steep inclines, then leave it to solidify and to wear out our tyres. This has been going on for years and I have never seen or heard of any company being compelled to clean up their mess.

A spin around the town will reveal a further network of poor, damaged and uneven road surfaces and it got so bad recently that many took to social media to voice their concerns. One contributor on Facebook complained that the roads were crying out for resurfacing but that filling the holes with a bucket of tarmac doesn’t work.

Another complained about the state of the roads and footpaths in Cobh and said it was a waste of saying anything about it. Another contributor raised an important point. She wondered about the accountability and questioned how the contracts for road repair were awarded. She also asked who was responsible for signing off on the work done by the contractors and who was accountable when the work wasn’t up to scratch? Very valid questions.  

In fairness to two local councillors, they took to social media to reply as they regularly do. They are both easily contactable and they make themselves available to the public and always respond to issues raised. I have no doubt they voice our concerns at their monthly meetings too, but I can’t help wondering if anyone is listening to them.

But what really bothered me was that they both fully agreed with the complaints. They also agreed that the situation was unsatisfactory but surprisingly, both admitted they were helpless to do anything about it.

One said,” We need the velocity patcher to come into the area and do a proper job but unfortunately this is the procedure all over the county and I can totally understand people’s frustration and will speak to them again today.”

The other commented “Agree fully and all local councillors keep raising this. Unfortunately, this is the procedure for fixing potholes and it’s a country wide issue. It doesn’t work but will keep raising the issue to seek improvement in the methods of repair.”

And this is where I get confused. If it’s known that the process for fixing potholes is flawed and it’s also known that it doesn’t work, then why the hell are we not changing the process? It seems to me that raising the issue month after month with no prospect of change falls in line with Einstein’s description of insanity.

When Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan announced an investment programme for regional and local roads in 2023, he said “It makes more sense to protect and repair our roads quickly rather than letting them fall into more expensive disrepair.” True, but if the process for repairing roads is broken, then we’re just wasting money. May as well fill the potholes with cash.

If only we still had Vera.