Tolls are bad enough without a border fence with New Hampshire too

Good to see that the presidential candidate Perry has let New Hampshire know that it can't build a border fence. Though I'm sure some people in NH would like to see Massachusetts residents fenced out, it would not be very convenient for commuters each day...

Staying where Michael Jackson (and family) stayed in Ireland

It is a little known fact that, before he died, Michael Jackson spent a lot of time with his kids in Ireland. Now you can rent the same house in County Wicklow where Michael Jackson, and family, stayed: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2011/0901/1224303280437.html

Michael Jackson also spent time in 2006 in County Westmeath, and you can rent the same houses stayed there too. It is amazing to read about it now:

Jackson fell in love with County Westmeath and, after a month in the converted cowshed, moved to the equally secluded neighbouring estate of Coolatore, also owned by the Dunnings. Because Jackson didn't have his own driver in Ireland, Paddy enlisted local taxi driver Ray O'Hara to drive Michael and the kids around in a borrowed people carrier with blacked-out windows.

The Dunnings somehow managed to keep the fact that the King of Pop was in residence a secret for several months. Even when Jackson began to venture out and there were rumoured sightings of him in the nearby villages of Moate or Kilbeggan, the Dunnings would deny all knowledge. "If someone said to me I've heard Michael Jackson is there, I would tell them: 'Yeah, so is Elvis Presley!' says Paddy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/aug/15/michael-jackson-ireland-secret-retreat

Ireland to ban smoking in cars with kids present?

As someone who spent a lot of time in a smoky car as a kid, this is an interesting topic. I tend to agree with Conor Faughnan's views:

AA Roadwatch spokesman Conor Faughnan said there would be mixed views from motorists on the issue and that there was also an ideological issue involved. He said motorists tended to regard their cars as their own personal space.

“Is the logical extension of that is that we should ban smoking in homes too or ban it altogether?” he asked.

Mr Faughnan said it would be a “profound mistake” if smoking in cars was made a road traffic offence as it was not a road traffic, but a health issue.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0728/1224301502295.html

A black pudding burger - Irish heaven in Sydney

Durty Nelly's pub in Paddington, Sydney, serves a black pudding burger. So, I had to check it out. The burger tasted great, though I was slightly disappointed to see that it contains many normal-sized black pudding slices, not a big burger-sized disc of black pudding. Good atmosphere in the pub too, which is just off Oxford Street not far from the junction with Victoria street. There is a great Indian take-away around the corner, on Oxford Street, too. All highly recommended.

Queen arrives in Bus Eireann bus

I know times are hard in the UK and Ireland right now, and I know that Bus Eireann runs a bus route from London to Dublin, but this Irish Times report seems to imply that Queen Elizabeth bussed it over from London:

McDonalds "Boston Deli Bagel" - seen down under

I am in Sydney at the moment, and I was surprised to find a "Boston Deli Bagel" on the breakfast menu at MacDonalds here. It's actually quite tasty, but baffling to me why it's a Boston Deli Bagel. Is Boston known for its delis? Something more true to Boston would be a copy of the Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwich.

A good deal on a snow hat on Amazon - only $1795

I know it's very cold in Boston now, but I think that almost $1800 for a snow hat might be pushing it a bit...

http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Earflap-Trapper-Hat-Multiple/dp/B00439MY2Q

Pete Postlethwaite

The Irish Times has a moving tribute to Peter Postlethwaite today, though I remember The Town being more about Charlestown than Norn Iron:

" In Ben Affleck’s admired picture, the actor plays the owner of a florist in Northern Ireland who moonlights as a criminal mastermind."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0104/1224286698358.html

Welcome to Ireland, now get lost

Good piece by Matt Gross in today's New York Times on being "Lost in Ireland". It is interesting how different the piece is from something that would have been written a few years ago. Now, rental cars from Dublin airport are "cheap", roads are surprising good, but the radio is non-stop depressing gloom and doom about the economy.

I was surprised to see Johnny Fox's pub on the list of places he visited. In my experience, this pub in the Wicklow mountains is not somewhere you can find without a good map or GPS. More than once, I have had to follow the Dublin Bus which I know drives past it. But perhaps the best way to find it is to first get lost?

CNN's circular road trip around Ireland

It's always good when you get the impression that the person writing about a road trip actually went on the road trip themselves, and didn't just write it from a guide book. This CNN road trip around Ireland by John D Sutter is good, for this reason.

For the record, here are my own recommendations on driving around Ireland (follow the links at the bottom of the page for more)

They shoot horses, don't they?

Echoes of the depression in this story in the Irish Times today about the fate of Irish horses left behind after the boom: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0928/1224279819356.html. It includes this nugget of information:

If a horse has a “clean passport” – meaning that it hasn’t received drugs in its lifetime which make it unfit for human consumption – it can go to a meat factory, where it will be humanely killed. Its meat will then go into the food chain destined for Europe.

Therapy? are still on the go....

This is a band I first saw at the Buttery in Trinity College Dublin circa 1993. Although a friend pointed out that they derived from Big Black (and she gave me a cassette to prove it), they were excellent and who could forget their cover of Joy Division's Isolation. The best thing to come out of Larne since the ferry to Stranraer.

Latest news here: http://www.therapyquestionmark.co.uk/news/