The Fall and Rise Of ...

Sydney FC V Perth Glory

2006-10-30T10:40:00.000Z

s
went to see Sydney FC entertain Perth down at Aussie Stadium on Sunday, lovely stadium, good atmospehere although it was only 1/3 full, i thought the standard was really quiet poor. It finished up 1- 1. I reckon Terry Butcher won't be around much longer. It is probably hard to blame him i don't think there is much to work with from what I saw. There are only 8 teams in the league, I am surprised they can keep it going really ,the league that is. Basically there was no away fans at the game. There is a New Zealand team in the comp aswell that are the current whipping boys. When the NZ play Perth it is a round trip of 20 hrs flying for the away team.

Chariots of Fire

2006-10-19T11:30:00.000+01:00

Some snaps from my recent half marathon effort ..
owing to a late start (very) i finished well down the field in about 3000th position (if i had been on time i might have been pushing to get into the top 2000)

Coincidence or Conspiracy

2006-09-03T14:52:00.000+01:00

During my time here I have been "subject" to a huge amount of imcompetence and I really am starting to take it all a bit personal here are some of the highlights:

The Fridge : I recently bought a fridge .. a very standard model it must be said, I paid extra to have it delivered .. when the boys turn up with it the top is mysteriously hanging off .. i had no choice but to take it as i couldn't keep any diary products fresh, after looking at it for a while i figured out how to clip it back on .. obiviously it was dropped or kicked or the boys in the ware house were playing rugby with it ...

The Ipod : I bought a nano about 2 months ago and have gone back twice with it, the weird thing is that no one even looks at them they just send them off and you get a new one from the service centre, after doing some research i found a way to test the battery and found that probably the very first ipod i had was actually working, the problem being one or two settings were draining the battery and turning them off solved the battery draining issue. I was sent to three different places at one point eventually coming full circle back to the shop i started in.

The Room : Chronicled in earlier blogs .. this was less incompetence more sheer bad luck to land there.

The Telephone : I was supposed to have a landline installed in my apartment i think it was in my lease agreement, during the week i got two texts saying some lad would be out between 1 and 5 on friday last, i spent 20 minutes on hold on the thursday trying to change the installation date but gave up deciding that i would just go home on the friday. Friday at 10.15 the guy calls to say he is outside my house, i had been expecting him in the afternoon but anyway i said i would be there in 1/2 an hour. I get home and call expecting him to be here, he seems not to know why i am calling but evetually said "i will come to your home" 2 and 1/2 hours later i ring him again pretty annoyed at this stage and he stays to me "but i did the installation and am at home" it turns out that the phone company gave him my number but an address in north sydney and after he had spoken to me (the first time) someone at the other address turned up and he presumed it was me. So i am left with no phone installed and three hours wasted.

The Agency: I am biased anyway having nothing but contempt for these people. My agent rang a while back me up to say i was being paid a couple of dollars extra per week and that my pay would have to be back dated, they do nothing for me except get paid for the work i do and they can't even get this most basic thing right. she rings up again at the start of the week to say there had been yet another error and that this back dating thing still hadn't been done (while i was moving into a new place i hadn't seen any pay slips).. basically this week half my wage was taken .. maybe to someone who hasn't had to deal with these employment agencies regularly they don't understand my feelings here .. my exclusively bad experiences with them in any country has truly set me against "them".

I just hope i make home for KM's wedding at this stage ..

Gaffage

2006-08-27T06:09:00.000+01:00

Room with a viewish ..

Top Deck .. Presidential Suite

My latest lodgings at 38 Botany Street , Bondi Junction

The Daily Planet

2006-08-26T16:13:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update of some of the books/flicks/music I have been reading/seeing/listening to in recent times:

Flicks:

Jindabyne : a "serious" Australian film, i thought it was pretty mediocre, Gabriel Bryne is in it and there is a werid Irish pious religious element in it that really annoyed me, not one likeable character either, at the end i was just glad it was over, the end was as i expected as in no ending, at the cinema i could hear the sigh from everyone else "is that it ?" .. maybe one will have to see it to know what i am talking about.

Kenny : Mockumentary in the style of Spinal Tap or Best In Show, I thought it was classic stuff.

Footy Legends : Rugby league is the football in question. Enjoyable enough in its own way although in the end it descends into fantasy (the local pups made good come up against a team of former legends and beat them, when the camera pans across all the legends are literally twice the size of the lads )

Some Boxset stuff (Is the boxset the greatest invention in the history of the world ?):

Simspsons fifth series : I think i had given up completely on the simpsons the last 5/6 years of simspons have been putrid, but this season on its own is absolutely classic, so many marquee episodes its hard to pick one, Homer the Vigilante/Bobo/Homer in Space/The B Sharps/The Thompsons/Campers Pampers

Black Books : Brillant No other words necessary, can't understand why i had to come to Oz to find out about this classic

Books

Day of the Triffids: I am big fan of the post apocalyptic genre, I think this is a great read, it seems to me to a very accurate and frightening take on the descent into chaos after a massive castrophe.

War of the Worlds : Fabulous SciFi considering it is over a 100 years since it was written, The tom cruise film that came out last year based on the book is a stain on humanity i might add.

Music

Morrissey : Ringleader of the tormentors : Good stuff from Moz although I don't think this album did aswell as he thought it would, I don't remember a strong single being released.

Dan Fogelberg : I heard Same Old Lang Syne on the wireless and thought it was great, so i picked up his greatest hits, its not bad middle of the road type stuff.

Miles Davis : Cool & Collected : In fairness it is pretty good but i have the feeling buying the albums is better listening you probably can't shoehorn a selection toegther like this and make it sound as seemeless as any of the classic albums. A review halfway down the page (Amazon) is spot on i reckon and i am certainly no expert.

They think its all over .. actually it is ..

2006-08-20T12:47:00.000+01:00

Why are my legs so pasty white ?

All the lads ... here now .. brazil 1970 anyone ?

seriously a fantastic bunch of guys unfourtunately no medals for us, we left our run a bit late

Check out the state of the pitch .. all the "ovals" are in awful condition at this stage of the year

Hostel Watch : Sydney - Side

2006-08-19T15:26:00.000+01:00

Check out the view, you get what you pay for i guess

Bondi Backers : looks kinda funky and retro but pretty bog standard actually ..

As has been mentioned in an earlier blog in recent times I have seen some "Hostel Time", so i have decided to do a sort of ratings blog, hopefully if/when i get to move around this massive continent i can add to it :

I was in two hostels last week in downtown Bondi , Bondi is the number 1 tourist beach probably in Oz not because it is some sort fo fantastic place(it most definitely is not) more because it is the place everyone has heard of and would usually be crammed full of Irish/Eng/Scottich and every other kind , luckily for me this is downtime so i had my choice of establishments.

I think when rating a hostel, in all honesty you really are only looking for value for your dollar so on that basis i am going to rate on price/hyigene also bearing in mind i was in a single room on my own and then give a comment on the overall package

I spent two nights here : Beachhouse

Room: Excellent Room, with a view of the beach

Hyigene: Excellent couldn't fault it, showers and toilet facilites well upto scratch

Price: $70 per night a shocking price

Comment : While everything here is excellent the price is geniuely awful, if i had stayed all week there it would have been just under $500 , for that price i could have stayed at the four seasons in the city.
Because we are rating on value for dollar i will have to stay this is stinking, simply as that.

I spent 3 nights here: Bondi Backpackers

Room : Okay, No View (see pic)

Hygiene : Okay (one of the two showers was broken just aswell there was no one around really one shower between god knows how many people on a floor in peak season would be diasaterous)

Price: $35 per night an excellent price

Comment : while not really of the same class as The Beachouse the price for 3 nights was excellent and you can't say fairer than that.

Springfield Shopper

2006-08-12T11:13:00.000+01:00

Once again it seems I haven't blogged for ages, although this time I have a fairly decent excuse ..

my accmodation situation has been quite dicey for a while now .. that is to say the guy i was sharing the apartment with was unstable to say the least .. however things took a rather dramatic turn over the last two to three weeks .. i don't really want to go into to much detail .. it should be enough to say that things had gotten to a level i couldn't ignore and with the help of Chris I moved out by "stealth" last week, the aim being to be gone before he new i was actually gone. It is amazing just how much this type of thing takes out of you, i hadn't had a good night's sleep in about two weeks. Anywhoo on wed i left him the keys
and a note "wishing him all the best for the future" .. The reason for this was just to keep up his petty little pretense of pretending everything was normal .. I saw no reason to change at that stage ..

This week i have basically been hopping around various hostels in bondi .. ironically i missed out on this "pleasure" when i first came here as i shacked up with the boys early doors.

It has been a very tiring week trying to see apartments etc and going to work etc .. I know everyone does this .. but i do have a new respect for people who actually go and buy houses .. the patience required is unbelievable .. agents are always late turning up and kinda don't care anyway. The good news in this story is I have got a one bed apartment near the train stop in bondi junction and we won game one of our double header in the soccer this weekend. If we win tomorrow we might still be in the hat for a semi spot going into the last matches next week.

Where is SON ?

2006-07-23T06:37:00.000+01:00

It does seem to be a very long time since I last blogged .. not really sure why that is ..

I will try and get back on the blogging bandwagon I guess ..

anywhoo a quick update ..

Not a lot happening really still working away etc in the city it is a life that I think does ware one down .. in that waiting for buses and trains all the time is a complete pain .. add to that the weather is complete crap here .. it has been raining heavily on off for weeks now .. I am not complaining though, Sydney is a great place .. and apparently the winter (cold weather) is only going to last another few weeks .. so its not all doom and gloom ..

the soccer has about four weeks left .. we are going to finish 5th in a league out of ten which isn't bad at all considering how things were starting off .. in all the leagues here the top four go through to a semi and then a final .. we have pushed hard recently but we drew a few matches we had to win so that is it i think .. there is a outside chance we could make it but i doubt it

not much else really going on .. i guess because of the weather nothing really exciting is happening at the mo ..

Also my new favourite show is this

A few movies i have seen recently and forgot how great they are ..

Diner

My Cousin Vinny

Her Alibi

What's eating Gilbert Grape (Absolutely Brillo)

Scare at bedtime : Audition ( pretty nasty actually)

Oldie but Goodie : Ladri di Biciclette

I have bought a number cds .. and i will get around to them in my next blog

Swaning

2006-06-14T08:12:00.000+01:00

The SCG is really stylish ground, it is oval for one as can be seen here has a number of cricket type stands..

Tagdh Kenneally mid right of pic in red, the weather was shocking so the snaps i took werent great.

Overall a great night was had .. a bit more here ....

The Ozzies not unexpectedly are a little excited about world cup proceedings, hopefully i will be out and about to capture some of the antics ..

Review Corner

2006-06-02T08:45:00.000+01:00

if you hand teh Seeing as I am completely devoid of ideas I reckon I might just do a quick review of some items i have been seeing/reading/listening to recently ..

Flicks :

Bombon El Perro (Bombon The Dog) : Sensational , I saw it last year sometime and again in the last few days, heartwarming stuff ..

Primer : absolutely bafflingly but in a cool way I think .. this might help .. watch the flick first though

Music :

Versions by Thievery Corporations : Actually really mellow with a pleasing middle east thing happening also

Connected: Full Intention: Mixed By Full Intention : Brillo for listening to coming and going to work

Books:

Pele Autobiograpy : Pretty much as you would expect a gentle stroll through his life and times no real controversy a few nice nuggets of info for the trainspotting fans also a cool appendix at the back of the book listing all pele's goals truly astonhing his statistics, it is really hard to contenance that he was playing top class football at 16 and playing for brazil before his 17th birthday, walcott eat your heart out.

Kings of Queens ..

2006-05-14T06:03:00.000+01:00

The big derby today, Queens park A Vs Queens Park B us being B ..

as per usual we conceded a ridiculously soft goal early on .. but fought well and levelled before half time .. in the last three matches we have had horror show second halfs .. the trend looked set to contine when we gave another soft goal up.. I genuinely thought it couldn't get worse and then one of our the boys hit a great volley and turned the game we went on to score a late winner .. there is no sweeter victory than a snatched a last minute winner in my opinion ..

not much else to report sidney side currently ... I am currently working on a project at work with UK guys and we have to have phone conferences from 8 in the evening to 10 .. it all a big big companyish (Pointless) ..

Only a game?

2006-05-06T03:45:00.000+01:00

"What happens on the football field matters, not in the way that food matters but as poetry does to some people and alchol does to others: It engages the personality, It has conflict and beauty, and when those two qualities are present together in something offered for public appraisal they represent much of what I understand to be art. The people own this art in the way they can never own any form of music, theatre, literature or religion because they cannot be fooled in it as they can in these other things, where intention can be deliberately obscured and method beyond their grasp. Football does not ask for faith; it compels examination. Phoney footballers are simply booted aside. The crowds can be vindictive and brutal, but they can seldom be deceived. They know about their football intuitively, as they know about their families.

Extract taken from "The Football Man" by Arthur Hopcraft

Good man Arthur I couldn't have put it better myself ...

I think these sentiments are particularly relevant in light of the fact that we are on the run into the World Cup. For the Oz games they are erecting huge screens in the city centre, it should be great the ozzies are starting to get really excited about about the prospect out togging out in the WC, it breaks my heart that we are not competing.

With regard to soccer on a less glamourous level i.e. Queens Park:

After the hammering we got last sunday, tuesday night training was fercious, savage fitness drills coupled with analysis of what went wrong on sunday. It is quite impressive the oz way of doing things, we don't have a trainer just 11-13 guys and everyone turns up for training and takes it serious, I can't imagine this happening at home , training really hard on your own that is. Speaking frankly we might get another hammering on sunday, the team problem is not fitness related, it is probably just down to tactics and a lack of really good basic skills. We'll see how we go anywhoo .. watch this space as the man said !!

Cris-a-tunity

2006-04-30T08:12:00.000+01:00

We were on the wrong end of a 5 -1 scoreline today ... we were pretty much terrible .. I got our one goal and in all frankness i might never score a better one , i ran from inside our half and kept going .. I only mention it as it brought us to 2 -1 at half time I thought we would go on to win it .. how wrong could i be .. I guess i will leave it at that .. we aren't that bad .. tactically we are all over the place though which is deeply frustrating at times .

I did a blog a few weeks back about sport here .. knowing a bit more now I was thinking i would write a little more ..

I never mentioned the "Super 14" in the last blog, but it is definitely worth a mention as it is pretty much the champions league of southern hemisphere rugby union. Teams from Oz, NZ and SA all play in league format. The sydney team are called the warratahs, canbnerra have a team called the ACT brumbies. Most of the games seem to be played on friday evening at around 5 in the evening, everyone rocks down from work and watches the game which means the atmosphere is great.

The AFL is well underway now, the swans have had a terrible start to the season but had a great win last night against geelong, Tadgh Kennelly was back from injury and was brillant, the boys in the commentary box reckon he is one of the best players in the game. After last nights game they interviewed him, he was in great form, there has been trouble with the sod in the stadium and the interviewer asked tadgh if he was worried about the state of the pitch tadgh said "I think the pitch is great .. I have played in a hell of alot worse in Ireland" the commentary boys were loving it. Just a quick note on setanta, I think he plays with Carlton which is a melbourne team, there not doing well and I think he was starting but was dropped for this weekend's game.

The NRL is the other big league which I am slowly coming round to, my local team "Easts" aka the Sydney Roosters are doing okay, hopefully i am going to see them in the next few weeks ..
The best thing about the NRL is a a tv programme on thursday nights called the footy show .. basically four of the lads just taking the piss for two hours but at the same time addressing all the weeks footy issues .. I think it is brillo ..

Canberra: Part 2

2006-04-25T23:19:00.000+01:00

Nothing to do with Canberra actually

we played against Maroubra on Sunday

Result: 3-3

Verdict: forgettable game, I got clattered a couple of times which has left me aching all week

These "game" photos are suffering a "sameness" i will try and get some better snaps going ..

A painting from the national gallery from Sidney Ford's "Ned Kelly" series .. essentially the paintings depict scenes from Kelly's life and his dealings with the law. He appears with a box on his head which is symbolic of armour he wore in his scraps with the cops except in the last two paintings where instead of white eyes he has red eyes

Blue poles by Jackson Pollock .. A priceless work of art ?

Canberra: Part 1

2006-04-20T04:14:00.000+01:00

In the national museum .. Vegemite or something

also in the national Museum ..

the first "Holden" procduced in Austraila

Taken from the top of Mount Ainsley ..

directly below is the war memorial museum straight up the avenue (red brick) is the original parliament house and behind that with the huge flagpole is the new parliament house

On the road again

2006-04-14T01:17:00.000+01:00

We have a 4 day week here for easter which is just mighty. I am writing this blog from Canberra. Got here late last night, basically peter the fella I share an apartment with, his folks live here so he asked me if I wanted to come down for a look. Actually It is my first trip outside of Sydney since I got here so its all rather exciting. I think it is about 270k's from Sydney which sounds like alot but we got here in no time, it was all motorway.
I think the place is quite small but it seems beautifully laid out and a very spacious kind of place. Today I will get a bit of a tour of the sights so hopefully I can post a range of snaps over the weekend.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL

I was wondering should a countdown of some "automatic" kind be started for keith's wedding

KM & HARRIET WEDDING COUNTDOWN : About 5 1/2 months to go (A very prcise breakdown)

The Lions

2006-04-10T12:00:00.000+01:00

largin in the city with Daniel

Queens Park home patch .. i'll try and get some action pics next time i.e the team playing

We gave "The lions" a bit of a pasting yesterday .. it ended up 6 -0 . Hopefully we can get a bit of a run going.

The other big news I guess is that I have my first week in work down, seems okay so far anyway so i guess I will just take it as it comes.

Rose Bay

2006-04-03T11:28:00.000+01:00

A truly glorious Rose Bay in the background

Hardly the Maracanna .. the weather was brillo and that's enough for me

Queens Park 1 Maccabi 1

Our first outing and we came away with a draw, however the result could have gone either way. They scored a softish goal in the first half we pushed hard but couldn't seem to get the break through, there keeper was exceptional, I think he was a lad from Northern Ireland. In the second half I nicked a goal to draw us level .. from here we contined to push but there keeper was inspired. I also hit the top of the bar with a side footed volley. They then went down our end and got a penalty. Our man in goal saved the day however . We had one more chance that was struck well but again there keeper denied us and seconds later the ref blew for full time. An enjoyable forst day out hopefully we can push on from here we will hardly meet a keeper as good again. It is amazing the difference a ood keeper can make to a team.

X-Man

2006-04-01T04:59:00.000+01:00

Went for a chest X-Ray yesterday. It was in one of those Immigration offices. Christ they are dismal dreary places. Everyone behind the counter seemed to be milling around doing nothing and the queue seemed only to be getting bigger. Almost everyone waiting seemed to be of Asian origin and they all seemed to be going for medical's. I thanked my stars i didn't have to go for a medical that seemed like a very tedius affair. Going for an X-ray in my opinion is actually quiet a frightening thing. For some reaon I always expect the worst (Mr O' Neill your in trouble lad you have a shadow on your lung/collasped lung). Th Radiographer said Sean O'Neill you can go then said no wait and I looked over at her examining my X-Ray .. I can honestly say that for 10 seconds I was in a state of unmitigated panic eventually she said your fine and can go.

The league campaign kicks off tomorrow in Rose Bay(where ever that is) against Maccabi .. I think I will blog match day I will for the first few games anyway depending on how we are going I might lose interest after that . I will also bring my camera.

All we slice is the price !!

2006-03-29T11:39:00.000+01:00

I have got a job with a pretty big firm in the CBD called Lend Lease. I did the interview on friday last so it has all happened pretty quick. Two asian lads interviewed me for about 1 hour and 15 mins, fair to say I was in a hoop when i came out. I have to go for a chest x-ray later on this week to make sure my lungs have no "anomalies". I guess I will blog a bit more when I know more, at least I am back in the saddle, hopefully it will be a positive experience as opposed to my last few forays.

The Soccer league kicks off on sunday with that in mind we had a challenge last sunday. As luck would have it the league schedule puts us up againat those lads on sunday in the first round proper. We didn't beat them last sunday but I am confident we will next sunday. Where we played the friendly was actually a stadium where one of the rugby league teams trains during the week, obviously no one was there to watch us hack around, it was still pretty cool though. The stadium itself was like one of thoes old Russian stadiums with a running track around it and the stands miles back.

I haven't posted any pics for ages hopefully i will start righting that, it looks like I will be heading to Canberra in the near future for a look and also I hope to go to the blue mountains which are just outside Sydney, hopefully I will take snaps galore.

Sports Stadium

2006-03-23T02:12:00.000Z

I will do a what i have been up to type blog over the weekend although nothing exceptional has happened rather I have just found my feet a bit.

I have wanted to a blog on sport and stuff in the city for a while .. here is a quick run down of the teams etc that play "out of sydney".

AFL:

Sydney Swans : Current premiership holders, They won the grand final last year and Sydney had a winning team for the first time in 72 years. Actually the Sydney Swans were in a previous life "South Melbourne" but they relocated and renamaed a few years ago. The swans by the way are the team Tadgh Kenneally plays for. Melbourne is where AFL rules though most of the AFL teams hail from there or the surrounding arrea.

The Swans play at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) oval, the Oz cricket team plays there also when they are in town. Aussies are really really cocky about there cricket team the genuinely believe them to be unbeatable. To be fair they have a mega squad. The test team is full of world stars. The one dayers is practically a different team, I think you have to earn your spurs in the one dayers to get a chance at test level.

Sydney's Soccer team play at Aussie stadium. They are the current A-League champs, The A- League is a new competitioon with only I think 6 or 7 teams in it. I think they changed it around in order to bring the quality up. Incidently Dwght Yorke plays for Sydney and is paid more than most of the rest of the teams put together. I think he ended up playing midfield for most of the season. Probably impoortant to note that Aussies are really proud of the fact that they are going to the world cup for the first time this year. Gus Hiddink is really revered for his acheivements.

The other big sport here is Rugby league. Sydney has to many teams to mention I think but all big macthes are palyed at Telstra stadium. I think the Dragons are the current holders of the title and hail from the western suberbs. Other Teams of note include Sydney Roosters, Manly, Penrith.. .
One other team worth mention is Souths or the "rabbitohs". They were just a few days ago the subject of a hostile takeover by Russell Crowe. They are rooted to the bottom of the table. But are/were a stauchly working man's club. So it was resented bitterly when "Rusty" came calling with his dollars. On sunday at a "Historic" club meeting Rusty and his hench men got the 75% majority they required for the takeover. He promply promised a premiersjip winning team within two years. Think Red Roms revolution at chelski and you get the idea.

As I see other sports items worth metion I will catalogue them here.

gettin square

2006-03-20T10:09:00.001Z

I played my first game for "Queen's Park" yesterday it was against the Unversity of New South Wales in a friendly. The game was played in the little bay sporting complex, appropriately enough in little bay which is down the coast about 8/9 miles from where i am in bronte.
Getting there was a right pain, i had to get a couple of buses not really knowing where I was going, I found it handy enough in the end.
The game itself was a fairly tame affair on our side anyway, no one knew anyone and we played accordingly, i was expecting it though to be frank, there are a few guys who can play but there a couple of real tools also.
I was striking and touched the ball about 6 times in the match , pretty frustrating, i was well and truly done when we finished, it was about 25 degrees and it was really humid which i find to be the real killer. At the end a few of us stayed talking to the coach where I got off my chest a number of things. Nice to be up and running now with these guys we won't be as bad again i reckon.

I haven't done that much really in the last few weeks apart from meet agencys about jobs etc, a day is wasted everytime i have to meet them as I have to go into the CDB (central business district).

Last few days the weather has got a bit cooler to i reckon, the commonwealth games are on in Melbourne at the mo aswell. Austrailia is cleaning up. It all seems a bit pointless really.

Bad day

2006-03-07T10:32:00.000Z

I had my first interviews today and yesterday. Yesterday was a technical interview with a consultancey that went fairly well, I know this because they called me back almost immediately and asked if I would go to meet there clients. I went back in today and was escorted down to the bank who were the clients. Straight away I think I was on the back foot, I wasn't really matching what the guy wanted i.e he wanted a formal tester whereas I have done no formal testing .. thankfully. I found the whole thing a bit disspiriting. Being honest it is not a job i would have wanted .. still I guess you always feel badly if an interview in whatever context goes to crap.

3/4 way through the guy said I don't think your really what were looking for .. I wasn't surprised .. he still carried on interviewing me for some reason .. I eventually said I am 100% confident i can do this job however I can't prove it to you because I haven't formally done it. I am not sure what he thought about that .. he asked me a few questions and then kinda showed me out .. I think there was a bit of tension as I was leaving ..I definitely had the hump because I reckon the consultancey wasted my time and his.

There are days when I hate the IT industry and the agencey/recruitment industry that is around it and today is right up there.

Say yes Paul !

2006-03-02T12:19:00.000Z

A quick list of Aussie quirks :

Absolutely everyone says the word mate at least once every sentence

Every Second vehicle on the road is a UTE (Utility Vehicle)

The Aborigines are to the Aussies what the travellers are to the Irish .. they seem to be treated the same anyway

The word footie can be used to describe 3 different codes of sport

Everyone here seems to get up really really early to train/swim/surf .. this could be realted to where I am situated ..

Al the recruitment agencies are peopled by English lads ..

Club Tropicana drinks are free ..

2006-02-27T11:24:00.000Z

After promptings from NB I reckon I might write a bit about what it is like here etc .. these are the very random fruits of my observations so far anyway..

I think the one main thing I notice here is how much it is like England and by extension like home. What I mean is that when I was in the U S Of A there were always little things that made you constantly aware you were in the US whereas here it is quite easy to at times feel like you are at home. The TV is the same as at home, all those CSI this that and the other fill the airwaves. The simpsons is on at 7 bells daily as it is at home parkinson is on primetime on saturday night. In the supermarkets most of the familiar brands are available e.g hob nobs , campbells tomato soup.

Items I thought would be lenghty and tedious to do were in actual fact simple to do, I am thinking particularly of opening a bank account and getting my tax number both done easily , I contrast this to the torture of completing this chores at home.

The one other major thing that hits you here is that sport is all important here, there seems to be a bewidering number of sea and field sports played here.

Being in Sydney is probably not the best place to get to know the real Austrailia as it is very cosmopolitan, it is as much a melting pot as New York or London.
Bondi and it surrounds is completely tourist, there is never an Irish accent or GAA Jersey far away. In there proper context GAA Jerseys are great but they really do look a bit gaudy down on the beach.

It begins ...

2006-02-22T11:08:00.000Z

Not a huge amount to report. Getting on with items of bank account opening, tax number getting etc, all these things take take time when you have no idea where to go for these services. It would be very fair to say i have been taking everything at a rather leisurely pace although now that all my excuses are gone i will have to enter that which i dread most ... looking for a job and talking to agencies etc .. the economy in general is supposed to be booming here ... heres hoping i walk in the door and get offer a million dollar contract my title being "professional wastrel".

The weather here is gorgeous it is very humid though which turns excerise of any kind in to a sort of sweatathon.

Island in the sun

2006-02-19T09:32:00.000Z

Top shelf .. The balcony of the apt

The view from the balcony of my new abode, you can make out the sea. Just in front of those trees is Bronte beach about 1k to the left is Bondi beach.

Sydney Morning .. Examiner

2006-02-15T10:41:00.000Z

CB in similar form to here

Sean delivers some medium spin

Spot the Guinness .. Nevie unruffled as always

Double Trouble Down Under

2006-02-12T11:39:00.000Z

Maurice Fitzgerald and Colm "gooch" Cooper pose for some clowning shots with Fungi

Spot the Guniness (5 at least in pic) .. KM in classic/typical pose

while I don't have oz snaps I will keep throwing up some "oldies" but "goldies"

Over the last few days I think things have started to come together a bit, I have managed to get myself a fairly nice room quite close to the beach so fingers corossed it will work out. I also played some ball today with Queens Park, there seemed to be people playing ball everywhere but it was well orgainsed. It was 11 aside, the pitch was rock hard and the sun was splitting rocks. As is typical with 11 aside the standard varied across the team , it was still great to get out, I felt quite good really I think the break from 6 aside has probably helped. At the end I was in a bit of a hoop though , then i guess nearly everyone was. I am still getting used to the heat , I possibly may never get use to it.

Tourism part deux

2006-02-07T08:45:00.000Z

Artist impression of the new Youghal Bridge

Nearly through my first full week here and I thought I might give a quick round up of things that have so far caught my imagination.

1: BK aka burger king here is called "Hungry Jack's" for some reason
2: The media etc is very like the english media .i.e same old celeb crap I might be wrong I have had only limited exposure to the media as of yet.
3: I think cricket is probably the no 1 sport here, rugby league rugby union and AFL all seem the same when the lad is reporting on them late at night. Hopefully a bit of familiarity will sort out that problem.
4.The weather so far is a good enough reason to be here.

Tourism

2006-02-07T08:39:00.000Z

Cork opera house gets a bit of a facelift

surfin USA in Austrailia

2006-02-05T02:02:00.000Z

I had my first taste of the "surf" today, two hours later and I am still coughing up seawater salt. Not to fall into cliches but it was everything I expected big waves , clear blue water and clear blue sky. When I was out a bit the waves didn't seem so bad however I made the mistake of turning towards the shore my back to the incoming waves at that moment I happened to hear some punter shout "Oh Christ !!" when I looked back I honestly thought my eyes were deceiving me .. It was like being in one of thoes Old Spice ads I honestly could see nothing but this wave. Naturally I did exactly what your not supposed to do . I stood up and took the full force of it instead of diving into it. I was practically blown back onto the beach. I did get a bit of a fright, I can only Imagine what thoes poor lads who were hit by the tsunami felt like.

Bondi (Bondy) Beach

2006-02-03T08:08:00.000Z

Bondi Beach

A Pleasant day today ... I think I am still suffering from jet lag alternatively it could be that i just don't feel like doing much

Our Man in Sydney

2006-02-01T23:28:00.000Z

When I got to the customs desk my guy said to me "you won't be needing that jacket mate" I replied the last time i was outside it was -1 which it was in Amsterdam a little later when I was going through the quarrantine section of customs the lad said to me "hold on mate .. my job is to lift bags .. so he lifted my bags onto the conveyor belted in a studied manner he then turned to me and said "that's how you do it mate" hopefully all my adventures will have that sort of comic flavour. This kind of heat here reminds me of hot days in Pamplona, quite sticky and humid, I'll try to get use to it. Its pretty cool to have nothing to do and all day to do it ..

Some photos i wanted to post but hadn't time before i left... there are many more and they will all find their rightful home in time to come ..

A snap to remember .. A weekend to remember ..

Eric seems to be diving for cover ..

The name of the pub .. NB & Feisty .. a perfect fit

First Snap from Chris' balcony "here" in Sydney

The Eagle has landed

2006-02-01T11:24:00.000Z

Got here anywhoo ..
so very very tired .. that is it for now ..

I would also just like to thank the good folks at singapore airlines thy're doing a bang up job ..

Singapore

2006-01-31T21:55:00.000Z

Do-de-do-do, do-de-do

Amsterdam

2006-01-31T09:00:00.000Z

Do-de-do-do, do-de-do, etc.

Sing Sing Sing

2006-01-28T20:10:00.000Z

The 5OfUs .. "I hope we passed the audition"

Cormo ..

A Knowing nod to the camera from SR .. more importantly i think this is Peter's introductory snap to this blog
KM Modelling the latest Roma leisure gear

SR in Gas drum Shocker

Moon Safari

2006-01-24T22:27:00.000Z

Larry, Curly and Moe
A kinda of retro feel to this one .. for thoes not in the know this is the carpet of the legendary crpyt nightclub in killarney

Better living through chemistry

2006-01-24T00:05:00.000Z

Higgins wrapping up the masters .. whilst wearing a tea cosy

Uncle Sam wants NB apparently

I decided i won't put the more obvious snaps taken at the weekend up for a while instead i am going to concentrate on the "fun" pics ..

One Night in Bilbao : Part Two (Bumper Edition)

2006-01-19T22:05:00.000Z

Up close and personal with Ab & Nb

The Man from Delmonte and his assistant

Members of the Rolling Stones take time out ..

All the Lads .. Here now ..

Now we're into the dregs

Nb in fine form here

One Night In Bilbao

2006-01-16T23:34:00.000Z

Looking Good

High Jinx in downtown Bilbao .. what is actually going here

Photos come courtesy of the Andy Baker Collection

These pics follow on from the template as laid down Here

Room with a View

2006-01-14T00:07:00.000Z

This picture is probably best viewed enlarged (at least i think it ia anyway), great place to be in good weather not so good when rain and wind gusting from the atlantic.

Not sure if this pic "works" .. I like it though

A few pics from the"office" I have been working in since I left my last post , the pictures were taking at the same time and the same place just not in the same direction obviously.

Two's Company

2006-01-12T00:33:00.000Z

NB Just in from a spell in "The Sri Lankan First Order"

Cormo affecting yet another rock star pose

These are the first snaps with my new camera, quite pleased with the quality.

I am also starting as of today a list of comic creations and or cartoons personalities and assigning them to friends and foe alike to begin with :

It seems fitting that SON = DC comics Man of Steel aka Superman

Cormo = Shaggy

NB = J Jonah Jameson

Keith = Danger Mouse

CB = Fry (Futurama)

SR = penfold (surely a perfect match)

rest assured that everyone else will be getting "assignments"

also feel free to make suggestions .. i will be ignoring them naturally

What does sequestered mean ?

2006-01-06T22:39:00.000Z

Archival snap of me on my last visit to the South Pole (Inn)

I have been summons to jury sevice next month .. I only wish I got it a few months back so my former employers could have footed the bill. It seems like a fairly adult thing to be doing, not really sure i like the sound of it at all, although I do have a fairly good get out of jail card .. HONK HONK .. that being all going well i won't be in the country to do it.

The last days of disco & football

2005-12-14T19:58:00.000Z

The last game in the league ended in a 4 - 3 victory. A keenly fought game the score ding - donged in the first half, we went in 4 -2 to the good with Dave playing particularly well for us. We conceded in the second half but defended well and should have scored from a couple of chances to make sure. We finshed in 5th, so not to bad. If one other result went for us we would have finished 3rd. If we could have shown any consistencey at all we probably would be have been in the shake up for honours.

In Midleton again on Monday night we won another table quiz. Brian and Nevie joined myself and Chris on the night. Brian played an absolute blinder but I still never felt we would win it. We were there or thereabouts but faltered in round 7 in particular. Going into the last round we were tied for first on 81 (10 rounds of 10 Qs) we scored ten although we were definitely given an extra mark as we had certainly one wrong answer but the other team faltered dropping two. The night was rounded off nicely when nevie won a bottle of wine. I can'r see how we will ever win again .. we have surely ridden our luck for long enough although 91 out of 100 is not bad the standard of q's was not exceptionally high though, at least i didn't think it was.

Sack Watch : Now offically at an end, i finished on monday.
It seems my boss was on my computer today and Eric IMed me thinking i was online, he received the rather curt rely "Sean O'Neill does not work here ... etc .. please contact him through his personal email"

I think that just about sums it up .. class all the way

Sack Watch : Special Edition

2005-12-08T16:22:00.000Z

An hourly update of my activity/inactivity as today unfolded :

9.00 bells : Still in the scratcher
1000 bells : Just warming up computer and head for a cup of tea, leisurely perusal of news and emails
11.00 bells : 30 min break drinking tea and watching joseph smoke fags, attempt a little work on return from break, soon loose interest however
12.00 bells : alternatively chat with Eric and SR via IM where the issues of the day are discussed in a lively and passionate discourse, break for an early lunch (cos I'm worth it)
1.00 bells : Extremely leisurely luncheon with Patricia
2.00 bells : still lunching
3.00 bells : Just back in office and take a conference call with Roy Keane and his advisor Michael Kennedy, naturally I am not at liberty to divulge any details here
4.00 bells : Tea break with Joseph and start work on this todays's entry
5.00 bells : Wrapping up .. its been a hectic day

Countdown : 3 days

you don't win matches by missing open goals .. actually you do

2005-12-07T11:17:00.000Z

A Win. Final score 5-2. Conditions were tough the ground was icy and it was absolutely freezing. We were two up at half time but given our nature as a team this was a perilous scoreline and true to form we almost gave up a goal right on the start of the second half when i gifted one of their lads the ball out the field. We had a chance to make it three unfourtunately Chris missed from "close range". They got in from a corner and it looked like we might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. However we composed ourselves and scored 2 more to make it 4-1 . To keep it exciting we conceded again to make the score 4-2. Chris finally banged one to the bottom corner in the dying minutes a deserved goal after a few earlier near misses. Noel also went close near the end with a John Barnes style backheel.

Ref Watch: We kept quiet (for once) and gave him(this was the lad who had supposedly banished chris a few weeks ago) no opportunities to give anyone of us the line which i think he was itching to do.

Steve
Mark Dave
Sean/Chris/Noel
Paul

Donogh was away (in New York)

Countdown Conundrum : woh craes

Sack Watch: Ideal for passing an internet browser's time : The Wikipedia

Winner's Dinners

2005-12-06T13:49:00.000Z

Another quiz another sack full of prizes (I could be getting just a little full of S**e) , same bat place same same bat team. Although the turnout was fairly low it was still enjoyable and was competitive right to the last question. We came in tied for first on 65 which was out of 80 so not a bad result. We lost the tie breaker question so in actual fact came second. I think in a way this suited us because first prize was whiskey and since all of us still have the jameson from the last win the wine for second was just as good. We did however cleanup in the raffle our table won 4 prizes out of a total of six. It was absolute poxy luck but as the bar woman quiped "you lads bought all the tickets so fair play" which i thought was decent of her.

Incidentally the tie break question was :

The guy calling out the questions said "Many years ago I was the youngest santa claus in England while working in a department store in london .. what age was I ?" (How old was I when seamie died ? That's a quare question ...)

Answers on a postcard please

Addressed to

Quiz for tools,
PO Box,
RTE, Donnybrook,
Dublin 4

Countdown : Home straight .. kinda

Sack watch: Slipping into that dangerous place which is occupied by a special breed who make an art form of wiling away day doing nothing whilst positively glorying in their indolence.

Penultimate match in league tonight
Verdict : workman like .. still loose though

Running out(of) time ..

2005-11-30T13:58:00.000Z

Another of these close reverses. Final score 4 -2. After going 2 -1 up (tasty free kick by chris) we then conceded 3. I think the third goal broke our hearts. It was one of thoes bizarre goals that only we seem to concede. There is no lack of effort on anyone's part its just not going our way, simple as that really.

Steve
Donogh Mark
Chris/Noel/Dave
Sean

Paul was out sick

Countdown : I forget

Sack watch : I seem to have descended into a sort of strange numbness which has me in a kind of perma bad mood. I'm sure i will snap out of it in a year or so .

Send in the clowns

2005-11-25T14:29:00.000Z

I saw "Wrecks" last night at the Everyman Theatre here in cork, It was a one man show but don't let that put you off .. Screen legend "Ed Harris" was the actor, we had the best seats in the house, front row centre, it was all about Ed though, I was genuinely star struck for the first ten minutes, it takes some talent to hold at least 400 people's attention for 1hr 15mins.

Sack Watch : at least there is a consistencey to these days .. there all equally s***

Countdown : 16 days

Quick Pick Selection :

SON, KM, NB, SR enjoy a sniffter of port in LK this weekend
Feisty leaves Penarol by "Mutual Consent"
In light of KM's unhappiness in current job the FAI move swiftly to install him as the new Rep of Irl Boss
SR unveils his latest "buffon" hairdo at a gala charity event in LK this weekend
Cormo joins Bob Dylan for an impromptu duet on stage at the point, critics praise his Leonard Cohen style melancholy
SON buys a push bike and decides to wander the earth
Roy Keane comes in to fill the gigantic hole left in penarols midfield after feisty's departure. In a statement to the media penarol management said "We had to move quickly to placate fans .. we hope roy will be able for this enormous challenge"

Days like this

2005-11-24T18:07:00.000Z

Sack watch : Horrible day really, unnerving to be talked around over and through in a small office. Conversations with Bob and Joseph seem my only salavation at this point. The good(in case you haven't guessed I was being sarcastic .. you stink etc) news is i have another 3 weeks of this.

Countdown : 17 days

As an amusing aside, following on from yesterday's Red Mist post it now seems that Chris has in actual fact been banned for 3 matches which seems extremely harsh considering we have three games left in this league and also considering we pay them not the other way round.
when contacted Feisty had this to say to the waiting media :
"The Referee should be suspended indefinitely for being uniquely incompetent and singularly incapable of controlling the tortured genius that is festy baker"

We'll watch with interest for further developments .

Red Mist

2005-11-23T12:15:00.000Z

We fought out a 2 -2 draw in our match last night. Not unusally we conceded early but tried hard for the rest of the first half. On the restart we conceded a second. It was one of thoes unfourtunate goals that slipped in past steve. 2 down it wasn't looking good but we battled away, they were no great shakes .. we got in eventually with paul sliding in from close range. We kept trying and with less than ten minutes to go chris was put through but was caught by a tackle. Reacting badly to the fact that a free wasn't given .. he called the ref "a STUPID Bastard" instant yellow card he then followed that up with a "yeah F*&*K you Ref" what was yellow became red. The team rallied well however and practically in injury time we forced an equaliser.

Ref Watch: Gave us very little, apart from paul another who really doesn't like us.

I think Feisty is now blacklisted by three of the four refs, just aswell there is no disciplinery points system or we wouldn't be able field a full team till next season. 3 sendings off in a row we are surely bottom of the fair play league.

Steve
Dave Mark
Sean Chris
Paul

Donogh and Noel were both out sick

Sack Watch : Starting to find my form (routine) tea, chatting and generally working at my own pace, also given my official walking papers this morning. Stessing I must "work" out my notice.

Countdown : 18 working days left

My very own SACK RACE

2005-11-22T13:42:00.000Z

I have been laid off yet again .. this is the 3rd job I've left this year.. I am out of work christmas week .. basically the girl who took me on and then went on maternity leave is back and i am out as there isn't enough money in the pot, it must be said this is probably sweet relief to me in many senses.
This has got me thinking a bit about the IT Industry in general and the truly vacuous nature of it. I intend also to devote some time in the future to the world of MANAGEMENT and the wonderful characters who reside there for now I am going to start what i hope will be a daily "SACK WATCH and Countdown" Starting today

SACK WATCH: Have done little other than drink tea and surf (the net)
a routine I broadly intend to follow
also at least an hour spent outside chatting to Joseph (Great friend and former colleague) in the smoking shed

CountDown : 19 days

Friday Rumble

2005-11-18T15:38:00.000Z

Sean Ryan receives prestigious "Sexiest Man Alive" gong from GQ magazine. He says "It’ll be a whole new kind of sexy!"
Keano goes to Wigan and they subsequently win league
Penarol lose remaining matches in six a side league
Christmas heatwave
Derry win the eircom league tonight
Sean Ryan wins "Rear of the Year"
KM wins spectacle wearer of the year
chelski beat the daylights out of the unfortunate opponents .. Manyoo don't
OZ beat the snot out of Ireland in the rugby
The Fonze to win at Punchestown

Wish you were here !!!

2005-11-17T10:35:00.000Z

Whiting Bay .. near where I live

In Seville with Hally and Ned .. I'm in good form here .. it was only 46 degrees

any which way but WIN

2005-11-16T10:07:00.000Z

Another reverse . Final score 2 -1. I don't think we played badly really . we are just not there right now. Chris got sent off for a few indiscretions.

Ref Watch: He couldn't care less

Steve
Donogh Mark
Sean/Chris/Noel
Paul

Predictions

2005-11-11T14:32:00.000Z

This slot has been away for a number of weeks, hopefully I can get back on track here goes

I will now predict in no particular order :

New Zealand V Ireland 35 - 15 (Ireland to do moderately well cause all the big guns are on the bench being rested)
Argentina to do England 2 -0 (although apparently the argies are in a bit of disarray with internal rifts etc)
Paudie O'Shea to be tentatively approached about the vacant Ireland manager's job .. amid a surprising groundswell or support for his candidature.
Sean Ryan to be married in a Las Vegas "Shotgun" wedding by an Elvis impersonator. (He is quoted as saying "It was the happiest day of my life")
Chris Baker surprises the world by ridding himself of his "cold" and not complaining about his not broken toe nail.
Tom O' Connor does not go out this weekend (very long odds here)
I do nothing over the next four days
in a busy weekend Sean Ryan joins the Freemasons (we all knew he took the soup)
A long term punt : Arsenal to win the premiership/CL .. covering myself there but i reckon they look good

The show must go on ...

2005-11-10T13:39:00.000Z

The first thing i saw/heard when i walked in the metropole front door was these guys .. They were giving it "The full gun"

This guy with the clarinet was brillo .. he alternated between the Clarinet and Sax (Saxamophone) .. I saw them on the sunday night in the Imperial hotel they were just as impressive a second time i thought, for the life of me i can't remember there name.

A New York Swing band .. Excellent .. but then i love a bit of Swing !!

The city's finest came out to play ...

Quiet Tough

2005-11-09T11:57:00.000Z

Yet another stinging loss. Again 3 - 2. In a match that was marred by ill feeling and a little grudge we came off the worse. we went one up and seemed to be about to take it by the scruff and all of a sudden we were 2 -1 down . Towards the end of the first half mark got a yellow card (10 mins in the bin) it was very harsh as they were doing just as much mouthing as us . we defended well and scored from the restart for the second half .. the ball lashed passed the keeper before he had time to react. We were still a man down for the next five minutes but played well until we conceded a soft goal from a corner. Try as we might we couldn't find a goal even though we really went at them for the last ten minutes.

Ref Watch : a couple of guys on the pitch (from both sides) that this lad hates the sight of .. he reffed it accordingly

Steve
Donogh Mark
Chris/Sean/Noel
Paul

More Jazz Stylings

2005-11-03T13:46:00.000Z

Gerry K very close to the action

Miles Davis & John Coltrane (l to r)
before they took to the main stage in the Metropole Hotel During the
"Cork Guinness Jazz Festival"

A stinging loss

2005-11-02T09:09:00.000Z

A very bad night in more ways than one. We lost 3 -2 in a conditions not out of place in the monsoon season in India. Conditions were a complete lottery but i think we should still have probably won. We went one down very early to a long distance shot which was well taken. We then conceded an OG which was a bit heart breaking because we were trying to rally and they were not really threatening us. The second half we really went at them and eventually got our reward with first paul sliding home and then chris. This brought it right back to level and it looked as if we would go on to win but unfourtunately we conceded again pretty much straight after the restart. We came back well but it has to be said that quiet a number of oppurtunities were missed by all of us which is very dissappointing. It was a tough night though.

Ref Watch : Just got on with it didn't blow for much .. maybe because he was soaked and frozen.

Steve
Mark Donogh
Noel/Sean/Chris
Paul

The Jazz

2005-11-01T14:28:00.000Z

All the players from friday's night out a the metropole ..
Note : Good snap by donogh

Gerry's long awaited debut ... note the t-shirt

Tidy

2005-10-26T13:42:00.000+01:00

We picked up 3 more points last night in a good win, the final score being 4 -1.
Maybe for the first time in this league we got a slice of luck after 15 minutes we got an og from a corner. Paul then made it two running onto a really great pass from mark and slotting nicely. after the break we conceded a soft goal i thought, there were a few of us around it myself very much included and we just didn't clear it.
Chris score the vital goal as we were getting a bit jittery , powering his way through. I got the fourth, lobbing the keeper. We stuck to the new formation and it seems to be coming together a bit.

Steve
Mark Donogh
Chris/Sean/Noel
Paul

Ref Watch : I thought he did ok, probably not the worst match to ref as it was quite sporting

A little while ago ...

2005-10-25T17:06:00.000+01:00

Midleton main st 1968 , my grandads butcher shop ..

Places I'd rather be ...

2005-10-24T13:32:00.000+01:00

Mangerton mts near killarney

Galtee Mor Mountain .. near Mitchelstown

A Win

2005-10-19T11:07:00.000+01:00

3 points .. that's the main thing .. we changed formation last night and i think it worked. We won 4 - 3 but that flatters them a fair bit i think as we created oceans of chances but didn't really put them away . As is customary we conceded early but got back to one a piece quickly enough, paul and chris combining well, we then went 2 -1 down but a peno for us brought it back to 2 -2 at the interval. Literally straight after the break we went 3 -2 up chris and paul again. Noel put us 4 -2 up but we still couldn't bury them despite a fair few opportunities. In the last seconds they scored to make it 4 - 3.

Ref Watch : He was quiet good to give him his due ..

Steve
Donogh/ Mark/Noel
Sean Chris
Paul

The formation was quiet fluid last night

The Winner takes it all

2005-10-18T13:18:00.000+01:00

Pub quizs are always good fun i find, last night i went along with CB to one in Midleton. Our team was made up of myself Chris, Paul and John (the latter three all teachers in midleton college).
Our luck was in the questions seem to be suiting us and after 4 rounds we were 31 out of 40 which doesn't sound great but it was joint second. the next three rounds we scored 29 out of 30 the picture round really going our way. Coming into the last round aware that we were 2 ahead nerves started to jangle it didn't help that the last round was a local knowledge round , chris literally bolting (ludcriously pretending his phone was ringing) out the front door of the pub and running up the town looking for the answer to one question, fate was to take a hand though knowing perhaps that we had blatantly cheated to get the answer we contrived to still get that question wrong.
the scores being called out we knew we couldn't be caught self- congratulatory badinage became the order of the day. After getting a warm round of applause we were presented with a bottle of jameson whicky each .. which will now be put on ice till the jazz.

Last round up !!!

2005-10-17T13:42:00.000+01:00

The Great Man .. Himself

Ben & Jerry O'Connor .. let there hair down

As Requested By KM

Another Cormo classic ..

thank crunchie its friday

2005-10-14T14:04:00.000+01:00

This is such a gash snap that it had to be included

Sean gets all the girls !!

the lads can explain this one ..

More high jinx

Something new ...

2005-10-13T13:55:00.000+01:00

A new section starts today : "Things that are really annoying me "

Football (both playing and watching .. i have got the hump big time with football at the mo)
Home and Away .. the worst tv program in the history of television .. the odd time i have to see it makes me sick to my stomach

at this moment i think everything is annoying (putting this down to really bad humour )

NB and Sean getting Jiggy ...

Eyes on your work ..

Disappointing

2005-10-12T10:51:00.000+01:00

Yet another classic CB snap (plastic thing on glasses)

There they are, all the lads .. here now

Classy ..

I'm a happy camper !!

Cormo or Bruce Springsteen ?

A very disappointing 3 - 6 reverse last night. Within 10 minutes of the start we were 2 down .. but came right back to make it 2 - 2 , we then went on to concede again making it 3 -2 at half time. It still wasn't bad, I fancied us to win at that stage because we had most of the possession but could not seem to create any chances. A few mistakes cost us in the second half but these things happen. Donogh got a great goal straight from the corner Keith Morel style . That was as good as it got in the second half though .

Ref Watch : This guy does not like us and accordingly gave us very little

Steve
Mark Donogh
Chris Paul
Sean

Noel came on a sub

Pamplona (Kinsale) Tales

2005-10-11T13:45:00.000+01:00

He's gottim !!

The holiday hadn't even started at this point ... NB and Feisty seem to be flagging (slightly)

Previously Unseen !!!!

2005-10-10T13:32:00.000+01:00

keith looks like some acid tripping geezer from a rave in the mid nineties

The key question here is "What is chris wearing ?"

NB, Sean and pal

Friday Roundup

2005-10-07T14:14:00.000+01:00

Ireland Lose to Cyprus .. Brian Kerr gets the road ( I definitely don't want this to come true however i think there is a distinct possibility)
England get Hammered .. Sven gets road ( Ideal world scenario)
Chris drinks mineral water whilst out with the lads tonight
NB and SR take to the road as comedy duo "The ferrits" meeting with very mixed reviews
Keith Morel breaks Around Ireland sailing record posting an explosive time that many feel may never be bettered, Morel cites time spent training in the exclusive royal yacht club in crosshaven as the "key"
AB causes a major Kerfuffle because he was not asked back onto the Penarol panel for the new winter league
I finally buy a watch on ebay .. playing cagey until making an audacious last minute swoop.
http://seaninryan.blogspot.com/ breaks down due to massive traffic on site because of latest post with exclusive pic of "Shakey"

A Passage to India

2005-10-06T13:49:00.000+01:00

If this snap is anything to go by we have a lot to be thankful for in this country crap health service or not ..

A great bunch of lads

Marie (sister) Himalayas in the background

How' s the form lad ?

Rickshaws aplenty ..

Disappointment

2005-10-05T11:00:00.000+01:00

Jimmy Floyd Hasselhoff aka Jay Jay Okocha .. when bolton played at Turners Cross last year .. unfourtunately this is the best snap i have of the great man

Match Report :

We went down 2 -1 last night .. in a tough encounter .. I feel pretty gutted actually, we tried hard but didn't seem to get any luck plus there keeper made a few really great saves , i guess we will have to bounce back. I think our scope to get better as a team is good though we are still learning how to play together but i have no doubt it will come together. For today though i guess we will have to lick our wounds and come back for more next week. This weeks special mention goes to steve who I thought had a great game between the sticks.

Ref Watch : Cetainly gave us nothing, also tendencey towards loving the sound of his own voice

Team :

Steve
Mark Donogh
Paul Chris
Sean

Dave came on Noel sat this one out as he was feeling poorly

7 Dominics Tce .. a great bunch of lads

2005-10-04T13:43:00.000+01:00

Cormo not loving the camera action

CB in good form .. CB really hasnt got the exposure on this site his larger than life personality deserves .. The administrator will attempt to rectify this

Monday Blues ==>> the anti Friday d-reams page

2005-10-03T10:33:00.000+01:00

Another westlawn gem .. the piece of paper looks older than it is .. at least i think it does

Friday revisited

Liverpool were tanked by chelski
To my knowledge Sean Ryan broke no records national or international
there was no assassinations botched or otherwise
wanderly luxemburgo did not call
Roy Keane despite tabloid speculation will not tog out for penarol next season
there were no top brass resignations

some light at end of tunnel though with sunderland sustaining there run .. they are now unbeaten in two ..

in short a poor effort all round by me

Fridays hopes & d - reams

2005-09-30T16:32:00.000+01:00

Sean Ryan pole vaults into history books by breaking irish national record. He is quoted in the papers "one giant pole vault for galway people everywhere"
Liverpool give chelski the hammering the so richly deserve
Roy Keane stuns football world declaring his interest in playing next season for little know 6 - aside outfit penarol
Chris Baker loses his passport in Venice and is held indefinitely till his mam can drive out with a new one.
Sunderland start a run that will see them unbeaten for rest of league .. prompting FAI big wig John Delaney to make and audacious bid to bring Mick McCarthy back to the Rep of Ireland hot seat
Wanderley Luxemburgo rings me up asking for advice on his formation for this weekend s ' match.
Michael Mcdowell escapes a botched assassination attempt
bertie/blair/bush all resign simultaneously

Bounce back

2005-09-28T09:04:00.000+01:00

After last weeks loss we really had to win this one. Once again we had the advantage of an extra man for the first 15 but we really didn't make it count, going one up (a cool finish by Chris) but then conceding a softish goal, it looked like it would be 3 -1 going in at the break but once again we conceded a soft goal at the back stick. The second half was a much better display from us as has been the pattern so far. We press hard all half with paul rounding out the scoring with a brillant individual effort to make it 6 - 2 , this was no more than paul deserved for his second half display in particular. in the last minutes we did give up another goal but at that stage it was academic. Special mention to noel for stepping between the sticks and coming to the teams rescue once again.

Note : The referee was nothing short of shocking barely taking interest leaving almost everything go.

Noel
Dave Mark
Paul Chris
Sean

Both Donogh and Steve were away

ClonStock 05 .. declared a success

2005-09-27T13:50:00.000+01:00

Things got off a to a great start in "De Barra's" .. a place that is all at once in the now yet firmly rooted in the past. Keith was to liven things up early doors by jumping up on stage and giving the crowd a taste of his own unique stylings. In the mood for more hi jinx we eventually ended up at the doors of the imperial hotel .. Noel literally pulling out all the stops to get us in ( IE : produced his cork examiner card) . Once inside we entered "fat frog heaven". From here we made our way to a house party .. chatting the night away with some of the locals. Eventually we would wander back to our lodgings. On sunday we went down to the inchadonney beach which was the perfect way to round off a mighty weekend of roistering and merriment.

Note : a big thanks to the Baker family for making it all happen

Friday Dreams

2005-09-23T12:33:00.000+01:00

Chelski Lose .. Jose gets poleaxed by an irate fan for being a "bit of a tool"
Kerry hammer tyrone .. forcing the end of that "blanket" football thing
It doesn't rain in clon
Sean Ryan says nothing in a sarcastic manner all weekend telling all he is thinking of devoting his time and engeries to the "pioneers"
Noel has a nervous breakdown caused by the stress of orgainsing "ClonStock 05"
KM speaking fluent japanese , saying it was part of his intensive induction into his new job
Cormie nev announces plans to build a "skateboard heaven" in ballyclamsey, youghal .. it will be called "CormoTown"
Penrol disband , sources close to the camp suggest friction between teamates had become unbearable. A harsher assessment was there were just going nowhere so decided to pack it in.
CB tells everyone how tired he is and how hard it was with the kids this week .. no one listens (this is hardly a dream .. it will definietly happen)
The US military ask me to participate in a top secret "six million dollar man" type project thus turning me into a super man .

And now for something completely different

2005-09-22T15:51:00.000+01:00

Net Bound ?

My little brother giving it everything (in the lead .. naturally)

Down but not out

2005-09-21T09:42:00.000+01:00

A loss of 4 - 1 sounds bad i guess but is in no way a reflection i think of the game, considering we were 3 - 0 after five minutes, we rallied well but could not seem to get the ball in the net, unfourntunately i personally had one of thoes games where it was just not going to be, try as i might i was guilty of missing at least 3 good chances (which gurantees i will be in foul humour for the next 24 hours) . In the second half we really went at them and had them on the back foot from the off, they then scored probably the luckiest goal i have ever seen , one of thoes lobs into the sky from the back that just went all the way through. Eventually through sheer determination we got a goal through paul, but only after the post and crossbar had been scraped several times. In fairness to them they are tough and held out against us but we will look forward to meeting them again. Hopefully the next time we meet there will be alot at stake.
Also last night steve came in and had to find his feet quickly between the sticks i think he will be pleased enough though it was a tough match to start out in.
One other note was noel getting what might be his first proper out field experience in a long long time, afterwards he was to say it was far more enjoyable than any time between the goalposts, which is also what we want to hear.

Steve
Mark Noel/Dave
Paul Chris
Sean

Donogh was a sub and played but he was injured.

The Big One

2005-09-20T14:01:00.000+01:00

Look Kids Big Ben .. Parliament

It took us ages to get the pigeon to pose aswell

Tonight we come up against sideshow's (so called because until he cut his dreadlocks he bore more than a passing resemble to side show bob .. it should also be pointed out that to my knowledge it was only us who called him this .. ) outfit in the league, after last weeks' good win tonight will probably give us a more realsitic assessment of our worth ... we also blood a new keeper tonight .. steve freeing noel to take on the crouch/alonzo/morrientes/carragher role

Ecet Auditions

2005-09-19T10:21:00.000+01:00

Jill

Matt

Chris

reproduced here with kind permission of the Mckinley Foundation

These priceless photos were part of a set taken to be included in the ecet product brochure (two actually made the cut), fortunately/unfortunaltely there seems to be no pics of ted/dan/mike in existence

With the exception of Jill the rest of us really do look pretty dopey/dozy

Here comes the weekend

2005-09-16T13:37:00.000+01:00

westlawn's version of the Stone Roses ("the pansies")

did marcus ever take off my t-shirt ?
in fairness it was a classic

On Fridays' i am introducing a weekend prediction/hope/dream slot and i am hoping along with the match report on wednesday that it will be a regular post. Considering how successful last weeks' predictions went .i.e. none came off ( predictions were very outlandish at best though ) here goes ..

galway beat kilkenny in the u21 Hurling (depriving kilkenny of any silverware this year)
Liverpool really kick start season by giving manyoo a Whupping
Chelski loose (this will always feature in the hope category)
I run a four minute mile .. roger bannister style
Myself and my dad get invited personally by Bertie to sit next to him at the all ireland football final he tells the papers "he wants to be around the real people"

The many faces of ....

2005-09-15T15:02:00.000+01:00

What's that in Sean's left hand ?
Does Noel think he's cool ?

Sir Edmund Hillary (on a recent visit to mayo)

saying more than words ever could
I think this was one of the first ever photos my camera took ..

Penarol are back !!!!

2005-09-14T11:38:00.000+01:00

POTSKI !!!

Penarol after 12 matchs losing streak hit back in style last night winning 8 - 0, the scene was set early as they were short a man and before there full compliment had arrived we had already billowed the "onion sack" , we then went on to 2 -0 but started to wobble a little requiring sticksman Baker (noel) to be at his best , arriving at half time we were 3 to the good , seconds into the second half we got the decisive goal baker (chris) scoring from a an acute angle,
rounding out the scoring ccoleman(donogh) bagging a superb goal, a left foot strike to the top corner. we have to be pleased with this start and with * "sideshows" team coming up on the horizon quickly it should be a great league if we can keep the momentum going.

* We own them one for nicking the league off us a few seasons back

Team :

Noel

Mark Donogh

Chris Fergal

Sean

The Sweden Files

2005-09-13T12:47:00.000+01:00

Tom displaying the skills that made ebay break the bank to get him

Tom and Noel obviously very thirsty

why is marcus wearing my t-shirt ?

Also Tonight we resume league action, we are lining out in div 3 and enter the league with some hope , for the first time in a long long time we have a "bona fida" keeper .. anywhoo i will endeavour to keep a log of all our results and displays here ....

In a Galaxy far far away

2005-09-12T13:46:00.000+01:00

Setting off to tackle Everest (The North Face)

Boldly going where no man has gone before

At Base Camp

Rod Johnson and helper creating the first spring prototype aka Ted and Eric in Killarney

Then it rained ...

2005-09-09T15:38:00.000+01:00

the coolest guy in the world ? Nevie in rock star mode

Things I really want to happen this weekend

Chelksi to loose 5 - 0 to mick's boys
Galway to hammer Cork (Sean Og is still great though)
to wake up on sat morn and feel "bloody great"
Pat Jennings to come out of retirement and tog out for penrol for the duration of the winter league saying " he wanted to give it one more go"
find my current account has a legitimate lodgement of 1 million euros
Aliens land and declare me there "man on earth"

Weekend at Bernies (Electric Picnic)

2005-09-08T10:21:00.000+01:00

RB and Andy take time out to enjoy some well earned refreshments

The Legendary De La Soul

The Robots

Kraftwerk were/are truly Brillant

Last weekend I went along to the Electric picnic music festival held at Stradbally Hall Co.Laois .
It turned out to be a brillo weekend of Music and general merriment.
Upon arrived and walking what seemed like 200 miles to the furthest reaches of the campsite I and RB spent a ridiculous amount of time "trying" to pitch the tent , what the hell is a "Guy Line" and how do you "peg something out ?" we got it up in some fashion and as luck would have it the weather was great so out rickedy shack was not tested.
The vibe was great I have to say, naturally if you had money to spend there were any number of ways to spend it.
I spent most of the weekend scrambling between stages and the various food and drink stalls.
The strangest occurance of the entire weekend was on my journey home i drove into the Tallow horse show, I think it is fair to say you haven't lived until you have seen this truly unique event.

Three of the best

2005-09-07T14:28:00.000+01:00

An unseen until now Andy Warhol masterpiece

Continuing the "Hat" theme

I think its fair to say no words can do this photo justice

something in the Galway air ?

2005-09-02T13:49:00.000+01:00

Daniel obviously prepared for all eventualities

These archive photos come courtesy of the Sean Ryan Collection

The times they are a changin

2005-09-01T09:15:00.000+01:00

The Theme is Hats ..

Mr Humphreys to the extreme right

Westlawn circa 98' a young Frank Lampard and Joe Cole

For thoes of us who had the honour to live in westlawn this picture will surely bring many memories flooding back , landlord Brendan "Brendeezey" Pearse, his like will surely be never seen again, not forgetting the many emotional champions league nights that were had in that front room.

Halcyon Days

2005-08-31T10:05:00.000+01:00

Myself and "Der Kaiser" with "Der Bomber" looking at the Berlin wall

The Three Amigos : Martin Shortt , Chevy Chase, Steve Martin (l to r)

Meet the Team : Festy, Andy, Nevie, KM, Sudz, NB (l to r)

Here We Go -- Longford Half Marathon

2005-08-29T17:35:00.000+01:00

After weeks (2) of intensive training the big day had arrived, after a long spin to galway I spent the evening not resting but soaking up the galway night life .. after no little amount of talk about the galway hurlers progression, we rocked back to sean's gaff, at 2.30 am i hit the scrather and was up again at 7.30 a to make my way to the race .. having no idea where i was going i eventually stumbled upon longford town .. i needn't have worried it all went well and i was soon lined up with the massive throng .. 2 hrs 15 minutes later i crossed the line dripping head to toe in sweat but quietly pleased i wasn't coughing/spewing/shivering my progression in these events has been slow but sure .. definitely slow is the key word anywhoo i did get a stylish medal for my troubles.