Broithe

At the Midlands Park Hotel, Port Laoise.

Discussing that could lead us into a political area...

I still think it's a bit much to have to part with money to blow your tyres up in a service station these days. Not only that, but the cost seems to have gone up a lot in recent years. Ah, well, I suppose it's just inflation.

Many years ago, a group of us ending up playing a game of charades. It went along as these things usually do, until one chap started to do one and nobody had the slightest idea what was going on. It's a film - five words - first word - sounds like... He then repeatedly flung his arm to one side and brought his hand in front of his face, as a fist, then flicking the fingers and thumb out into a star shape, as fast as he could. Nobody had the slightest idea what this was supposed to mean, but he could think of no other mime that he could do for any of the words, so he just continued, repeating this demonstration with increasing theatricality. Eventually, we had to give in, largely due to people laughing themselves to incapacity, and ask him to reveal the film title. Bridge on the River Kwai. Apparently, the mime was a fridge door opening and the light coming on... I still laugh about this forty years on.

Those engaged in the dentistry industry may already have their own handy, pocket-sized IRM spoon.

Sorry, it's just a habit.

A novice mistake.

The realism in all these pictures is truly remarkable, but I do feel that the figures in the background here are a little over-scale and the clothing is a touch 'modern' perhaps? Although, to be fair, they do look almost real.

A spare is always handy.

You can get issues caused by damp from subwoofers.

I'm glad I didn't suggest that the speakers would sound a bit tinny now....

Indian Railways puts up things like this, to keep the gibbons off the train roofs.

I was aware of the pyramid. I did get around to calling in there recently. There's also a more pointy pyramid at Kilcooley Abbey, off to the south, in Tipp. Our expeditions are recorded here - red is done, green are targets. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1T818xPremNk151Ady98HI6vgLiiTTb_1&usp=sharing

No, not mine. I just noticed the marker for the van when looking to preview some possible* routes and saw his pictures as a result. I still have four bikes, but all tarmac jobs, and I haven't been on one for years now... * I use the word 'possible' in a very tight literal sense. Google Maps is very handy, but the fine detail can be important and hard to be confident of - a route we may do may have us needing to traverse a ford on foot, which will be a variable obstacle that could cause issues. We went for a 'short one' in the Slieve Blooms a couple of weeks ago and a 'short cut' turned out to be an hour and a half to go 800 metres, whilst trying not to end up on the news...

Reconnoitring a route for our next near-death experience, I noticed this relic, north of Lismore. Definitely past its best days. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Old+CIE+Boxcar/@52.2141443,-7.9788022,175m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x484347588ca437d5:0x3ad3cf52347377bb!8m2!3d52.214156!4d-7.978891!16s%2Fg%2F11sjkq7z_m?entry=ttu.

Today, I was caught at the southern level crossing in Mullinavat and was able to catch a blurry 074 going past.

In a better picture you can see Triang on the bonnet.;

The basic layout is still there and, if you know what was there, you can still 'see' it in your mind's eye. The track layout, turntable, shed, signal cabin, ground frames, sidings, cattle dock, various canopies, telegraph poles, original footbridge, etc. are all gone, but the place hasn't been flattened for a concrete and glass edifice.

Another thing that my few years of exile in Cyprus brought to my notice. When we left England, in the late 60s, almost all the flushing cisterns were high-level devices, operated by pull-chains. When we returned a few years later, 90% of them were now low-level, handle-operated cisterns. None of the people who had remained in the country for that period seemed to have noticed the transition occurring. I wondered if the conversions had been done at night, by tooth fairies made redundant by the (then) expansion of NHS dentistry.

I spent my teenage years dealing with both imperial and metric at school, and the old Ottoman system out in the real world... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_units_of_measurement

The National Library has many views of Ballybrophy, back when it was the Centre of the Universe. E.g., https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000304509

A Radio 4 programme where Alexei Sayle takes a train journey and talks to random passengers. This episode is on the Belfast-Derry train. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021wx0

I intend to make a small workshop in the house and picked up a couple of small drawer units in Lidl a few weeks ago - €14 for the pair, not bad. I put them out of harms way for now. It would appear that the security officer has felt the need to inspect them for useful stuff, contraband or uninvited trespassers.

Combining brand names isn't always a good idea, it's why the Cunard / Aer Lingus merger was called off.

Some Transit routes involve arriving at Southend.