Drink Driving

I don’t care if my next statement offends or upsets you but I have a personal hatred of drink drivers and believe there is no excuse for it what so ever. I remember one day when I was walking to school and watched this car hit a barrier. The driver got out of the car took a drink out of a bottle of cider, looked at his car before driving off. Later on I attended a road accident where a young driver had been drinking and lost control of his mum’s brand new car. He hit a wall and bounced off the wall before hitting other cars. Again he was too drunk to work out what he was doing. I have personally known one man arrested for drink driving whilst waiting for a court appearance for another drink driving incident. I have also been on the receiving end from people under the influence of alcohol.

In my employment I regularly deal with people who have drink driving conviction and the amount of excuses and complaints about the police, convictions and insurance I hear are silly. One thing that gets me is the amount of times I hear “it wasn’t my fault” err yes it is your fault and you are going to get no sympathy from me. You choose to drink, you choose to drive and you deserve everything you get. I firmly believe that if you kill someone whilst driving the minimum charge should be manslaughter.

There are calls to lower the legal limit and I fully support this and would also like to see the penalties drastically increased and include things like cars being crushed.

Sorry

Ok, I try and maintain certain standards in my life and how I come across to everyone both online and offline. Recently online and especially on Twitter I have let that standard drop completely to the point that my tweets have at times upset and offended people. That was wrong and I would like to say I am sorry for it.

Linen and Chocolate

I wanted to say how impressed I am with Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen. I recently ordered a duvet cover from them and my parcel arrived from them on Friday but I found they had sent me the wrong item. It took literally 5 minutes for this to be resolved and they are paying for the item to go back to them by courier and my duvet cover should be with me soon. Why am I impressed with them? They took 5 minutes to resolve something which other companies take days or weeks to resolve.

I have decided to try and save money by not using Starbucks for my usual hot chocolate treat and by making myself a similar sized hot chocolate at home. Even with having the chocolate sent to me from Ireland by http://www.butlerschocolates.com/default.asp I still think I am going to save around £30 a month.

Musings part 2

October is breast cancer awareness month and I have to say how impressed I am with one lady in particular on twitter who has managed to raise over £1500 for charity in a few days. I believe she managed £500 in one day. How did she do this? By posting a picture of her in a bra and using the power of Twitter. So @Helen_b some serious kudos for you!

After going to my tutorial yesterday I decided to wander around the city do a bit of shopping as you do. Some of you may know that I am trying to design my perfect house, which is partly a distraction and partly if I am going to settle down somewhere then I want it to be the perfect house. I had been walking past this shop called Fired Earth which is an interior design place for ages and decided to go in to try and find some paint that I had been looking for.

I hadn’t noticed that my late wife’s sister was sitting on a bench outside the shop. I walked out of the shop and was happily putting my sample in my bag when I hear her say “what shop is that” someone sitting next to her said it was an interior design shop. She says “my sister used to do that” bursts into tears and walks rapidly away. I realise who it is and try to find her but can’t. So now I am also upset and feeling very delicate again.

The Hilton Nottingham is a fairly posh hotel in the centre of Nottingham and I had the pleasure of staying there after I had been to a charity event during the day and a ball in the evening. The ball itself went well. I think I was one of the first to leave which was unusual for me but that is a different story, I left everyone at 1:30am. The first thing I noticed when I got back to my hotel room was how cold it was; seriously it was freezing in that room. Great hotel, pity they don’t know the meaning of heating.

Compliments

I have decided to write this blog today because I am a little bit miffed with ladies that get offended when you give them a compliment or those who brush it off or ignore it. It seems to be happening all of the time. Now just because I pay you a compliment does not mean I want to get into your knickers! If I fancy you, have feelings for you, whatever then I am going to do more than just pay you a compliment.

I try to be as honest and as genuine as I can with everyone I meet so when I pay you a compliment it is because I am appreciating you, the time and effort you have put into something or what you are wearing. I am sure you get the picture! Also I am not the sort of person who will constantly dish out the compliments as they don’t sound genuine in the end. As I have said when I pay you a compliment it doesn’t mean I want to sleep with you, want anything in return, although a simple thankyou tends not to ruin the mood.

I have a question would you rather get a compliment or sit there for the day etc feeling like no one appreciates you or the effort you have put into something? I am afraid you can’t have it both ways with this.

I am probably one of the least confident people I know in certain cases. I very rarely get compliments and although at times I may not understand or appreciate it but I still say thankyou. If you are actually insulted by a compliment then you seriously need to look at yourself and ask why you’re acting like that, especially if we are friends.

Dublin

Can I just say I fucking love Dublin!!

I had booked into a place called Bridge House Guest House on Parliment Street and was checked in for a whole 30 minutes before I checked out. To put it mildly it is a fucking dump of the lowest order. Seriously they don't know what cleaning or decorating is. I paid over the odds to stay in that place and have lost my money but that is not the point. I wanted to warn as many people as possible. I am now booked into the Harding Hotel which is a billion times better than that hole. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND STAY AWAY FROM THAT PLACE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Ok so my love affair with Dublin continues and is as hot as ever. This is my home and where I want to live. Any doubts have been cast out of my mind. I am currently going around as many galleries and places as possible. I must admit I have very very litttle sleep and it is self inflicted, believe me i am not complaining as it was for all of the right reasons. I am quite literally fucked ;o)

I posted on Twitter that I would be a happy bunny if it was hot and sunny when I arrived and someone was listening as it was glorious! It is now pissing it down but hey a little bit of rain never hurt anyone!

Tomorrow if the weather is good I am going to Malahide and then for a picnic type thing at the castle. if not then I will find something else to do. Tonight I am off to the theatre.

Time to get a bit more positive

Today’s blog is going to be nothing but positive so sit back and enjoy the ride!

I think I may have posted before that I have ordered more Irish linen and can’t wait for it to arrive. Once I have the full set I will have spent nearly £1000 on it. I plan to save it until I can share it with someone special. You are going to know I am serious if I am using that on the bed ;o)

I am also still waiting for a truck load of new goodies to arrive from various parts of the world. It is going to be like Christmas come early.

I seriously love Dublin to the point that I will be living there again in the near future. I am back there on the 5th October. The best way I can describe Dublin is like Marmite, you will either love it or hate it and quite frankly I can’t get enough of it. Everyone knows I have a thing about the Irish accent but I also love the chilled madness about the city.

Bewleys on Grafton Street for breakfast is like a tradition for me and it will be happening as per normal. The food is great, the building is stunning! Having a cooked breakfast next to an open fire on cold winters day, is there anything better? I think not!

Gallaghers Boxty House is another must for me, it is traditional Irish food. The first time I went there did it for me and I am now a firm fan of the place and recommend it to everyone. I watched the waitress who served me perform with an Orchestra the previous day and she waved goodbye as I left after finishing my meal.

Malahide Castle will be another place that I visit regularly when in Dublin, The perfect place for a picnic in the summer and they have a great cafe for food if not.

There are a fair few art galleries in Dublin but my favourite is the Royal Hibernian Academy. I always find time to visit it and take my time going around the galleries.

I have spent many Sunday afternoons in St Stephen’s Green Park sitting in the sun with a book, CD player and a small amount of food. It is a large park in central Dublin.

If you haven’t been to Ireland then it is a must. It is an experience that you won’t forget