The Lisbon Treaty Referendum.........now what?

On the day following Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty my wife and I happened to be in Biarritz and while out walking we stepped in to a cafe/bar to shelter from an , unseasonal , rainshower . Inside , in the darkened bar , sitting in small groups were , what I would consider a typical selection of Frenchmen of a certain age , sipping their various drinks , and talking gloomily about the weather and probably the news of the day .
The conversation stopped on our entering . My wife , one who is always ready to stir the s*** , broke the silence and pointing at me said , in her not-too-bad French ..:.''He is IRISH ''...
I cringed , expecting to be on the receiving-end of a hail of French curses and/or flying wine glasses . Neither happened . Instead I began to see , in the gloom , shining teeth as they all started to smile and then to a man gave me the thumbs UP sign . Everyone there seemed to agree with Irelands vote .

' They ' are already talking about a two tier Europe .A two tier Europe being one without Ireland and 'They' being the political and bureautic establishment of all other countries .
I have news for 'Them' , a two tier Europe already exists , and what's more 'They' are the top tier where all the cream and sweet toppings lie .And more news for 'They' or 'Them' or 'Whoever'....You will NEVER win if you do not put a clear and honest PLEBISITE to ALL countries ...no matter how
long it takes...

I was fully prepared , at the outset , to vote yes , because I believe that Europe will eventually unite on all levels but it will be as a result of the ordinary citizens of each country voluntarily agreeing to it , not because our politicians and bureaucrats , try to sneak or force it through to suit their career paths or social status or pensions.....

So , goodbye Lisbon Treaty , hello everybody else in Europe..........now if we could only get this little problem of language difference sorted out......

Then there WAS blood.....

A hot summer afternoon , bees (or whats left of them ) , humming , sounds of children etc , etc all the usual stuff , ...will I read this page of my book , or go back to sleep....inside to do some very light paper work.....not a care in the world......bending over the table , suddenly large drops , like the first , fat drops of a summer shower , except these are drops of blood.....I try to stop the bleeding , not to get blood on the paper work , or floor .....in comes my wonderful , wonderful , wife (www)....immediate panic , paper towels to the fore ......the other family females informed .....VHI nurse on phone...instructions ....''pinch nose....hold head back....for at least 15 mins,...phone calls of advice.from all sides....''I am not going to hospital on a Bank Holiday Saturday evening '',20 mins later still bleeding ''ring Doctor Walsh ''....''Dad I feel faint seeing all that blood'' (why is it , with my wonderful family that whenever my wife (www) feels cold... I...have to put my cardigan on.....and when ...I...have a severe nosebleed one of my daughters feels faint ?)...eventually the phone is pushed into my hand...it is Doctor Vincent Walsh...''Joe ...go into hospital ...NOW..'') ...yes..doctor..Ambulance comes , ''shall I bring the bag of paper towels to show the hospital how much blood you lost ?''..No I would imagine that the LAST thing a hospital A&E need on a Bank Holiday is yet another bag of bloody paper towels '' www joins me on board...granddaughter refuses to even LOOK at it ....on the way (dissappointed ...no bee...baw..) www answers ALL the questions that the ambulanceman asks ME , he is getting a bit frustrated...so I suggest that at the next corner he should push my loved one out the back door....apparently ambulancemen are not allowed to do that....blood pressure , and blood sugar levels taken in transit all , amazingly OK...I'm even more embarassed , arrive at busy A&E Blanchardstown...all the usual excitement , so familiar from TV programmes....seriously ill people looking on.....''Whats wrong with this patient ?.......er,.....a ...nosebleed ....more embarassment.......sitting on chair in A&E ,my everfaithful www having filled in all the paperwork....I am in the world of really ill people....as I sit there 5 Gardai arrive escorting a swearing , handcuffed , prisoner , who is very much the worse for wear....elderly woman occompanied only by her sad husband waiting , quietly and , patiently in a cubicle , a very young , very pregnant teenager , sneaking out for a smoke , old woman , with tubes sticking out of her ,surrounded by her giggling daughters ( ?) and joining in the fun....and all the time the professional carers (and include the cleaning profession in this ) busily carrying out their duties....I and my wife , who had now rejoined me , stayed as quiet as mice ...this was an eye opener....eventually after about 2 hours (the bleeding having long stopped ) I very quietly asked the A&E manager if I could go home....and so we did ....just before we left the Gardai came back past us with their prisoner , still in handcuffs , and still complaining...as he passed (and this was a man in his mid 30's)' we heard him say to the Garda 'I don't wan't to go there ...I want to go to my mother's....my REAL mother's......'' and therby hangs yet another tale...finally as we were outside trying to get a taxi , my wife met someone she knew (of course..) whose daughter had been admitted ....this woman told us that all the Gardai cars outside were there because a Garda with a young family had just been admitted , having died of a heart attack while on duty (no connection with the prisoner incident)..and his family had just arrived ......we don't know the half of it...

Luas Change.....

Did you ever suddenly realise that you had been well and truly conned ?

I thought that I was the only person in the country who was suspicious of the way in which the lconnection of the two Luas lines was being delayed . Today I came across a comment on Wikipedia which said something like 'as we all know there is no intention to join up the two Luas lines at all '. Apparently those who know what's good for us in this , so called , democratic society had decided before the Luas was built at all that the Green Line , which opened first , was just meant to be a temporary tram service and the real purpose of opening up the old Harcourt St. line was to prepare the way for what now is referred to as a Metro .Again , apparently the whole track was built with the heavier 'Metro ' in mind .
Now if this is the case , a number of things come to mind , first of all the total cost of building the original Luas line(s) we are told , was €770m , but so far I have been unable to get a breakdown of the cost between Red (or Blood Line as certain elements in South Dublin refer to it ) and the Green Line , but having travelled on both (and incidentally wondering why I had to take a 15min.walk from O'Connell St. to St.Stephen's Green to get to Stillorgan ) , seeing all the new (or rebuilt )stations , the restored Nine Arches in Milltown , and the cost of buying back all the back gardens behinh Palmerstown Park and topping the lot off with the brand new state-of-the-art bridge in Dundrum (the original of which , incidently , the' bould 'Tod Andrews had torn down ,when he was throwing his weight around in CIE ) , I would make a wild guess that of the €770 mil. spent , at least €500 mil. was spent on the Green Line (13 stops/stations) and the €270 was spent on the 23 stops on the Red Line) .
secondly ..why was the impression deliberately created that there would only be one Luas Line , when they were planning to build two for the price of three...?

thirdly....where did the demand for a ' Metro ' which only serves a part of the city ,( a part of the city which already has the DART by the way ), where did this demand come from...?
And now , of course ,we are being told that the Metro building has already started......have a guess where the clowns who brought us the overpriced Luas , the overpriced Port Tunnel , and all the other infrastructure that could have been built for a fraction of the cost.....guess where they are starting .???.....yes ....Stephens Green.....the mind boggles to think what these faceless , mindless moneywasters will do with their bottomless Transport 21 budget , when they start digging up the Green....

If our new Taoiseach is wondering where to save on his Capital Budget......please start by forgetting about this Metro nonsense and connect up the Red and Green Luases as originally planned......