So it it all started with the Bulls and the Bears on Wall St.They were responsible for the Crash . For a while it seemed that the Markets were rising again but no ...it was only a 'dead cat bounce 'and the index continued to fall.
In Ireland we had our own cat , we called it The Celtic Tiger . This creature was easily recognised as it rampaged through its jungle of shoddily-built , over-priced , housing estates , with its mobile clamped to its ear , brushing aside all in its path .
First-time buyers were led like sheep to the latest over hyped new developments .
When some , responsible commentators , suggested that we might have a property crash and negative equity situation , as had happened in other countries , they were told by the vested interests that our boom was a horse of a different colour and they were 'neigh' (sorry ) sayers . Not only did they continue to ignore the elephant in the corner but they continued to build more white elephants ...Bertie Bowl,,,decentralising.....voting machines......
But the property crash did come and we had the weasel words and crocodile tears of the people who drove the market (they are very good at crocodile tears ).
When what was really going on eventually started to leak out and we began to realise that St. Patrick had not actually rid our country of all its snakes , the anger started .
We had the porcine similes , swine , greedy pigs , snouts in the trough....etc and although the dogs- in- the- streets had been barking warnings those responsible told us that no-one foresaw our crisis .
So now we are being alerted by our politicians to gird our loins (oops) and prepare for some brass-monkey weather ahead .
Ah ..welcome to Animal Farm..!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Slippery when wet
We arrived in Barcelona on Friday 13th Feb . , spent two days sightseeing there and on Sunday 15th made our way to the port and saw our cruise ship Norwegian Jade for the first time .This magnificent ship , fourteen decks high , with a passenger capacity of 2000 and a crew of 1500 overwhelmed us .
The logistics of boarding 2000 people and their luggage for a 12 day cruise was handled as smoothly as boarding a train for Galway . We exchanged our passports for our stateroom key-card and by the time we reached our cabin our luggage was in place .
As we passed through the main lounge my wife immediatly pointed to the glass ceiling and remarked , ominously , how much it reminded her of the ship in the film ''The Poseidon Adventure ''.
We settled in , explored the ship , among other things , 8 or 9 restaurant , 3 swimming pools , 4 jacuzzies , a theatre seating 1500 , cabaret rooms , bars , reading rooms , games rooms , etc.....
When this massive vessel started eventually set sail out of the port of Barcelona we hardly detected any sensation of motion .
Our first port of call was Rome , all the various options of guided tours were laid out and we chose 'Rome on your own' , which we did , from St.Peters Square , we visited the Vatican , saw thw Sistine Chapel...( if you are finding this chronicle boring , you have my permission to click out at any stage ).Then we wandered off to try and find , on foot , the Coliseum , the Trevi Fountain etc , and eventually rushed back thinking that we were about to miss the boat.
Following another day or so at sea we arrived in the port of Pereus (?) and toured Athens by coach ( photos to follow....)
Another day at sea and we arrived in Turkey , a tour which took us to the ancient town of Ephesus , a fascinating place with links to St.Paul , an amphitheatre , where St.Paul -preaching , Barbra Stiesand-singing and Elton John-?..all performed ), white marble roads , remains of buildings from library to brothel ,( we were told by the guide that there was a tunnel underground between the library and the brothel , husbands would say ''I'm just off to the library dear.....''), public toilets (in marble ) where Paul , Barbra , and Elton , may also have'' performed''. On our journey back to the ship we were given a tour of a Turkish carpet showrooms , where we were shown how the most beautiful carpets in the world , from spinning the silk , to weaving , to the finished article , dazzling colours, prices ranged from $100 to $100,000 , unfortunatly no free samples...
The downside was that it rained ALL day , so much so that the guide , who was from Ephesus said that he had never experienced anything like the rain and the cold before .( When St. Paul wrote all those letters HE NEVER ONCE MENTIONED THE WEATHER . ).
A day and a half later we arrived in the port of Alexandria and chose a trip to Cairo to see the Pyramids. .........
By my reckoning on touching the African continent we had now walked on three continents in three days or thereabouts ....Europe , Asia ..(..yes Turkey was deemed to be in Asia ) , and now Africa .
Alexandria is about 3 hours by road from Cairo and we could see how the desert was gradually being reclaimed in the area between the two cities.....a slow process of course . Cairo was a disappointment in some ways , lots of rubbish on the streets , unfinished buildings making the skyline look untidy , evidence of poverty , but on reaching the edge of the city and seeing the three magnificent Pyramids and the Sphinx so close to it was a big surprise .....we expected to have to journey for hours out in to the desert in order to see them...
Dozens of souvenier sellers , persistent but not agressive , they just didn't take NO for an answer .
We will skip over the incident where my wife tried to escape on the tour bus without me......
a trip along the Nile on a 'barge', dancing with a belly- dancer , information on the making of papyrus and the gold , tourist , and oil industries , some of the social statistics ( 75 million people in Egypt , 22.5 million in Cairo ) , the reasons for the unfinished homes , all gave us an insight to this historical ,biblical country , and went some way to explaining why there was so much apparent poverty in what should be a wealthy country . ... ..
We visited a mosque ....I thought that the ban on wearing shorts only applied to women , not so I had not only to take off my shoes but also to cover my legs with my raincoat....
I did have my cold beer , but the unusually cold weather gave a whole new meaning to the phrase ''Ice Cold in Alex''.
Malta was our last stop before heading back to Barcelona . To see the cruise liner manouvering to tie up in the little ( at least little in comparison to the size of the huge cruise-liner ) , had to be seen to be believed , like trying to park an army tank in a tiny front garden....(.worth the trip in itself...) .....
The guide told us about the history and geography of the island ( and geology ....limestone , ),an incredible story (THE MALTA STORY ?????) not enough room to even scratch the surface , well worth another visit .Romans , Greeks , British , French ...etc all contributed to its history leaving behind a very rich culture and a language that seems to have bits of all of the above ...
So we arrived back in Barcelona , said goodbye to our brief accqaintances , ( including Mike from Montana , and , I think Winnie from Wisconsin , where apparently the weather is always worse that anywhere else...)....and made our way back to the comforting arms of Ryanair and back home to the recession....
A truly wonderful , wonderful experience , for which we heartily thank all of you who helped to bring it about , we loved it , in spite of our initial concerns , we would NEVER have experienced all that without you ....one last comment ....HOW THE HELL DID YOU ALL MANAGE TO KEEP THE SECRET FOR SUCH A LONG TIME ?
The logistics of boarding 2000 people and their luggage for a 12 day cruise was handled as smoothly as boarding a train for Galway . We exchanged our passports for our stateroom key-card and by the time we reached our cabin our luggage was in place .
As we passed through the main lounge my wife immediatly pointed to the glass ceiling and remarked , ominously , how much it reminded her of the ship in the film ''The Poseidon Adventure ''.
We settled in , explored the ship , among other things , 8 or 9 restaurant , 3 swimming pools , 4 jacuzzies , a theatre seating 1500 , cabaret rooms , bars , reading rooms , games rooms , etc.....
When this massive vessel started eventually set sail out of the port of Barcelona we hardly detected any sensation of motion .
Our first port of call was Rome , all the various options of guided tours were laid out and we chose 'Rome on your own' , which we did , from St.Peters Square , we visited the Vatican , saw thw Sistine Chapel...( if you are finding this chronicle boring , you have my permission to click out at any stage ).Then we wandered off to try and find , on foot , the Coliseum , the Trevi Fountain etc , and eventually rushed back thinking that we were about to miss the boat.
Following another day or so at sea we arrived in the port of Pereus (?) and toured Athens by coach ( photos to follow....)
Another day at sea and we arrived in Turkey , a tour which took us to the ancient town of Ephesus , a fascinating place with links to St.Paul , an amphitheatre , where St.Paul -preaching , Barbra Stiesand-singing and Elton John-?..all performed ), white marble roads , remains of buildings from library to brothel ,( we were told by the guide that there was a tunnel underground between the library and the brothel , husbands would say ''I'm just off to the library dear.....''), public toilets (in marble ) where Paul , Barbra , and Elton , may also have'' performed''. On our journey back to the ship we were given a tour of a Turkish carpet showrooms , where we were shown how the most beautiful carpets in the world , from spinning the silk , to weaving , to the finished article , dazzling colours, prices ranged from $100 to $100,000 , unfortunatly no free samples...
The downside was that it rained ALL day , so much so that the guide , who was from Ephesus said that he had never experienced anything like the rain and the cold before .( When St. Paul wrote all those letters HE NEVER ONCE MENTIONED THE WEATHER . ).
A day and a half later we arrived in the port of Alexandria and chose a trip to Cairo to see the Pyramids. .........
By my reckoning on touching the African continent we had now walked on three continents in three days or thereabouts ....Europe , Asia ..(..yes Turkey was deemed to be in Asia ) , and now Africa .
Alexandria is about 3 hours by road from Cairo and we could see how the desert was gradually being reclaimed in the area between the two cities.....a slow process of course . Cairo was a disappointment in some ways , lots of rubbish on the streets , unfinished buildings making the skyline look untidy , evidence of poverty , but on reaching the edge of the city and seeing the three magnificent Pyramids and the Sphinx so close to it was a big surprise .....we expected to have to journey for hours out in to the desert in order to see them...
Dozens of souvenier sellers , persistent but not agressive , they just didn't take NO for an answer .
We will skip over the incident where my wife tried to escape on the tour bus without me......
a trip along the Nile on a 'barge', dancing with a belly- dancer , information on the making of papyrus and the gold , tourist , and oil industries , some of the social statistics ( 75 million people in Egypt , 22.5 million in Cairo ) , the reasons for the unfinished homes , all gave us an insight to this historical ,biblical country , and went some way to explaining why there was so much apparent poverty in what should be a wealthy country . ... ..
We visited a mosque ....I thought that the ban on wearing shorts only applied to women , not so I had not only to take off my shoes but also to cover my legs with my raincoat....
I did have my cold beer , but the unusually cold weather gave a whole new meaning to the phrase ''Ice Cold in Alex''.
Malta was our last stop before heading back to Barcelona . To see the cruise liner manouvering to tie up in the little ( at least little in comparison to the size of the huge cruise-liner ) , had to be seen to be believed , like trying to park an army tank in a tiny front garden....(.worth the trip in itself...) .....
The guide told us about the history and geography of the island ( and geology ....limestone , ),an incredible story (THE MALTA STORY ?????) not enough room to even scratch the surface , well worth another visit .Romans , Greeks , British , French ...etc all contributed to its history leaving behind a very rich culture and a language that seems to have bits of all of the above ...
So we arrived back in Barcelona , said goodbye to our brief accqaintances , ( including Mike from Montana , and , I think Winnie from Wisconsin , where apparently the weather is always worse that anywhere else...)....and made our way back to the comforting arms of Ryanair and back home to the recession....
A truly wonderful , wonderful experience , for which we heartily thank all of you who helped to bring it about , we loved it , in spite of our initial concerns , we would NEVER have experienced all that without you ....one last comment ....HOW THE HELL DID YOU ALL MANAGE TO KEEP THE SECRET FOR SUCH A LONG TIME ?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)