importing Irish soil

Last week I came across an article in "The New York Times" that made me rub my eyes in disbelief. There it stood, black on white, that a company in New York has begun importing Irish dirt and selling it for a few dollars per kilogram, shipped to your doorstep.

On the company's website (www.officialirishdirt.com) it is written that the company has shipped $2 million worth of soil so far, more to come.

Most Irish-Americans use this soil for filling in their graves and spreading it under their homes.

My first thought after reading the article was what had happened with the "good, old times" when expatriats sung traditional songs, took part in flamboyant festivals, or wore traditional dresses to express their love to their home land.

Buying Irish soil seemes to me like the daftest thing ever, but at least you don't harm anyone by doing it.

speaking

Before I went back to Croatia, Ivana, Pia, Tina and I made our perennial visit to the Prince Charles Pub (picture on the right).

This time around it was particularly interesting to be there. I got to talk to a woman from France and bombarded her with questions about the French as I'm currently reading "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle.

The questions were all about the way French kiss when they greet each other and the French obsession with food. She said that kissing realy is a true ritual among the French and although she has been living there almost since her born days, she still doesn't know how to kiss properly. Just for the record, men do kiss each other when they spot each other on teh street.

As far as food is concerned, she admitted that the French cannot get enough of it. Not in the sense that they stuff themselves, though. They are real gourmets, who eat small yet nutritious portions.

It is so fortunate that I came across her.

There were two other real characters there- Mandy, an Austrian, who works as a realtor for the filthy rich, and Tom, a Belgian engineer, who is, in his spare time, a "chocolate dealer".

This is no joke. The Belgians really have the best chocolate on the planet, especially chocolate candies. Because of this fact, Tom cannot survive without his home country's chocolate and he takes kilos and kilos of it to Austria and England (where he actually works).

In a nutshell, this night in the Prince Charles was one to remember.

listening

Yesterday I arrived back to Croatia after an painfully long journey just in time to watch a BBC production of a Sherlock Holmes adventure entitled "Sherlock Holmes and the case of the silk stocking."

I was so excited about the fact that i'm going to watch it , so I ate hastily what my grandma prepared with most love for me (sorry grandma) and positioned myself in front of the TV, armed with all sorts of nibbles.

Thanks God the Croatians don't dub neither series nor films, so I had the opportunity to listen to Queen's English for a bit less than two hours.

The film was fantastic (even better than that-What word could I use to describe it?) with all the ingredients that make a great detective story- an amazing cast of actors (Rupert Everett was juts out-of-this-world in his portrayal of Holmes), perfect scenery, costumes and perfect English.

Here is just a brief taste of the plot:

Young wealthy women are being murdered on the streets of London, which are heavy with dense fog (contributes ot the eriee atmosphere), one after another. The police finds their bodies in dimly lit side streets. They have all been killed by a stocking around their throats and another in their mouths. Sherlock Holmes, who is fighting at that time against his opium addiction, decides to assist the police. Soon enough, they realise that the murderer is a sexual sadist, who derives pleasure from undressing his victims and kissing their feet before killing them with their own stockings.

The rest, I'm afraid, yu have to see for yourself.

Here is some of the vocabulary that caught my attention:

chaperon- (noun and verb)- mainly humorous use today- an older person, especially a woman, who goes with and takes care of a younger woman who is not married when she is in public:

Do you trust him on your own, or do you want me to chaperon you?

water-tight alibi- He has a water-tight alibi for the night of the murder.

red tape-official rules and processes that seem unnecessary and delay results:

We must cut through the red tape.

footman-a male servant whose job includes opening doors and serving food, and who often wears a uniform

And finally, if you wish to find out more about Sherlock Holmes, visit http://www.sherlockian.net/

if you, on the other hand, wish to read what viewers wrote about the film "Sherlock Holmes and the case of the silk stocking", take a look at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/forum/silkstocking_20060207.html

If you prefer to read, here is the unabridged version of all the short stories that feature Sherlock Holmes (needles to say, I've read them all):

http://www.citsoft.com/holmes3.html

writing

This week I'm in for a change, so I thought I'm going to feature details of problems that cropped up in my homework for Ms Welland. We had to, as you all know, do up a "Chinglish" (which is a really unfortunate blend of Chinese and English) text, which was studded with mistakes.

To do so was an enormous challenge, but if you wish to be a translator or interpreter, you should learn how to deal with such texts.

My biggest mistake was my belief that some collocations exist in English when they actually don't. I thought that you could say that a bag is balanced and stable, but this is certainly not possible in English.

Although I had my quota of mistakes, this exercise was extremely useful. After all, a prospective translator or interpreter cannot be fooled that he/she will only receive "picture-postcard" texts to translate.

For you who aren't in Ms Wellands class, access this text, if it interest you via www.silverladder.com

reading

This week I came across a text that convulsed me. It is about a young couple, who married in October 2006. You might think, but that's nothing out of the ordinary.

Still, they aren't a husband and wife like any other. He, Ty, was in Iraq when a car-bomb disfigured him beyond recognition. His face is completely mutilated, he has no ears... Unfortunately, he looks as if he has a leading role in a horror film.

Certainly, looking like that, many a woman would have left him, but not his wife Renee. She says that everything about him is the same and that she fell in love with his heart, not his physical description. Although they have their regular up and downs, they are adamant to make the best out of their marriage.

After reading this unbelivable story about the fact that love conquers it all, I contemplated what I would do if I were in Renee's shoes. In the end, I realised that I wouldn't be able to remain Ty's wife. This may sound very cruel of me, but this is just the way I feel. I'm well aware that you are supposed to love someone's soul and not someone's body, but all the same I don't know if I could. I would, most probably, feel that I deserve something else (not to say better), and the realisation about my belief made me sob my heart out.

Marie Claire really featured this time a story that makes one wonder about one's priorities in life. It would very much interest me what you think about it.

If you happen to wish to know more about Marie Claire, visit www.marieclaire.co.uk

A Year in Provence-June

In Mayle's descriptions of their adventures in June there were two issues that caught my eye:

Firstly, the story about the little French boy who needed blood donors to keep him alive before his operation in America. The story went on to show how kind-hearted the people from Provence are if someone cries for help as masses of them went to donate blood.

The underlying reason I brought this up is that I feel that this heart-felt unselfish readiness to help is increasingly vanishing in today's world. Of course, one cannot generalize, but many people seem to keep their eyes shut when they are confronted with the plight of others. Maybe the money is to blame for this, or maybe the fact that most people nowadays just care about their families and have hardly any or no contact even with their immediate neighbours. How sad...

Secondly, Mayle's portrayal of the French social graces conserning kissing. I exploded with laughter while reading about the fact that traffic comes to a halt when two French people see each other in the street so that they can greet properly.

But what the Mayles' needed some getting used to was the kissing on the cheeks, as even the men do it. The 1 million euros question is-How many times? I've found a blog entry on this by an English woman who has been living in Paris for ten years:

http://www.petiteanglaise.com/archives/2004/12/14/french-kissing/

What Mayle tried to achieve by writing about this , apart from our belly hurting from laughing, is to sensitise people, who are planning to become expats, to social graces. You simply have to, when living in another country, respect this country's culture and act accordingly. Only by doing that you don't run the danger to make a blunder.

The vocabulary guiz:

1.blunder
a) mistake
b)lie
c)truth

2. convalesce
a)morn
b)rest
c)be quiet

3.wistful
a)clever
b)stingy
c)sad

4. addle
a)confuse
b)be lazy
c)jot down

the American in Croatia

In Fred's entries from December 2005 I came across two useful pieces of vocabulary. I'll present them to you in the form of my perennial vocabulary quiz:

1. condescend
a) agree
b) allow
c) give in

2. unanimous
a) supported by everyone
b)supported by one person
c)supported by no one

Apart from the vocabulary, he contemplated, akin to Monagan in Jaywalking, if all the members of his family will be alive an feisty when he returns.

Doubtless, the feelings for your family should not prevent you from going out there and making your dream true, but you certainly will be afraid about their well-being when miles and miles are between you . After all, they are your flesh and blood.

life with a French man

In April 2006 it was Kim who was mostly burning the midnight oil so as to write the blog entries.

Most of them revolved around friendship and her stormy relationship with her sister.

Let me first, in brief, tell you what she wrote about friendship. Basically, she reminisced about her best friend from kindergarten and the high school and how their relationships had fallen apart. I think that many of us had a smiliar experience. You had this amazing friend, who booned your life enormously, with whom you had heaps of fun etc In other words, you were kindred spirits.

Suddenly, or so it appears to you, you grow apart. You don't know your friend anymore like the back of your hand and your special relationship turns into dust.

Everytime I come to think of this issue, I remember what Agatha Christie said in her autobiography (my adapted version):

" Every special moment in life should be experienced only once. If you recreate it, the magic is lost."

Maybe she is right....

Now I come to what Kim wrote about the relationship she had with her sister in 2006. Sadly but true, it was non-existent at that time. The reason for that stems from her sister's belief that she was and still is the black sheep of the family. Doubtless there are far more colossal problems that had lead to the situation at hand, which made Kim succumb to despair. She only had the sincere hope that both her sister and her will once summon up the energy to talk to each other again.

Although I'm an only child,I can imagine it to be the worst nightmare when your sibling doesn't want to see you. Why does life always have to be so complicated? I mean we live on this planet only for a limited time and still we seem not to be possible to do it in peace and sharing love and understanding amongst each other.

Anyway, let's move on to more life-affirming topics. Easter is at our door and Thomas wrote about the way Easter is celebrated in France. If you wish to read more about how Easter is celebrated around the world (including France) look at:
http://www.easterbunnys.net/easteraroundtheworld.htm

and a very happy Easter (can you say that?) to all of you. Try not to indulge in too many chocolate eggs.

Chapters 19 and 20

What enthralled me about chapter 18 is the story about the volunteers of the search-and-rescue lifeboat team (their internet address is http://www.rnli.org.uk/who_we_are/news/news_detail?articleid=138304) in Courtmacsherry (picture below).

They are all men who put their lives in grave danger almost every night because of their deep-felt understanding of the duties of a citizen. All the problems have to be tossed aside, exercises need to be carried out before they all start their battle with the rough sea to save yet another life. Could anything be more self-sacrifising?

What's more the story also reminded me of the fact that nature is unpredicatble. As much as the human race tries to tame it, they'll won't succeed.

Before I forget, one volunteer was also transcribed as saying that machines are, after all, only machines and cannot, therefore, be trusted blindly. How true. This revelation made me realise that because we rely so heavily on machines ,we may not be as ingenious as people from underdeveloped countries.

In chapter 20 the ultimate disaster happened-the house had been robbed. The police came and poked their noses around the house.

As in most other developed countries in the world, Monagan wrote about the police being understaffed, demoralized and the prisons being overcrowded. In other words, the rule of law in Ireland was finished. What was most scary, though, was the fact that a great number of crimes had no apparent motive and the police was helpless when it came to tackling them. The government, on the other hand, promised the earth and moon to the citizens, but never brought the promises to life.

Paradoxically, when Ireland was a extremely poor country, the crime rate was very low. This may be explained by saying that in its new affluence the country has distanced itself from the social norms of the past.

Naturally, Monagan was terrified by the whole situation and wrote his opinion on it for a national newspaper. Result- the menacing local teenagers appeared again.

Has Ireland mutated into a country that will only break the family's heart?

Finally, the vocab-quiz:

1.gale
a) a strong wind
b) a fickeling sea
c) a snow storm

2.stalwart
a) sincere
b)loyal
c)stubborn

3. feckless person
a) lacking manners
b)lacking friends
c) lacking energy

4. rampant
a) getting worse
b) getting better
c) getting wet

Ireland from a Polish perspective

In his posts from July 2006 Krystian brooded over the traditional Irish music he had the chance to listen to while being in Ireland. To cut a long story short, he found the tunes brilliant, marked by the singer's lilting voices. As I myslef listened to some Irish folk songs a while ago, I can only wholeheartedly agree with him. Of course, nothing can beat the experience of listening to Irish music in an Irish pub:

The other object he brought up in his entries ties in just perfectly with the radio programme I listened to and commented on during the weekend. It is about the Irish Gaelic language.

Contrary to the radio programme, Krystian said that the Irish find the Gaelic language an unnecessary affair, and consequently, don't use it in their daily lives. The programme, on the other hand, emphasised the renaissance of interest in the Irish Gaelic language mostly due to the Gaelic media. So, as you can see, opinions are polarised here. What Krystian and the guests in the radio programme agree on, though, is that language is the main ingredient of a country's identity.

Here are also excerpts from a book about the Celtic languages and their survival I found on the Web:

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7902%28195902%2943%3A2%3C79%3AWTSTCF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4&size=LARGE

nerd's eye view

The two main issues Mandel eternalised on her blog in February 2005 were the amazing masses of snow surrounding her and the comparison between London, Seattle and Aigen.

First and foremost, let me tell you something about the snow. What stupefied Mandel and me the most is how the daily life is paralysed when there is an abundance of snow. People are, more or less, housebound, the heating very often gives up the ghost and you are freezing to death etc.

Still, the scenery is just splendid. The "white powder" lies like a viel over the countryside. Check out this breathtakingly gorgeous picture from Pam's blog:

The second matter, at which she looked from all angles, was the comparison of her home town, Seattle, her adopted "home town" Aigen, and London, where she went to visit a dear friend. You may rightly ask yourself how these three can possibly be compared as there are worlds between them, but exactly the differences were of concern to Mandel.

While the pros of Seattle are the enthic diversity and her thriving social life, those of Aigen are its stunning beauty and delicious bread. The advantage of London are for her, on the other hand, its being a highly cosmopolitan city.

On the flip side, Seattle has absolutely atrocious bread on offer and the traffic is insufferable. London is crazy expensive whilst her social life in Aigen is non-existent.

Apart from being amusing to read, Mandel's comparison made me ponder. Doubtless it is intricate for any person to find his/her way around in a foreign country and build a circle of friend. Truth be told for Mandel it is even harder as Aigen isn't her fixed abode. On the other hand, it is patently obvious that as she has been living in Seattle almost all her born days, she has by now a fulfilling social life there.

All in all, my advice to anyone who feels stranded in a foreign country is:

1. Stop whinging about not having friends. They won't materialise at your command. Go out, do a sport etc as only by being active, you will make new friendships.

2. Carry your home town always in your heart, but let new experiences and people penetrate your armour.

A Year in Provence-May

May came to the Vaucluse (picture above) and every human or animal living there had his own task. The Mayle's were savouring the bathing in their pool and the driving around with their bicycles while Faustin, their neighbour, planted lavender on the Mayle's field. Faustin's rabbits, on the other hand, ate all the lucern from the Mayle's field and grew stronger and stronger unaware that their meat would soon land on the kitchen tables.
Mayle's house was being visited by a sucession of friends and half-acquaintances, who reveled in driving around the jaw-dropping French countryside and eating in unfussy restaurants. Mayle charms me again in the way he portrays his guests, who really, to his surprise, didn't disturbe their fulfilled lives, which the Mayle's treasured like pearls plucked from an oyster.

What I find remarkable about life in rural areas then is that the locals worked like ants from dusk till down, but after tyring physically they went eminently happy to bed since they could immediately see the "fruits" of their labour. Everyone one of them lived a fulfilled life and there was a paucity of stress compared to today's rat race.
One more proof that money cannot guarantee happiness.


My vocabulary today consists of only one new word (how I adore reading "A Year in Provence"):

adamant
a)stubborn
b)sullen
c)unhappy

Green living-part 3

Here is part three (the final part) of the green living series, so you can brighten your horizons:

Carrie is expecting a baby. She's talking to her friend Gillian on the phone.

Carrie: Did you use disposable nappies with your two?
Gillian: Well, we did with Tom. With Isabel, we changed to reusable ones, though.
Carrie: Would you do that again?
Gillian: Yeah, I think so. It's a hassle, but you get through a hell of a lot of nappies, and they're not exactly cheap. We also went off the oils and the powders with Isabel.
Carrie: Why's that?
Gillian: Well, they're loaded with chemicals, aren't they? The best thing is olive oil. It's cheap. It's natural.
Carrie: You mean the same stuff you have in the kitchen?
Gillian: Yeah. And above all, it's not perfumed. All these baby products smell the same.

Explanations:

it's a hassle (informal)- something is difficult : Getting to work today was a real hassle.

a hell of a lot of (informal)-emphasizes a large number

go off something (informal)- lose interest in something

loaded with (informal)- a stronger equivalent of "full of"

famous people

Sandra Oh's face has been on our screens a lot recently. Perhaps you saw her in the comedy Sideways, in which she played a single mother working in a Californian winery.

Or maybe you enjoy watching the television series Grey's Anatomy, where Oh has a main role as Dr Cristina Yang.

Sandra Oh is a daugther of Korean immigrants and was born in Ottawa. She began acting at the age of 10. By the age of 15 she was working on television, in the theatre and advertising. Oh has received a number of awards over the years for her acting. In 1993, she was nominated for a Gemini (if you wish to find out more about Canada's Emmy, visit http://www.geminiawards.ca/)
for her performance in the TV movie The Diary of Evelyn Lau. One year later, Oh received a Genie ( if you wish to know more about Canada's Oscar, look at http://www.academy.ca/)
for playing the role of a young Chinese-Canadian in Double Happiness.

Since 1996 she has been living in Los Angeles, so as to boost her career. She said about her move:

" I wish I could stay in Canada, [but] there is just not enough for me to do.... I'm not going to sit there, waiting around, being rejected and frustrated that there are no stories for me to tell."

back to basics

This weeks' entry is solely dedicated to the adverbial phrase very much.

Very much is used to describe a verb, but you must be careful where you put it in a sentence. The best place is at the end:

We enjoyed the party very much.

You can also put it before the verb:

I very much enjoyed the party. This sounds a little bit more formal.

However, never put very much between the verb and its object as it is incorrect:

We enjoyed very much the party is incorrect.

So, if someone uses this adverbial phrase incorrectly, don't mince your word and make him/her aware of his/her mistake. It is only through mistakes that one learns, after all.

superstition

In the English calendar I came across an entry some time ago that was about superstition. I know most of you tend to give superstition a wide berth as you find it just ridiculous. Still, what I'm going to write now may leave a long-lasting impression on you:

It should be just about the time of year for the first flowers to poke their heads out of the snow. Depending on which day you see your first flower after the winter, the following will happen to you...

Monday means good fortune,
Tuesday means greatest attempts will be successful,
Wednesday means marriage,
Thursday means warning of small profits,
Friday means wealth,
Saturday means misfortune,
Sunday means excellent luck for weeks.

p.s. The best decision would be not even to leave the house on Saturday.

an idiom a week

The idiom for this week is:

to be in a jam- to have a problem you cannot solve

etymology- jam (v.)- "to press tightly," also "to become wedged," 1706, of unknown origin, perhaps a variant of champ (v.). Sense of "to cause interference in radio signals" is from 1914. Jazz noun meaning "short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band" dates from 1929, and yielded jam session (1933); perhaps from jam (n.) in sense of "something sweet, something excellent." Noun sense of "machine blockage" is from 1890, which probably led to the colloquial meaning "predicament," first recorded 1914.

My computer didn't work yesterday. I was in a real jam.

jokes

Here you have another weekly dose of jokes, so that your mood can alter for the better in this catastrophic weather:

The more we study, the more we know. The more we know, the more we forget. The more we forget, the less we know. The less we know, the less we forget. The less we forget, the more we know. So why study?

Customer: "I want to try on that suit in the window."
Salesman: "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to use the dressing room."

useful websites

As in the morning I had a bit of time to kill before the first lesson took off, I blithely surfed the World Wide Web.

Suddenly, I came across a pearl of a grammar site. It is entitled The Grammar Aquarium and it offers oodles of free online exercises coupled with explanations, which will make you explode with laughter, about your answers.

To make a long story short, if you want to feel at ease with the English grammar like fish feel at ease in the water, you simply must work with this page:

http://perso.wanadoo.es/autoenglish/freeexercises.htm

Chapters 17 and 18

Let me just shortly get back to the last post I published. There stood black in white that Monagan found the old Irish ways all but gone.

In order to save what still can be saved about the past and create a bridge to the present and the future, the idea occured to him that he might start a magazine about everything that went on in Cork. The only "tinny" problem was the extortionate price of putting a business like that on its feet. Actually, it was a colossal problem he had to deal with immediately.

So, he went on to collect potential helpers who would make his dream come true. On his quest Monagan met with the editor of The Dubliner and the former editor of The Irish Tatler, which are both glossy magazines with a huge readership.What he heard from both wasn't in the least encouraging. To put it in a nutshell, running a magazine is all about the advertising. The higher the quality and quantity of it, the better for you. What's more, in that brutal business there is no space for personal sympathy or antipathy. It is all about one's force of will.

By the way, if you happen to wish to read more about The Dubliner and The Irish Tatler, check out: http://www.thedubliner.ie/
http://www.harmonia.ie/ratecard/it/index.html

Monagan did seem to have the force of will necessary to make it, though.

Anyway, there is one culturally specifical entry in this chapter that is worthwhile mentioning- the Orange Day Parade (picture on the right.) BBC features on this URL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1430423.stm
an exhaustive portrayal of such a day in the Republic together with the profiles of the Orange Order and its key figures. If you happen not to understand what Drumcree has to do with the parade, look at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2115451.stm

Chapter 18 was special to me because I could relate it to my own life experience. It features a description of some of the little adventures the family undertook each weekend in north, west, south or east Cork. The underlying issue is that the parents wanted to show the children as much as possible of the Irish jaw-dropping panoramas and rural life. Exactly the same did my mother use to do when I was little despite many people thinking that she was over the top.

Today I say who cares what other hold as those trips we used to take have not only been burnt in my memory forever, but they have also made me who I am today- a citizen of the world.

Anyway, Monagan makes the reader aware once more of the incogruity visible everywhere around Ireland. Modern developments are maybe a few steps away of mystical monuments or a few miles from charming old villages like Cloyne:








The most important bit of the chapter is revealed in a succinct question at the end of it:
What if the Celtic Tiger comes to a halt?

Vocabulary quiz:

1. scant
a) little
b)meagre
c)old-fashioned

2.give somebody a wide berth
a) give somebody the benefit of the doubt
b)avoid somebody
c) help somebody

3. phoney
a) suspect
b) cheap
c) fake

useful websites

Here comes again the weekly dose of useful websites:

1. Listening: As promised the link of the Here on Earth programme:

http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/archive_050710j.cfm

2. Speaking: I came across a page that succinctly depicts the importance of actively speaking in English:

http://www.englishclub.com/speaking/practice.htm

3. Writing: Here you have a page solely dedicated to the words which are most commonly confused when writing in English (watch out for sensible/sensitive and lay/lie)

http://esl.about.com/cs/vocabulary/a/a_confused_2.htm

4. Grammar and vocabulary: Here is a page full of grammar quizes just for you:

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/blgrammarquiz.htm

Chapters 15 and 16

The probation period was finally over, 2001 was there and the Monagan's working life was thriving. Monagan's wife even got a job at the Cork Opera House. (picture above)

A few days after New Year's Eve the whole family went to Dublin on a visit. Seeing the city full of skycrapers, cranes and modern buldings,pubs with flashy customers etc, Monagan contemplated once again about the fact that old Ireland was all but gone.

It was replaced by a "new Ireland" were the economy was burgeoning and the Irish changing, slowly but surely, their ways so as to adapt to this "different Ireland". Monagan asked himslef if the fattening wallets were killing the Irish identity? Well, lawlessness fell on fruitful ground as well as projects which are alien to the countryside, so in some ways the old Ireland was vanishing.

Still, I think, that if the younger generation is taught about a country's past, the memories will live on.

p.s. another vocabulary quiz for you:

1.steep
a)expensive
b)high
c)shaky

2.unflappable
a)introvert
b)calm
c)unscrupulous

3.mandatory
a)advisable
b)immediate
c)compulsory

the event

Yesterday was I night the memory of which I'll carry on as long as I live.

After a pretty exhaustive week was behind us, Pia, Ivana, Tina and I were contemplating our plans for the weekend. It was hight time to come away of all work and no play. Speed frending at the Office Pub seemed as a great way to honour our pledge.

So, we made our way there while the sky was crying down on the city and our heart was beating faster with every step we took. How would it be? Would we want to curl up and die because of something we might say?

In the end, as the Office Pub was gradually filling, we decided to play it by ear. It was probably the best decision we ever took. During the speed frending everyone had about 4 minutes to talk to a person (all in English) and find out as much as you could or wanted about her/him. I immediately hit it off with most people, but so did others and, it seemed to me, that amiability was in the air.

It was only after the event that the causal chatter took off. I got to know people from all around the globe, spoke some Italian again, which I didn't do since time immemorial, and taught even some Croatian. During the rest of the night friendships were cemented, promises made and broken. Some people who come to the Stammtisch were also there and the Office was bursting at seams when the band four roses started to perform.

What to say, they were fantastic and blended Irish folk songs with modern pop and rock ones. The atmosphere and our conversations got really heated.

Some time, in the dead of the night, I returned home, dead on my feet, but exultant because of such a rewarding night. Who would have thought that English could possibly be so much fun?

If only I could have yesterday all over again!

p.s. Here is some educational information from yesterday:

In Britain they say to put the clock forward, which happened tonight.
Boxing Day is called like that because people used to put boxes behind churches on that day, so that the rich could donate something for the poor.

What they said

"Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow." Maria Mitchell

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Chapters 13 and 14

Monagan finally got round the mystery of the Old Head of Kinsale (picture above), which has since 1989 been a golf course for fabulously rich Americans. Alas, the locals were given the red card and forbidden even coming near to it.

The Old Head is a true-to-life testimony of the downsides to modern investment.

Once brimful of history, a natural treasure with stunning vistas and lush flora, in which the locals reveled , today the Old Head is brim-full with the who-is-who list of celebrities, who reach it by helicopters and relax in the futuristic clubhouse.

No local can put his foot on its ground anymore despite the fact that something quite different was promised by its owner initially. It is really a crying shame that such eternal beauty and part of the Irish cultural heritage has been taken away from the public by an Irish man.

Investitors have become the new colonisers of Ireland. I'm very much afraid, if I think about my home country, that in 2-3 years' time the situation will be similar, if not, the same. All the magnificent, secluded Croatian beaches will become private property and we will all have to bath in the county's swimming pools rather than the sea. It may seem like a doomsday scenario, but I see it coming.

In chapter 14 I came across a description of a phenomenon I had believed the rights to whom had exclusively been sold to Croatia- the who do you know phenomenon. In Croatia you cannot do the simplest thing, like going to the dentist, if you haven't a friend who will put you forward. The job market is not an exception.

Who would have thought that the same is the case in Ireland. I guess, it is like that, in some way or another, everywhere on the planet. There has to be a certain period where neighbours and potential employers put you through the acid test before you are granted full membership in the society.

Alas, the Monagan's still weren't so far.

Coca Cola has done it again

In the New York Times Sunday supplement (Standard) I read some time ago about Coca Cola's newest try to pull the wool over the consumer's eye. This time it's a Diet Coke Plus, that will be available this spring, and, allegedly has vitamins and minerals. Akin to Cola's coop, PepsiCo will introduce Tava.

All of this came to life due to the fact that sales of traditional Coca Cola are ailing. People have finally grasped that Coca Cola is a sweetened soft drink.

I find it arrant nonsense to try to sell consumers fairy tales about a Cola that has vitamins B6 and B12, magnesium and zinc in it and could be part of one's daily diet.

Here are some other opinions:
http://www.slashfood.com/2006/12/13/diet-coke-plus-is-diet-coke-but-healthier/

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/03/08/diet_coke_plus_healthy_soft_drink.php