The Pogues are on the radio singing their Fairytale of New York . Here's a real life experience of being an Irish cyclist in New York . It 'aint no fairytale . In 1993 I lived and worked in New York city with my friend Bernard . We rented the upstairs apartment of a two…
Many Irish people have an unusual way of greeting each other . When passing someone that you know on the street the common greeting is how are you ? , how are things ? how’s life ? etc . And the most common answer is very often ‘ not too bad ‘ which may often…
Yesterday afternoon whilst recovering from another fantastic spin off road we were having lunch when a blast from the past appeared before us . Both Ray and myself had to do a double take when Shane O'Meara formerly of The Shannon Transport club in Limerick appeared before us . We had all raced together up…
Very often we have people come in to the shop who ask us for directions . Sometimes it will be a delivery driver looking for a particular street in the town or perhaps someone looking for the community partnership offices further down our block . We also get the odd tourist who may be looking…
I have often been to Kerry . Sometimes on holidays or day-trips , other times whilst racing . Every time I go there I have a new experience of where Kerryman jokes come from like ; A Kerryman rang Aer Lingus and asked how long it took to fly from Dublin to London. "Just a…
In a bikeshop , just like many rural shops you often become a mixture of salesperson , confidante , tourist information officer and directory inquires operator . After seven years standing behind the counter there are now very few situations which would surprise me . This , however was not always the case . I…
A few years ago whilst doing my bit for international relations travelling across America, I spent a few months living in San Diego, California . I worked in that most noble of professions of telemarketing . At the time San Diego seemed to be the telemarketing capital of the world . The first company that I worked…
