John Ó'Ríordáns Blog

Here is a list of the top 10 dirtiest hotels in Europe to be avoided from TripAdvisor. 8 out of 10 of which are from the United Kingdom. I know I won’t be going there on my holidays.Not that I would ever stay in Hotles with the names Cromwell Crown or the Victoria etc.

• 1. Grosvenor Hotel, Blackpool, United Kingdom
• 2. Villaggio Club Porto Ainu, Budoni, Italy
• 3. Park Hotel, London, United Kingdom
• 4. Boston Court Hotel, London, United Kingdom
• 5. Cromwell Crown, London, United Kingdom
• 6. Dam Hotel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• 7. Corbigoe Hotel, London, United Kingdom
• 8. Earls Court Gardens Hotel, London, United Kingdom
• 9. Blair Victoria & Tudor Inn Hotel, London, United Kingdom
• 10. Minster Hotel, York, United Kingdom

They are running a great ad over here for Aussie Rules Football (AFL) at the moment. It shows their players playing football in the middle of other sports. With a cracking song from Dropkick Murphys in the background. I can’t understand why the GAA can’t run ads like this. Although in fairness Guinness have had some good ads in the past. My favourite Guinness Hurling Ad is below as well.

Been messing with Facebook a little today while the students are doing labs. It’s funny what random photos pop up there. Here is one I just saw from Thailand with me and Lorri.

I have to wear my glasses for the next week because I am getting Laser Eye surgery next Thursday. There is nothing in this world I hate more than having to wear glasses. Especially if the weather is going to pick up over here because now I can’t wear sunglasses. Plus I look like a nerd with my glasses on.

I complained to one of the Aussie guys over here and he told me to “take a teaspoon of concrete and harden the fuck up“. What a great phrase. I’m stealing it. And he’s dead right.

Well I have internet access in the room again as I need to get my equipment ready for next weeks trainings. I went out with a few of the guys from work a couple of times during the week so it flew.Last week I watched the match in a few of the Irish bars on the Sunday afternoon. There was nobody watching it really. Everyone had seen it from the night before. I sat with a few lads from Galway and one of them let it slip at half time who won. So a real anti-climax for me.

Plus I missed the Bernard Dunne fight which by all accounts was a great fight. I think I might watch it tonight in the room now I have internet access.

This Saturday I went to the Sydney Aquarium and the Wildlife Exhibit next door. It was very cool. It’s taking me ages to bluetooth my pics to the laptop from my phone. Stupid windows only allows you to bluetooth one item at a time. So I’ll post all my pictures when I get back. Also got a few bits n’ pieces for the people at home.  Including a Kangaroo Balls bottle opener.

Went to a backpacker bar Saturday night, after grub in Chinatown. I latched on to a few random groups of people. Was good fun. Got back around 2. So Saturday was a pretty good day.  It all worked out well.

Today (Sunday) I went to a Hurling/Football competition. Again the weather was unreal. I think I might have got a little burnt, but sure how bad. Got to play a little game myself and was roped in to umpiring two matches. I’ve a competition on with a friend of mine that I can get a photo of me playing Hurling on every continent before he can do the same, but with soccer. So I’m off to a good start.

Anyway here are a few photos just to brighten up this (long) post.

Well I’m in Sydney now. The weather is unreal. Nice city. Although I don’t feel as much like a celebrity as I did in the states because over here there are loads of Irish. A lot more than in the US. I’ve seen people walking around with Port Laois jersies and “I love tay and hang sandwiches” t-shirts.

The hotel is lovely but I have to pay for internet access so I don’t think I’ll be writing any more posts from the hotel. I walked around today a bit. Google maps on the iPhone is a life saver. Makes it so easy to walk around. Headed down to Sydney harbour to have a look at the opera house, also went to the Rock and just chilled out for the day.

I sussed out a few places that will be showing the Ireland vs. Wales match at 04:30. I’d say I’ll hang on until the replay tomorrow. Everyone is going to be drunk watching it live and being on your own in a crowd like that is pretty lonely. A Sunday afternoon might be better craic. I can head back to the hotel and watch the boxing on RTE.ie again. Oh yeah, which means I will have to pay for internet access. So maybe there will be more posts.

Anyway here are some pictures I took on my phone. I’m going to head across the road to Hyde park to read a book and chill out a little.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

 

Dunne v Cordoba

Damn it! I can’t go to the Bernard Dunne World title fight because I have to head to Oz for two weeks for work! I was mad looking forward to it, but now I have to sit on a plane for 24 hours! Plus it means I’ll be in Australia for the Ireland v. Wales match.

Pretty disappointed about the fight. Was looking forward to going to the first World title fight in Ireland since I was 15!

Anyway I am selling my tickets on Ebay if anyone is interested.

On the plus side my Muay Thai (Kick Boxing) club is having a competition in the Montenotte Hotel this Saturday at 19:00. So at least I’ll be able to see some fights this month. One is a title fight for the Irish Belt I think, so it should be good.

Went to the Vatican with the mother and my girlfriend last week. Nice spot but the Italians can’t drive. Man it was some fun trying to even cross the road! The weather was lovely and Rome is amazing. The ruins are fantastic and the Vatican is quite impressive. I put the pictures up in the Gallery

I was trying to book a flight from Cork to Rome yesterday as I plan on taking my Mother to the Vatican for her birthday. I was booking a flight in April for 3 people from Cork and it would cost €1,700. The same flight from Dublin only cost €180!

What a huge difference! Why is this? I mean Cork and Dublin are not that far apart, the fuel costs must be the same. The only reason I can think of is because Cork has higher charges than Dublin. Probably because of the debt (€100,000,000) they have been left in by the Government who promised to leave them debt free after they broke away from Aer Rianta.

If I am correct then I feel that is a pretty insane state of affairs. I would love to support Cork airport (as I live in Cork) but it is cheaper for me to travel by train to Dublin, stay the night and then fly out from Dublin airport the next day. Are the government trying to totally kill tourism in Cork? It probably has an effect on business deciding to hold conferences, and maybe even start businesses, in Cork as well.

Areas of Cork (North and West especially) have been marked as severely disadvantaged areas by the EU. People are leaving in their droves and multinationals (such as Molex in Millstreet) are closing down. Surely everything possible that can be done to keep Cork a viable place to do business should be looked at?

Dublin should be able to absorb the debt without much fuss as it is the capital (although not the real one ;) ) and people will always be travelling there for tourism and business. So raising the prices there slightly would have no huge effect on them.

I seem to remember that the Greens signed some contract stating that if they got into power they would wipe the debt. So where is the movement on it?