John Ó'Ríordáns Blog

Had a great time in Denver watching the UFC. There was a few people I knew around which made it much more fun.

[nggallery id=25]

Anybody ever been on the express walkway in Toronto Airport? I’d so much fun I nearly went back to do it again! This video doesn’t do the speed justice.

I spent a lot of last week looking at apartments in Mississauga with Zeenia Kola. They were all in high rise apartment blocks so they were pretty small for the pricey, in comparison to Cork.

I was looking into ways of maximising space and came across this fantastic video on what one guy in Hong Kong has done. It’s very impressive.

There was a snow day in work today so I took the opportunity to head into Toronto. I didn’t feel comfortable driving in the snow so I took public transport. Which might not have been the best idea. The bus ended up getting stuck in the snow the next stop after mine. We had to get off and get onto another bus which crashed into a snow bank. The third bus I got was to the train station so I took the train into Toronto after that.

Looking at the roads as I was passing they didn’t look to bad. Reading the paper on the train I realised why.

• 600 snow ploughs are clearing snow
• 5,500km is the size of the roads they have to clear
• 4 hours is all it takes to clear them main roads
• 300 clearing machines are dedicated to sidewalks
• 1600 people are employed to clear the snow

Once in Toronto it was pretty cold. But I discovered that nearly every building is linked underground by an HUGE underground system (28km long). So they have 28km of shops and business underground. Amazing. It’s called path.

When the nuclear winter comes I know where I’d like to be living.

Here are some pics I took yesterday and today.

[nggallery id=22]

After 12 hours travelling tomorrow I’ll have to navigate this, in the snow, on the wrong side of the road. Jet-lagged.

I was in work today and someone discovered that Google Street view for Ireland was live. Check it out and look at your house. Or someone elses.

http://maps.google.com/

I was in Dublin Castle today and they had some cool sand structures in the courtyard. Here are some photos with the odd pic of the castle.

Google Maps street view is very useful when you are trying to find somewhere. It’s got great mapping in the States and I love using it on my iPhone. Sometimes it picks up some strange stuff though.

Look up this address in Google Maps Street View

Rugdeveien 37, 5097 Bergen, Norway

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