I should also mention that I probably got this guess absolutely and completely wrong. In fairness, I never actually saw / felt the easter eg so I've no idea how big it actually is!

These students from Dublin were raising money for cancer research. They were all over Galway on Saturday. I hear they raised seven hundred thousand euro. Well done to them all! I heard that this bike is very uncomfortable. I'd still love to give it a go though.

Just as quickly as you get into the hustle and bustle of the middle of Galway City, your left at the river at a really nice open space where it's easy to forget how close you are to everything.

Of course, the dog needs some time off as well. He remembered a lot of places in Galway. He always surprises me when even after coming back to a place after a whole year he can recall places that he thinks I might be looking for. I was surprised that I could remember my way around as well. I love Galway though and I especially wlike what they've done with Air square. I'll be back down there again in the next month for more music I think.

Thanks again to EmmaFor taking these pictures and letting me use them on this site.

The theme of this year’s Irish Blog awards was the death of blogging. This continues on from reports in the media and even bloggers who have blogged their last that the medium is dead.

There's a video that explains all of this. News flash. Blogging is dead.

Every year, there’s a theme. Last year it was something to do with a wedding. Who knows what next years will be.

Thanks To Emma for taking these pictures and allowing me to use them on my blog.

Let me just say a huge thanks to Damien Mulley for organizing this event every year. He does a fantastic job and it's easy to see that he puts a lot of work and time into it. There were a lot of people I had never heard of there this year but as Twenty Major says, new people are what makes it interesting and are what drives blogging on for the next five years of blog awards. Well, he didn't say that exactly, but it's it in a knutshell. I met people there on Saturday who are very interesting and I'm going to enjoy reading their blogs over the next year.

I'm beside the coffin I think it said something like retweet. but I'm sorry. the description I was given wasn't very .... well, descriptive? so I cant describe it to you in turn. sorry!" />

Oh, I forgot to put this in the first time around.

Last night was great. I went to one place called Tigh Coili. I was told by a really nice harp player that it would have a nice relaxed session from around half 6 until half eight. She was right. The musicians really knew each other very well. There's a very funny story about what I did there but I'll leave it until the next mad for trad to share with you. Anyway, we got talking to a woman who really enjoyed the music. Without knowing it, she had decided to follow me to the next session in a pub called an Pucán. That's almost right across the road from the hotel we're staying in by the way. It couldn't be in a better location! Anyway, after the first session we went back to the harp players apartment for an hour or so just to catch up. It's been about two years since I met up with her so it was great to see how she was getting on. That's the thing about Irish music. I have a group in my phone for almost every county in the country. No matter where I go I can usually find a musician there who I can ask where the best sessions are. I usually meet these people at music festivals such as the Willy Clancy festival in Milltown in Co. Claire. Anyway, we left her apartment after a while and made our way up to the next session only to find that this woman had been waiting on us to arrive. Not only that but she told the band who were playing that they should let me join them for a while. I was happy listening. They jelled really well together but I never say no to playing some music so I excepted their invitation when it was given. The guitar player, Shane was absolutely fantastic. I'm hoping to meet him to play more music today sometime. I'll upload a video to Youtube shortly with a recording. Funnily enough, the manager asked me to go up again when I finished the first time.

This is the video from last night. Remember, this is the first time I ever played music with this man. It was fantastic fun!

We're staying in Hotel Meyrick in Galway City center at the moment. The blog awards are on tomorrow so we thought we'd make a weekend of it.

This place is fantastic though. Not as qwerky as the airport hotel in Cork, the hotel used for last years Irish blog awards but still fantastic in it's own way.

You'll see what I mean by the pictures below.

alt="This shows the very ornate chandelier in the room." />

Now, in this post, I'm not going to pull any punches. If you’re sighted, and you get easily offended then this one is really not for you.

I was an interview some time back. Just the run of the mill kind of interview. You've all had them. I was kind of just going to see what kind of questions they'd ask because it was a job I'd like to strive to in the future so it was a nice learning experience. I have no plans to leave the job I'm in at the moment. I enjoy it too much.

So, let me start from the beginning.

I arrived at the interview and with some searching; I found the office that was used by the company. Now, when a person who is blind goes to an interview, they've a few more things to keep in mind compared to someone who can see. That's not a bad thing of course, I enjoy the challenge. When I go to an interview, I rather walk or use public transport. I rather not use taxis as it's important for the perspective employer to see that although I can’t see, I'm still very independent and capable. There's nothing worse for destroying the image of independence than someone guiding you up to the door of the office you are visiting. Of course, I've had to get taxis to a few interviews because the companies were too far away to get to without taking too much time out of my normal working day but for those instances, I'm not taking the taxi because I can’t see, I'm taking it because it's more efficient.

So, anyway, because I walk to where I'm going, I use Google maps or GPS to work out the route to the place. This is usually fine. However, if the office is in a business park or somewhere that is not covered by Google maps or GPS, things can get a bit hairy. But, again, I love a challenge so it hasn't put me off yet. The company I was going to this time was in a very small and quiet business park so my normal methods of getting directions didn't apply. I'd usually find a nearby shop or even a reception area in the business park to get directions. For example, when I was going for interview in east point, I'd ask someone in the local shop because nine times out of ten, they'd know more than most people what was around.

This place was much smaller than east point and there was no one around so getting directions was a tad more difficult. I'd given myself plenty of time though so I eventually found where I was looking for with some determination.

The office was on the top floor of a small building but there was nothing inside the front door. I called the company and informed them that I was down stairs. Although I plainly state that I'm blind on my CV, I got the impression that they still were not aware. That wasn't an issue though; I just didn't want to intrude on their office space without making them aware that I was at least in the building. I called and they told me that they'd be down in a moment.

Almost ten minutes passed but there was still no sign of them. I was actually starting to doubt that I was in the right building. A man leaving work for the day passed me so I called him back. He worked for a different company in the building but he was able to tell me that they were on the top floor. I waited another minute and decided to walk up to them.

After reaching their door, I knocked and after hearing an acknowledgement, I walked in. It seemed like a reasonably small room and I could only hear four or five people typing to my right. I apologised for disturbing them but asked for the person I was there to meet. There was some confused silence for a moment and I again wondered if I'd found the right office. After a moment, someone spoke up and confirmed that he'd be with me in a moment. This is where it gets funny though.

As he was saying hello and greeting me, he congratulated and commended me for walking up the 6 flights of stairs to their office.

Now, I ask you, if I can walk the miles from Connolly station to their office, are a few flights of stairs going to be all that difficult?

When you go to an interview and people even doubt your ability to walk up some stairs you know you’re in for a hard one.

I hate poor me posts, and this next part isn't meant as that kind of thing but an interview is hard enough without having to first prove that you’re a normal person before you even start talking about what you came there to discuss in the first place.

These people were so clueless that I just lost all interest in their company.

People who are blind will argue that it is our place to further the interests of people with disabilities to enhance equality and promote understanding. I have to say screw that! If a perspective employer needs to be assured that you need to walk up stairs when it's your eyes that don't work, not your legs is there really any point trying to convince him or her that you can independently work on his or her IT systems?

Just to finish, I said earlier that I plainly state that I'm blind on my CV. I want to expand on that a little. For any of you who are wondering about this, I don't have it written in size 16 fonts with bold and underlined attributes to highlight it, I write it in a section for personal compandancies. My thinking is that "As I am Blind, I rely on memory for mobility and navigation more than most. This strengthened memory serves me in a number of areas........" I expand on that of course, but if you want to know more, you will have to read my CV. Being unable to see isn't the problem. It’s the attitude of a small subset of people to that difference that makes it a minor annoyance on occasion. With the right accessibility I can promise you that not only will I do the same as most people, I'll aim to excel at it. I'd bet that the majority of people who have a vision impairment would say the same. We're use to working harder to obtain access to systems and equipment that people who can see take for granted. We’re use to fighting for even the simplest things like getting into public buildings with our guide dogs. We're use to fighting and working hard for what we need and what we want. In the end, that serves us and for the companies we work for, I believe it serves them too.

In 2006, 58.15% of people in Drogheda were in employment, 7.67% were unemployed, 8.10% were students, 5.10% were unable to work due to health issues and 10.11% were retired. A large percentage of those in work are commuting to Drogheda as verified by the Drogheda Borough development plan 2005. I highlight this to give some idea of the sheer number of people availing of the services provided by Irish rail. Figures obtained from: http://www.towns-ireland.com/category/commuting/ In the development plan for Drogheda Borough written in 2005 and updated in September 2009, the need for public transport was referenced a number of times. The need for sustainable and scalable public transport options were defined as a high priority and it seemed from the report that it was recognized that it was the only sustainable method of catering for the acknowledged increasing level of traffic on Drogheda’s roads. Information obtained from: http://www.louthcoco.ie%2Fdownloads%2FReports%2FDevelopmentPlans%2FDBCDe... Page 25 and 26. I was therefore shocked to see in an article in the Drogheda independent dated Wednesday 3rd March 2010 reporting that Irish rail had been given planning permission to construct a new car park on the Marsh road to cater for an extra one hundred parking spaces. Surely the existing congestion on the Dublin road, the Marsh road and Poor house lain is proof enough that even the current amount of traffic generated by the train station is not sustainable. Source of article: http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/news/extra-parking-for-rail-station-2... In place of constructing more car parking spaces I propose an expansion of the public transport system in Drogheda to include servicing the train station. A bus running regularly to and from the train station would I believe be preferable to most over using a car and would provide a number of benefits to Irish rail and Drogheda Borough council. these benefits also comply with current transport 2021 ambitions for Dublin city including: • Sustainable: Less congestion on main roads at peak times. • Greener: more environmentally friendly. • Scalable: As the demand for trains increases so too can the frequency of the connecting public transport. • Cost effective: The running cost of feeder busses servicing both the bus and train station will increase the attractiveness of both forms of public transport. Drogheda would not be the first to use public transport in conjunction with feeder busses to enhance the accessibility of commuter services. Limerick, Cork, Connolly, Huston, and even smaller stations such as Clontarf in Dublin utilize public transport to reduce the dependency for passengers on private transport. Taking Clontarf in Dublin as the primary example of how such a system works, A feeder bus running every 15 minutes during peak times services both the local business park and the station. IN addition to this, a number of Dublin bus services including the 104 and the 130 regularly service the station and stop in local areas. As a result, the car park in Clontarf station is very small in comparison to that currently used in Drogheda. Furthermore, even during peak times, the Clontarf and the Alphy Byrne roads both accessible from the train station are not hindered by the very high volume of people who avail of this service. I would hope that instead of compounding the issues that Drogheda experiences every day in relation to road congestion the people responsible for this decision seriously consider my proposal.

This blog is around 8 years old. It was a blog before the word blog was even used in every day language! It was of course previously hosted at http://digitaldarragh.blogspot.com/ but since 2002 the digitaldarragh.com website has been serving up blog posts of one type or another. But, because it's so old, and I've done so much with it, content has been lost over time. Content that tells of memories from years ago when life was very different. But, there's a way that you can see all this interesting, disturbing and mildly entertaining content. Visit http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.digitaldarragh.com and look through the site. Some links obviously won't work because although archive.org is a great site, it cant save everything. but, mostely everything important is there. Oh, then there was this shocking and terrible attempt at web development Digytek. spelled baddly, written baddly and just ..... bad! http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.digytek.com Aside from doing websites for my self, I did a few others. But, please! give me a break! I hadn't a notion of what I was doing! the designs mark up, coding and in fact, everything about them were just horrid! http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.alpinefurniture.ie But, it's all just a bit of fun isn't it? What's next then.... :)

This week’s mad for trad is going to be the best ever! Ok, like every other station and program out there, I’ll focus on valentine’s day but obviously I’ll play the best Irish traditional music about love lost, love gained, too much love, too little love, loving other people, having no love and all that kind of good stuff. I also want to hear about your most embarrassing valentine’s moment. Don’t worry; I’ll share the mother and father of humiliating moments too. But wait. This is a Mad for Trad with a difference. I won’t be in the usual studio and I will have live audience participation. This is going to be the most interactive show yet! So, come listen at 7PM GMT, 2PM eastern and 11AM Pacific. The address for the show page is www.digitaldarragh.com/madfortrad to listen to the stream live type the following address into your media player: http://digitaldarragh.com:8000/madfortrad Note, this doesn’t go live until around 6:45PM so if you tune in now, your media player is likely to scream and complain because it isn’t receiving anything. Tomorrow is going to be a big show. You’d be mad to miss it.

I posted this comment on Nicky's blog but because it's an interesting topic in relation to selfe defence at home, I thought I'd repost it here too.

Yes, I certainly agree that this is a welcome step however, everything is not as great as it seems. Would you agree that if people have the legal right to defend them selves that this will lead to burglers coming more prepared for this eventuality? There is a lot to be said for being a passivist in this type of situation. The last thing you would want is for someone entering your house to be more armed than they already are because they are aware that you could be willing and able to fight back if the oppertunity arose. More importantly, what if the burgler had the idea to attack you before you had the oppertunity to attack him. All because your now legally entitled to defend your property.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m in support of this amendment to the constitution but I understand the reasons why it’s not such a great idea as well.

Also, I will finish by saying regardless of the law, if someone entered my house and posed a viable risk to me, Emma or even my dog, I would have no hesitation in inflicting as much bodily harm as I could on them. At the end of the day, I’m responsible for what goes on. Could I really live with my self if something happened to them? Thanks, but I’d rather face the law.

What are your thought's?

Random, highly personal and very strange. But I couldn't care less. I've a pain in my ass! NO seriously! I've a pulled muscle or something. And you thought you were having a bad day? Just imagine me! I'm sitting on my chair leaning to one side because my ass is sore. Caused by doing too many squats with free weights. Trying to increase the power of my hill climes on the tandem. Stop laughing! No really! Ouch!

It was said last night that I haven't blogged in ages. Well, it's true. I haven't really been bothered. I've had a few tuff decisions to make and a few work problems that have required a bit of serious thought to figure out what I'm going to do. But, I'm almost at the end of the tunnel now. The decision I knew I was going to have to make will be made shortly and the required action will be taken. and work? well, I'm just goin to have to put up and shut up for a while. January and a lot of December have been dead months in terms of music. This trend can not continue. Without music, my best avenue for releasing a lot of my day to day worries is gone so things annoy me more than they would ordinarily. So, I'm attempting to rectify that. Now, I need a coffee. This train is running late....................... again.

I won't explain why this is so unusual or why I'm devoting an entire blog post to it. Just go over and listen for your self.

Get off the train. Let a few people go first. Their useful for following to find the right ticket validation machine to go through. Most people use the very wide one at the end of the row so it's safe enough to follow them as that will leave you almost directly in line of the steps that lead down to the exit. When you get off the train, turn left and be prepared to follow quickly as people leaving the station do so very quickly. You will gradually turn to the right. Scan with the cane carefully as there are three steps to go down before you meet the ticket validation machines. These steps will be on your right side and as you go down them the ticket validation machines are in a row to your left. When you get down the steps continue following the crowd to the left. There will be two very small plastic signs that most likely don't even reach past knee level on the ground. One is at three steps that lead down to another area but I have no idea what it's used for and I don't know what the other sign is for. There's a bin and a pole to the right of it. When you reach the pole your only a few feet away from the row of machines. If you stand with your back to this pole and bin and you walk straight forward, you'll meet a machine however although you can get through this machine if you have the correct ticket with you, it's not the best one to go through in terms of accessibility as you will find no land marks between it and the steps down. Again, although you know of these land marks and their useful if the crowd is too quick for you to follow, try where possible to follow them as it's much easier. When you meet the ticket machine, go straight through. During rush hour there are usually two people there. One on the outside and one standing in the way of the door thing so it doesn't close. This machine is slightly wider to allow access by wheel chairs but is used informally for commuters who purchase yearly tickets. Again, continue following the crowd through this machine. They will turn gradually left as when you are facing with your back to this specific machine the stairs down are almost directly in front of you. If you turn left with them, scan with the cane to the left. You'll find a pole. Navigate around this pole and take a step to the left. Walk straight ahead and you will find the side of the steps. This is a wall with a rail on your right. If you move about three or four steps to your left you'll meet another wall. I find using the right is better. It's personal preference though. I choose it because I can go straight out of the station at the bottom while following the wall and because most other people try to rush out the door nearest the traffic lights it usually results in me getting there before the rest of them. Oh, plus, I avoid the people giving out news papers too so its win win. Right. Half way down the steps is a small platform. It only lasts for about two steps. When you get to the bottom you'll notice tactile markings. Go straight out to the very edge of the footpath. Use the cane by scanning the edge of the path as you turn to the left. Follow that path with the cane scanning the step to your right. You will come across one pole that is out on the edge but it's not a huge obstacle considering the mess on the left. You'll meet a dip. After this dip the traffic light pole is only a few steps away. Use that crossing. At the other side, move to the end of the tactile and take a sharp left. Attempt to continue in a straight line for around twenty feet. After you do this, gradually turn left scanning to your right for a wall. Continue down this road scanning the wall and steps on your right. These are reasonably straight so you shouldn't have major problems. There are two areas however where the wall has been removed and the path widens. Simply carry on straight. You will be aware when you come to the corner as the surface of the path changes and you will meet tactile markings that are sloped from a traffic light pole toward the corner. Find this corner and take a sharp right. Stay in close as there are a few poles and metal boxes used for maintenance or something on the outside of this path. On this street, continue walking until you reach a change in the surface. Be aware that there are two points along the wall that jut out. However, the cane will detect these. When the surface changes, immediately start walking to the right scanning for the ramp that marks the start of the road. This is a very wide corner that turns to the left. Continue following this ramp until you feel a slope up and a change in surface. There are a lot of poles on the edge of the path on this road but the buildings on the right have very inconsistent fronts that angle, curve, jut out and are generally hard to follow. The road gradually curves to the right after a while but after meeting the first pole on the edge, take a step to the right and walk down the centre of the path for around 40 feet. This will likely help you avoid the person that begs at the wall and allows you to avoid a lot of the navigation you would need to do if you followed the building edge. After 40 feet or so, turn to the right gradually and begin following the buildings around to the right. After the dip, you will soon meet a change in surface as well as access covers down to the seller for the pub on the right. After passing these two metal covers, step to the left and follow the middle of the path for a short time. You will meet a tactile crossing. Use these traffic lights to cross the road. After crossing the road, use the cane to find the gulley. Follow this gully for only a few feet. If you continue to follow this you will meet poles as well as the edge of the foot path. Veer in to your left but don't follow the edge of the building. Go straight along the centre of the path. You will very likely meet a slope down as well as tactile markings. Cross this very quiet and narrow road and continue along the path following the buildings to your left. There is only one obstruction on this path. It is a barrier used by a coffee shop. After the barrier you are only a few steps away from the crossing at the bottom of Kildare Street. This route is much more in-depth and complicated than when walking it with a dog. I’ll prove it. Standing on the train, the doors open. The dog with experience now takes this as his sign to start. He carefully stretches off the train. It’s not a step; it’s more like a stretch. It’s great! By him stretching to the platform, I instantly know how far it is. I don’t even think he knows what he’s doing. We walk, following the crowd to the machine. The dog stops at the step and as he knows I’m a bit to egar for my own good, he angles his body around my left knee just a little bit to stop me going any further. This is not something he’s trained to do but he rathers stopping at steps even if I know their there. We change angle slightly so we’re not walking at a curve down the three steps. Once at the bottom, the dog corrects his angle and makes a bee line to the furthest ticket machine. He weaves to the right of the crowd that are now in front of us so we pass them out. We rather get to the machine ahead of most of the other passengers as it’s easier for the dog to take his time in placing him self so as we can continue the recommended guiding position even while walking through the gap. We get through the ticket validation machine and the dog again veers to the right as he wants to get past others who have got through the machines while we were going through the one for yearly tickets / wheel chair users. He stops again at the steps giving me just enough room at the rail to walk down with him. Again, that’s another technique as it almost forces me to stop with him. We go quickly down the steps but we take the door to the far left. This is because we are ahead of most of the crowd and if we time it right, we can usually get to the crossing just before the lights change. That’s important as with a busy crossing like that, I don’t like to cross when the lights have changed before I get there as it breaks a very important habit. The dog should always stop at a controlled crossing. We cross the road and swing around the traffic pole on the other side toward the left. We keep going at a steady pace along the buildings on the right. The dog slows down at one point for an instant because there is a pole slightly too close to us and he rathers being on the safe side. We meet the changed surface and turn tightly to the right. We continue walking and he concentrates on the roadway into trinity that is denoted by the changed surface. If cars are going in or out of this gate he stops rigidly until they have passed. We continue on our way, turning to our left along the narrow path where the strange building fronts are on our right. The dog sees the seller covers in the distance so makes a decision to guide me around them. We pass them and stop at the crossing. Here, we do something that very few guide dog owners bother with; we perform a strict left turn. This is where the dog turns around to your right across your body and continues around in a circle with the handler following until they face left. This is done strictly at this crossing for two reasons. The first and most important is that the dog goes ahead of me and therefore is officially guiding and watching out for obstacles. I am basically not walking anywhere that he has not checked first. In my experience with this particular dog, this is not really necessary but it’s always good to be aware of. The second and most important reason is that we regularly continue down this road to the Dawson Street so he needs to be aware that stopping here is a necessity and although he may like going to Dawson Street, it is me who controls our direction. Simply stopping and doing what would be considered by trainers as an incorrect turn to the left doesn’t place in the dogs mind the importance of this junction. Anyway, with all that rubbish out of the way, we cross and quickly turn to the right. We continue straight stopping at both crossings before hitting the corner of Kildare Street. See? Isn’t that so much easier? Fortunately, I hope to have my dog working again tomorrow. I’m looking forward to cutting out all the complications.

These are my views and are strictly not those of my employer. I write this as an indevidual with specific personal political views and opinions. This post should thus be read as such.

Expanding on what others have said, It is true. Ireland does need an election. but first we all as a society and a nation need to analyse and fix The way the power is distributed as the way that legislative changes are discussed and made in Ireland is flawed at every level.

Look at the Oireachtas chambers and committees. Every motion goes through the same process resulting in the same messing every time. What is the point in having a chamber system based on a debate system when the debate is pointless. What is the point in having a demecratic system if party wips mean that party members must fall into line. couple that with the obvious majority being controled by the same wips and it's not a democrisy we have, it's a mess!

People keep complaining about ministers. When in actual fact Ministers are but puppets who's strings are pulled by the departments they have been asigned to. Look at Noel Dempsy after his holiday last week. He was completely right to take a holiday and I understand his complacent attitude upon his return when hounded by the media. He's only a man! He is suppose to be managing his department but all he really needs to know is what is going on. He hasn't got experience in this area, he depends on the people working in his department to have that experience.

And, then look at the departments. Their staff are employed to do a job they've never been interested in really. for the majority of people there, they are taken in, trained to the minimum standard required to do their job then left at it. There are people right from CO's right up to AP's who have interests, abilities and skills in different areas but these are not utilized. There is one office that I am aware of where a CO has more computer experience than the one single person in her area who has been promoted to a position where he manages the entire IT infrastructure. I caught a small portion of a program last night that spoke about taking ownership of your career by improving the environment and processes you work with. I work for a private company. I attempt to do just this. However, people employed by the government work to very specific guidelines. Even when they have the ability and willingness to do more, the flexability in the government isn't there to allow them to do it.

So, stop asking for a reelection and start demanding and implementing for your selves the reform that Ireland needs as a democratic nation to get back on it's Feet. FG, FF, the greens, labour, none of them are going to be able to make a change in power. None of them because the current attempt at a democratic system doesn't allow for it.

Usually, I'm quite a posative person. Today however, I am not. So, just put up with it! Firstly... I was out on Saturday. Problem was that I had just far too much on my mind for me ever to enjoy my self so the night was doomed right from the start. To add sault to the woond, the group that I went to see was suggested to me by a lot of people but I found them utterly boring. Their called Electric avenue. Their a cover band so I didn't really expect anything origional from them but what I found was so dull, so dry, so void of creativity I think I lost all faitth in humanity. How people can listen to this mind numming vomit is completely beyond me. If you want to listen to music that is arranged and sang like the artist who origionally performed it fine... That's your thing so I cant and won't be bothered listening. But if you cant do it, don't try! Their music attempted to mirror every artists song they sang owver, look, put it this way, Pick a famous painter. if you could paint, would you try to mirror every stroke that painter used to create a piece of art or would you take inspiration from it and then put your own indevidual touch to it. Even if you knew you could never be as good as that painter, you'd still do what you could to enhance his or her art with your own style. That's what i would do anyway. If you don't do that, what's the point? In painting terms, why not just take a picture of it. In music, why not just play a CD and have done with it. Sorry. I'm probably being overly crewel. But, as i say. I'm in a generally negative and pissed off mood so tuff. I heard a young singer lately. She did what she thought was a simple and uncleaned version of Molly Malone. I heard a recording of it by chance. It was so full of feeling and so full of indeviduality that she made the song her own. No one else could sing the song like that because the feeling in it was based on her experiences. Her loves, hates and heart break. The timing was not exactly normal,In fact, it was choppy. But it all fitted together like the song was written to sound that way. This woman has more singing and performance ability in her little tow than this group of six musicians as a band.

I created the old nicky Kealy website years and years ago and it has been needing an update for ages. Now, with some perswation from the twitter community, He has finally agreed to allow it to be updated again. The new site includes a blog and a whole new layout and design that is more modern and functional. Visit him today at www.nickykealy.com Remember, if you would like a site done, please get in contact with me.

Emma described this to me while walking through Gragton street in Dublin last Friday night.

It's a sign made of light that makes the letter show up really brightly on the ground. There are also little star things at random points too. She'd probably make a better job of describing it than me as I really have no idea what I'm talking about. Here's the picture of it though for you poor people who can see.

Oh, I should have said, Dublins 98 are a radio station targeting dublin City.

The sign is in their Grafton street studio to highlight a campaign they are running at the moment. In a knuttshell, there is a large block of ice with what simbolises €30000 in it. The person who guesses how long it takes for the ice to melt cloceist when it's taken out of the cooling unit next Saturday at 2PM wins the money.

Saturday was a very active day. I offered to go for a mooch as Emma calls it around Drogheda. A Mooch is Emma’s word for window shopping. Believe me! Window shopping for someone who can’t see the window never mind what’s behind it is as interesting as watching paint dry. But, Emma attempts to solve this by showing me every! Single! Item of clothing that she takes an interest in. Ah, it’s not bad actually. It’s worse when people don’t show you anything. You’re left standing there in a world of your own while the person you’re with ogles over things their looking at twenty feet away.

I took her for lunch in a small restaurant down a narrow pedestrian street later that day. For the life of me, I cant remember what it was called. But, they do the nicest stake ever!

While doing a bit more mooching, I got a call from a friend. He asked if I’d be interested in doing a gig with him that night. It gets interesting though. When he called me, he had no one else organised. He forgot he had the booking so didn’t have the usual line up. The couple hadn’t even asked for a piper but he knew he could rely on me to pull things together musically if he got musicians that hadn’t played music with us before. He had to organise a base player, a drummer and a guitar player / singer. Luckily, Paul, our usual base player was available. This fella is without a doubt one of the best base players in the country. He can make it talk! He can play everything from pop, rock, jazz, blues, and country to Irish traditional. On drums we had Gary. We hadn’t played with him at all before in fact, I don’t know where Conor found him at all! But he was fantastic. Aside from Alphrid, a drummer that I don’t get to play music with often enough, he’s probably one of the best drummers I’ve heard around Ireland. Some would call his style too busy but I liked it. It was very technical but there was a lot of great improvisation in his playing that really suited. Although he and Paul never met before their percussive styles matched very well. Finding a guitar player and singer was much more difficult. We called over 40 people between us. From Belfast to Dublin we exhausted all our contacts. At such short notice no one was available. An hour before we had to leave for the gig we got a call. Our normal guitar player already knew about the gig and because he knew he couldn’t do it he organised someone else that he knew locally to stand in for him. Olly was his name and he was brilliant. He had done his research and had a lot of our normal set list learned off. He made it his own though by throwing some others into the mix too. It all went very well. He was able to relax into our style very quickly.

So, with a replacement drummer and guitar player / singer, we still got the normal sound of the willing fools.

The bride and groom were ecstatic at the end of it. Very few people were not up on the floor dancing by the end as well so it was a great result.

But, as Connor said while we were carrying the equipment in, “ok, we’ve proven that we can pull a gig out of the bag within a few hours with everything going against us time and time again! Just once I’d like to turn up for a gig without putting together a new band.” He’s right! There’s nothing we haven’t had to plan around.

I’ll have to tell you about the five hour search for a guitar string in Israel during their Sabbath day which is a Saturday that resulted in a visit to some random person’s house and getting lost in a multi story underground car park that had been locked from the outside. But that’s for another boring morning while commuting to work on the train.

Back to this weekend, the wedding was in the most fantastic hotel I’ve ever seen. It’s a place called Darver castle and it’s about ten to fifteen miles south of Dundalk. Huge stone walls, ornate floors, massive archways and very large rooms make this place a site to behold. Getting to the castle is a funny drive. You go down nice main roads for a while then you turn down this road that is just about big enough for a car to get through. It is one of those very old roads with grass in the middle. You meet the three huge gates to the castle after a few minutes. When you go in through the gates you drive through a huge expansive driveway. It’s such a world apart from any other hotel I’ve ever been to.

Well, Christmas is now almost here. It's the 14th of December in Ireland so we've 11 days left until the big day.

I am really getting into some of the Christmas music again. Not the stuff that seems to get on everyones nerves like Fairytail in New york but the good stuff!

So, Here you go. Happy Christmas from DigitalDarragh.
Or, it could be a punishment. haha. you'll just have to see.

Yes, we may get completely ripped off by the budget today and it could effectively screw the entire country for the next fifty years as we struggle to get out of this recession but what is writing about it going to do? what is worrying going to do? What is complaining from a distance going to do? It's going to do absolutely nothing! that's what. so. Yes, we are not looking forward to this budget but there's no point worrying about it. If it's going to happen it's going to happen. Unless we're willing to actually do something about it then there's no point writing dozens of blog posts giving out. So. Today, I'm going to stay posative, I'm going to keep an eye on the budget speech, I'm going to work as normal and then, when I get the results, I'm going to see how it effects me and plan around it to try to mitagate against any major problems that may arise as a result. Until we find a way of doing something about this mess our selves, we're just going to have to put up with what the government are doing. I'll put it this way. Their doing the job and they have the advisers. We don't. I'm not saying their making the best choices. I'm not saying their making the worst choices either. Because I don't know. I'll tell you what choice isn't the right one though. Being constantly negative. We're not going to get out of this by fighting every decision the government makes. Because at the end of the day. although I personally have no trust in FF, I don't see any other party being any better. So, either get behind them and try to help this country better or find a way of doing it your self. Writing negatively and telling stories of how we're all doomed because of the stupidity and incompatence of the government is doing one thing and one thing only. It's playing straight into the oppositions hands. And, do you really think FG or labour will do any better? Come on. Think about it. Look at both parties. Do you think they'll do better? what about SF. Do you think they'll do better either? Do you think you'd do better? Lets face it. decisions were made baddly but in 1990, I remember traveling on a bus and a builder telling me the boom wasn't going to last. I remember people saying how it couldn't last for seventeen years. I remember small businesses saying that the more multi-national businesses that came in the less compeditive the market was and the less viable it was for them to stay in. I remember the home grown companies saying that the multi-national companies weren't going to look after the Irish interest. Everyone remembers this. Every single one of us had the oppertunity to do something about this. Either by supporting local produce and manufacturors or by lobbying public representatives, councilers and TD's when decisions were made that would, in the long term lead to the situation we find our selves in now. But no one did it. We were all happy to go along with it when things were good. Yes. the government could have done something but we were happy to go along with their decisions. especially when those decisions resulted in lower tax and VAT. Answer me this. Why was it so easy for English to get such a firm grasp during the plantations. Do you know? It was because the Irish have always been a divided people. It takes a lot to make us come together. When we finally did come together, the routes of the plantation had already taken hold. It's the same now. Instead of coming together and fighting the common cause of beating this recession we instead fight the government instead of helping. How do we help? I don't know. Maybe start by sending suggestions, complaints, problems, comments or simple updates to your public representatives in the Oireachtas. If your not sure how to contact your local TD, look his or her contact details up on the Oireachtas website. It's all there. That's the least we can do. So, stop complaining because without doing something and contributing to the resolution of the problem you are part of it. negativity seeds negativity and it's negativity that has this country where it is today. Not bad government decisions.