Wordless Wednesday
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City of North Vancouver votes unanimously to become a GE Free zone
10th June
This evening the City of North Vancouver became the 2nd Vancouver municipality, and the 62nd municipality in the Province, to become a GE Free zone.
Councillors who were originally doubtful changed their mind during the meeting after a number of community members made forceful presentations about the importance of this issue.
Congratulations to all the campaigners who worked on this, the next piece in the puzzle to making the whole of BC GE Free.
Progressive thinking - common sense prevails.
Summer Finally Arrives
After one of the coldest springs on record, It seems summer has finally arrived. Temperatures today hit 22.9 C. Pretty good for Ireland in early June.
The last decent Summer I remember was 2006, seven years ago! Hanna (wife) was heavily pregnant at the time and we had just moved back to rural seaside Ireland after a two year spell in lovely Liverpool! Since then, summer weather has been lousy, at best we might get a few days blue skies and then the rain and wind would kick off again. 2007 was particularly bad and Rihanna’s Umbrella made an apt soundtrack.
Hanna’s brother, who lives in south Finland, visited us last August. I remember one day during swim week – the week we bully coerce our young kids into the sea to learn how to swim regardless of temps or weather conditions – we huddled on the sand in our winter coats under grey skies, backs to the wind, and Kalle (hanna’s brother) said that if those kids were animals, swim week would be called animal cruelty!
So here’s to a long overdue proper summer; may it be filled with warm days and nights, clear blue skies, fun BBQ’s, and hopefully a little bit of surf!
Christmas, Scandinavian Style: part 1
Arlanda airport, Stockholm, Sweden.
Delays expected.
I realise this post is coming a few months late. Better late then never, right?
I love traveling and experiencing new and different cultures, and Scandinavia is no exception. I hadn’t been to Finland – home of my lovely wife – for over two years. I hadn’t been outside of Ireland for over two years, so I was pretty excited to be heading off for two weeks to experience Christmas Scandinavian style.
Our journey would take us from Dublin to Helsinki, from there we would take the night train 700km north to Kemi and across the border to visit Hanna’s dad in Haparanda, Sweden.
Exiting Helsinki terminal the cold hit me like a block of ice. I fumbled round in my rucksack for a thick woolly hat, and then thrust my aching hands deep in to my pockets. The decision to purchase winter boots and a winter coat after we arrived at our destination now seemed foolish.
At Helsinki Central station we bought some greasy chips, hotdogs, shared a beer, and waited until our train was ready to board.
Night train from Helsinki to Kemi, Finland.
Twelve hours and a restless sleep later, we arrived at Kemi – northern Finland. The thermometer at Kemi train station read -28C. Luckily, Hanna’s Dad was waiting for us and had the inside of the Volvo nice and warm.
First port of call – after dumping luggage at the house – was the shops to get myself some proper winter clothing. Ankle-less socks and trail runners just don’t cut it in these conditions. Luckily, christmas sales were in full swing and (many) bargains were purchased.
Upon returning to the house we took some coffee (one of many obligatory daily cups), spent the best part of 15mins putting on our winter gear – long johns, woolly socks, thermal baselayer, t-shirt, heavy sweater, proper winter coat, insulated ski-pants, scarves, hats, gloves, etc, etc – and finally went out for a walk in the crisp winter wonderland.
Hanna-Mari, Haparanda, Sweden. -26 degrees C
I thought it was funny!
Home sweet (temporary) home.
Tools for work and play.
Haparanda, Sweden.
Joulupukki, also known as Santa Claus.
More photos to come in a follow up post. Thanks for looking.
Lahore Inferno: Losing the battle with fire
Lahore, Pakistan
A man wearing traditional white Pakistani clothes disappeared from the window back into the burning building. A minute later, a different man wearing black emerged from inside but it looked like someone was holding his lifeless body. The body was slowly pushed over the edge of the window and then released. Twenty seconds later the man in white came out again.
Reblogged from Damir Sagolj's excellent blog.
Tintern Abbey & Colclough Gardens, 2012.
Tintern Abbey is located on the Hook Peninsula, Co. Wexford. It’s a beautiful place to visit any time of the year, but late spring / early summer is particularly enjoyable because the air is filled with the aroma of wild garlic growing along the riverbank – and of course the trees and flowers are in full bloom!
The grounds are located away from main roads, and with no traffic noise it’s a great place to ramble away a few hours on or off the beaten tracks.
The Abbey and surroundings.
Fairy forest
Nearby agriculture.
Estuary beginnings
A recent addition to the location is the opening of Colclough Walled Gardens, which has been under restoration for a number of years.
Potato drills in the foreground.
A river – small one – runs through it.
The impressive brick wall receiving temporary support after subsiding where the stream flows under.
Archeological findings during excavation and garden clearing.
In the coming days/weeks I will post more images taken in and around the Abbey itself, and along the banks of the forest river….
Here’s a little teaser:
Mt. Leinster, May 2013.
Thar she blows!
Beautiful colour palette.
Poor visibility at the (796m) summit.
Managed forests.
A pleasant surprise upon return to ‘base camp’.
Who is really running Ireland?
Who is really running the country?
Finance minister Michael Noonan recently agreed to a salary of €843,000 for Richie Boucher, CEO of bailed out Bank of Ireland. Boucher also held a senior management position in the lead up to BOI’s partial bailout. Is this how you are rewarded in the banking world; lose millions, and get a nice fat pay cheque courtesy of spineless corporate bought politicians? Bankers fucking politicians fucking citizens. Where, and when, will it all end? Will someone please send a real superhero to save the good people of Ireland – no, not you, you fat-faced politicians.
Old Shopfronts: Tobacconist, Newsagent.
I love old shop fronts, and when I saw this one I couldn’t help but think of the photographs of Walker Evans.
