This is the first of my Ireland theme posts.
As I informed you, I went to Ireland with my Dad. Those of you who know him (probably none of you), will know that he most enjoys sitting in either a Pub or a Betting Office. Now I tend to not be too keen, mainly because of the smoke. My eyes hurt, my hair and clothes smell and it’s pretty hard to breath.
Now Ireland have introduced a ban on Smoking in the Workplace, which covers everything which is enclosed, and therefore includes Pubs and Betting Offices. And WOW, it’s lovely. Where as before I was more pro choice, I’m now pro ban.
Whilst there have been claims of a drop in sales

Vintners’ Federation of Ireland President Seamus O’Donoghue conceded there was a “lifestyle element” in the move away from pubs but the smoking ban had more to do with it.
Much of the drop in pub sales had come between May and July after the ban came in, according to the CSO figures which showed the value of pub sales fell 2.4pc in that time and the volume by 4pc.

Irish Independent*

there are other factors, new laws introduced for motoring, now make it illegal to drink and drive and the Garda are really cracking down on this, so rural pubs are being affect by this.
However the effect it will have on non-smokers lives is much greater than a small, short-term fall in sales.

Whilst I’m here talking about Irish Pubs, a couple of other things that I noticed.
At first I was impressed by the choice the pubs offered, most had at least 6 drinks on tap, then I noticed that almost all of them had just Guinness, Heineken, Budweiser, Carlsberg, Smithwicks & Bulmers, so really not much choice between pubs.
All spirits were sold in 35.5ml measures.
Stout was cheaper than larger 🙂
That although people moaned that prices were expensive the average pint cost €3.40 (which is only £2.20)
That pubs closed at 11.30 on weekdays and at 12.30 on Fridays and Saturdays and 11.00 on a Sunday, and that you got 30 minutes drinking up time.

And finally that I somehow didn’t die, my weeks drink count was:
Guinness: 26
Heineken: 15 (bottles)
Smithwicks: 13
Baileys: 2

and that my Dad’s cousin Joan, can drink lots!

Unlike Tony Hawks (no not Tony Hawk), I will not be travelling Round Ireland with a Fridge, but instead with my Dad.
I shall be off this Saturday for a week, after getting 45p flights with RyanAir, and driving around in a car we hired from Budget Rent a Car.
I have no idea where we will be going, but we should be visiting the family.
I hope to post on my blog whilst I’m there, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get to a computer.
Have fun back here while I’m gone.

I’ve now created a drop down box for LibDem Blogs, you can see it on the right. And if your browser is a modern one, then when you click on the logo, you get a list of all the blogs.

If you want one on your own site add this line of code:

<script src=”http://www.libdemblogs.co.uk/box/blogbox.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>

or if you are missing from the box, and want to be added, leave your details in the comments box, or email [email protected]

Oooh, this looks like fun. The link is popping up all over the blogs, so we should see some good trading.
Guido Fawkes has set up a blogger league, so we can compete against each other. And there’s an LDYS league too.

Now to keep track of my Paul Keetch shares 🙂

Hmm, the Emirates Stadium, don’t really like it. What was wrong with Ashburton Grove? Or how about a mix, The Emirates Ashburton Grove. That way the fans can call it Ashburton Grove, but the sponsors still feel happy.

A jolly good read. Enjoyed it start to finish, and whilst it may have been written by a Tory, it was still worth buying.
I think that knowing Westminster and the House did help somewhat in setting the scene, but don’t let that put you off.

4.5 / 5

I went shopping with Heather this weekend in London, and whilst looking in mobile phone shops for a P910i, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get one. Then after wandering into Phones4u, I was somehow persuaded to buy one.
Got to say that it’s brilliant, the colours, the memory, the keyboard, all make it a worthwhile upgrade on my P800, which is now up for sale to friends and family first.

After coming back from Conference, I noticed a small problem, my website was broken. After a bit of tinkering I discovered that the file() function wasn’t able to connect to any outside webpage. As almost all of my site does this, it was a problem.

However after contacting technical support at my webhost, they’ve finally solved the problem.

This also means that www.libdemblogs.co.uk is back up again.