Hi All Another week done! 3 weeks left Ireland Haven’t really said much about Ireland and the Irish really so thought I’d have a crack tonight as I think I have been here long enough now to form some ideas/opinions of my experience. Remembering I have been on my own for most of this trip …no band safety net, Lesley has been flitting around and doing her own thing, as it should be, it’s a long way over and t’would be stupid not to take as much advantage as possible. Let’s start with music and live venues. 4 years ago on our first trip, most pubs would have one tv only which was off most of the time, big sports events and the news…now more tv’s, sports bar advertising, a decline in live gigs, divided crowds some for sports some for music, would sound familiar to those of you in Aust. Ireland is a small country, if you could imagine Sydney up to Port Macquarie and down to Goulburn that’s about the length then across to a little beyond Orange and you pretty well have it. Dublin is the biggest city and all roads (almost) lead to Dublin. But Newcastle has a bigger spread and almost as many people as DUBLIN. So most of it is agricultural, and the Irish are cool enough to want life style over more cash, just like in the bush in Oz they shut shop and go home to their families at a reasonable time, and they are very family orientated, lots of fathers pushing prams and looking after kids as well. Creates a nice safety net too. Minimum wage here sucks and it will cost you almost an hours wage to buy a pint of your favourite tipple and going out with your favourite someone to an average restaurant will cost you almost a day’s wages (min wage). But in saying that people still go out but not as much as they used too, also they have the booze bus which has gone a long way to killing country pubs. Paid over 20$ the other night to get home in tolls, 5 in all. 2 @ 3eu one at 3.80 one at 2.60 and last one 1.90, 14.30 eu. An hour and a half at min. In saying that, Aldi is very cheap here and a sandwich is pretty reasonable. Irish water, now here’s a doozy. The government wants to privatise Irish water, but by some quirk of fate it is owned by the Irish people not the Govt. so the only way it can be sold is by referendum, must be a majority vote. So sneaky buggers are trying to by-pass this by offering cash incentives to join up and installing water meters and getting people to pay thereby getting some sort of tacit agreement, that they hope will allow them to bypass the referendum. The Irish already pay for the infrastructure thru general revenue and let’s face it, it rains 80% of the year and water really is free here, not like in Oz at all. Politicians are sneaky bastards in every country it seems! Have a lot of people to thank over here who have been most generous and will get to that over the next 3 blogs. Thanks this week to Richard Farrelly and Darragh Ryan for helping me kick things off, Brian Meakin, Dave McHugh, John Quearney and John Kearnes also thanks to Jerome Rimson in advance of Thursday. Jackie my cousin has been a rock for me while I have been here, supplying me with a place to stay, washing machine a great company, also thanks to Peggy her 91 year old mother who owns the house. Peggy has a great mind still and has more info in her head than I can ever hope to retain. Australia Paul and Mike will be down in Wagga and Bathurst this weekend, ably assisted by Ross Ward and Nick Churkin, they have a few gigs under their belts now and from all reports they are rocking. Many thanks to Ross and Nick for keeping everything going in my absence. Big thanks also to Al, Ross, Paul and Henry and with the jam. They don’t really have anything like our jam over here, that I have seen and have been trying to get one established but have run out of time. Have two homes now and not sure which is which at the moment, but know one thing for sure don’t want to see winter, anywhere. Jams all going well, I will be back to change all that soon tho’ ha. Love ewes all. Sorry in advance for any mistakes but this one took a while and can’t be buggered re reading it again The Gigs Wednesday, 23th Sept. Muso’s club jam night. Bald Faced Stag Hotel. Parramatta Rd. Leichhardt. NSW 8 pm. Free Entry (Root/Blues/Rock) Thursday 24th Sept. Muso’s club jam night. Carousel Hotel. Woodstock Ave. Rooty Hill NSW 8 pm. Free Entry (Root/Blues/Rock) Thursday 24th Sept. Finn Ireland. Dave McHugh and Jerome Rimson Cranelane Theatre Cork City Ire. 12 MN. Free Entry (Root/Blues) Friday 25th Sept. Finn Ireland. Dave McHugh and John Kearns McGing's Bar Westport Ire 10 pm. Free Entry (Root/Blues) Friday 25th Sept. Flamin’ Beauties. featuring Ross Ward and Nick Churkin Home Tavern Wagga NSW Aust. 10 pm. Free Entry (Root/Blues) Saturday 26th Sept. Flamin’ Beauties. featuring Ross Ward and Nick Churkin Jack Duggan’s Bathurst NSW Aust. 8.30 pm. Free Entry (Root/Blues)