Posts

Welcome

Image
Welcome to Old Ireland.   My initial idea for this site was to cover only classic vehicles, but since classicireland.ie was already taken and the best alternative I could find was this one, my thoughts for the site began to broaden.   A lot of the inspiration for this comes from the few magazines for which I have written articles.   Let’s get these mentioned early, because you should not be surprised to see a little of their influence here.   Real Classic is subscription only in print, but also has an excellent site at https://www.real-classic.co.uk/ , where Frank, Rowena and a host of writers entertain and inspire.   Then there is Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly, formerly in print monthly, but now only on line at http://mnmotorcycle.com / (unfortunately now obsolete.  You will need to use the Wayback machine to find it).   MMM’s archives could keep you reading happily for months, and the like it or not truths told by Thomas Day (Geezer with a grudg...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Old Story No: 3

 This comes from the same compilation of old short stories as the last one I posted here.  My scan is a lot better though.  Stillman is an interesting character, a real product of the stereotypical rise from log cabin to a much higher goal.  If interested, search for his name online.  There are other books by him available. The story is interesting too in showing how our attitudes to wild animals have changed.  Not that Stillman's treatment of these squirrels is in any way bad, but I doubt that any self respecting animal charity would contemplate publishing this to raise funds or awareness these days. Enjoy ____________ WILLIAM JAMES STILLMAN 1828-1901 W. J. Stillman wrote this account of his pets while acting as special correspondent for ‘The Times’ in Rome.   The story was widely circulated for the benefit of the American SPCA.   BILLY AND HANS IN my favourite summer resort at the lower edge of the Black Forest, the quaint old town of La...
Post a Comment
Read more

United we stand.

Image
 If like me you are truly ashamed of the way that Trump seems to eternally revert to form as a cringing hanger on to Putin's coat tails (I could say worse, but this is a reasonably polite site!)., then one good means of protest  against the free world's miserable support for a brave but beleaguered country is to give it some support yourself..  We all need to stand up for the things we believe in after all.  Democracy may not be perfect, but it is a great deal better than what Putin is offering.  And yes, in case you are wondering, I have put my money where my words are. The post below is on United 24, a fund raising site for Ukraine.  I contacted the Ukraine Consulate in Edinburgh to ask if there was a way of giving a little support to their defence, and it was them that gave me this site address, so it is legitimate. The United 24 post is worded very diplomatically, I presume so as not to offend Trump's delicate sensibilities.  There is similarly a s...
2 comments
Read more

Style over Substance.

 We went out for a meal on Wednesday evening  My poor, long suffering wife deserved a little treat after all the complaining about work that she has had to put up with over the last month or more, (you see, you're not the only ones to have to suffer my rants). A couple were seated at the table behind me, and my wife had to explain her periodic looks of disgust and amazement before I became paranoid that I had inadvertently mentioned work yet again.  It seems that when first seated, they ordered cocktails, then the procedure went like this.  The girl took her glasses off, struck a pose while a picture was taken, then it was obviously quickly uploaded to their social media platform of choice.  Then it was glasses back on before a sip or two was taken. A similar thing happened when their meal was delivered.  Lots of food and drink were left behind when they left, so the whole evening was obviously just a posing opportunity for them.  I find this whole bus...
Post a Comment
Read more

The demise of proper blogging.

Image
 I think we all need to face something here.  The world is moving on. Grandad's site - Entertaining and informing to the end.  It is sad to see it go.  I suppose I'll have to remove its link in the sidebar now. Talking to many younger people these days, the vast majority simply don't want to read anything longer than a few hundred words at most.  Video instructions seem to be rapidly replacing the traditional (and in my opinion much more user friendly), step 1 to 10 type of written idiot's guides.  Stopping a video and scrolling back to a point where you missed something is far from ideal, where good written instructions can at least be followed at any users own pace.  I'm not even a great fan of most video posts on YouTube and the like.  A colleague, during a car related conversation,  recommended a post to me about the depreciation of electric cars.  It was more than half an hour long, yet the relevant information in it would not have ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy Samhain (Halloween)

Image
 
Post a Comment
Read more

An Old Story No: 2

 Just to keep things going around here, this is a scan of another old story.  This one is from a very old short story compilation that I bought 20 years ago or more.  The story was scanned and OCR'ed by me, again years ago, so that I could send it to a friend.  The scan isn't perfect. I just loved the authors skill in articulating the old west dialect of the time, and it is a good story, well told too.  This will have to do until I get some time to write and post something of my own. Enjoy.   __________   GEORGE BROOKE circa 1840 HOW ANGELS GOT RELIGION " NEVER heard how we got religion to Angels, stranger ? I thought, uv course, everybody'd heerd that yarn. Tell ye ? Why sure ; but let's licker again and I'll reminisce. " Yer see, 'twas afore Angels got to be sech a big camp as 'twas later on, but it was a rich camp and a mighty wicked one. There were lots uv chaps there who'd jest as soon die in their boots as eat ; a...
Post a Comment
Read more