tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-98524482011-04-21T20:57:43.673+01:00Just a bits and bytes scrap book of comments/things that catch my eyes/etc....Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.comBlogger3331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121979626896280902005-07-21T21:59:00.000+01:002005-11-29T09:44:36.550Z

I have just implemented a new website at windsandbreezes.org. All new content is going to be posted there.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121873151859935142005-07-20T16:07:00.000+01:002005-07-20T16:25:51.866+01:00

Currently, I use Flickr to get my photographs up on to the internet. I got into it much as everyone else was starting to use it, and I chose it for two reasons a) I wasn't aware of any other quick and easy alternative, and b) it was easier than coding up a site myself - I just didn't have the time.As I'm now in the process of putting my own site together, I'll be revisiting that. However, I'm

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121808289645674222005-07-19T22:19:00.000+01:002005-07-19T22:24:49.650+01:00

I've had a bad evening with Drupal. I don't know if anyone else uses it, but I had db connection issues tonight and eventually gave up. I'm not a MySQL expert and when it flings out a DB lost connection, then despite all the evidence to the contrary in terms of having done things exactly as I was told to by the documentation, I must have done something wrong.Hopefully I'll be more successful

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121715030598503172005-07-18T20:29:00.000+01:002005-07-18T20:30:30.610+01:00

One month without television equals one month without ads for that insane frog.The setting up of my cable television this morning reminds me what I have been missing...and how I haven't really missed it at all.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121630718082359432005-07-17T20:26:00.000+01:002005-07-17T21:05:18.093+01:00

If you are interested in sea-scape photography at all, the chances are you will have come across the work of Philippe Plisson. If you read this blog regularly, you will certainly have come across the name on one or two occasions.Philippe Plisson is based in a small village in Brittany called La Trinite sur Mer. It's known for a number of things - it has a pretty huge marina, and the approach into

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121603390047005502005-07-17T13:26:00.000+01:002005-07-17T13:29:50.046+01:00

Rymus has just posted a bundle of really nice photographs including a stunning one of the lighthouse in Dunmore East. His weblog entry is here and this will take you to his Flickr slideshow.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121528883470910102005-07-16T16:01:00.000+01:002005-07-17T13:26:10.313+01:00

At least I think his name was Emmet Tinley, and he's playing live at the Crawdaddy (somewhere in Dublin) live, with half a band on Thursday and Friday. With that plug out of the way, we'll cut to the essential.I've never happened across Emmet Tinley before, but last night, he opened for Yann Tiersen. The last couple of times I've been to Vicar Street, the support has generally been someone who

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121526042314342452005-07-16T15:49:00.000+01:002005-07-16T16:00:42.346+01:00

I've already given Yann Tiersen's current album, Le Retrouvailles, a very good review, (or at least better than I gave Harry Potter's latest outing), so I was looking forward to the concert.There is a fairly major difference between Yann Tiersen on CD and Yann Tiersen live in Vicar Street. Yann Tiersen live in action is a wild untamed animal who comes on stage and plays music. He is a gifted man

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121425960726103502005-07-15T12:01:00.000+01:002005-07-15T12:20:05.060+01:00

Monday I'll have a review of the latest instalment in the Harry Potter saga: I just haven't yet decided where or when I'm going to buy it.Initially I was thinking that if I were up late on the Friday night (deliberately staying up late was not an option), I might move along to anyone of the four or five locations within three miles which will be selling the book at 1 minute past midnight.Updates

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121267218713571492005-07-13T15:42:00.000+01:002005-07-13T16:06:58.720+01:00

From the Times of London.Some choice quotes:The supreme court of British Columbia issued a court order preventing anyone from “displaying, reading, offering for sale, selling or exhibiting in public” their books. J. K. Rowling’s legal advisers said that the author was entitled to prevent buyers from reading their own books even though they had not broken the law.andKorieh Duodu, a media lawyer

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121263400227372722005-07-13T14:51:00.000+01:002005-07-13T15:03:20.233+01:00

The second movement of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez must be one of the most widely known pieces of music for the guitar and orchestra. It is certainly the most frequently played extract from the piece on the radio.For that reason, I always felt it was a bit hackneyed. Even by Carlos Nunez.However, Lyric FM - font of all that's good on Irish radio, some times - occasionally play the third

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121262490453387052005-07-13T14:28:00.000+01:002005-07-13T14:48:10.466+01:00

When I was in first year at university some years ago - I am reluctant to say "many years ago" at this stage of my life, but it was neither today nor yesterday, although my hair is still all its natural brown/blond and not a strand of it is grey - I used to get the train from Dublin back home every Friday. My train of choice was the 1.35pm train to Cork, because on that, you didn't have to stand,

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121183752466929522005-07-12T16:55:00.000+01:002005-07-12T16:55:52.470+01:00

Skerries, abandoned boats Originally uploaded by Winds and Breezes.Recent readers will be aware of my wish to visit the boat graveyards in Brittany. Here's one from Dublin.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121183679454509872005-07-12T16:54:00.000+01:002005-07-12T16:54:39.460+01:00

Abandoned bicycle, Balbriggan Originally uploaded by Winds and Breezes.Yesterday I blogged about the immense amount of junk I found while I was exploring the shoreline in Balbriggan, and apologised for the lack of pictorial evidence. Courtesy of functional broadband, here is one of the items which most struck me, until I discovered it wasn't alone.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121164393121581212005-07-12T11:07:00.000+01:002005-07-12T11:33:13.126+01:00

This report from the BBC.Disclaimer: I work in the IT sector, sort of. I realise that technology is a wonderful thing which allows us to do things with ease which many years ago would have been construed as magic. I remember button A and manual phone exchanges so a mobile phone is a thing of absolute wonder to me, in some ways, and a total and utter nuisance in other ways. This is true of most

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121089119970037952005-07-11T11:36:00.000+01:002005-07-11T17:09:11.623+01:00

Today, while glancing through the Ouest-France site, I happened upon an article about something called Dolmen on TF1.Ths synopsis, which I've borrowed from this site is as follows:Marie Kermeur ( Ingrid Chauvin ), inspecteur de police revient dans son île de naissance pour épouser un navigateur (Xavier Deluc ). Mariage qui s'annonce mal car alors qu'elle essaye sa robe blanche, une mouette

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1121074385167711572005-07-11T09:43:00.000+01:002005-07-11T10:33:05.176+01:00

Seeing as the weather was so stunning yesterday, instead of lounging around in bed for half the day and then wishing I'd gotten up earlier, I actually got up early, grabbed the camera, and decided that I'd go taking pictures in some of the North Dublin villages where by and large, I've taken relatively few photographs.Under normal circumstances, I'd have uploaded some of those pictures to flickr

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120836000751325342005-07-08T15:37:00.000+01:002005-07-08T16:20:00.756+01:00

In one of the Terry Pratchett books, I do not remember which one, Lord Vetinari says to Sam Vimes that what people really want is for tomorrow to be the same as today, and for the day after to be the same. What they want is stability.It's been a source of some thought and reflection to me lately.Additionally, two years ago, when I did a September driving trip to Brittany, I stayed in a village

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120833300498992152005-07-08T13:56:00.000+01:002005-07-08T15:35:00.506+01:00

Although I don't go and look every single day, I'm aware that ucomics shows a Calvin and Hobbes strip every day and I feel all nostalgic. I loved Calvin and Hobbes. Actually, I still do.Now that the long drawn out wait for Harry Potter 6 is almost over, I have a new item to add to the wishlist. I will order it from Amazon if necessary. I will have it on my book shelves.The Complete Calvin and

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120821929225248002005-07-08T11:30:00.000+01:002005-07-08T12:25:29.230+01:00

I'm fortunate enough to live in a town with a very good library, which allows me to take out ten items for three weeks at a time.Mostly, my first port of call is the shelf of new arrivals. This week, they had a selection of Oxford University Press books from a series called "A Very Short Introduction" and of them, I picked up two. The one on the French Revolution isn't the hottest, but turning

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120818558004357832005-07-08T11:13:00.000+01:002005-07-08T11:29:18.013+01:00

From today's Guardian this report:"The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern and western quarters."This apparently is a quote from the claim of responsibility for yesterday's atrocity. I do not think they know British people very well.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120736518206216372005-07-07T12:35:00.000+01:002005-07-07T16:53:00.496+01:00

Yesterday, I voiced some disappointment that the Olympic Games had gone to London rather than Paris.Even though I would still have liked the Games to go to Paris, I have to say that for a city to go to sleep so delighted at winning the Games yesterday and have to wake up this morning to a terrorist attack...it leaves a terribly large stone in my throat. My heart goes out to Londoners.The Times,

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120733231409547782005-07-07T09:47:00.000+01:002005-07-07T11:47:11.666+01:00

Obviously, for the past I don't know how long, there has been an ongoing debate about binge drinking and associated problems in Ireland.This morning, while trying to avoid London-centric news reports, I happened across this report in the online edition of Ouest-France - it's in French but some of the more interesting points I'll highlight.Ouest-France is the biggest selling newspaper in France at

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120650805496303152005-07-06T12:53:00.000+01:002005-07-06T12:53:25.500+01:00

oh well.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120648041318960402005-07-06T12:02:00.000+01:002005-07-06T12:07:21.320+01:00

Photograph from Le Monde here.Report from Le Monde here. (link in French) - essential details: 5000 people evacuated from campsites, 650 hectares burnt, 500 firefighters involved in fighting the fire, 2 of whom were slightly injured, 9 firefighting aircraft in the air, electricity cuts affecting 45,000 EDF customers (deliberate supply cuts for protective reasons).BBC report here.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120647658628330142005-07-06T12:00:00.000+01:002005-07-06T12:00:58.633+01:00

Details here: from RTE.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120568796860860622005-07-05T14:05:00.000+01:002005-07-05T14:06:36.863+01:00

Via xataka, I find this - google maps for your java enabled mobile phone.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120553937338345422005-07-05T09:56:00.000+01:002005-07-05T09:58:57.340+01:00

From the denizens of slashdot comes this report of a person who has decided that they don't like their Ipod cover (can you blame them? All that white....Aarrrggghhhh).I have to say I'm impressed, depressed and now, reluctant to sign up for woodwork classes next September.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120551762183429562005-07-05T09:21:00.000+01:002005-07-05T09:22:42.183+01:00

From the BBC:Shrek 2 producers DreamWorks overestimated sales by 10 million.That strikes me as a rather excessive miscalculation. Report is here.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120549783677933242005-07-05T08:48:00.000+01:002005-07-05T08:49:43.683+01:00

On the traffic reports on Classic FM this morning:Swan loose on carriagewayGarden trellis on carriageway of motorway.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120493609841921312005-07-04T16:55:00.000+01:002005-07-04T17:32:46.453+01:00

From today's London Independent: The really worrying thing is that the structural shortage of water that has afflicted the southern half of Spain and Portugal since the Arab occupation more than a millennium ago cannot today be palliated by ancient irrigation skills, modern desalination efforts, more reservoirs or the diversion of rivers from the watery north."Even without drought, our rivers

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120490095445011562005-07-04T15:16:00.000+01:002005-07-05T09:48:57.773+01:00

Per the machinations of the good Mr Gavin Sheridan (here and here for exhortations plus here for my two cents worth of free flogging) (ie no one has any real excuse for saying "I didn't know"), Saturday evening saw a gaggle of bloggers sitting in the Market Bar in Fade Street, Dublin. On reflection, I'm interested in anyone's input for a collective noun for bloggers which doesn't pertain to the

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120482172495690662005-07-04T13:28:00.000+01:002005-07-04T14:02:52.523+01:00

Oh how I wish I was in the West today.It looks like it's a nice day in Lahinch.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120420924086245172005-07-03T20:40:00.000+01:002005-07-03T21:02:04.093+01:00

Currently, where I live, most of the buses are flogging either Reebok trainers or the film The Descent.Yesterday, however, I traipsed into the city centre for to meet some other bloggers, and amongst the benefits I reaped during this trip, was that I got to see some different bus advertising. The most frequent one which cropped up was "All Aboard for Harry", along with a drawing of Harry Potter,

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120146953645544142005-06-30T16:31:00.000+01:002005-06-30T16:55:53.653+01:00

I caught the tale end of a several-ways conversation on the subject of tourism in Ireland on Today FM yesterday evening. It was sufficiently entertaining for me to want to listen, even after I had left the car which is the only place I ever listen to The Last Word.I may have a lot of these details wrong, because I was only half listening, but effectively, the deal was the tourism chief for Mayo

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120144755336641272005-06-30T16:15:00.000+01:002005-06-30T16:19:15.336+01:00

The liner depicted in this image capsized due to the quantity of water pumped into it to deal with an on-board fire. The BBC, as always, are our friends.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120144302418046972005-06-30T15:36:00.000+01:002005-06-30T16:11:42.423+01:00

Normally, the online purchase of concert tickets brings with it hysteria, gnashing of teeth, and whinges about handling fees per ticket rather than per transaction and credit card charges and the like.I have just purchased four concert tickets for a festival in France.Dream scenario: Order concert tickets from a well known online ticket reseller in France: pay face value for each ticket, plus a

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120140485839525672005-06-30T14:31:00.000+01:002005-06-30T15:08:05.843+01:00

My crop from the library last week has thrown up some pearls, and some awful rubbish altogether. Currently though, I have my head buried in a pearl. The book is called Maps, Myths and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map. I have it courtesy of Fingal County Council Library Services. They mightn't be so hot on water supply services but their libraries aren't bad at all.Needless to mention, I'm not an

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120137970966175552005-06-30T13:47:00.000+01:002005-06-30T14:26:10.970+01:00

Currently in my CD player is the sound track to The Incredibles.I have around 150-200 CDs in Dublin (and as many again down in Cork), and usually, so that I can find things, there is some loose system of classification: Classical A-Z and Everything Else A-Z. Since I moved house though, the classification system has fallen apart, and the net result is I've been playing a lot of CDs which I haven't

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1120135648459725302005-06-30T09:39:00.000+01:002005-06-30T13:47:28.476+01:00

Let me be your Listener to lead your fears awayLet me the soothing voice to drown the past dismayThe weight upon your shoulders is lighter if it's sharedThe tears which hide your eyes are lessened if they're shedWhatever it is that haunts you may grow bigger by the dayAnd though you fear to face it, I'll slay it if I may.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119989268173081972005-06-28T20:47:00.000+01:002005-06-28T21:07:48.180+01:00

I feel as though I'm starting to beat a fairly similar drum daily at the moment, for which I request some indulgence.Amongst the things I wanted to do last year while I was in Brittany was go to one of the boat graveyards. I knew there was one in Le Bono, but somehow, I failed to find it until it was rather late in the evening and I was on my way to some occasion which wouldn't or couldn't

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119987662096357552005-06-28T20:37:00.000+01:002005-06-28T20:41:02.096+01:00

Mark Waters has a picture of a bridge in Lisdoonvarna which is more than worth a look. I've never seen the bridge, although it is entirely possible that I have driven over it on occasion. The next time I am in Clare, if time permits, I may look to see if I can find it provided I am armed with a camera and the weather is suitable, although it must be admitted that even with the aid of a map, my

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119972884156465002005-06-28T13:46:00.000+01:002005-06-28T16:34:50.443+01:00

On my list of items to blog about lately has been this one from Bernie. I have to confess I just haven't quite gotten around to it - yesterday was busy and this, I expected to demand slightly more of my time. The quote which particularly caught my eye was this one:an ultimate point where there is more demand and more reward for action in the real world than can be achieved through musings in the

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119951521925116682005-06-28T10:06:00.000+01:002005-06-28T10:38:42.413+01:00

Today, I learn from the Indo, that Mary Harney has not mandated risk equalisation. Currently, BUPA are free from having to hand over compensation to the VHI for the fact that the VHI has all the old, expensive customers, and BUPA has all the young, profitable customers.If you're a BUPA customer, you'll have had several letters from BUPA about their fight against risk equalisation over the past

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119949338680769932005-06-28T09:58:00.000+01:002005-06-28T10:02:18.686+01:00

From today's London IndependentSir: We must identify people, to combat crime, terrorism, illegal immigration and benefit fraud, but identity cards are expensive, unreliable and forgeable and have to be renewed.A modest proposal: each citizen be tattooed on the forehead with a unique bar code: cheap, reliable, difficult to forge, and stays for life.Hiding the bars by hair or clothing would be

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119877049998498512005-06-27T13:57:00.000+01:002005-06-27T13:57:30.003+01:00

paques 05 cote sauvage0023 Originally uploaded by guillaumee.I'm aware that my photographic activity levels of late have been somewhat muted, or, let's face it, completely lacking. As, just before this lull in my activity, I had acquired another memory stick for my digital camera which I haven't even taken out of the wrapping yet, you can be sure that this state of affairs will be temporary. I

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119875106576260242005-06-27T12:32:00.000+01:002005-06-27T13:25:06.580+01:00

It's probably not all that special, but my memory seems to be a lot more active when the weather is fine rather than when it is miserable and wet. Or perhaps, I'm just reeling from the pleasure of not thinking about exams, assignments, or guilt about exams and assignments and instead of concentrating on aspects of databases and VB, among other things, my memory is basking in the joy of seeking

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119871819656542252005-06-27T12:28:00.000+01:002005-06-27T12:30:19.660+01:00

Personally, I doubt I can top Sinead's report on Friday night's Sigla drinks so I'm not actually going to try. I will add though that I had a very pleasant evening and left more motivated to write a longer piece than the occasional fifty word film review that I do...particularly now that I have some free time.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119621761716561292005-06-24T15:01:00.000+01:002005-06-24T15:02:41.723+01:00

MIT weblog survey if you're interested. I learned about this via Backseat Drivers.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119621561764790902005-06-24T14:17:00.000+01:002005-06-24T16:42:53.503+01:00

I've just finished reading The Accidental Pilgrim by David Moore, and Spanish Steps by Tim Moore. I picked up the latter at Dublin Airport because it looked like it might be entertaining, likewise the latter at the library in Swords (libraries are wonderful places and the one in Swords has improved during my five month absence (I hadn't that much time to read and managed to run up some huge

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119618987155587102005-06-24T13:23:00.000+01:002005-06-24T14:16:27.186+01:00

Glastonbury is this weekend. Normally, I couldn't have cared less except that Glastonbury has a curious impact on the weather. It is a direct cause of rain.Its influence spread far this time. I got soaked walking to work. I got sufficiently soaked that it was a moot point as to whether it was worth my while continuing and looking at the pink flowers that grow by the side of the road, or to turn

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119446564286494832005-06-22T12:31:00.000+01:002005-06-22T14:22:44.466+01:00

One of my trips through the BBC site I happened upon this little article. There's a review of one of Kate Burridge's books here albeit not Weeds in the Garden of English, alluded to in the BBC article.So, yeah, the possessive apostrophe. Do we need it, or, in light of the fact that an increasing number of people appear not to be able to deal with it, should we just ditch it and rely on context?

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119430999216949272005-06-22T10:01:00.000+01:002005-06-22T10:03:19.220+01:00

Jeremy Rifkin has an interesting article in today's Guardian which has a couple of very interesting figures:The 356 richest families on the planet enjoy a combined wealth that now exceeds the annual income of 40% of the human race. Two-thirds of the world's population have never made a phone call and one-third have no access to electricity.I haven't, at this moment, any time to go through the

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119360977613992462005-06-21T13:48:00.000+01:002005-06-21T15:01:54.240+01:00

Last year, in a mad fit of insanity, and looking for something good to do on a Saturday night, I booked a ticket to go and see The Brendan Voyage which was being performed by Liam O Flynn and the Orchestra of the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in the new Grand Theatre in Lorient.The problems inherent in such a scheme are as follows: a) I live in Dublin. b) Lorient is 1000 miles from Dublin. In

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119356390599570182005-06-21T12:33:00.000+01:002005-06-21T13:19:51.000+01:00

The last time I was in Paris, in FNAC in Forum Les Halles (scary big shopping centre), I picked up a bundle of CDs, mostly new and unavailable in HMV in Swords. One of the ones I picked up was Les Retrouvailles by Yann Tiersen, better known to a lot of people for writing the music to the film Amelie, better known to me for remixing some stuff for Noir Desir on a box set called En route pour la

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119352588565107152005-06-21T09:50:00.000+01:002005-06-21T12:16:28.590+01:00

In October 1991, I handed over my entire takings for a week from guitar lessons - twenty pounds - to my best friend and asked her to go into HMV or the Olympia Theatre and get me a ticket for Crowded House, at Midnight at the Olympia. If it cost more than I gave her, I would bankrupt myself to sort it out with her. After all, who knew when Crowded House might turn up in Ireland again. If there

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119279376508596582005-06-20T15:45:00.000+01:002005-06-20T15:56:16.803+01:00

On Gaien Higoshi Dori seems to have a much more exciting life than I do.Yesterday I did very little of note. I did not hike up any mountain or down any mountain. In fact, criminally, I did not even make it to the beach. I only stepped outside the door to go to the small swimming pool at Alsaa (small being the very operative word) and then, I spent a lot of the day unpacking bags in the kitchen

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119260043811351212005-06-20T10:31:00.000+01:002005-06-20T10:34:03.816+01:00

Intermediate is now down to 149 seconds - I've a long way to go before I beat a minute though.In other stories, out of 15 Sudoku puzzles attempted last night, I managed to complete - correctly - twelve. I need a bottle of white fluid to restart the three I messed up.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119257746020674722005-06-20T09:29:00.000+01:002005-06-20T09:55:48.606+01:00

Now that there is a path all the way from where I live, to where I work, I have made the healthy decision to walk to work rather than to drive.Reactions have been mixed: "Wasn't it nearer from your old place" to "I wish I lived near enough to walk" to "You'll get killed on that road. All that traffic". and "Let's see you do it first".Well, this morning was the first morning, so I crawled out of

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119022122807342132005-06-17T16:16:00.000+01:002005-06-17T16:28:42.813+01:00

Way back in February, in dealing with Valentine's Day, I mentioned in passing that marriage proposals at the Eiffel Tower were out of fashion.Quite clearly, I must be wrong. Tom Cruise, at least, thinks I'm wrong.I quote: Appearing with Holmes at a Paris news conference, the 42-year-old explained how he had chosen the Eiffel Tower in the city of romance to make his move."Yes I proposed to Kate

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119020880140276532005-06-17T16:02:00.000+01:002005-06-17T16:08:00.146+01:00

Somewhere at home, in a battered old heavy cardboard cover there is a record - with a few scratches - of Flanders and Swann, composers of endearingly comic songs. It was much loved when I was a child.Featuring on it is a song called Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud - at least that's the chorus anyway - and it springs to mind as I read this one from the Guardian (hadn't time to post it before now, sorry)

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119015197847314902005-06-17T14:12:00.000+01:002005-06-17T14:33:17.850+01:00

As you can see, the decorators have been in, and have done away with that cool, Nantucket type look which I had been sporting for six months. I had some serious technical problems while I was doing it, but we seem to be up and running now. The main inward link http://kathtreasa.blogspot.com is now working and I intend to get the bloglinks and other sidebar info sorted out if not today, then

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1119007645847873792005-06-17T12:26:00.000+01:002005-06-17T13:47:25.843+01:00

Some technical issues haunting me at the moment.Latest: some updating going on: if you usually link through http://kathtreasa.blogspot.com, forget it, it's not working. Blog roll is out of action at the moment, as are other useful links. Apologies to anyone I link to - it will be sorted out early next week.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118956049072086032005-06-16T21:56:00.000+01:002005-06-16T22:07:29.076+01:00

Today, it was a lovely evening when I was leaving work (rather later than planned, but these things happen). A lovely, balmy summer evening, the kind of day I love. If I'd had an option, I'd have thrown up everything and gone to the beach, or sat out on the terrace and stuff...but unfortunately I couldn't.But it called up all sorts of memories - mostly, I must confess, of France. I don't know why

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118955317100784092005-06-16T21:51:00.000+01:002005-06-16T21:55:17.103+01:00

Things WindsAndBreezes hates:1) Moving house2) Humid weather while moving house3) Carrying stuff up two flights of stairs4) Knowing that this will definitely not be the last time she moves houseThings WindsAndBreezes appreciates:1) Dial-up account still working in the absence of a broadband connection2) it not raining while moving.3) Rediscovering Chill With Rachmaninov

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118851861566537272005-06-15T17:03:00.000+01:002005-06-15T17:11:01.573+01:00

I see from the eircom news website, that the NRA have a policy of objecting against motorway service stations.I'm at a loss to find the words to describe just how I feel about this, but I'll be blunt. I think it is an extremely lousy policy and I completely fail to see the logic of it. We build motorways to route traffic away from towns and villages for efficiency and safety reasons, and then we

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118743529927643292005-06-14T10:52:00.000+01:002005-06-14T11:05:29.933+01:00

Before I went digital and got the Discovery Channel, one of my favourite programmes on CH4 used to be Time Team. I like archaeology and history - find it fascinating, and love museums and all that. Unfortunately, when the Discovery Channel came along, and Time Team was on every day, I developed Friends-itis - namely an inability to identify if I had already seen this one, if I had already seen

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118740824858383802005-06-14T09:38:00.000+01:002005-06-14T10:20:24.866+01:00

Many things are drifting around my mind today, so I hardly know where to begin. I could plagiarise the first few lines of a Jane Austen novel, now long out of copyright, but it would hardly be suitable I think. The first subject up for discussion is the question of after school hours. As it happens, I was discussing this very subject with one of my friends, who is a secondary school teacher at

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118662277026251492005-06-13T11:54:00.000+01:002005-06-13T12:31:17.033+01:00

//whinge about other driversA trip down the country brings with it its usual complement of nutcases who should not, ever, be allowed anywhere near the road.That would include the twerp who was not content to wait in line at exit 6 of the M50 but had to rush down the outside lane of the M50 to skip the queue, and then swerve across to the lefthand lane, and stop as there is nowhere in the queue

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118659985753362522005-06-13T11:10:00.000+01:002005-06-13T11:53:05.760+01:00

I realise that I have been rather quiet lately, and this might, or might not, have disappointed some regular readers. I'd like to apologise for it, except for one small detail. I was technically on holiday and apart from updating my mother's virus definitions, and sorting out my brother-in-law's wireless broadband for his laptop, I had very, very little to do with computers. A break is always

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118657414963311812005-06-13T10:37:00.000+01:002005-06-13T11:10:14.976+01:00

Father's Day is next Sunday and as such, the shops are full of potential Father's Day gifts. Amongst the ones which caught my eye - not necessarily for the right reasons - were two little silver boxes in one slightly more expensive gift shop. They were cute little boxes, about 1.75cm across, high and wide. In short, their most obvious attribute was their ability to gather dust. They were almost

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118652507700835772005-06-13T09:44:00.000+01:002005-06-13T09:48:27.703+01:00

Since I saw the first trailer about six months ago, I've been looking forward to Mr and Mrs Smith. And having watched it, I'm at a loss to understand how anyone might ever have cast Nicole Kidman as Mrs Smith in the first place. Angelina Jolie was great fun in it.The film was a pure popcorn flick - go for the escapism and the entertainment. If you are hoping for an insight into the lifestyle of

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118651620494613052005-06-13T09:33:00.000+01:002005-06-13T09:33:40.500+01:00

Guardian report here.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1118174569756952122005-06-07T20:40:00.000+01:002005-06-07T21:02:49.770+01:00

//advance warning - this is an eircom related gripe, not designed to change the world or add to mutual love and understanding. Skip if necessary.I am an eircom customer. I haven't received it yet but there's a fairly hefty phone bill waiting for me. I am sitting here trying to get hold of a sales rep, in order to discuss my broadband connection, and the fact that I will be moving house next week

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117898498820507022005-06-04T15:43:00.000+01:002005-06-04T16:21:38.843+01:00

I haven't been listening to Tom Dunne much lately so my knowledge of current pop music is limited to Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Clocks(2)...I discovered yesterday in HMV that the Backstreet Boys are Back. Unfortunately, the girl behind the counter in HMV wore an expression that suggest that maybe she considered this to be a good thing.I'm not sure, myself, if only because none of them are

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117792568696494952005-06-03T10:52:00.000+01:002005-06-03T10:56:08.700+01:00

Occasionally I make reference to the fact that I still occasionally (in the car) listen to LW radio - although I am quite happy with the whole broadband set up (in general terms)...Came across this one yesterday: SMS versus Morse code (and Morse won) (yes, I know, slightly off the mark on this, but anyway..).can't imagine the entire world learning to communicate in Morse code, although it

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117792266042357042005-06-03T10:48:00.000+01:002005-06-03T10:51:06.053+01:00

This report from The Register on MS's future direction with Office (OpenOffice might be beginning to bite) has one nice sentence:Two spin-off benefits of the new formats is that files will become up to 75 per cent smaller compared to files in Office 2003, and documents will by default not execute embedded code like macros in Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents, potentially containing viruses.File

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117716813023179482005-06-02T13:13:00.000+01:002005-06-02T13:53:33.040+01:00

Although the house I grew up in is practically swimming in books, there are not so many books of poetry around. Apart from the few I have bought myself, the only one I can think of is a book called The Man from Snowy River, by Banjo Patterson. Banjo Patterson was responsible for the words to Waltzing Matilda which has to be one of the most widely known poems around the world.This article, from

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117563281976411422005-05-31T19:07:00.000+01:002005-05-31T19:14:41.980+01:00

I wanted to wait a few days until some of the furore over the French referendum results had died down before making a comment (given my tendency to comment on points of French interest, my silence on this issue may have surprised some people).The way I see it is this. It's a referendum. It gives people the vote yes or no. The concept of a referendum loses all validity if there is only one right

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117550936727475372005-05-31T13:29:00.000+01:002005-05-31T19:07:24.810+01:00

This is one of the reasons that I will never be ordering all my books or CDs on line.Public transport in Paris being dead reliable, and my living in Dublin where it's not, I always, but always, leave way more time than is necessary to get from where I am (western suburbs of Paris on this occasion) to Charles de Gaulles airport. On this occasion, I arrived at the airport all of 90 minutes ahead of

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117529028053269622005-05-31T09:43:00.000+01:002005-05-31T09:46:40.546+01:00

Near Pompidou CentreOriginally uploaded by Winds and Breezes. Some pictures are finally up on my flickr pages of which this is one. This was taken at the fountains near the Pompidou Centre - two girls were playing in the water.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117457899849980822005-05-30T12:57:00.000+01:002005-05-30T13:58:19.866+01:00

When I was 10 years old, my parents dragged me (willingly I went) on a holiday to foreign parts called Paris. I distinctly remember falling off a swing during that holiday (swinging too high - that would be the death wish) and I remember the lot of us getting lost on the metro at some stage. We were somewhere near Le Bourget. There was a rain of mud one night (so all the cars looked as though

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117113100876914762005-05-26T14:10:00.000+01:002005-05-26T14:11:40.890+01:00

Winds and Breezes has just done her last exam forever (well until I next take it into my head to learn something) and has rewarded herself with a trip away for the weekend. I won't be posting for a few days but all going well there will be photographs some time next week.Have a good one.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1117010738252727052005-05-25T09:22:00.000+01:002005-05-25T09:45:38.266+01:00

From the Guardian this morning I learn that a pinnacle of musical achievement, namely, the Crazy Frog Tune is about to become number 1 in the UK - it is outselling the latest Coldplay single by 4 to 1 at the moment. It will be the first ring tone to top the music charts.I've mixed feelings about this. Okay, so I've a bad feeling about this. Axel F made it to number 1 first time round, and it was

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116962174025900342005-05-24T20:01:00.000+01:002005-05-24T20:16:14.040+01:00

Today, while getting my fix of Without A Trace I got to sit through a number of ads breaks, at times when there were ads breaks almost everywhere else (so I couldn't grab, for example, a minute of Stargate SG1 or something else). There are two new terrible ads around to wreck my head, both from companies not known for their advertising.KFC have not been lighting the world on fire with their

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116947985234773082005-05-24T16:12:00.000+01:002005-05-24T16:19:45.240+01:00

Every so often I refer to the fact that I am listening to Camille Saint-Saen's Danse Macabre (along with a lot of other classical music which is probably giving people a very inaccurate image of my music collection)...Stuck in my mind is a conviction that someone with a great deal more talent for animation than I has done an animation of Death Playing the Violin. I'm looking for a suitable image

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116947411605375202005-05-24T16:07:00.000+01:002005-05-24T16:10:11.610+01:00

Over at Gavinsblog are some details regarding the next meet-up of Irish bloggers in the Market Bar in Dublin. Two dates are on offer - I've no preference either way myself but current indications are suggesting that 2 July is on. I'm stuck in Dublin at the time anyway.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116937445435265442005-05-24T13:15:00.000+01:002005-05-24T13:24:05.453+01:00

I have been reading through Darwin's Watch by Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, and Terry Pratchett (although PTerry doesn't do the physics bits) and there are a large number of pages on the subject of time travel. I haven't quite gotten to grips with the content of those pages yet so this is not going to be a tutorial on How You - Yes You - Too, can Travel Through Time, but the concept of wormholes was

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116791736788116042005-05-22T20:26:00.000+01:002005-05-22T20:55:36.793+01:00

I'm crouched over this laptop in much the same way as Schroder is to be seen crouched over his toy piano in the Peanuts comic strip. At least I think his name is Schroder - he used to spend his time fending off interest from bossy Lucy.Anyway, I'm not here to talk about Peanuts (another day perhaps). One of the things which never ceases to amaze me is how the world keeps getting smaller. I'm not

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116777506536175672005-05-22T16:58:00.000+01:002005-05-22T16:58:26.560+01:00

Lambay Island, sunrise Originally uploaded by Winds and Breezes.Another day, another photograph. I had to be at work at 3am this morning, and depending on what time I escaped out, I planned to go and catch a sunrise from the nearest beach to me. Given that the sun rose behind Lambay Island and it was kind of cloudy, I was wondering if the trip to Malahide had been worth it at all - but I got a

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116679915735355732005-05-21T13:42:00.000+01:002005-05-21T13:51:55.740+01:00

I'm hurting from the pain of typing those three words of course. And the shame. Oh the shame. Last night, while not studying for my very, very last exam, I was endeavouring to find something to watch on television. The reason for this was that I didn't actually want to watch any of the six DVDs I bought yesterday on the grounds that for various reasons, I was going to catch shut eye earlier than

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116679245365398482005-05-21T13:29:00.000+01:002005-05-21T13:40:45.376+01:00

Namely my perception of other people.For example: I have never met Louis Walsh. Or at least, if I did, I didn't know who he was. But I had boxed into that category known as "purveyor of bad pop". This morning, I learn from the Independent that he is, in fact, a controversial pop guru. He's pontificating about why we didn't qualify for the Grand Final of the Eurovision.Personally I would feel a

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116583662771494152005-05-20T10:48:00.000+01:002005-05-20T11:10:42.136+01:00

According to today's Independent, local representatives in Kerry wish to maintain signposting to "Dingle" outside the Gaeltacht areas in Kerry. The report is here (requires subscription).If I read the article correctly, Minister Eamonn O Cuiv is of the opinion that since Easter Monday, the name "Dingle" no longer exists. Local representatives around the area, including one Kerry councillor,

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116540736724606382005-05-19T23:09:00.000+01:002005-05-19T23:12:16.726+01:00

One day last week, one of my esteemed colleagues brought in a Sudoku puzzle and photocopied it for the five of us who happened to be at work on the day. It has turned out to be amazingly popular and is now, the number one choice of lunch hour activity. It has even overtaken surfing the internet.What we haven't worked out is who classifies them as hard or very hard or easy or medium. To date, the

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116540582851989362005-05-19T23:07:00.000+01:002005-05-19T23:09:42.856+01:00

Book review in a sentence: great attention to detail but not dusty or boring at all.I was in Eason's today and found that they were flogging the hardback of this book for 6.99 (the paper back was about 11E). As it's been on my list for a while, I figured, what the hell and picked it up. It happened to be autographed as well, so that was a little bonus I wasn't expecting. Go Easons. Anyway, I'm

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116539494801224132005-05-19T22:51:00.000+01:002005-05-19T23:00:49.120+01:00

HighRockOriginally uploaded by Winds and Breezes. Wild is the wind tonightTossing the sea's white hairThis is two lines from a poem I learned in history class as a ten year old. It occurs to me lately that a lot of the history I have learned, I learned when I was ten years old. Instead of being productive and going home, I drove to the High Rock near Portmarnock to see if the tide was in and with

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116539870196572082005-05-19T22:39:00.000+01:002005-05-19T22:57:50.200+01:00

Coincidental to yesterday's girly post on the Cannes Film Festival, Christian Dior have been kind enough to send me this season's catalogue telling me all the wonderful stuff they have lined up for the summer. A lot of it has won glossy mag prizes which, since I don't read glossy mags unless they feature watersports or cars in some form, is something I wouldn't have known. I must say it's a very

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116444118718978642005-05-18T20:19:00.000+01:002005-05-18T20:21:58.723+01:00

An album of solo piano music by Eric Satie. Classic FM (to which I've switched after discovering that Lyric FM would be concentrating on Woodie Allen for the evening) are playing one of his Gnossiennes (I think) and it's just gorgeous. Weekend after next. Virgin in Louvre Carrousel. One of the best classical departments I've seen in a record shop.

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116443152854687712005-05-18T19:58:00.000+01:002005-05-18T20:05:52.860+01:00

Today is clearly my society gossip day.Folks, in case you are lying awake worrying about this because God knows it is a highly important thing to know, just in case it ever comes up in a table quiz and is the killer question:Im 2005, what company was the official cosmetics suppler to the Cannes Film Festival? The correct answer is L'Oreal. Actually, while I realise this is not something that

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9852448.post-1116441822975042492005-05-18T19:30:00.000+01:002005-05-18T19:43:42.990+01:00

According to the ITV News Channel, the earth shatteringly important appeal between Hello! and Ok! Magazines, has fallen in Hello!'s favour. They were, in fact, entitled to scoop OK!'s exclusive on the Catherine Zeta Jones/Michael Douglas wedding, if they were able. There then followed a discussion on the subject between someone on film and a media pundit.A couple of things strike me about this. 1

Winds and Breezeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02041756997926399825noreply@blogger.com1