Obama Bagel

Obama Bagel.

I was in Cavan town yesterday, Wednesday November 5th, the day when history was made in the US, electing its first African/American president, Barrack Obama. We went into The Chapter One café for a snack. On the menu they had an Obama bagel. Being the day that was in it and being pleased with the outcome of the US’s choice of next president, we ordered the Obama bagel, along with a pot of tea. Apparently on Tuesday they had also a McCain bagel, but that went by the wayside once the results of the election became known at 4.00am on Wednesday morning
As I sat eating the tasty and substantial snack, my thoughts turned to bagels, or should I say beagles.
My father used to hunt with beagles, (the proper pronunciation). But in the heartlands of rural Cavan, the beagles were pronounced as’ bagels’ similar sounding to the now popular café sandwich.
So I began to ponder upon some things about Obama that haven’t been teased out by the wall media coverage of the man and the landmark election he’s just won. Does he have beagles,(bagels). Does he follow the hounds? Is he a huntsman? Did he know Pat McBride? Was he ever at the Maudabawn Drag Hunt on McCann’s hill, when he was a young lad? After listening to snippets of his victory speech on radio, I’m now convinced that he is fond of the dogs.
You may recall that when he was speaking about his daughters, he promised them that they would now get that new puppy to bring into the White House. I feel that this was a coded message to the world that he is huntsman, a beagle, (bagel man). It will be a beagle pup that his girls will get.
God they’ll keep the neighbourhood adjacent to the Whit House awake at night with their barking and howling.
Obama being a County Offaly man, will soon be making a return trip to the county to drop in on his relatives there. He’s already been invited by that other Ofally Man in high office, Brian (Biffo) Cowen, our current Taoiseach.
No doubt he’ll try and get in a day for a hunt. Cavan has a great tradition and one that still survives for ‘bagel hunting’, so a visit to the county for a hunt will be a high probality.Soon we could see him tramping the hills and bogs around Cootehill, Kill, or Castletara following the hounds a packet of ginger snap biscuits in his pockets along with a hip flask of brandy to warm him up.
Later on dropping into Connelly’s Pub for a few sandwiches and a pint of Guinness.Ok there will heavy security, keeping an eye out for the local suicide bombers and snipers, but it will be an historic occasion.
Shame that the likes of Pat McBride, Tommy McDonald, and Pat McBride won’t be around to witness the unthinkable., the day the President of America came down for a hunt.

The Recession

The Recession
Ah here we are in the middle of a recession.As soccer pundit and Eamon Dunphy might put it,'It's a good recession, not a great one'.
Ok if you didn't read a newspaper, look at TV or listen to radio news bulletins then you's be hard pressed to know that there was a recesion stalking the country.But the media as ever want to really ran it down our throats, morning, noon and evening and well into the night.Times are getting bad and can only get worse. The merchants of doom and gloom, who are well paid to enlighten us on such matters want us to believe it weather it's through or not.
First thing that should be done is to make big cutbacks in Radion TV and the print media. Lay off half the journalists, as most of the time they write crap anyhow.If you really want to write about a recesion and bad times then you have to live out the part .
The first real news that sunk in with me was last week when it was reported that tyconn Ben Dunne had to sell his helicopter, for €2 million , due to the slow down in the Irish econemy.Some wealthy buliders and high flying business had to do likewise.God my heart goes mout to them. Next thing is you'l find them in the loacal St vincent De Paul shop looking for second hand clothes.
You see the boom of the Celtic Tiger years was bulit manily on a buliding boom. Houses went up , mushrooming in every field, floodlain town and village. The prices rose even faster.Your average two up two down dwelling stuck together with God's glue could cost you €300.00 and beyond depending on location.The banks were also complicit, lending money hand over fist, 100% mortguages being the norm for a while.Thye are pulling in their horns now OK.
This isn't really a recession, but a coming back to normal. Housing will once again become mmore affordable for the average person. Some buliders will go out of business. Those who jumped on the buliding boom bandwagon, the fly by nights and the get rich quick merchants will dissappear. Few tears will be shed over their demise.

Breakfast Roll Man

Breakfast Roll Man was a term coined by broadcaster,economist and author David McWilliams. This particular beast was credited with being mainly responsible for returning Bertie Aherne and his Fianna Fail Govt to power in the 2007 election. Breakfast roll man worked in the buliding trade and had enjoyed the finiancial windfall that the industry had delivered over the past 10 years.At around 10.00am every morning,Brakfast Roll Man, tokk a break usually at teh local deli counter and order a tastily filled roll, which included bacon egg, black pudding, sausages within its crusty confines. Buliding work is tough and physical, thus the body needs plenty of fuel to sustain it over the coarse of a working day in all manner of weather.
Breakfast Roll man by voting for Bertie was as he thought was guranteeing a safe option, for the econemy and continuing prosperity.
Fats foreward 1 year. Bertie is not nthe Taoiseach anymore. Brakfast Roll Man may now be seen queing at the dole office as opposed to the deli counter, or is still laying in bed at 10.00am.The arse has fallen out of the building trade. The arse has also fallen out of breakfast Roll Mans' buliders arse trousers.
Also I heard areport on the radio last week that the contents of the said breakfast roll isn't good for your system and could give one cancer if you were to eat too many of them.So Breakfast Roll Man has had a real bad card dealt to him.His job gone and maybe his health at risk. God love him.
Bad Weather.

I can't argue that weather-wise it was bad summer. Broken since early July, August the holiday month brought heavy rains and tempests. House were flooded,.Sandbags were bulit around doors. Properties that had been bulit on flood plains suddenly had a free swimming pool thrown in as a bonus.
I hard someone quote the old St Colmbcille prophesy that Ireland would be underwater sevan years before the end of the world.
'It's already started', she said in all sincerity.She could be right.
It was bad enough with the bad weather. Then the Olympics stared in China , who could be partly resposible for this climate change, with all the pollution they are spewing up into the ozone layer.The games had hardly begun when a little wargame between Russia and Georgia , a puppet state of the West broke ,out.Georgia wanted to teach a lesson to South Osetia a statelet that declared it's indepandance from Georgia. However big brother was having none of it and launched a counter attack against Georgia. No chance against the worlds 2nd super power.It wa s a bit like the Kilkenny V Waterford All Ireland hurling final, a verty one sided affair.
Russia won the day, and in doing so warned that there could easily develope another cold war between East and West. Jesus all this coming on top of all the bad weather. Them and their cold war.Trust the Eastern Europen staes to keep the pot boiling.
All good news of cousre for the munitions industry. No sign of a recession in that business.

Silver Lining

And so it came to pass, Kenny Egan fighting agains the Chinese boxer for a gold medal and at worst a silver. He was up against a good boxer and the 3 judges so it wasn't going to be easy for the Dublin star to win in this arena and in this far flung corner of the world.
Needless to say the Chinese lad won, 14 points to 7 or something like that. Can't remember his name and even if I did probably couldn't spell it anyway.
Many said that the judges were in favour of the local lad, and that he was given points for shots that didn't connect as real scores.
But I suppose the Chinease would say that it was bast for their lad to win,'for the good of the country'.
If the judges didn't score in favour of the Chinese boxer, then who knows but they might have been taken away for a little while for some smart 're edcuation' in some dark hole down some side street in a forgotten part of town.
Still fair play to Eagen and the other two Irish boxers Barnes and Sutherland who brought home bronze medals. Gave us something to shout about.
It was also an oppourtunity to d ust down the old open topped double decker bus and give them a free ride from the airport.
And so we'll have to wait another 4 years to the games in London in 2012, where we should once again make hay with our boxers.As for then athletes and the horses, we live in hope.

Boxing Day

So it came to pass at the Olympics, the Irish boxers started to deliver the goods. On Tuesday of this week there was no stopping them as one by one , Kenneth Eagan, Paddy Barnes and Daren Sutherland won their quater final bouts, thus guarenteeing a bronze medal and earning a place in the simi finals, and en route to possible gold medals.
Great stuff in a small country where medals come once in a blue moon. The gold we won in Athens , Cian O Conners equestarian, was later took from him when his horse tested posative for some banned substance.
In 1996 swimmer Michelle Smith, our golden girl of that year won 4 gold medals, and yes you guesed it, she later tesetd postive for some banned substance . I'm not sure if she had to give back the medals but it took the sheen off the whole thing.
Micahel Carruth, yes a boxer once again saved the games for us in 1992 when he won a gold in 1992. He din't test postaive for anything and thus held on to his tile and reputation.If it weren't for the boxers we'd win feck all .
And speaking of horses and banned substances on Thursday just as we were basking in the sucess of our talented boxers, Denis Lynch a good prospect for a medal in the equestarian, was withdrawn from the games. Some banned substance was detected in the horses system. Can't trust those animals and what they might get up to alone in their stables in the dead of the night.

Friday in the Workers Gymnasium, in Beejing, Barnes lost his simi final bout to a Chinese boxer, as did Sutherland to an English guy,(even worse to lose to to the Brit!!. God they always beat us).

Egan however, made it through his bout progressing to the final, which takes palce on Sunday, and even sweeter still he beat and English opponent, proving my earlier statement wrong, that the English always beat us..

So there is a good chance that we will take 1 gold from the games. He's up against a Chinese opponent, and wouldn't it be great to beat him, what with the Chinese record on human rights, the occoupation of Tibet, air pollution the death penalty, Chines e restraunts etc.

So come on Kenneth Eagen win that gold and help brighten the countries's present dark mood , what with the recesion, rain after rain tempest, floods a faltering econmey. Pass all the drug tests and don't be like that horsey set trying to fool the world. Show the world how the Irish can fight.
Ole ole ole