Yes folks, it was reported on the news yesterday morning that a truckload of sand was making it’s way from the sunny south east. The delivery was for what you see above, a beach in George’s Dock in Dublin.

It’s for the Docklands Urban Beach which opens today and runs right through until 20th July. Opening hours from 12pm to 8pm.

This tropical oasis will be the home to sizzling summer activities for the whole family. Complete with beach cabins, showers, lounge chairs, beach umbrellas, and a refreshment beach hut, the beach will have daily activities to suit everyone’s fancy.

If there is a God, hopefully he will smile on us. Or perhaps if the radio stations started playing Hail Glorious Saint Patrick, someone up there just might listen.

“Hail Glorious Saint Patrick, dear Saint of our Isle, on us thy poor children bestow a sweet smile (and some sun). Our hearts shall still burn wheresoever we roam, for God and Saint Patrick and our sunny home (pretty please).”

More details here. The before photo below. Happy 4th July everybody!

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Just happened to catch a statistic on the Wordpress admin screen this evening. The previous post to this one was my 300th blog post since I began on 17^th March.

The word count stats I have installed show that a total of 67,259 words have been published which is an average of 222 words per post.

I started off in March with 580 unique visitors, April had 1,897, May saw 2,718 and last month I had 5,236 unique visitors.

Although I’m not the wordiest blogger in the world with great insight into anything in particular, I do spend a lot of time searching for photos and putting the various header images together. I like doing them as it’s a creative outlet for me.

If someone asked me “What’s your blog about”, they would be met with my eyes darting about as I tried to find words to describe it. 3 hours later they might still be waiting for an actual answer.

Truth is, I don’t know how to describe what I do here. I’m ok with that as I’m not trying to fit into any particular category. Let’s just say, it’s a mixture of lots of things that go through the head of an Irishman held together with photoshop glue. How’s that then? It’s about all I’ve got for you.

This is just classic and unintentionally funny. Extracted from everyone’s favourite free ads magazine “Busy Body Adz”. Picked it up off a bench earlier because the front cover was so bad it was good. They also have the brilliant tag line “Oh yes, it’s free”. That’s exactly what I was thinking when I picked it up. Clairvoyant publishers?

One of the articles in the magazine is “How to amuse toddlers”. The author says “I hope that other childcare providers and parents will find inspiration in this article to challenge their babies with creative new experiences”.

Number 7 on the list is : Pretend to fix things with tools.

Give your toddler some tools and something to fix. It helps if you are fixing something alongside the child. Avoid tools that have sharp edges or are likely to pinch. Wrenches and screwdrivers are fairly safe. Just don’t let them run around with a screwdriver in hand. And don’t leave them unattended with a flat headed screwdriver and an exposed electrical outlet. A very dangerous combination You may just want to stick with Phillips head screwdrivers since they won’t fit into an outlet slot. (You really should have outlet covers on all toddler height outlets anyway.)

So there you go mums and dads, bet you’re glad Busy Body Adz enabled me to bring you this unique way to amuse your toddler.

in this photograph?

Has he just received some dreadful news from one his staff that the cleaners dropped a priceless ming vase?

Has he just come from a rectal exam in the doctors and he’s still feeling a little sore?

Why no, none of the above. He’s presenting an honorary degree to Nelson Mandela.

Maybe he’s not a natural smiler, I don’t know, but couldn’t he have managed to even make his eyes smile? Sheesh. Get a new photographer Tony - one that can take the poker out of your arse for a start.

No matter how many times I see it, the .com just looks wrong. It’s lower case and looks to be a different typeface as well. Actually, why bother with the .com at all? Why not just do like the London Times and call it: IRISHTIMESONLINE

The introduction of the site is very welcome though