shinny

Haha, I saw it the other day and it made me laugh. It's funny coz it's true, hehe

shinny

Well, today is the first day of Spring in Ireland and the UK, so I'm doing a "spring clean"

shinny

My Mam is really green fingered so my parent's garden is lovely. It's funny because my nephew (who's 4 on the 29th of Feb (he's a leap year baby)) helped my Mam put down the daffodils which are coming up now. Every time we walk past them he's says "Nana, there's the daffodils what we planted" He's so proud of them !!

shinny

Barb, he was born the 29th of Feb 2004, so in fact he's really only one this month !!

We are always joking that when he is 84 he'll only "really" be 21 !!!

Yes, daffodils already. We were only saying there that Spring is getting earlier each year. In fact, the first sign of them opening up was around Jan 20th !!

Penny, me too. It's my favourite time when everything is coming to life.

shinny

Hope you're feeling better soon Barb

Arielle, I can't believe how many people here sat up to watch the Super bowl. I didn't realise there was any interest in it here. Just goes to show you !!!

shinny

Oh my goodness Penny, that is crazy. Just as well she got it sorted in time.

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Penny, glad to hear you daughter is doing better. I'm just glad that the spiders were have here are very harmless. I'm not afraid of spiders, but I never seem to have any in the house. I'm sure it's not from the want of them trying, but Oscar (my cat) eats them all !!

Meg, wow. That's great that you sister got her permit. How old is she? You have to be 17 here before you can get a provisional licence and 18 to pass your test. I did mine when I was 19 and passed first time. Two of my brothers failed the first time, the other two passed. All the girls (me and my two sisters) passed the first time, so we're winning the battle of the sexes on that one, lol !!

shinny

15, it's very young alright. I always found it funny that you can drive at 15/16 in the States, fight in a war at 18, but you can't drink until you are 21, lol !!

Here everything is 18. Voting, drinking. No war though, as we are a neutral country But lots of Irish join the UN and some join the British Army/Navy etc.

shinny

My Mam never drank and my Dad rarely drinks. I actually didn't have my first drink until I was 17 (illegally mind, haha) but most of my friends had tried drink when they were anything between 12 to 18. Although I don't think we have a drink problem in Ireland, I do think it's cause for concern when 90% of socialising is done in pubs/clubs. The culture is starting to change a little bit, but most youngsters think that going to the pub is the bee's knees. It's not until they hit their mid/late 20's that they realise it's not all that.

I wouldn't be against them raising the age limit to 21 here, but that's not going to fix the problem. All you do is push everything underground. I think what needs to be done is have all "alcohol" related advertising pulled from the TV (like they did with cigarettes) and promote more club like activities from an early age, so kids don't see heading to the pub with their mates as being the holy grail.

We took such a significant step here with the smoking ban (Ireland was the first country in Europe to impose the Ban in the "work place") that we now need to tackle some other problems like drinking, drugs, junk food etc.

[ Last edited by shinny at 2-7-2008 20:05 ]

shinny

I agree that it's a culture thing and I also agree with Studio that making something off limits has the opposite effect. Consider this though, Ireland has the biggest population of underage drinking. However, overall our "drinking" is pretty average in respect of other European countries. But one big factor here is that, per capita, Ireland has the "youngest" population of all the countries in Europe. So we have many more impressionable young people, hence the problem of underage drinking.

My point is that there are so many ads on the TV promoting how fun it is to be out drinking, in the pub, with your friends. Making "drink" seem like some special potion that makes you more fun, more attractive and generally more liked.

I would like to see a complete ban on this type of advertising. Stop glorifying it. Also more of the "anti drink" type ads. We have a few that run here and they are really good, but I'm not sure they are hitting home.

Half the population of Ireland is under 30 !!

shinny

Quote:

Originally posted by shinny at 2-7-2008 22:33  
Half the population of Ireland is under 30 !!

I also just realised that I am not in that half anymore

shinny

My Mam gets that all the time "have a real drink" type comments. I think people don't like having a sober person around them, because they remember everything. I very rarely drink these days. I'm quite happy to out and have a sparkling water. That way i can get on with what I want to do the next day !!

shinny

Quote:

Originally posted by philryk at 2-7-2008 23:58  
Awwww dont be sad life is what you make of it .... regardless of age

Haha, ah I know. I'm happy I'm in my 30's to be honest !!

shinny

That is just too common an occurrence !! I remember years ago I was in one of the local pubs. I was in the loo. On the way out my bag, which had a Velcro strap, caught hold of some toilet paper. Anyway, I was making my way across the floor, totally oblivious, when the barman swiftly came up behind me, yanked it off the bag and then carried on as if nothing had happened. Luckily he saved me from everyone in the pub seeing it. Only one or two had seen it by the time he caught up with me and freed it from my bad

shinny

Yes, he was very good alright.

How long till the wedding now Meg??

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Dear me I'm actually exhausted after that first leg of the race, lol. Just catching my breath, hehe.

It really does make a difference in the type of teacher you get. Some of them are just going through the motions and don't really care about the students they are "teaching" !

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Yes, I need to catch it !!

Seriously, well done Tina. This clearly took a lot of effort and we truly appreciate that

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Oh, that is going to fly in. Are you really excited and nervous now?

My Parents are married 40 years on March 16th, but as we are going to Oz on March 14th, we are having a surprise party for them on the 7th of March. It was actually supposed to be the 8th but one of my sisters and one of my brothers play in a band (2 different ones) and they are gigging that night (at weddings actually, lol !!)

I was ringing around some old family friends today of my parents and they are so excited about the party. I can't wait now actually.

shinny

When is your big day Mel?

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Meg, that is such a fabulous idea. My sister had little Irish chocolates for her favours. I was also at another wedding were they had small silver photo frames as their favours and they were beautiful.

Arielle, sorry to hear you are not well. I suppose you know all of the "home" remedies, plenty of hot fluids !!