And us with the big happy heads on us...

Thu, Apr 30, 2015

I remember about a decade or more ago sticking my notebook under the nose of the then Health Minister Michael Noonan, when he was in Castlebar opening the hospital or something and asking him a question about something health related for the Galway area. And in the way he had about him back then, in the days before he was canonised, he cocked an eye and said to me “Right sonny, you're here from a Goll-way paper. This is not a day for Goll-way. Today is Mayo's day, not Goll-way's day.”

Thousands are sailing — from death, into death

Thu, Apr 23, 2015

In the end it came fast…. but slow. The screams from up on board overtaken by the roar of the waters breaking through the entrances filling the space about their feet. And as that cold water rushed into that dark space, they knew that death was creeping up on them. Death they had left behind, they thought. When that boat pulled away from the shore, as they were herded on as darkness approached, they took one last look at the land behind them, a land where they knew mainly death. Where they were numbed by it, stunned by it. Driven to risk death by it. One face of death roaring at them, rushing them towards a meeting with the same fear.

Forty-five years on and still delivering

Thu, Apr 16, 2015

The Galway Advertiser celebrates its 45th birthday today, April 16, 2015. The paper first appeared on April 16, 1970 - an eight-page edition with a print run of 7,000.

Let the sunshine continue and enjoy the walk

Thu, Apr 09, 2015

Whether it is Galway city, Oranmore, Claregalway, or Moycullen, traffic delays have become part and parcel of our transport system over the last number of years. And it is expected to worsen this week in an effort to get better - or that's what we all hope.

Food — now everybody’s eating it

Thu, Apr 02, 2015

Gone are the days when food was something other people ate. Now everyone is atin’ it. We never had food when we were growing up. We just had Da Breakfast, Da Dinner and Da Tay. Da Supper was just cocoa and the odd biscuit. Food was something we saw in magazines on plates the likes of which you'd only take out for the Yanks as part of the ‘let's pretend we're something we're not’ annual campaign, when we'd sip tay, sorry tea out of blue willow cups with dainty fingers. And then we'd cover the table with food the likes of which we'd never ate and the likes of which they'd never ate and we'd depart then each thinking the other had the oddest taste in food ever.

Welcome in the summer by being active for ACT

Thu, Mar 26, 2015

Ok, so you’re losing an hour in bed this weekend, but sure if you didn’t know about it, you’d probably stay up late anyway wasting an hour doing things and eating things you shouldn’t. But how about challenging yourself to give up an hour or so and get back something much greater in return.

Corofin has shown what small villages can do

Thu, Mar 19, 2015

There was a great sort of contentment on Tuesday when for the last few minutes of a football match, we could actually sit back knowing that barring an earthquake, our team was going to win. We all hail from various areas where such luxuries are rare. Even if our team is in the habit of winning, it does so at the expense of your senses, and has your heart bouncing up and down with such palpitations, that you would need to have Croi on speed-dial on your phone.

Little John leading parade is a toast to city’s performers

Thu, Mar 12, 2015

Often the best way to see the insides of a city is from the outside. It is only by standing alone, outside it, feeling its hard edges that you get to truly absorb it into your soul. It is often only by having to scrape your way through it that you appreciate all its nuances, its attributes, its quirks. For those who have chosen Galway as their home as their place to work, as their place to study and learn, many have experienced all of the aforementioned.

Capital gains —  Give three minutes to have your spake on the culture bid

Thu, Mar 05, 2015

Now's your chance to make a difference. To get your point across. Just like a drunk sidling up to a boss at the Christmas party and saying 'hic d'ya know what's wrong with dis fakkin' company', this is the time for you to make your mark. We all have opinions on what's wrong and right about Galway. To be fair, most is right, but now your opinions are needed on what can make Galway even more unique in its attempt to become Capital of Culture.

Bringing Apple to a sort of orchard

Thu, Feb 26, 2015

Sssshhh, quiet now, quiet now lads, give him a chance give him a chance….

A river runs through it

Thu, Feb 19, 2015

This morning, a Thursday morning, should have been like any other for the Gubbins family. They should be up and about their duties and doing the things that all Irish families do on a Thursday. Thoughts of the week past, the days to come, thoughts of their three children. But today will be a day most unlike any other. It is a day that they will bury their young son Brian. A likeable, popular, student whose ambition was to work in the world of media. For that he seemed to have all the attributes.

At around 2pm today, they will follow his coffin to the cemetery at Lisboney near Nenagh. Because Brian died in our city last weekend.

Purple Flag award keeps Galway’s momentum alive

Thu, Feb 12, 2015

There aren’t many machines that can keep going all day. Or workers. Or products. Legislation wouldn’t permit it. For that matter there aren’t many towns that can offer as much at night as they do during the day. When darkness falls, the natural attractions which bring people into places are shrouded in a lack of light and rendered inhospitable. Rare are the places that are equally welcoming by day and by night.

It’s here — nature’s way of saying ‘let’s party’

Thu, Feb 05, 2015

There's a dangerous buzz to everyone over the last few days. You see people in the town, stopping and looking up at the sky and mouthing the words ‘blue’ , ‘bright’ and then moving on again and thinking of doing daft things like sitting outside at cafes and drinking a hot drink just hot enough to warm ya but not too hot to make you look ridiculous — you there sitting outside like a hard, braving this new fresh sensation. Like mammals peering out into the great brightness after the dark of winter, we stagger at first, unsure of what to do with this new found space and light and desire to do something other than that what we have been doing.

Where there’s muck, there’s money — the digging continues

Thu, Jan 29, 2015

Paddy has a digger. And his father had a digger before him. His grandfather had a digger too. The great-grandfather didn't have a digger cos it hadn't been invented but he told everyone who knew him that he'd have had a digger if the man who made the diggers had been born before him and not 50 years after.

Je suis Galway, Je suis Connacht

Thu, Jan 15, 2015

On Sunday Connacht Rugby will host English premiership side Exeter in their final European pool fixture this season - another massive task for the Irish province against a side favoured to win the tournament overall. However if Connacht have proved anything this year - despite a hiccup last weekend - is that they possess an x-factor, particularly at home. That x-factor is neither a Robbie Henshaw nor a Mils Muliaina - though they do make a massive contribution - but a philosophy coach Pat Lam has been developing - it is what he calls the Connacht "culture".

Time for new blood to answer Ireland's call?

Thu, Jan 08, 2015

Are ya ready to be part of this new blood to shake up Irish politics? Have ya thought about it? Did ya get the call, did ya get the call? Lucinda was in town last night, with the little red book. Maybe your number was in it. Maybe she's fond of ya. Maybe you’ll get the call for BootupdaArseIreland. Tog out. Warm up. Slap those calves. Throw on the wintercream. And then Mike Fitzmaurice joining up with your man with the plummy voice from Wickla, Ross. Sure you have to get the call. Ireland’s call. Your role in history. This is your moment. New party. Wow. Maybe more. Jaypers I never thought we'd see the day when you might be asked to join a party. Sit by the phone and wait.

Look into my eyes — I see a strange year ahead

Tue, Dec 30, 2014

Time to peer into that crystal ball again. No, not the one in the Treasure Chest window. Here’s a taste of what we can expect in the year ahead.

Grab life and give the gift of yourself

Tue, Dec 23, 2014

There’s this fella I know who found himself unwell some time back. Fairly unwell, actually, to the point that he was nearly a goner. And on one of those days when he felt the life draining out of himself and a strange calmness coming over him, he took a notepad and a dodgy old biro and started to write down the things he wanted to say to the people who loved him.

And for ten minutes he battled gamely with the rickety old plastic biro as he wrote down the things that he wanted to say to those who meant most to him, to tell them how he felt, to ask them how to remember him, to ask them how to treat each other after he was gone. He wrote about how he would have liked his life to be lived if he’d had the chance. And as he wrote this, a sheer exhaustion came overhim,becauseheknewhis time was limited, that he was unable to scratch along the note pad with the intensity he wanted, and that the biro would never hold out.

Let the jostling begin

Thu, Dec 18, 2014

One thing a runner focuses on when limbering up at a start line, is the exact position of the finish line. And in the mind’s eye, the runner visualises the acceleration at the start, the pacing and jostling of the runners as they traverse the circuit and then strategise the manoeuvres for the home run with one eye firmly on the finish. And when you know how far away that finish line is, then you get a greater indication of the tactics you use.

Cruelty towards the vulnerable continues - just an hour down the road

Thu, Dec 11, 2014

In the main, there are two types of people in the world. The big people and the little people. At any stage in life we can be either, or indeed both. In some scenarios we feel we are the big people because there are little people who we can take advantage of. In other scenarios we feel we are the little people because there are big people telling us what to do, where to be, what to say, if indeed we are allowed to say anything at all.

E-paper

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