What a miserable week I have had. I am knackered every morning for no reason except that I am getting older and have zero motivation for getting up and going to work.

I think I have managed to shake off my cold/flu but still feel shite. When I turn on the heating in my house the sun comes out and its too warm. When I turn off the heating it starts pissing rain. Of course, I’m using storage heaters so it takes a whole day for it to turn off or on……. Basically, its fucking shite.

So instead I wear a t-shirt and shorts and wrap up in a dressing gown when it gets cold. Oh – and I have a years supply of Lemsip – in fucking July!

If I listen to the radio all I hear about is the RECESSION. Flicking around on the TV I still cant escape from all the doom and gloom. I’ve resorted to making up my own Good News and emailing myself every day with the latest…….

Emails like:

Today I had a great experience at lunch. The non English speaking person who took my sandwich order actually got it fucking right! She even made the sandwich with hygienic gloves but then served me my change with the same gloves – DOH! But isn’t it great to be alive (ish)?!?!?

I won’t harp on about all the negative outlook in Ireland but it is really hitting home. The other day I saw the Chef throwing out the left-overs so I asked him for a portion for my evening tea. Yep – cant even afford to feed myself anymore…… I bought some seeds a few days ago so that I can start growing my own veg and I will be recycling my tea bags as they make great compost.

I went shopping in Dunnes during the week and even though I bought very little it still cost me over €220. Mad!

Then on top of all my financial woes I noticed some dodgy transactions on my visa card. On investigation my card was being used for fraudulent transactions in Australia. It had been used to buy flowers, a car radio and a LOT of booze! Someone was planning a drunken orgy in a car park in Oz no doubt!

My Granny also died at the weekend. She was 98 so had a long life. The funeral was more a celebration of her life and it was great to catch up with the rest of the family. In fairness, over the few days there was no real hassle and everyone pulled their weight – not many families would be able to do that – so credit to Granny!

Politics & Biz
Stock Markets these days are all over the place. I’ve always seen it as a posh mans way to gamble but these days its just gone haywire. I would say that you have more chance picking a winning Greyhound than predicting which way the stock market will go.

The underlying premise of the Stock Market is fundamentally wrong. Data is analysed which a short-term view having a warped superiority over the long-term view. In simple terms if a company has bad results for just 1 financial quarter it is slammed in the markets. Very little notice is taken on the positive outlook that the company may be predicting. There are 2 reasons for this:

First the stock market focuses on short term profits

Second, who can believe a company when they predict a great future?

The fact is that there is very little confidence in our current financial system and there is a feeling that all the cracks that have been slowly appearing every year (Enron etc) are gradually becoming too much for them to cover up. Add to this the Credit Crunch, Property downturn, oil price etc and then you can get a sense of why the whole thing is about to collapse around us.

For years companies have been plugging the holes to show good short-term profits but this can only happen for so long. If they have neglected their long term objectives they will eventually be caught out. Look at the banks who got greedy and over lent to people – now they will pay the price with bad debts!

In Thailand they are still messed up and there are loads of rumours about possible Coups. Its going to run and run for a long time but when they eventually sort it out then there will be a boom-time in Thailand and I would like to be there for that.

When I was working there it was always very easy to criticise the locals and to complain about things that didn’t work very well. However, looking back at things and comparing to the current state of Infrastructure, Government and social behaviour I really believe Thailand is streets ahead of us. They need to manage their PR and image a lot better but once they crack that then they will be sorted. Thaksin was a master act at promoting himself and Thailand internationally. Sure, he had/has his faults but as I have been saying for years – until there is a better alternative he is the best that Thailand has. Samak? Abhisat? No – I don’t think they are up for it!

Its pretty similar to the Irish situation. Cowen is not performing – neither is his party. However, Kenny and Fine Gael would not do much better!!!!! There is an appetite out there for a new political party to blaze a trail. The Greens could have filled that gap until they sold out to Fianna Fail.

Sport


Harrington had a brilliant win over the weekend. To have won back-to-back Open’s is a massive achievement. I watched his final round live on BBC and the way he played the back 9 was fantastic. He always looked in charge. Of course, I felt some sympathy for Greg Norman but he is renowned for his final day meltdowns. He may be a great golfer but his head isn’t in the right place.

Paul Galvin, the Kerry captain, is being given the runaround by the GAA and I really don’t think that any other player would be given such shoddy treatment. I hope that it all gets sorted fairly fast. Sure, what we did was stupid and he lost composure but it really wasn’t that bad.

Ronaldo has had his operation and its likely he will stay with United for the coming year. I think we should have taken the money for him while we could and I don’t think he will have such a great season next year. If we could sign Berbatov that would be great – I think he is a class player. I also cant figure out why every club seems to be raiding Spurs. They will have no players left if they keep selling!!

I really am looking forward to the new Premier League season – not sure if I will get Sky Sports in my own place – I doubt it!

Techie
I’ve just finished a website for my Sister In Law – check it out – www.orenutrition.com and if you want to eat healthy make an appointment with her!

I’m also trying to get used to my new IPAQ – I’m not convinced yet but its definitely getting better – its growing on me. I installed www.fring.com on it the other day to see if I can get it working with Skype. So far I haven’t been able to get it running but if I do manage to then it would be a very nice feature.

During the week I dusted down the Wii again and played a few games. I tried the Deep Sea Fishing – about as boring as fishing itself so I suppose you could say that it is very realistic! Fucking fish just sniff at the bait and turn away – although its worse playing the computer version cause you can almost see the fish winking at you as he swims away! Bastards!
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Big Brother and Greys Anatomy are about the heights of my social entertainment these days. Pathetic I know!

I’m looking forward to my holidays to Thailand. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may be tempted to stay there this time and just not come home. I don’t think I would even care if I became a lowly English teacher at this stage. It aint much worse than the shite I am dealing with on a daily basis at the moment.

This weekend we will probably go to the Cinema again……. The weather forecast is shite so there are not many options. Looking forward to seeing the new Batman movie. Its getting rave reviews. I’m hoping to avoid all the kids so trying to figure out the best time to go.

I’m getting a reputation for being a negative person. I always seem to be complaining. Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets didn’t even complain as much as I do. I am not sure if this reputation is good or not. But I have definitely noticed recently that I have been a lot more negative in my views.

I think I just need to go out on one big session, drink myself stupid, stuff my face with chips and then puke it all up. Maybe that would be therapeutic in some sadistical way!
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Although I think I have made a very good effort to settle back into Ireland I am slowly coming to the realisation that I don’t think I will last here all that long. The main reason for this will be financial – I just cant afford to live a decent life here. Every month I am digging into my own savings just to get by. I am not socialising on any large scale – in fact I have been pretty boring when it comes to going out. Despite this, I just cant control the ever increasing costs of living in Ireland.

So what are the alternatives? Well, getting a better paid job in Ireland is one option. However, the current economic climate is not very welcoming and its unlikely that something will happen in this regard.

Emigrating is another option and it is more likely that I will be able to earn a better income this way. The difficulty here is finding the right job. This just isn’t easy.

Finally, I could just head off to Thailand and teach English and live on a basic budget. As it stands now, I don’t think there would be much difference in my disposable income than what I am on now.

My ideal scenario would be to setup my own business that would mean that I could live 6 months in Ireland and 6 months in Thailand. Now that would be great!

Im not blind or ignorant to the fact that the last year or so in Thailand was not so easy but I put that down mainly to not having any job. Early retirement definitely didn’t suit me at all. But I would like to live and work in Thailand again.

If I was to do that then I think I would like to spend a few months in the middle of nowhere learning to speak fluent Thai. I think that would be of great benefit in basic day to day living as well as a massive advantage in a working environment.