I’ve given up trying to put a brave face on things – its shite in Ireland! News
Time for a decent update. I feel like letting it all go now so hopefully you guys are ready to soak up all the useless information that I am about to splurge.

I’ve had a cold/flu for the last few weeks which is really hard to fathom as we are supposed to be in the middle of the Irish Summer. The last 2 months have been awful. Some of the showers have been so heavy that it reminded me of the Monsoon showers in Bangkok. The only difference is that it is FREEZING cold and mad windy here in Ireland. All in all, the combination of rain, cold and wind is just something that I cant hack anymore.

It puts me and everyone else in a bad mood. Remember the cartoon character Snoopy? He used to be jinxed too and everywhere he went there would sometimes be a big black cloud following him. Everywhere else around him was sunny and bright but right over him was always that cloud. That’s what I feel like is happening to me sometimes.

Only a couple of months ago I thought I may have been over the worst of it. I thought I had managed to settle back into Ireland and I started feeling like things were looking more positive. But now I realise that was when the weather was good in April and May. Since then it has been awful and my mood has changed accordingly.

Now considering that Ireland only gets a few weeks of good weather a year then it doesn’t look like that I will be having a very happy life here in the medium/long term.

Now add the following list to an already miserable outlook;

Credit Crunch
Property Crash
Shareprice Crash
Inflation on the rise
Food prices on the rise
Oil prices hitting their peak and diesel costing MORE than petrol
Level of unemployment highest in 15 years

If you are still reading and haven’t run out and bought a gun to shoot yourself, then let me make things even worse (if that’s possible). All you have to do is read on and I will bore you with a whole pile of depressing info.

However, on a more positive note first, we made a trip to GNIB a few weeks back and they were really, really helpful. Although we were queuing for ages when we finally got to see someone they were very understanding. We got talking to one of the Supervisors who gave us some great advice. In fairness, we are a pretty legitimate case and have been living together for over 6 years now – just because we are not married shouldn’t stop Nang from staying in Ireland but unfortunately that looks like exactly what will happen.

They will make some exceptions for the next few months just so Nang can stay until October but after that it is up to us!!! No point in going into any details on any of this – its all just one bureaucratic mess! (feck me – even with the auto-prompt it was hard to spell that!!!!)

Politics & Biz

We BLEW the boom. Pure greed got the better of us……. And we deserve what punishment will come our way.

It’s easy to blame the government but we are the ones that voted them in. We chose to re-elect a government that was irresponsible – just because they were giving us more money. No-one stopped to think about the medium/long term consequences and Fianna Fail didn’t even want to start highlighting this…..Instead, they just increased public spending with LITTLE or NO efficiencies gained!

Just because you have the money doesn’t mean that you should spend it. You should also ensure that you maintain real efficiencies!

When I first went to Asia I was reminded about a very clever Entrepeneur who refused to add extra labour to a task in the factory just because the labour costs were cheaper. If it should take 1 person to do it – then that’s what it should take. Don’t compensate for peoples inability and lack of efficiency just because they are cheap.

To the same extent, that’s what we should have done in our Health, Education and Social Welfare systems…. Instead of just throwing more money at them we should have made them more efficient. What really drives me mad is when a politician starts saying that they increased spending by x % in the last year. I want to hear about what changes you have made to improve the quality of your service, what efficiencies have you introduced, what progress have you made. For all I know, the x% in extra spending could have been to your daughter for a few hours answering your phonecalls!

The whole way our democracy is run is NOT in the long term interests of the country. Its all based on short-term needs – whatever gets people re-elected and at whatever the costs.

We don’t trust our politicians and why should we? They have consistently let us down and until we start to see sense and start electing REAL people who care about whats happening to the country (and not just to them) then we will always be in trouble.

Question: Why was Lisbon rejected?

Answer: Due to the arrogance and complacency of the Irish government and all the main political parties.

So what does the future hold for us? I think there will be a lot of hardship down the line. It wont be easy and we will have to start paying for our over indulgent lifestyle. I’m still not convinced that Cowen is up for the job but I really don’t think that Kenny is any better.

If Fine Gael can replace Kenny then they have a hope. He has done a great job but he cannot bring it any further. Someone else should be given a go and if they make this decision early then they should be able to reap the rewards.

It’s hard to keep up to date from over here but there still seems to be a lot of political uncertainty in Thailand. Thaksin has been refused permission to leave the country and there have been further allegations of bribery and corruption as a cakebox full of money was delivered to the Thai Court hearing his case!

Unless Thailand can sort out this political mess then I don’t think their economy will improve. However, the level of division between the 2 sides is massive and I just don’t see it being easily overcome. Instead, it will linger on for a long time to come.

On top of all that there has been a spate of high profile resignations from the Cabinet which further underlines the already weakening power of this new government. It would not surprise many people if there was another election, coup or something else as dramatic in the next few months in Thailand.

I still have a few properties in Thailand and they are all doing OK. My apartment in Supalai is rented out to the Indian Embassy on a rolling 3 month lease and I am hopeful that they will extend this further.

My villa in Cha-am is another story. There seems to be quite a few issues with the rental system. It looks like the agent will pull out of the deal and then I will have to start looking for my own rentals. Its definitely possible but it just takes up more of my own time and after a busy days work I don’t want to have to spend my time chasing up emails and payments……. So I have reluctantly decided to put it on the market and see if I get any buyers. It’s a fantastic property and a really great investment considering it is the only development where a foreigner can buy a villa in their own name.

My biggest problem is trying to manage it from abroad. It’s just too difficult to filter the bullshit information from the reality. Sometimes I think that the place is heaven on earth and then the updates I get from some other people make it sound like hell on earth. Somewhere in-between would be nice!
{tab=Sport}

Euro 2008 was a great tournament and I am delighted that Spain won. They were by far the best team and they played the most exciting rugby.

Wimbledon was also great this year but I would have liked to see Federer winning the 6 in a row. It was a brilliant final and Nadal and Federer will be arch rivals for a long time to come.

Kerry were beaten badly in the Munster final and I think the referee was terrible. It was truly a game of 2 halves…… but somehow I think Kerry will still have a major influence in the final outcome.

I also thought that United should have taken the money for Ronaldo. I don’t think that he will have as good a season as last years again and if he really wants to go then there is no point in trying to get him to stay. Cash in and buy some other decent players like Berbatov or Messi.
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I still love my gadgets and I still love my DOPOD 818pro. I use it for my to-do lists and I have started tracking all my expenses again to see where I am spending all my money! The only problem is that the phone reception itself is not too good. I am tempted to go for a 3G iphone but I doubt if I will. Instead, I think I will end up with another HTC product – maybe the latest version of the DOPOD.

I also got a new phone from work – its an HP IPAQ Voice Messenger…..Its early days yet but I am not too impressed. It doesn’t have a radio, the sound is too low, the reception is crap and all in all it is just a really bad mobile phone.

The Slingbox is working well except the reception for sport is not that great.

I am having an awful time trying to get my broadband working at home. I initially tried to get a VODAFONE 3G mobile broadband modem but they installed the wrong software and the end result was I had to rebuild my laptop. Then it was working OK for a few weeks but in the last week or 2 all I get is a basic GPRS signal which is even slower than dial-up. Pathetic. They are supposed to be sending out engineers to the area to check it out but if it goes on like this then I will just end up cancelling and trying some other broadband provider. The great thing with the mobile broadband is that I can bring it anywhere and if I move house then I don’t have the hassle of having to disconnect.

The worst thing is that I can’t even get it to work anymore! Just when I’m about to use the internet I see the connection weakening – and it really is unusable when its only GPRS.

In fairness, broadband access in Ireland is a complete joke and if we are really serious about becoming the technical hub of Europe then we need to sort out our infrastructure – and fast!

{tab=Ents}
Not much to entertain myself with in Ireland. A weekly visit to the cinema is about the height of it. In fact, that’s what keeps me going during the week. Times are tough so I opt for the weekend matinee cause its usually cheaper!

Every now and then I decide to splash out and try some decent food. We tried the Guinea Pig restaurant in Dalkey again recently (Early Bird of course!) and it was excellent. Its not cheap but the food is top class and you always feel like you’ve had a good meal!

Also, last weekend we tried the Nepalese restaurant in Temple Bar. It was great food but for some reason it doesn’t settle well in my stomach. I was a bit “breezy” over the weekend…….. say no more!

Also tried Wagamama in town as Nang likes the noodles but we werent impressed. Yamamori on Georges Street is way better.

We’ve also started watching Greys Anatomy – I have the first 3 seasons on DVD so that is keeping us occupied. Again, its not a very exciting life that I’m leading. To compound that even further we’ve been watching Big Brother every night too…….. I watched most of last seasons too – it’s a little frustrating to watch at times as it all depends on what the editors want to show. They have complete power about how they want someone to look.

IMHO
In the last few weeks I have started to miss Thailand a lot again. Last weekend was a very Thai weekend. On Friday night we went to the local Thai take-away and had some really good Thai food – larb nuea, gaeng phet pet yang, yam wun sen and some thai rice. Nang ordered in thai and I heard the Thai word for spicy being mentioned a few times! And by God was it spicy!!! But it was also really tasty – Aroy maak.

On Saturday and Sunday I watched some Thai DVD’s with Coyote girls and also listened to some Thai Music in my car.

I think the whole negative sentiment that is sweeping the country is taking grip and as that depression starts to hit me then I start looking at ways out of here. I really have been completely jinxed since I came home. Sure, it’s great to see family and friends but at what cost? My sanity?!!!!?

On the other hand, I don’t think that running away again would solve that many problems. No matter where I go there will always be issues – its just a matter of being happy/content with what I’ve got. But at the moment I am just not that happy with my lot!

I suppose the biggest issue is financial. Since I came home I have been delving into my savings every month. At the outset I didn’t mind this as there are always associated costs with relocating. However, after over 1 year I would have expected my income to rise and the relocation costs to be gone. However, things haven’t turned out like that. My disposable income has taken a real battering – so much so that I liken my standard of living to an English teacher in Bangkok. Yes, I am watching the pennies – I have no choice. I haven’t bought any gadgets, games or anything significant since I came back to Ireland – I just cant afford it.

Even when I go shopping I am looking for “special offers”, 2 for 1 etc etc. Its really pathetic and not a really great way to be living.

In hindsight I should have cashed in all my assets a year ago and setup my own little business……. But that just never happened.

Somehow I will work myself out of the rut….. but it will take some time…….. I’m already dreading Autumn and Winter in Ireland….. oh my God – just the thought of it is wrecking my head!