Burning down the house

The house was nicely warmed up last sat night. She did us proud,Number 50,  by not falling down that is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKjOOR9sPU

The aftermath.....
They were a few terse moments as the floors bended and buckled and we were pretty sure that any minute our guests were going to disappear through a sink hole beside the fridge. Dancing is permitted but only one person at a time, there will be no riverdancing in the foreseeable future.

I know there is a strong possibility that a group of  Irish boozehounds leaping around enough to cause a house to collapse would probably make international news.
'irish immigrants lose the run of themselves and disappear into pit' I bet we would have earned a mention from Ray D'arcy!

Even as we sat in the sitting room this morning we felt the floor spontaneously drop an inch or 2. The cupboard door literally will not open properly now because the door frame is off line.
Hopefully we'll get some more tremor warnings before the whole thing goes. But I've already spoken to the lads who unfortunately for them happen to be living in the drop zone below us. They have agreed to place a few cushions around the floor to soften our fall.

There has actually been some marked sinkage since we first moved in. The first day during unpacking I found I felt a bit naseaus as I walked around the room, mentioned it to Anna and she was the same. Curious...
As I smacked into the doorway for the 7th time a lightbulb went on....

The ill feeling was sea sickness from the pitching to and fro like a drunk sailor in my hill sloped bedroom. That was 6 weeks ago...the 20 degree angle is more of a free fall run from the window to the door.

Have your vote and eat it too!

Recessional rant......

Pathetic government and deceased economy has resulted in the massive exodus of the Irish youth.
We may have left the country but we should still have the right to have a say in an election that is more pertinent to us than I would dare to say any other Irish person.

The next 10 years in Ireland will dictate whether we will return to our home country or settle as ex-pats.
We are the living statistics of this recession and it seems ludicrous to me that we don't have an opportunity to use our votes.

So in lieu of a real democratic right to be involved in the future of our country and as a by-product our own life plans, I offer the below website.
It's not a real vote but it's better than saying nothing...

This is a forwarded email from The Meet Up group for the Irish in Toronto.......


New website will allow Irish emigrants to cast symbolic “vote” in General Election

A new website, launched today, Tuesday 8 February, will allow Irish emigrants to cast a symbolic vote in the General Election.

Ballotbox.ie will open for voting from Tuesday 15 February until Tuesday 22 February and will feature a full list of constituencies and candidates to choose from.

The aim is to highlight how emigrants are immediately disenfranchised once they leave Ireland. This is in stark contrast to many other democracies, including Australia, Canada, the UK and most other EU countries.

An estimated 3.1 million Irish passport holders live abroad, with 800,000 being Irish-born. Nearly 28,000 citizens left Ireland in the year ending April 2010, and at least 60,000 have left in the last three years. With very few exceptions, Irish law prevents them from casting a vote.

Set up by young Irish emigrants and implemented by a volunteer staff in Dublin, BallotBox.ieaims to give these people a voice. Voting will be based on the Irish single transferrable vote - proportional representation system. Through the use of IP technology, participation will be restricted to those living outside Ireland. The site aims to use both email and SMS technology to discourage multiple voting. The results will be released shortly before the general election.

Welcoming the launch of Ballotbox.ie, Niall O’Dowd, founder of the Irish Voice newspaper in the US and prominent figure in the Northern Irish peace process, said:

“I believe that Irish citizens abroad, like those of all other EU countries, should be afforded the right to vote. Those same emigrants have been deeply impacted in their life decisions by the policies Irish politicians and governments have pursued. They are entitled to make their views known too. I welcome the launch of Ballotbox.ie and hope it raises awareness of this important issue.”


About BallotBox.ie
Ballotbox.ie was set up by young Irish emigrants to Canada and is run by an entirely voluntary staff in Toronto and Dublin. It has no political affiliations.