The Italian Job - Day 8

Today was the shortest ride of the Italian Job tour - just 90 kms from Alberobello to Maratea. We woke up in the fantastic Trulli house, but had to leave it before 8 am. It would have been lovely to enjoy it a bit more. Following breakfast we stopped for some photo opportunities and then made our way to Altamura  where we had a brilliant private tour at the small La Cantina Ffrud wine museum. How it was created was a fantastic story and we had close up views of all the old wine making equipment on show. We had an early lunch at a bakery founded in 1391 which is still in use - delicious bread, focaccia, tomatoes, salads, and much more.

It wasn’t long before we reached Matera - now a World Heritage site. We had a two-hour long tour around the old houses and caves where people lived in squalor up until the early 1960s. This was a brilliant tour which ended in a lovely meal at the San Biagio restaurant in the centre of Matera. This is a very busy city, more so at the moment because there is a G7 meeting here tomorrow. Lots of police and press around, and a hell of a lot of tourists.

Yet another brilliant day on the Italian Job tours comes to an end. Tomorrow we have over 280 kms ahead of us on the road to Vieste - more adventure awaits!

On the road in Matera.

Matera.

Outside a bakery opened in 1391.

Some of the winemaking equipment at La Cantina Ffrud.

A lovely evening comes to an end.

The Italian Job - Day 7

Today we had the great ride around the roads of Maratea again - we went back the roads from our hotel that we had travelled yesterday. Our first stop was at the Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks Maratea - stunning views and some fantastic hairpin bends that focussed this rider’s mind. Roma shot some video on our GoPro, but we’ll have to wait until we get home to see this on our computer.. Lots of mountainous roads to ride - a truly great day’s motorcycling. We stopped at the Trocadero restaurant on the beach in Castellaneta Marina. Despite mixed service, I don’t think I have ever had better seafood gnocchi than this - outstanding.

The bike is going well and I certainly am becoming a fan of the sharp bends. There is a lot of gear changing, both up and down coming into and exiting the corners. I am having on-going problems with our helmet intercom - Roma’s is perfect, but I am hearing every sound which is a bit annoying. I bought some cotton wool in a pharmacy in an effort to improve things - I’ll find out tomorrow on the road.

Our destination today was the town of Alberobello - a truly unique town with special Trulli houses. We have one to stay in tonight and it is lovely. We had a great wander around the town and bought some souvenirs. I also sent some photos to my brother Joe to make him jealous, as he had been here a year ago. A pizza and a beer finished the evening well.

Some photos from our day…

Getting ready for a day’s ride!

Just below Christ the Redeemer near Maratea.

At our Trulli in Alberobella.

Alberobello.

That’s Roma and me on the blue bike somewhere in south Italy.

The Italian Job - Day 6

Today was about twisty roads and hairpin bends - lots of fun but plenty of care needed too. I feel I am becoming better at riding the big Road Glide which feels and performs bigger than my own bike. While the roads around Amalfi/Minori/Maiori were terrific, we had much more fun at the end of the day riding around the twisty roads near Maratea - our destination for the day. 

Our first stop was Amalfi, where Roma and I had holidayed in 2015. It was a nostalgia stop for us as we looked up where we had stayed the last time we were here. One thing that has not changed are the prices - €5 for a coffee, and €8 for a gelato! Eagle Rider had organised parking for us as Amalfi is a notoriously difficult place to find parking. We stopped for about an hour before moving on. The heat was intense, and I was sweating profusely under my jacket. When we stopped at a service station, water (sweat) poured out from my sleeves. We had a casual lunch at a service station before moving on to Paestum and its Ancient Greek and Roman ruins. We did not go into the sites as we only had less than an hour to stop, but we did get some photo opportunities, and of course sight of the magnificent Greek and Roman temples. I checked out the souvenir shops, but bought nothing as I really thought the produce was tacky.

Our hotel for the night is the Grand Hotel Pianetamaretea where we had magnificent sun set views to admire over a beer. 

We only covered just over 200 km today, but it felt like a lot more. Many tired folks in our group this evening. Weather was perfect today, but rain warnings are starting to appear on our phones, so who knows what’s in store tom?

Some photos of today… 

Roma (and Debbie) on the Amalfi coast.

Down memory lane - two green doors over my head is where we stayed in 2015.

Greek temple in Paestum.

Roma enjoying the shops in Amalfi.

View from our room at the end of the day in Maratea.

The Italian Job - Day 5

Sorrento - a tourist trap in a beautiful setting. Today was a free day on our tour with no riding, though we could have used the bikes if we had wanted to. First today was to look out at the fantastic view of the Bay of Naples, and Mt Vesuvius. There’s no doubt that where we are would have been the perfect, if horrifying viewing point to see the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

We are at our 7th day travelling and time to get some laundry done. Right beside our hotel was a 24-hour laundry, but we had to wait a long time to get everything done as there was only one dryer. A lot later than expected, we headed down to Sorrento on foot - a walk of 45 minutes down a twisty path that if we knew how bad it was we would not have taken. We eventually reached Sorrento Centro at about 14:30 and found a pizza restaurant where we had nice wine and very ordinary pizza. In the land of pizza, this was a bit disappointing. Sorrento Centro is full of tourists (including us!) and there are lots of shops to tempt us to hand over our cash. We did a little shopping and enjoyed a beer in the sun. Very tired, we decided to take a taxi back to our hotel. We know this would be expensive, and our taxi driver was open and told us in advance that it would be €50-€55 for the short trip. It was €55 - but happy to pay to get back to our hotel. As I write this I am looking out over the Bay of Naples to Vesuvius - a beautiful memory to take into our next day on the road tomorrow.

Morning in Sorrento.

On the streets of Sorrento.

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The Italian Job - Day 4

The Italian Job is passing quickly - today we set out from Fiumicino near Rome for Sorrento. One bike in our group needs to be repaired, so bad luck for one couple who had to go with their bike to Rome for repairs - we did not see them until late in the evening as they missed the days riding. They will get their bike back tomorrow. We did just over 300 kms today, passing the 1,000 km milestone for the trip. No major sites to see today, as it was out intention to get to Sorrento where we will have two days to relax. 

No major sites - well, we did stop at the beautiful Gaeta beach, plus had just the best ride on the Rome-Naples motorway passing by Vesuvius and the gorgeous Bay of Naples. I loved the ride through the tunnels leading to Sorrento, not to mention the plentiful sharp turns (at which I am getting more confident). In this part of Italy it seems that scooter riders own the road - they whizzed past us on our big bikes with ease on the narrow roads here. I wanted to swap!

Due to the issue with one bike, our luggage did not arrive until after 20:00, at which stage we had had plenty of beers and started dinner.. We sat out on the terrace overlooking the Bay of Naples and Vesuvius. Just the best end to a great day’s riding. Tomorrow is a rest day, and we plan to chill out in Sorrento.

Some photos from today…

On the road near Gaeta beach.

Our view from the balcony of our room at the Hotel Jaccarino.

Mt Vesuvius on the background.

Posers!

Gaeta beach.

Roma is enjoying biking!

The Italian Job - Day 3

Today’s destination was Fiumicino near Rome, so what was in store for us over the 275 kms covered today? Another early start before leaving Sienna - a city definitely worth visiting again. We rode through some fantastic countryside, while there were plenty of twisty roads I felt more confident on my new favourite motorcycle (Road Glide Ultra). A quick stop for petrol was followed by our first stop at the hill top town of Montalcino. It has a great castle which we visited and loved. Montalcino is known as a wine area (Tuscany), and it has an abundance of wine shops offering expensive wines and tastings. Sadly, I cannot taste anything alcoholic while riding, but it was nice to look. We stopped at a café for a cappuccino and of course a visit to the loo. In what is becoming a familiar theme here, there was just one loo for the entire café - we had to wait our turn. While women are used to queuing, men are not. Later we were at a view point where we stopped, the men could “go” in the bushes, while the women had to hold on until the next stop. As a loo with a view, it doesn’t come better than Tuscany’s beautiful hills and valleys!

We had a lovely lunch on the shore of Lago di Bolsena - very tasty pasta and salad. Later we stopped at another lake shore - this time at Lago di Bracciano. We had a nice ice cream (gelato!) in the sun, and a great chat about the day’s ride. We are staying at the Isola Sacra hotel near Fiumicino airport, and had a brilliant dinner at the nearby La Locanda - a biker themed restaurant which closed the evening off in style.

Some photos from today’s ride…

The lovely Roma.

On the shore of lake Bracciano.

Somewhere in Tuscany.

One of many wine shops in Montalcino.

On top of Montalcino castle.

A happy biker chick!

The Italian Job - Day 2

Our first day on the road was one of the longest (427.5 km) that we will have. Our destination this evening was Sienna, but we had a few interesting stops on the way. We left Treviglio after an 08:00 briefing from our group leader Stefano. We spent the morning on the road, which was mostly motorway riding, with a few stops for coffee and loo breaks. Our aim was to get to Pisa where we arrived in time for some sight-seeing and lunch. Neither Roma nor I had seen the leaning tower of Pisa before, and it is spectacular! For some reason I thought it was a lot smaller than it is, but I was very impressed with this priceless building, as were the thousands of other people who were there too at the same time as us.

At the leaning tower of Pisa

The bike is going well - we had just one stop for petrol today. I did get cut off from the group for about 20 minutes. I had slowed down in heavy traffic and lost contact with the group. The next 20 minutes were worrying, but I eventually caught up with the group. Some of the sharp bends were taking me a bit more time to get around than my fellow riders.

Getting used to the big machine.

One of our stops was Volterra overlooking Tuscany. It was a 30 minute stop, so a little time to take in the fantastic views, and get an ice-cream. Volterra, and the roads going up and down, is very popular with bikers - we were not the only bikers on the road today.

Overlooking Tuscany from Volterra.

We arrived in Siena at about 17:30, most of us were weary after a long day in the saddle. Siena is beautiful! Lots of old buildings and walls - it was like stepping back in time. There was a carnival celebrating horse racing on, so lots of colour and music going on in this very hilly city. We had a very relaxing evening meal in the city square, and it was fun getting to know the group better. We are off to Rome tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Our group.

The Italian Job - Day 1

Today is the first day of the next travel adventure for Roma and me - a motorcycle group tour of Italy with Eagle Rider. This is a 14 day tour from Treviglio to the south of Italy and back again. Lots of interesting things are ahead of us: Pisa, Sorrento, Matera, Florence, and much more.

I will be riding a Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra - very similar to my own bike, but with a lot more faring, a bigger passenger seat, and a large rear box for gear. The tour will have a support van which carries our luggage, so no limitations on this which is handy. Our group consists of people from all over the world: UK, USA, Australia, Switzerland, Italy, as well as us from Ireland.

My ride - Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra.

Cheers from Day 1 of Italian job!

Our first evening involved a visit to the Eagle Rider location in Treviglio where we received an excellent orientation and of course our bikes. I’m delighted with my blue Glide. Very comfortable to ride, and hopefully comfortable for Roma too. Later we had a welcome dinner which was very tasty, but with far too much food that much got wasted. Nonetheless - day 1 is a good start, 14 more to go!

   

Woodworking - Making a Workbench

Since my retirement nearly four years ago, I have very much got into the hobby of woodworking. Last weekend I took part in a workbench building course at the Bevel Woodworking School in Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford. It was my second time taking a course there - last time I built an Adirondack chair. This was just the best way to spend a weekend under the excellent guidance of Tommy Kelly - who has to be the handiest man in Ireland when it comes to wood. The course took place over two days and at the end I got to take away my own workbench.

The step-by-step instructions from Tommy were excellent - the whole thing was done without manuals or outlines of what to build, There were six of us on the course, which was a nice number for a class. Here are some photos of the day:

I have already out the workbench to good use in my garden shed. Hopefully there will be many more projects to work on in with this bench!

Sardinia

I recently visited Sardinia for a short holiday - I had never been to this beautiful island before. We stayed in Alghero Old Town which was a ideal location to explore Alghero and to enjoy the evening sun setting over Alghero Bay. We certainly enjoyed the Italian food. I had four pizzas in the ten days that we were there!

We didn't know it when we booked, but the World Rally Championship was in Sardinia while we were there - Alghero was the headquarters of the Rally for three days. There was an interesting tented village with old rally cars, merch, food & drink, plus rally cars of course. We watched the parade of rally cars which was noisy and fun. After the parade, the cars drove off to begin the real stuff of rallying, which we did not see.

Another first was hiring e-bikes - expensive, but fab. We toured the countryside around Alghero, stopping to visit a place called Nuraghe Palmavera, which is an archaeological site featuring stone ruins of a Bronze Age Nuragic settlement. We also stopped at the Ledà d'Ittiri wine resort near Fertilia where we were treated to generous amounts of different wines to taste.

We took the boat out to see the Neptune Cavern - very crowded, but fun and interesting. We also went to visit the nearby city of Sassari by train. It was a bit if a waste of a day because nearly everything was closed when we arrived. 

Alghero is a lovely small city to relax in - the Sardinians are very friendly and have good English. It seems to be a popular place for Italians to holiday - there were very few British people, and just a few Irish. We rarely heard English being spoken.

Enjoying the evening sunset.

At the Nuraghe Palmavera.

Piazza d'Italia, Sassari.

A poser with some old rally cars.

Democracy in action

Yesterday I was a Poll Clerk at the European and Local Elections based in Cabinteely-Kilbogget electoral area in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown constituency in Dublin. It was my first time to do this and I was very much looking forward to seeing the "other" side of the voting process.

Image source: Elections SK.

The day started very early as we had to be in the polling station at 06:30 to prepare the location for opening of polls at 07:00. There were five desks in the school hall with each having approximately 600 registered voters to check and provide ballot papers to voters. I was the guy that voters presented their polling cards to after which I checked their name against the register. I got a shiny new ruler and pencil to cross their names off the register. The voter was then passed on to my colleague the Presiding Officer, who gave them stamped ballot papers after which they went to the ballot box and cast their votes. A simple job really.

There were no major issues at any of the polling desks in our station. Minor issues that arose were things like voters not having their polling card - in this case we checked ID and if we found their names and address on the register they were OK to vote. Some voters were not on the register, but we had a supplementary register of voters who had only registered in the past few weeks. I had just one prospective voter who was not on the register at all - he had only just moved to the area. Some sadness for some voters as they saw their deceased parents' names still on the register.

By about 17:00 I was beginning to wonder if anyone under the age of 40 was going to vote - the "grey" vote certainly came out in the morning and afternoon and by this time it was certainly obvious to me that older people get out and vote (and that the politicians know this). However, by the time evening arrived there were a lot more younger voters, including some first time voters in school uniform.

Non-EU citizens could not vote in the European election (for obvious reasons) - they could only vote in the local elections. It was a surprise to several British citizens that they were not allowed to vote in the European election - all blamed Brexit for that. At the end of the day we had to lock the ballot boxes and tidy up the small mountain of paper and left over ballots. Everything is bagged and sealed - no doubt to be checked the next day in the RDS where counting takes place.  

While it was a very long day for us (16 hours), everybody was in a good humour throughout the day. Voters were very polite and none of us reported any rudeness or problems with voters. The whole process is very transparent and it was great to be see that the voting process is clean and above board. Every voter can be assured that their ballot is safely looked after and will be counted the next day.

Democracy in action is great to see - I will sign up for the next election for which I hope to be selected as a Poll Clerk and perhaps a counter too.

My first 2,000,000 viewed video

Recently, my video How To... Plot Multiple Data Sets on the Same Chart in Excel 2010 passed the 2,000,000 views mark, a first for me. This video is 12 years old - I created and published it on 11th April 2012. I never expected this to be a "hit". I actually needed to plot multiple data sets on the same chart and could not find useful videos on YouTube at the time - so I decided to make my own once I'd figured it out.

In addition to 2,009,832 views (todays figure), there are some other interesting data provided by YouTube about this video:

• The country with the most views is the USA (33%)
• Ireland accounts for just 4,836 (0.2%) of views
• London is the city with most views
• The estimated overall viewing time is 82,815 hours, which is equivalent to 3,450 days or nearly 10 years
• 40% of views come from suggestions appearing alongside or after other videos
• The video has revenue of nearly €10,000 since June 2014 when I switched on revenue sharing (I am taxed on this revenue)
• 77% of revenue comes from skippable ads
• The video is 7 minutes and 20 seconds long - the average view duration is 2 minutes and 28 seconds (34%)
• Likes are at 91%, Dislikes are at 9%

As always, I am both flattered and grateful that so many people are still watching this video and finding it useful.

Here it is:

GAA Championships: Experience the Unforgettable

One of my fondest memories as a young child was being brought to Croke Park for an All-Ireland final in 1964 by my grandfather PJ O'Loughlin. As his eldest grandson, many of my cousins have often asked me about him (he died in 1965) - but I have very few memories of him now. I have often told the story of my Croke Park experience with him of not remembering the journey to Dublin from Carnew, who was playing, whether it was hurling or football, who won, or what the score was. But I did remember him buying me an ice-cream after the match. Indeed this story was published in the Personal Histories section of the History Ireland website: "My Grandfather, Croke Park, Ice Cream, and Gay Byrne".

The GAA's new ad "Experience the Unforgettable" captures this feeling very well and brought back memories of my grandfather and my own unforgettable experience. It seems that I am not the only one who has shared experiences like this. Enjoy the ad!

 

Source: Video above is a link from YouTube.

Jury Service

A few weeks ago I was called for jury service at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Parkgate Street. It was the fifth time I had ever been called, but this was one I could not get out of. The first time I was a student and just did not show up. The second time I was still a student and claimed exemption. The third time I met an acquaintance from Carnew on the doors of the courts, he was a solicitor and happened to be in court that day - he got me off. The fourth time was while I was a lecturer and was for during term time - so I was again exempt. 

Image source: The Journal.

I was told to be available for two weeks. This turned out to be one week, which was shorter again as Good Friday fell on that week. I estimated that there was over 130 people called to the jury waiting area in the courts on the first day. We waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually names were called for one jury and after about two hours those that were not called out were told to go home. The same happened on the second and third days. On the fourth day after about half an hour we were told there would be no trials and that we were free to go. So I was not called - phew!

The only thing that made me think that the week was not a complete waste of time was the fact that I could have been fined for not showing up. With only three juries being selected during the week - most of us had to sit and wait until allowed to go. While I was able to leave quickly at the end, almost everyone else that was there queued up to get letters to give to employers to cover their absence from work (and get paid). I'm sure it was on everyone's mind that an awful lot of work days were lost for practically nothing.

The good news for me is that there won't be a sixth time, as I will be 65 later in the year and entitled to exemption. I'm quite happy (and selfish) to leave this shitty job to someone else. I hated being in the Courts building, I hated having my photo deliberately taken by a press photographer outside the main entrance, and I hated the waste of time. 

Branding irons

I have completed my first oak table of the year. A lot of elbow grease, sanding, levelling, and polishing went into this. I'm quite please with this, it is my first produced with almost perfect levelling. A new feature is some branding - literally with branding irons! My Dad gave me his O-L iron sheep marker - it was almost certainly made in Rickerby's Forge in Croneyhorn outside Carnew, Co Wicklow, for my grandfather PJ O'Loughlin. Most likely this was during the 1930s or 1940s. His farm was in Tomacork, also outside Carnew. The iron would have been dipped in paint so that the O-L mark would be visible to identify O'Loughlin sheep after they would have be sheared. It was most unlikely to have been used as a hot branding iron. A smaller and more modern branding iron was given to me by my daughters last Christmas. It has my initials at the bottom and crossed axes at the top!

I put both of them into the fire and marked the bottom of the table - I think it is kinda cool, and I have decided that this is my logo from now on.

The table is quite small, about 50cms in diameter. The wood is from Ballingate and was taken from a tree felled by my bother Joe. This is one of a set of four taken from the same section of the tree and will soon be on its way to a new owner in Belfast who has just bought her first house. 

Short Trip to Madrid

Last week Roma and I travelled to Madrid in Spain for a few days. Neither of us had ever been to this city before, even though we have been to Spain many times. We spent four nights, which was just about right, close to the city centre. Lots of walking, art, wine, and tapas just about sums up our trip.

The Royal Palace was our first stop. It is one of the biggest in Europe and only a fraction of it is on view to the public. We don't have anything like this in Ireland. While it is a magnificent building, it shows off the riches of the Spanish Royalty. It is richly decorated and must have cost millions to build. No doubt there were many people at the time that thought the money could have been used to build something else, like hospitals or schools. Nevertheless it is worth a visit - at this this time of year the queue to get in was very short.

The Royal Palace.

We went to The Prado museum where there are loads of paintings by famous people such as Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, and Goya. The painting we most wanted to see was The Third of May 1808 by Goya, but there were lots of other brilliant pieces of work to be seen. One thing about touring the Prado is that the audio guide is very user unfriendly.

We also went to the Queen Sofia Museum of modern art. Here the most famous painting is Guernica by Picasso.  I had no idea it was so big, and thanks to the (better than Prado) audio guide I got a great explanation of what the painting was about and how it was put together. I just stood and stared in awe at magnificence. 

Guernica by Picasso.

An interesting museum for me was Legends of Football. It was mostly about Spanish and world football. There's a virtual tour of the major football grounds in the world, but the best parts were seeing jerseys worn by famous football stars. Maradona's jersey from the 1986 World Cup final was there, as were jerseys worn by George Best, Cristiano Ronaldo, Johann Cruyff, and our own Ray Houghton (from the 1-1 draw with The Netherlands in the 1990 World Cup). I had a great chat with the museum manager who gave me a personal tour around part of the museum. I don't think I have ever met anyone as passionate about football as him!

I paid €16 for this. Eejit!

But the best thing about Madrid is the food and wine. We had done a Walking Tour on our first evening and been to fantastic tapas bars like La Casa del Abuelo, which we went back to on our last night. Tapas is an exciting and delicious way to see a city - I feel as though I ate and drank my way around the narrow streets of central Madrid. I even developed a taste for vermouth in the Antón Martín Market (which was just across the road from our hotel)!

Enjoying tapas at the wonderful La Casa del Abuelo.

Madrid is definitely a city worth visiting. Everyone was so friendly and it is a very clean city centre. The metro is fantastic and easy to use, and there is so little traffic on the streets. Madrid does not have an Eiffel Tour, Colosseum, or Statue of Liberty, but it does have loads of character and culture to satisfy any visitor.

PS
I'm mindful that this is my first post in over two months. Since I started this blog I have not let this happen before. January and February have been quiet months this year for me, and I have not had much to blog about.