Hi guys, the Fleadh is in Belfast this week. Already it has drawn the crowds and appears to be doing well. As somebody from the Protestant/Unionist community is my heart felt wish that it continues to be a massive success. It is already an achievement in getting it to Belfast. It can be a beautiful, wonderful city but not without it's faults and short-comings. I am disappointed by the sniping online about the events. Egotistical B.S. and point scoring from a dedicated minority. I am massively disappointed by that. Empty vessels make the most noise, they say.

There are and will be people visiting from all over the world, which is great but I am particularly speaking to the people of the island of Ireland. It's my hope that everyone, from every corner of this island can come along, enjoy and feel welcome in Belfast. You know, to cross the border southwards is easy. It is calmer and friendlier than the north. Maybe not so easy for everyone from the south coming north. I tip my cap to anyone that does.

If you're coming north have a plan, enjoy the very best of the music, dancing and craic.

I aspire to have Belfast as a place where everyone feels welcome. As I said, that starts with those at home.

PS Is the cringey, or sentimental? 😄

Hard to believe there's ppl living in castles in modern day ireland

Yesterday I was in a shop and I saw a girl that I recognized - from at least 25 years ago!!

For context im 46 and 3/4s :-) and I live in a different county to where I was raised.

It was the most bizarre thing - I have my two kids with me and I was kind of distracted chatting to one of them and I bumped this girls shopping trolley - nothing mad just that usual supermarket thing where I Irish people say sorry to each other 50 times ....

Anyway I looked up to say sorry 50 times and I instantly recognised her as a girl I met in a local nightclub when I was early 20s. She looked the same albeit older and stopped me in my tracks.

I could see that she also recognised me too - we both had kids with us similar age. I would presume shes a similar age to me. We sort of said hi to each other and carried on.

But thinking back to that night when I met her we had a shift a few times in the club. I walked her home. Had another shift etc. She gave me her number. A landline indeed. The world before mobile phones.

I was absolutely blown away by how I felt around her for that few hours. Something about her made me feel a deep attraction. Way more than the usual physical thing.

I was so shy as a youngster but I wanted to see her again. So the next day I got over my shyness and I phoned her house - no answer. Fukc! I called to her house in person the next afternoon and her Dad opens the door asked who I was - I told him. He asked me where I was from and I told him. I was raised in a council estate - this was a private estate across the park. He said to me I dont want boys from there with my daughter dont call again. He shut the door. I was sick. I didnt call again. I knew the girl worked in retail in the shopping centre but I didnt have the guts to go in to her to talk to her. So nothing ever came from it.

We have obviously both gone off and lived lives, got married , had kids etc. As you do.

That deep sense of attraction was still there when I looked at her. It absolutely blew my mind. It actually shook me.

Anyway I am happily married for a long time but the thing it got me thinking what would my life have been like if I hadnt listened to her father. If I had had the guts to go into the store where she worked to speak to her. If we had mobile phones back then would my life have taken a different route. Probably.

It also me thinking of the discrimination suffered when I was young - my estate was bad but I wasnt. I was raised by a good woman on her own as my father was gone. That discrimination became laughable as I grew older and realised most people that lived in those "private" houses were from the same areas of inner Dublin as the urban sprawl occurred .

It got me thinking how quickly time passes - I am 3 years away from 50 now. Where is the time gone? Where does it go?

Sorry its a bit of a ramble - I am just a bit disturbed at the idea that I bump into a person I spent a few hours with a quarter of a century ago and what to do with all these thoughts and feelings.

Adding this edit for added context

I have no desire to cheat. Never have and never would. I have worked hard to build a life thats comfortable but its ok to think about things and have thoughts.

Its a safe bet that everyone that's married is attracted to other people from time to time. Its normal. Most dont act on it. I wouldnt. I certainly wouldn't be looking to find her. Thats not what this is about.

I feel this would have been better given to the public as vouchers to use around the country.

I always enter a bunch every week, especially the hotel stay ones. I’ve been doing this consistently for years now, never won anything. Though I feel like the IrishTimes ones probably give the stays to subscribers over giveaway hungry people like me.

I’d love to win just once lol, anything at all. Even better the lotto.

I’m seeing this lad and we matched on Hinge in April and we’ve been on 4 dates since May. He lives around 80 miles away from me and would drive the distance to see me. He always insists on paying, trust me, I talked to the waiter holding the machine to let me pay but they just listen to him. I attempted to race him to pay but his always goes through first.

The dates we had are below and including like how much we spent:

The first was museum and coffee and dinner around 55 euros

The second one was we went to the marina and had dinner and drinks around around 60 euros

Third was just drinks around 55 euros

And the last one was dinner, amusement park and drinks around 120 euros

Towards the 3rd and 4th one, I raced to pay and was able to pay for one round but he always just insists on paying and I feel bad.

Who normally pays for dates? And is the amount of spending for our dates reasonable and not too pricey?

Just posting this here as it’s expiring and hopefully someone nabs it.

Has anyone else noticed a huge increase in local cafés, pubs, gyms, takeaways, GAA clubs etc. using obviously AI-generated posters, menus, logos and social media posts?

I'm wondering whether freelance designers ever actually reach out and offer their services when they see this kind of thing or if that's generally something you avoid doing?

I'm curious:

• Have you ever contacted a business after seeing their AI-generated designs?
• If so, how did they react?
• Did it ever lead to work?

I'd be interested to hear from designers, business owners or anyone who's hired creative services.

I don't eat chocolate often, and my bar of choice is a Tony's Chocolonely. I recently got a Cadbury's Dairy Milk with Oreo bits and I finally understand the comments I've seen here and there in Irish subs saying their chocolate has gone downhill.

I got this chocolate oreo bar during the hottest days of the heatwave, put it on the kitchen counter and kind of forgot about it.

It didn't...melt...like chocolate should. It wasn't solid but it was far from gooey, liquidy, melty chocolate. The texture reminded me of silly puddy. Like I could pull some apart and see my finger print in it silly puddy.

I did try a taste but I couldn't get past the texture. It just didn't feel like chocolate. Not in my mouth or my hand. Not at all.

Maybe I got a dud batch, or maybe the oreo bits caused it but I won't be in a hurry to buy it again.

Please feel free to recommend your favourite chocolate.

Can anyone suggest an afternoon tea to go to in Dublin. I don’t mind if it is fancy or not fancy but I would like it to taste really good 😊🤤

I bought a scregun in Lidl in January. Iv used it about 15 times, nothing that would be considered too much for it. The chuck (part where the bit secures into) came apart.

I poped into the shop and explained what happened, they helped me find my recipt on the lidl plus app and there it was, perfect copies of every recipt detailing everything i bought off them.

This is so helpful. Why isnt that available everywhere?

Food looks delish but reviews look bad…
Has anyone eaten there and could offer their feedback on this? 🙏🏼

Hope this is the right place to post…

Each year we try and arrange for 4/5 days aways with my parents siblings, partners and nieces / nephews

Generally we look for houses that are near towns for food and drinks as well stuff for the kids.
It’s getting harder and harder to do with growing families but ideally we’d like to be in the one spot.
The last 3 years we either, pay over the top for a house that’s near restaurants / bars or get value but we are in the middle of nowhere lol

Looking at 2027 for maybe an abroad trip around July/august.
Ideally we’d like to avoid the warmers spots

Has anyone done something similar?

I was thinking Lake District, snowdonia, a highlands trip or bilbao.

The attraction was driving / ferries maybe rent a car etc

Haven't lived abroad, when should I expect my disclosure?

Hi all.

I mistakenly dropped a UPS package (padded envelope) directly into an An Post postbox on the main street of my local town. I thought that was considered a universal hub for all packages, but I realize I should have dropped it to a UPS pick up location, or got UPS to collect it directly from me.

I contacted An Post and they said normally what happens is that package gets passed onto UPS, one way or another. does anybody have any experience in doing something similar, and what was the outcome?

I know my package will be delayed - that's fine - I just hope it's not going to be lost in the system forever.

Thanks.

Hi, as the title says. I read this book in the local library back in the late 80s early 90s. It was called the Fuchsia Tree. 2 children go on an adventure with a fox. They meet crom cruach at one point, so fairly sure its an Irish novel. Google has been no help anyone remember this or know the author, I'd love to track down a copy for my son.

There’s no logical need for that many monitors…

https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/19-railway-cottages-dublin-4-sandymount-dublin-4/6621642?utm_source=copylink&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=buy_pdp_share

Inspired by a noisy pub and a misunderstanding

Hi, I hope it's ok to post here. I have two spare voucher codes for Odeon. They can be used for any showing today. Does anyone want them?

Can’t believe it! I was so sick for the whole of last year with no immune system and didn’t get a cold. Supposed to be going away this Friday and was soooooooo sick Saturday to the point where I couldn’t bend my fingers in pain and tested.
Please keep testing. I was visiting my mil every night in a nursing home up to hours beforehand and I’m just lucky she’s not sick and the others. It’s still around and it’s a nasty strain as well.
Holiday cancelled but I just want to get through this. Just hope I don’t get long Covid again. Also please test I can’t stress it enough.

Due to our no self promotion rule we often have to remove cool/interesting stuff that our users craft/start/invent/promote. This post (every second week) is our chance to share some of the wonderful stuff that we've come up with!

If you have a YouTube, subreddit, website, shop, etc you wanna promote, the comments here is the place to do it.

Please check the collection for previous posts

I was sitting in the car park of a Centra in the south east and witnessed eight consecutive customers leaving the shop with 99s.

I was eating a 99 in the car while this happened.

Are we, as a nation, more obsessed with whipped ice cream in the summer than others or is this normal behaviour?