Apr
29
2008
I rarely click onto any of the ads around the sites and blogs I frequent. Sorry to anyone who has google ads as a revenue stream, but I’m afraid I’m not great with the click-throughs. But today I clicked onto an ad for the Irish Times Front Page Sales service (okay, so it was an ad on Shane Hegarty’s blog, so I’m not sure that really counts as advertising).
The service allows you to get a framed printout of the front page of the Irish Times on almost any day. I personally think this would make a great gift for many people. To test it out, I thought I’d check out my birth date. It turns out I was born on a Sunday, and the Irish times is in print Monday to Saturday. A little disappointed, but otherwise unphased, I tried Lottie’s birth date……yep, a Sunday. Argh!
Still, it seems like a good service. I’m sure I’ll get to use it eventually.
Apr
29
2008
Oh the shame. The shame of it all. I’m an Irishman through and through, I love my country, I am proud of our fair nation, I adore our flag (ok, I have a passing interest in the tricolour, but I have a theme going, so let’s not ruin it), I rejoice on our patron saints day and I drink the black stuff like it’s manna from heaven…and yet, I cannot speak our language.
I’m embarrassed every time I go to the shop to buy milk, and struggle to muster “bainne”, I near tears as I queue for tickets at the train station and am unable to form a sentence beyond “ticéad Na Clocha Liatha”, and when I am in the pub and I hear all the people around me actively engaged in conversations as gaeilge, I weep inside. How come everyone in this country can speak Irish except me?
Well, I’ve decided to correct this egregious error on my part and get some Irish lessons. On and off over the past few years, I’ve picked up books and tapes and CD’s on learning Irish and I usually lose interest fairly quickly. Well, this time I’m sticking with it (maybe).
I’m looking at a few classes at the moment, but if anyone knows of some course that would be worth doing, let me know. GaelChultúr.com have a class running from May 26th, which looks good.
So wish me luck and I may even start using Firefox as gaeilge.
