Month: November 2003

blather.net
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Found these sites while rummaging around As a web-design snob, I'm not blown away by how these sites look... but who cares? The content is fantastic, and that is, after all, what matters: Firstly, Oileán - Ireland's Islands, put together by the students of St. Cronan's School in Bray, Co. Wicklow. It's full of facts about those windy, isolated places off Ireland's coast. Then there's irishwrecksonline.net, a great source of information about the divable ships around Ireland, put together by Randall Armstrong.

blather.net
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Big cats loose in the Irish countryside! *ABC=Alien Big Cat, i.e. out of place animal. Scroll down for later reports. From Tuesday 12th August: Big cat thought to be puma The animal is thought to be a young female puma Pawprints found in the north coast area of Northern Ireland were probably made by a member of the mountain lion family, the USPCA has said. More from BBC>> Puma hunt moves to Portrush Fresh paw prints are discovered close to Portrush 12 August 2003 Police patrol the beach at Portrush on the lookout for the big cat THE hunt for the north coast's missing big cat has moved to Portrush after fresh paw prints were discovered by a landowner in a field outside the resort. More from Belfast Telegraph Ananova: 'Puma' spotted on Antrim coast A puma has been spotted on the loose on the north Antrim coast. Police officers...

blather.net
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Did my Advanced Open Water PADI course over the weekend, atScuba Dive West in Killary Harbour/Renvyle, in Galway... Did my dry suit dive on Friday afternoon in Little Killary. In those winds winds... the noise down below was mad! It was dark when we resurfaced, so it became a bit of a night dive. Dry suits are toasty. Wearing a tracksuit underneath, all that gets wet (in theory) is your hands and head! Did a general boat dive and a navigation dive on Saturday... the first one was great, but the second one involved navigating by compass in 1.5m visibility! Amazing rainbows yesterday while heading out in the boat - the light was very similar to the Giants Causeway last year... Too much tequila and Guinness in The Bard's Den makes for ill divers...plus the constricting suits and a heavy swell. Some of us were racking our guts up over...

blather.net
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This is a letter I sent eleven Irish publishers on 1 September 2003. You can also read their replies. Plus my "final" comments of 7 November 2003. A chara, You endlessly receive letters from writers, letters written in the hope that you, the esteemed publishers, will publish their newly-finished and admirable literary efforts! I wish to disturb this routine, slightly, by suggesting to you that you read a manuscript that was rejected everywhere, just under ten years ago. This thoroughly unwanted piece of literary fiction was a novel I wrote entitled April in May, 30,000 words that were so confusing to pubishers’ readers at the time, it seemed like an alien craft landing on Earth, and was accordingly misunderstood in every possible way by an Irish publishing culture that wasn’t ready for it. Over subsequent years, things have inevitably changed, and I believe that April in May, although it has...