I switched on the radio this morning to hear Gerry Ryan mention the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority. He gave a phone number and the above URL saying they had published a guide to mortgages. Obviously I had just missed a conversation on mortgages but at least I found the guide available as a 122kb pdf document at the above URL. It looks like a good read for anyone buying a house in Ireland (and perhaps in other countries too).
Category Archives: When-in-Ireland
Buying a house in Ireland
Well, it would appear that Jeremy is buying a house as is John (hope the signing went well!), but they’re in the USA. What about Ireland?
I’m buying too, and hoping to have everything sorted within a month. I did mean to blog what was happening but as it’s a business fraught with uncertainties I didn’t want to say much until things had progressed along a bit.
I expect the engineer will inspect the property sometime this week so once that’s out of the way I’ll post some links to oasis, info on costs, and how maddening the whole process can get!
‘Course, I’m going to be completely broke for the forseeable future so I’ll have plenty of time to compose this article. 🙂
Geopathic Stress Anyone?
While out tonight taking photos I was approached by a curious hotel worker. It’s not every day one sees a guy standing around with a camera and a tripod, especially on a cold night!
We started talking, and as usual, the topic of housing came up. When I mentioned I was in the process of buying a house he asked me to do something: “Look up geopathic stress on the Internet before you buy the house.” So, I did that!
Most of the sites I found were commercial, but one site I discovered managed to avoid commercial offerings for one whole page! The next page on the site lists their products, but the above page is a good explanation of what this is.
This is a call out to the visitors of this site – ever had your house tested for these strange energies? I’d be more than a little skeptical about this stuff, but there’s no harm in finding out more!
Update – the site I linked to above changed their layout. No doubt they saw the extra traffic and decided to list their commercial interests. Here’s a page that does have a longer description of Geopathic stress and how to stop it.
How can I tell whether I am affected by Geopathic Stress?
There are a number of pointers which may suggest the presence of Geopathic Stress by its effect on both people and buildings.
The following clues may suggest that a person is affected by Geopathic Stress:-
1. They have a serious illness such as cancer, M.E., or multiple sclerosis.
2. They have any illness which does not clear up despite good treatment.
3. They have tried a number of different therapies without success.
4. They feel better when away from home. For instance, a condition may clear up or improve when away on holiday only to come back again when they get back home.
The following quote is laughable however:
Note for health professionals and therapists – as a general rule of thumb, if a patient is not getting better on appropriate treatment, it is wise to assume that they are geopathically stressed, whether you can detect it or not.
Basically, if someone is sick near you, if there’s mould in your house, if there’s a spring close by, if you don’t sleep too well, then your house and neighbourhood is probably suffering from geopathic stress. They even got oil wells and volcanoes in there for good measure. I won’t be moving to Iraq or Pompeii in a hurry.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about geopathic stress.
Blackpool Factories In Ruin
I went up to Blackpool on Saturday afternoon to photograph the textile factory and Sunbeam. Even 24 hours later smoke still rose from the fire-gutted buildings and rubble. The Evening Echo had a stark picture of the blazing building on it’s Friday edition. It’s lucky nobody was injured in the blaze. A creche on the site narrowly escaped damage but thankfully half the 160 kids who are usually in the creche were in care that morning.
This is all that stands where a large textile factory burned down on Friday morning. According to the news, the rest of the building was demolished at noon on Saturday.
Rubble and Debris. Over 130 jobs are gone as the textile factory isn’t opening again.
Detail of the destruction of the out-buildings behind the main factory.
All that remains today of an old Cork landmark.
PRSA anyone?
Has your company offered you a PRSA yet? There’s not long to go to the September 15th deadline.
There’s more details here as well as on Google and some commercial suppliers of the pension plan.
Gardaà prevent summons on Taoiseach
First I laughed at this, but then I though, “wtf! Why right do the police have obstructing a solicitor doing his job? Even if it is to issues a court summons to the prime minister of Ireland! This story has the scoop. (Thanks to Sharrow on IRC for the link)
[Solicitor John Devane] said he intended calling for a bench warrant for the arrest of both Mr Ahern and Mr Smith if they failed to come to the court on 12 June.
I just found a receipt from 19 …
I just found a receipt from 1997. I bought 8MB of EDO RAM. How much did it cost? IR£100! The price of RAM was jumping all over the place that year AFAIR.
John Tierney, friend and class …
John Tierney, friend and classmate, died in 1996 in a car accident in Limerick. I debated long and hard with myself all day whether I should post this or not. I searched extensively on various Irish news sites for reports on the crash but to no avail. Their archives just don’t go back that far. A search on ireland.com found an article about it (second link on that page), but it’s subscription only so I can’t link to it. It seems so meager and little to do but hopefully if my classmates google for details about the accident they’ll find my webpage and this commentry.
The photo below is a detail from the college newsletter of the week following the accident. I found it while cleaning up at home and took a photo of it with my digital camera.
If you’re reading this and you write a weblog, please link to this commentry with John’s name in the link, I want there to be something to find..
Frank Twomey used to present c …
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Frank Twomey used to present childrens tv program, Bosco. He doesn’t seem to mention Bosco anywhere though. I wonder why? *grin* |
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PS. http://www.staffordm.com/full-resumes/twomeyf.html leads to a parked domain now unfortunately.
Wow! Congestion charging schem …
Wow! Congestion charging scheme gets Livingstone go-ahead – Motorists will be charged £5 to drive to Central London on weekdays! It’s going to be introduced on Feb 17th, 2003. I can see trouble ahead..
In related news, the penality points system due to be introduced here is in doubt because there isn’t money for the EUR11m computer system needed by the Gardai! Hear the RTE report on it.
Now that I’m over the shock of going to the dentist, I feel a rant coming on. I pay my taxes like everyone else and a part of those taxes go to PRSI, Pay Related Social Insurance. PRSI will pay for some of your medical bills, including visits to the dentist, but not always.
I’m 26 and out of college four years and working. Because I went to college and got an education, and now contribute to the economy’s tech industry, I can’t claim benefits due me. If you’re 26 or over you have to be working for at least five years to claim PRSI entitlements. Now that I need to get work done I can’t claim money back from a fund I’ve paid into for four years. It hardly seems fair. grrr
The Irish language is taught in Irish schools and is compulsory for everyone (with some exceptions). A book just published calls into question the cost to students of learning Irish. Science is only now becoming a part of the primary school curiculam. Hear the RTE interview with Dr Aidrian Kelly.