A good read.

Anyone heard of Erdem Gunduz?  Yes?  No?

Well he was the guy who started the silent protest in Turkey.  He's a performing artist and not politically active, but he inspired lots of people to join him at Taksim Square last month, while he stood quietly in what the papers called passive defiance.  Thanks to the social media, his image quickly spread and he was joined in other cities around Turkey.

Inspirational indeed!

His inspiration has spread all the way to Dublin, Ireland, as today a silent protest, Erdem style, has been organised to be held outside our Government buildings from 3.30pm until (in typical Irish style) the last bus leaves town!

Two young Irish ladies have organised this protest after hearing the 'Anglo Tapes'.  They are encouraging protesters to bring along a book to reflect what they are feeling about what's happening in the country at the moment, and to stand in silence outside the gates of Leinster House to send a silent message to that lot inside!

A good idea.  All you need to go with the good idea, is a good read!

They are discussing this on the radio at the moment and are asking the listeners what book would they bring to reflect what they are feeling at the moment.

A sample of the suggestions so far:

The Idiots guide to Banking
Banking for Dummies
One flew over the Cuckoos Nest
Dracula (In reference to the bloodsucking Bankers)
The God Delusion
The Merchant of Venice (In reference to the 'pound of flesh')

Lots of callers suggested bringing their Anglo Irish bank books that show a zero balance!  One caller suggested bringing the dictionary and hold it open on a page with a word that starts with 'W' and rhymes with bankers....

I'm not going to go into town and protest, but I thought I might join them remotely and in the spirit of the protest, sit quietly at home and read a book.

I'm not sure I have a copy of Banking for Dummies to hand, so, any suggestions as to what I might read??

Warren Who??

As a very small nation, we don't have many great sporting achievements or sports personalities to shout about.  Having a very small population leads to a very small pool of highly trained athletes and sports people.  But I'm sure if you took the time and did a search on the big WWW, you would find a list of our greatest athletes and achievements over the last century or two.  But when we do get a good one, we really get behind him/her.

In case you haven't got time (or couldn't be bothered!) to do this, I'll give you a quick run through of the one's I can remember from recent years...

...Like when Ronnie Delaney won that gold medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics...   OK, I don't actually remember this as it was before my time, (yes, even I am not that old!) but it was great achievement for Ireland.  I don't think we won another Olympic medal until a little boxer from Dublin, Michael Carruth, got the gold in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

...Then there was the time when Ray Houghton put the ball in the English net...

We really loved him for that!

Of course, there are lots of others that should get a mention, so here are a few more that you can look up when you are doing your search.  (Ah go on, you know you will!!)

John Tracey
Roy Keane
Eamon Coughlan
Sonia O'Sullivan
Sean Kelly
George Best
Ray Houghton (He put the ball in the English net)


I just took those few off the top of my head and of course there are lots more, but you get the picture.  And each time one of these greats won something, this whole Island would be on a high for days!

Did I mention the time that Ray Houghton put the ball in the English net?  Ahhh....What a day that was.

There are no Olympics or World Cup for us to follow this summer, so instead we have been following the Olympics of the Rugby World.  The Lions tour in Australia.  

And for this tour, we certainly had something to shout about. The nations favorite Rugby player, Brian O'Driscoll (BOD or GOD as he is sometimes referred to!!), has been on tour with The Lions.  (And while he hasn't put the ball in the English net , he has put the ball over the English line, several times!)  BOD is one of those good ones that I have been talking about.  So, the last match of the tournament is being played this Saturday down under, and with BOD ready to retire we were all looking forward to watching him bask in it all, for one last great and glorious time.  It will be, as the papers were saying, a fairy tale ending to his outstanding career.

Well, you can imagine our shock and disbelief when we woke up this morning and were greeted with some terrible news!!

BOD has been dropped from the team.

And to make matters worse, he isn't even on the bench!!!  WTF???

He, like the rest of us, will have to watch from the side...  Warren Gatland, the Welsh Rugby Team coach, and also the coach of the Lions team, has picked a mostly Welsh team for the last game.  And he isn't even Welsh!!  (And while I think of it, the team plays in a red strip, and so do the Welsh!!)

Needless to say, the reaction here on the Emerald Isle has been one of great annoyance!  Mind you, our closest neighbors, the Welsh (!!) are not so annoyed.  Like me, there are lots of other very disappointed and disgruntled Rugby fans with long faces wandering the streets in despair, with no high to look forward to on Saturday....  no basking in the glory... no fairy tale ending...

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly summed it up for me in a tweet today, with his usual flair, and I quote, "With the greatest of respect, Warren Gatland can FRO"!!

Anyway...

Did I tell you about the time that Ray Houghton but the ball in the English net...