Getting my Goat

Challenge laid down by Steve at Notes With No Commas blog.....

1) List two things that irritate you for a reason, which you should give, and two things that irritate you for no good reason,
2) Give credit to the person who tagged you,
3) Link your answers to the original blog - http://noteswithnocommas.wordpress.com/,
4) Tag four new people to participate.

Steve listed TV repeats and gangs....I think once I start I may not be able to stop.

For good reason:

1) Inconsiderate People

The people who arrive at the theatre/cinema 10 minutes after the show is scheduled to begin, people who leave their mobiles on, people who do back stroke in the pool at my gym, people who fail to clean up their dishes/empty take-away boxes for 2 weeks, people who park 3 cm away from your driver door, people who smoke indoors, people who vomit on footpaths....

Basically any behaviour where people display their complete ignorance of the existence of other people in the world. Please people! Open your eyes just a fraction, consider the feelings of the many other people that surround you in the world and then stop before you inflict noise/smoke/vomit pollution on them.

2)The Cost of Health in Ireland

I know it could be worse - we could have a system like America that precludes healthcare from all but the wealthy but I still think it's ridiculously expensive to stay healthy in Ireland. Pharmaceuticals are way more expensive here than in other countries due to the lack of availability of generic brands and the growth of chain pharmacies.

For 5 minutes of a GP's time it'll cost you circa 60 euro...for a course of antibiotics another 20 euro, the contraceptive pill will set you back 30 euro for 6 month supply....and don't get me started on the price of condoms.

If you're working on low income (as I am at the moment by my own choice) you literally cannot afford to be sick. I pay for health insurance to cover me should anything really bad happen but it doesn't help me pay for the GP, antibiotics, contraception - or any day-to-day healthcare expenses that can really add up. I can't even imagine how anyone on minimum wage copes.

My sister lives in Scotland and hears people give out about the NHS all the time but really they have things so much better over there...ie it's all bloody free! As in free free...no dollars, zero euros, pas de sterling.... Now that's healthcare for all.



No Good Reason

Um.

This is hard - so many gripes and so many good reasons for them...

1)Spiders

I guess my utter hatred of spiders is pretty irrational. Here in Ireland they're totally harmless, they kill flies and other irritants and they make attractive cobwebs.

But God do I hate them....something about those two extra legs they have on insects that make them repulsive to me...or the way they move.....~shiver~

2) Screaming Children in Public Places

I know children are a good thing...pretty essential to the survival of the species and all that. I even intend to have some of my own some day all going well and I know full well that I will one day be a perpetrator of this particular crime...

But do people really have to bring them to restaurants? and shopping centres? and cinemas? and public areas in general? There's something about the scream of a toddler that is so ear-piercing and disruptive of one's inner equilibrium that it makes you want to strangle who or whatever is nearest you at that moment.

Children should be seen and not heard!


There. Phew. That's a load off.

I won't mandate anyone in particular to do this--anyone with a blog out there have a go. In fact if anyone wants to add a comment here about what gets their goat--go right ahead.


Meanwhile I really should start doing some small amount of work to justify my income however low it is....

Adios Paraguay.

I've been back a week and between jetlag and mountains of laundry have failed to post a blog. I could have made time to be honest but think I needed some time to process the whole thing.

Basically it was great.

Lot's of this:


and this:

MESCALA!

A great team:


and wonderful friendly hosts in Paraguay:


We actually had an Irish journalist based in Argentina visit out site and he's having a series or articles printed in the Irish Emigrant newspaper. One of them can be found here.

Between the 15 of us we helped build 2 houses in Encarnacion, a small town near the Argentinian border. The Habitat affiliate there is hugely active - in the past 10 years they've built 750 houses and are aiming to round it off to an even 1000 for their 10th anniversary next year.

The only difficulty I had with the trip was not being able to speak Spanish. It really is all pervasive in South America and English is greeted with stony blankness. We had such a great opportunity to get to know locals but language was a barrier. There was also a lot of pressure on the Spanish speakers in our group to translate for the rest of us.

Next time I'm heading to South America I'll habla espanol muy bien.

Hasta la victoria siempre!