21 August 2013
700
R. Linda:
So glad I be not living in Ireland at the moment. I tell ya, that place provides me with hours of entertainment I usually don't expect to have. And as long as it be not at me own expense, the "entertaining" and somewhat "exciting" happenings can keep coming me way, and I will be happy to share what I hear.
Having a newborn in the house, I know how tiring it can be. What with being up almost every hour on the hour, even when it be not one's turn at feeding and nappy changing, you don't really sleep through that. As a result, one be very much like the walking dead in the morning. When a couple be denied decent sleep and then the next day have to bang on out to the grocery store, by the time they return all they are hoping for is that baby will nap and they can veg and perhaps get in a nap too. This has happened to Tonya and me where we'd come home, draw the shades down, get baby down for a nap and then cuddle up on the couch in the hope we can get a little shut-eye ourselves. And there has been the occasion where we've done this, and someone decides to come calling. When that knock sounds, we tense, look at each other, and silently shake our heads that no, do not answer that, feign we are not at home and hope whoever goes away. This usually happens, and we return to our pursuit of shut-eye.
But if you live in Dublin, Ireland, well . . . good luck with that.
That is precisely what happened to Elisa Udtohan and her partner Tristan Ua Ceithearnaigh when they lived on Eugene Street, Dublin 8 (I tell you, everything goes pear-shaped in Dublin 8). They had a baby just put down for a nap. They had put the groceries up and had just lain down to nap themselves when the doorbell rang. And like Tonya and I, they chose to ignore it. UNTIL they were thrown into a state of excitement when suddenly corrugated iron sheets were thrown over their windows and door, and six-inch nails driven in to affix said sheets to the house.
Well, as you can imagine, THAT was unsettling. They thought at first they were being burgled. Yes, they thought the criminal element was taking siege of their rental!
This woke up baby it did. The sound of all this frightened the baby and Elisa. They both burst into tears as six inches of nails came through the doorframe. Tristan began yelling to the men it was DARK inside and to STOP. Getting no satisfaction, Tristan dialled 999 and asked for the Guards to be sent straightway, and in between talking to the dispatcher, he was still yelling at the men outside that there were people inside and to stop the hammering they were frightening the occupants. He demanded to know what they were about out there.
Finally, all racket stopped, and a voice called asking if Tristan and Elisa were squatters.
"No, this be a privately rented house!"
Silence.
Then a voice said, "Hold on a minute."
After a minute or two, the next sound was the nails being pulled out of the corrugated iron sheets and light returning.
Looking out the spyhole in the front door, Tristan saw two Dublin City Council Vans parked outside. Upon tentatively opening the front door, he saw workmen taking the sheets from his house and affixing them to the house next door!
No, sorry, no nothing, and as you can well imagine, the family of three found that they were so emotionally traumatised by this they had to seek medical help. AND find someplace else to live because, well . . . it just wouldn't be the same.
Not only that, BUT they decided to sue the city for falsely imprisoning them while IN their home and for defaming them by giving the neighbourhood the impression they were squatters, undesirables, or were being evicted. Oh my, what did the neighbours REALLY think? These charges they brought up before the Dublin City Council.
Judge Griffin struck down the claims on foot of undisclosed settlements. Seems the couple settled damage claims in Civil Bills issued by McGuinn Solicitors against the Dublin City Council after the couple alleged they had been at home resting, where they were emotionally traumatised when the city workers imprisoned them. They sued for an undisclosed sum. Barrister Bernie McCabe told Judge Griffin in the Circuit Civil Court that the couple and their child were now relocated to The Mews in Collegeland, Saggart, County Dublin. A settlement was reached of €38,000 each. End of story.
I tell ya, there be no place like it . . . Dublin, I mean. All the crazy going ons and doings I don't know how one can live there without a sense of humour.
Gabe
Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved
R. Linda:
So glad I be not living in Ireland at the moment. I tell ya, that place provides me with hours of entertainment I usually don't expect to have. And as long as it be not at me own expense, the "entertaining" and somewhat "exciting" happenings can keep coming me way, and I will be happy to share what I hear.
Having a newborn in the house, I know how tiring it can be. What with being up almost every hour on the hour, even when it be not one's turn at feeding and nappy changing, you don't really sleep through that. As a result, one be very much like the walking dead in the morning. When a couple be denied decent sleep and then the next day have to bang on out to the grocery store, by the time they return all they are hoping for is that baby will nap and they can veg and perhaps get in a nap too. This has happened to Tonya and me where we'd come home, draw the shades down, get baby down for a nap and then cuddle up on the couch in the hope we can get a little shut-eye ourselves. And there has been the occasion where we've done this, and someone decides to come calling. When that knock sounds, we tense, look at each other, and silently shake our heads that no, do not answer that, feign we are not at home and hope whoever goes away. This usually happens, and we return to our pursuit of shut-eye.
But if you live in Dublin, Ireland, well . . . good luck with that.
That is precisely what happened to Elisa Udtohan and her partner Tristan Ua Ceithearnaigh when they lived on Eugene Street, Dublin 8 (I tell you, everything goes pear-shaped in Dublin 8). They had a baby just put down for a nap. They had put the groceries up and had just lain down to nap themselves when the doorbell rang. And like Tonya and I, they chose to ignore it. UNTIL they were thrown into a state of excitement when suddenly corrugated iron sheets were thrown over their windows and door, and six-inch nails driven in to affix said sheets to the house.
Well, as you can imagine, THAT was unsettling. They thought at first they were being burgled. Yes, they thought the criminal element was taking siege of their rental!
This woke up baby it did. The sound of all this frightened the baby and Elisa. They both burst into tears as six inches of nails came through the doorframe. Tristan began yelling to the men it was DARK inside and to STOP. Getting no satisfaction, Tristan dialled 999 and asked for the Guards to be sent straightway, and in between talking to the dispatcher, he was still yelling at the men outside that there were people inside and to stop the hammering they were frightening the occupants. He demanded to know what they were about out there.
Finally, all racket stopped, and a voice called asking if Tristan and Elisa were squatters.
"No, this be a privately rented house!"
Silence.
Then a voice said, "Hold on a minute."
After a minute or two, the next sound was the nails being pulled out of the corrugated iron sheets and light returning.
Looking out the spyhole in the front door, Tristan saw two Dublin City Council Vans parked outside. Upon tentatively opening the front door, he saw workmen taking the sheets from his house and affixing them to the house next door!
No, sorry, no nothing, and as you can well imagine, the family of three found that they were so emotionally traumatised by this they had to seek medical help. AND find someplace else to live because, well . . . it just wouldn't be the same.
Not only that, BUT they decided to sue the city for falsely imprisoning them while IN their home and for defaming them by giving the neighbourhood the impression they were squatters, undesirables, or were being evicted. Oh my, what did the neighbours REALLY think? These charges they brought up before the Dublin City Council.
Judge Griffin struck down the claims on foot of undisclosed settlements. Seems the couple settled damage claims in Civil Bills issued by McGuinn Solicitors against the Dublin City Council after the couple alleged they had been at home resting, where they were emotionally traumatised when the city workers imprisoned them. They sued for an undisclosed sum. Barrister Bernie McCabe told Judge Griffin in the Circuit Civil Court that the couple and their child were now relocated to The Mews in Collegeland, Saggart, County Dublin. A settlement was reached of €38,000 each. End of story.
I tell ya, there be no place like it . . . Dublin, I mean. All the crazy going ons and doings I don't know how one can live there without a sense of humour.
Gabe
Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved
