Greetings from up above.
For most of you who don't know who this is I'll tell you. This is the ghost of Shannonbridge present with all the news and views that filter their way to these foreign lands. I'm sitting here with St. Patrick, Oscar Wilde, Eamonn de Valera and a whole host of Irish ghosts who are all eager to share their immense knowledge and life experience with the unsuspecting folks reading this. This first correspondence is primarily a pilot to see if the Gods have allowed me to access Shannonbridge.net from afar.
First and foremost here are my answers to Dermot's quiz posted on the twelth of this month. I believe that Irish women have on average a healthy two and a half babies each. This is greatly reduced from the average of thirteen babies each around fifty years ago but still provides the basis for my theory that by 2089 we will be the most populous country in the world.
The life expectancy of an average Irish male is about seventy nine. I heard that from Billy Connolly on Comic Relief last night. Actually that was the life expectancy of an average British male. I suspect that we should all live till we're ninety nine. But think about this. If an Irish male emigrates to another country and becomes a citizen of that country does that mean that his life expectancy goes up or down in accordance with the average life expectancy of that country? And think about this. An average African child has a one in five chance of living past the age of five and even then their life expectancy will only be around forty nine. You can pledge money to Comic Relief to help the average African child overcome these statistics on line at the bbc website - www.bbc.co.uk
The glorious new monument in the middle of O' Connell street will go by two names. The official name will be the Spire of Dublin and the architects name for it is the monument light. The structure is a credit to the vision of the city planners who intend it to be a catylist for the regeneration of the street. They also plan to reduce the traffic flow and are planning a plaza in front of the GPO. The spire itself is built of seven stainless steel sections, the bottom one was polished by rollers for a month solid to provide a mirrored finish, and they were prefabricated in both France and Co. Wexford. The concept behind the spire is simple - to pin point the centre of Dublin and is based on our tradition of standing stones. The monument changes its appearence depending on the type of daylight, whether it's overcast or sunny, and when finished will be lit up from inside through over fifteen thousand little holes punctured in the stainless steel skin. So the next time you visit our nation's capital, rather than complaining about it's cost, have a look at it's sheer engineering brilliance and vertical beauty that once again provides a focus point on Dublin's most prominent thoroughfare.
Finally St. Patrick has reminded me to ask you to spare a though for people like me who on the seventeenth of March, while you are wetting your throat in celebration of our fine traditions and wallowing in national pride, will be sitting in front of a computer screen with not a bar or off licence in sight and will not be able to participate in the celebrations. Somebody send me some beer please.