Dated 23^rd November 2006.

The local papers arrive on Wednesday and here are some things they mentioned.

Deputy Tom Parlon highlighted the poor condition of the road to Clonmacnois which he observed during his recent visit. Offaly County Council are to carry out a review of the road immediately with a view to carrying out the necessary repairs.

There is a large picture of Burke’s house in Ferbane shown on the Offaly Independent. It stands on 1.1 acres and has a guide price of 1.25 Million from auctioneers Mollin Estates, Tullamore. View Church Street Ferbane on their site www.daft.ie/mollinestates

By coincidence as I wrote the above the seller Patsy Burke and her son called in. They told us that their son Donal plans to be married on 10^th February 2007.

Some councillors are predicting that Edenderry will become Offaly’s principal town.

One local paper had a lead story that Bord na Mona are planning to buy the midlands power plants at Lanesboro and Shannonbridge. They already own the plant at Edenderry. There were also indications that Bord na Mona plan to buy AES or Advanced Environmental Solutions which operate a wheelie bin service here and over a wide area. Costing over 50 Million Euros.

Later in the evening the local radio said that the buying of the two power stations was not true.

Al Pacino is visiting Ireland for the first time and is pictured at Ireland’s oldest university Trinity College. He has a great interest in Oscar Wilde.

Temperature on Wednesday was mild with temperatures of 10C/50F. Strong winds promised tonight and at 2.00 AM the promise has started.

First small birds seen using the nut feeders on Wednesday were grey titts.

Cleaning gravestones. Kieran Egan years ago recommended using washing soda. Today’s stone people use parozone. Wet the stone well before applying the parozone and leave to soak overnight. Wash it off the next day with water and a cloth.

Celtic beat Manchester United 1 – 0 in their Tuesday soccer match.

Did you ever wonder who writes some of the great songs and airs? Today on the radio a jazz number was played by Earl Gardner. Afterwards the presenter asked if we knew that he composed this tune. Then he played Misty.

Good news about the photograph of the old ivy covered barrack ruin in Shannonbridge. One of our readers remembered seeing a picture of this barracks used in a historical talk some years ago. The man who gave the talk was Paul Kerrigan and still has the photo.

Some time ago Paul Kerrigan asked me if anybody had a photograph of The Grand Gate which was the main gate on the roadway just past The Fort Restaurant. He would like to get a copy of this as he is a leading expert on Martello Fortifications. Has anybody got a photo before the arch and door was removed ?.

Finally a school rhyme from Joan Carty in memory of geography classes –

Long legged Italy,

Kicked poor Sicily

Out in the Mediterranean Sea,

Sicily got hungry,

And ate a bit of Turkey,

And dipped it in Greece.