Saturday 7 September 2013

A donut shop and a fight on Talbot Street - no prizes for guessing where the coppers are.

It’s been said before on the blog that Ireland doesn’t really do entrepreneurs. I mean, there was a time when opening a pub was seen as the height of go-for-it vigour in Ireland, and even the likes of Michael O’Leary just copied a business model that existed elsewhere.

There’s no Irish Steve Jobs, nor Bill Gates, nor Alan Sugar. The Irish Dragon’s Den is filled with people who hire tuxedos, worked in construction or sell coffee for goodness sake.

Traditionally, Ireland has only attracted jobs by shamelessly splattering its collective sphincter with Vaseline and bending over for a good shafting by US multinationals, who are only here for a bit of tax "relief"  in this jurisdiction and others.

But there is someone out there who really has their head screwed-on when it comes to spotting a business opportunity – step forward the person who opened the doughnut shop on Talbot Street, just around the corner from Store Street Garda Station.

I walk down this street - or part of it - regularly enough, and it is one of the few thoroughfares where you might see a lesser-spotted Boy or Girl in Blue now and again. Not to deal with crime, or the countless skangers, scumbags and druggies roaming the area; but waddling their ample blue-serge arses in and out of said doughnut shop. I kid you not! 

Apart from those lunch-break sightings, these rare creatures are only to be found within the cosy confines of the station, even when stuff like this is going on a hundred metres away.





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14 comments:

Nenad said...

10 Days! 10 days so Gods will and I'll be out of this toilet called emerald isle. Emerald scum would be a better term though ...

Unknown said...

Sorry to see you go, mate. Another punter lost for Gombeen Nation.

Lew said...

Its sick how people actually do that
The cops need to be out on the streets more, walking not driving and getting their faces seen and known by everyone
Not sat in an office waiting for a call on the radio or phone

Nenad said...

GM, I'll stick with you here on this page, don't worry! Have to get the real irish facts from somewhere eventually ;)

The Gombeen Man said...

@ Lew. I'm not joking Lew, I see the police hiding in Speed/Revenue vans and standing with laser guns on good roads with bad speed limits more often than I see them walking around. And I know this is uncharitable, but some of them are wider than they are tall, and I've no idea how they passed any physical examination upon joining.

@ Nenad. That's good to hear! You'll be able to see what you're missing on this mad little rock in the Atlantic!!!

Ella said...

@ Nenad, I hope things work out well for you when you return to Germany.

@ GM, I lived in London for 8 years and the plod were always a visible presence even in the burbs - not on the emerald isle though - I live in Dublin 15 and I've probably walked past a copper twice in 14 years - oh and I walk daily.

Nenad said...

Thanks Ella, it's working out good so far. My wife Ella is over there now looking for a job and sorting things.

Lads, Ireland is a paradise for organized criminals (private- & government sector), scumbags and travellers. Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that the only happy people here are those fuckers!

anna said...

For the disheartened:yes i often go to a chinese interent cafe on Talbot st, 6 months ago a drunk Irish girl came in waving a vodka bottle and abusing the staff- the 2 slim chinese men were having a time hauling her out- I phoned the cops- yes they did coem almost immediately- but yes Talbot st has the Worst of Irish life

anna said...

TINY positive note: yes! it is murder trying to get complaints heard here but I STILL DOGGEDLY COMPLAIN: I work for a govt dept plagued the last 5 yrs by having a woman who is a nasty twit as head of personnel, for last 4.5 yrs- needless to say given the passive - aggressive nature of this country, this woman facilitated bullying during her inept tenure- people like her seem to fawn over bullies, and too many people here jump at the chance to unleash their verbal aggression: finally I complained directly to the head of the Dept about the things I heard- 9 months ago. I then heard 4 others had complained to the very top as well- result ( albeit 9 months later)- she has now been moved and a decent HR manager put in place. I am still continuing with some internal complaints- some very serious_ i am also going to get onto Dept of Public sector reform about some of the Father Ted stuff that went on re facilitating and fawning over bullies- if it was not so serious it would have been funny - However us Few refusniks did it- Proof that this country Can change, and there is indeed a Santa, who delivered early in this case.

The Gombeen Man said...

Great Anna. I just goes to show that it is worth plugging away and sticking to your guns when right is on your side.

Another problem with Ireland, I think, is that there is too much cronyism and nepotism in the private sector, and misplaced emphasis on artificial competencies in the public sector (Gaelic language nonsense)... the result is we lack a meritocracy, and the wrong people are all too often in inappropriate positions.

John said...

I saw the very same thing going on in July, they nearly fell under my car and it was the same spot in the video, this was while I was transporting my belongings to Swansea. The same city Ivan Yeats as declared bankrupt.

The Gombeen Man said...

A nice little farewell scene upon leaving Dublin's fair city, John. And I speak as a Dubliner.

Tablot Street really is a bit of a hotbed for that type of thing.

Sandy Beachcomber said...

@ Nenad: Sorry you're leaving, I left in 2009. In Saudi Arabia now. A very oppressive, sinister state where the government keep everyone in their place, it has a very backwards culture and a corrupt regime that ensures it will never advance.
Remind you of anywhere?

@GM: 'Traditionally, Ireland has only attracted jobs by shamelessly splattering its collective sphincter with Vaseline and bending over for a good shafting by US multinationals, who are only here for a bit of tax "relief"'

- Yes, I lived in Limerick and we all remember what Dell did. It was especially great timing to close it down just as the 'economy' (aka 'construction boom', there was no other economy)was grinding to a halt, thus ensuring that there was no other job to go to.

I was lucky - I had the money to re-train and get a ticket out, having not bought into the Tiger lie and didn't have a mortgage.
(At this point I'd like to thank the government for their help and advice, only they didn't. Instead, when trying to claim unemployment benefit I was treated to an interrogation the likes of which would have made the KGB proud).
But most of the people I know around Limerick haven't worked since 2009, struggle to pay bills, mortgages, etc. and live in the vain hope that one day 'things'll pick up'. I don't like to shatter their illusions, so I refrain from asking how they expect this to happen exactly.

These poor people who are waiting for things to get back to normal don't realise that in fact things are back to normal.
Can anyone name a decade since independence (apart from the boom) when we didn't have high unemployment and emigration?

And plans are afoot to celebrate the centenary of independence in 2016??
celebrate what exactly - 100 years of corruption and ineptitude by successive governments that have never been able to run the country?
It can't be independence that is being celebrated, because we don't even have that any more now that the banks own us.
Or has nobody in government noticed that?

The Gombeen Man said...

Agreed, Sandy. I can't see things "picking up" ever. They've made a right bollocks of things this time, our political/ruling class.

They've excelled themselves.