Boyle’s dangerous junctions
There has been much debate over the years as to where Boyle’s most dangerous junction is located. The top two have to be McDonagh’s corner and the N4 old Carrick Road junction at Erris. How Mc Donagh’s corner ever ended up with the current a layout is beyond belief. Granted the N61 makes it’s way down through the town, but having acars stop on Main street to cross over the national primary route to St. Patrick Street is a recipe for disaster. There are no road markings in place to tell motorists to stop with many just heading straight through. At Erris, bad driving added to by no turning off lane from carrick will lead to a serious RTC at some stage. For whatever reason, certain drivers exiting right from the old Carrick Road, see a car indicating to turn in the carrick Rd and they pull straigh out across the N4, oblivious to cars hidden behind the vehicle coming from Carrick. On top of all these we have the bottle neck at the Bank of Ireland where cars coming from Military Road, cut the sweeping chicane into the path of motorists travelling from Main Street. Roscommon Co Co are doing brilliant work around town at present. Perhaps they coul dnow look at bringing someone from Transport Ireland to the town to look at all our dnagerous junctions.
Boyle, Betty and the UFO link
Many years ago people laughed at the late Betty Meyler as she made national prominence describing Boyle as the “UFO Capital of Ireland”. But while not everyone agreed with Betty or believes in UFO’s the fact remains that after pornography, UFO’s are one of the most searched items on the internet and a wise old Betty knew this! If she had survived a number of years longer Betty would have continued her campaign to have Boyle stamped as the UFO Capital. But while Betty is gone, the UFO’s are still around and the link with Boyle is still alive. We can joke and laugh at little green men and the like but if UFO research and associated activity brings more people into Boyle then we should take up where Betty left off and look at locating some form of UFO Centre in the town.
Tidy Towns result is not fair reflection
The recent Tidy Towns results did not do justice to the improvement work that has been undertaken in Boyle in the last year. (Read the Boyletoday.com story on the results here).How the town only increased one mark is a bit of a joke and puts the whole competition into question. Everyone will agree, Boyle looked better this year than any other year. The hard working Tidy Towns committee, and a number of dedicated locals are to be commended on all the work they did in making Boyle a more visually attractive town this year. It’s just a pity the Tidy Town’s judges didn’t appreciate their work as much as the locals did.
‘Boyle is on the cusp of something big’
Last Friday’s Boyle Enterprise Town was deemed a great success by the hundreds of people who paid a visit to the event. Set over three floors in the Spool Factory event center, it gave one an opportunity to see all that we have on offer in the town. Those from outside Boyle who were in attendance, could not get over the get community spirit that exists in Boyle and the amount of businesses that are operating, some behind the glare of the public eye. Speakers on the night highlighted all that is good in Boyle including the fact that we are now pulling together better than ever before – a fact that has not gone unnoticed by state agencies and decision makers in Government. While there are still one or two who like to disrupt the good work that is being planned for the town, we have thankfully got over and are ignoring the same naysayers and begrudgers and are getting on with the job in hand. As one speaker said “Boyle is now on the cusp of something big”. Have no doubt 2018 will bring big positive changes for Boyle.
Smith boys tog out for ‘Celtic
It was great to see the Smith boys back playing soccer for Boyle Celtic last weekend. Well known on the Gaelic pitches the length and breadth of the country, both Enda and Donie are accomplished soccer players also. Indeed Enda had a spell with one of the top Dublin clubs in his youth. Thankfully the day is long gone when young local footballers were chastised for playing both sports by certain coaches in one of the disciplines.
And finally….!
Spare a thought for poor old Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair.
After arriving in a hotel in Manchester, he went to the bar and asked for a pint of Guinness.
The barman nodded and said, “That will be £1 please, Mr. O’Leary.”
Somewhat taken aback, O’Leary replied, “That’s very cheap,” and handed over his money.
“Well, we do try to stay ahead of the competition”, said the barman. “And we are serving free pints every Wednesday from 6 pm until 8 pm. We have the cheapest beer in England”.
“That is remarkable value”, Michael comments.
“I see you don’t seem to have a glass, so you’ll probably need one of ours. That will be £3 please.”
O’Leary scowled, but paid up.
He took his drink and walked towards a seat. “Ah, you want to sit down?” said the barman. “That’ll be an extra £2. You could have pre-booked the seat, and it would have only cost you £1.”
“I think you may be too big for the seat sir, can I ask you to sit in this frame please”.
Michael attempts to sit down but the frame is too small and when he can’t squeeze in, he complains “Nobody would fit in that little frame”.
“I’m afraid if you can’t fit in the frame you’ll have to pay an extra surcharge of £4 for your seat sir”.
O’Leary swore to himself, but paid up. “I see that you have brought your laptop with you” added the barman. “And since that wasn’t pre-booked either, that will be another £3.”
O’Leary was so incensed that he walked back to the bar, slammed his drink on the counter, and yelled, “This is ridiculous, I want to speak to the manager”.
“I see you want to use the counter,” says the barman, “that will be £2 please.”
O’Leary’s face was red with rage. “Do you know who I am?”
“Of course I do Mr. O’Leary.”
“I’ve had enough! What sort of a Hotel is this? I come in for a quiet drink and you treat me like this. I insist on speaking to a manager!”
“Here is his e-mail address, or if you wish, you can contact him between 9.00 am and 9.01am every morning, Monday to Tuesday at this free phone number. Calls are free, until they are answered, then there is a talking charge of only £1 per second, or part thereof”.
“I will never use this bar again”.
“OK sir, but do remember, we are the only hotel in England selling pints for £1.”
