Conor's Bandon Blog

Running, Food and Local stuff from a blow-in

Most excellent wife

Lovely breakfast in bed and the gift of a Hairy Baby T-Shirt. Check those guys out, they have really great stuff. Mine has a picture of the boys from “Withnail and I” with the byline “are you the farmer?”. It’s a pity I didn’t have it yesterday for the Bandon Show. For those of you who have forgotten the movie, here is an MP3 of the line (delicate dispositions should not click it).

Marmatiece Restaurant Bandon

Marmatiece was opened a few weeks ago by the folks who used to run Roco’s until they closed late last year. We headed out last night for a sort of Father’s day treat for me and to see what it was like. I went in with a slight bias as I never thought Roco’s was much good. They have the dubious honour of serving me the worst risotto I’ve ever had.

Deasy's of Ring, Seafood Restaurant

Deasy’s Harbour Bar and Seafood Restaurant Food style/ethnicity: Seafood Hours: Pub Hours - **Location**: <p>Ring Village Clonakilty Co Cork Ireland Food rating: 5 out of 5 Decor rating: 4 out of 5 Service rating: 3 out of 5 I deserve a slap for not doing this review until now. We ate in Deasy’s in Ring for Catherine’s birthday back in May with my parents. I had heard nothing but great things about it and they did not disappoint.

Bandon Farmer's Market just gets better and better

I’m not just saying that because it’s my local one. They keep adding really great stalls. I think the most important one is Ahern’s organic meats. It’s a bit easy to miss them because all the meat is in a freezer trailer and they just have a small table with the product list and prices. I got two t-bones and a bunch of burgers off them. Looking forward to BBQing them today in the rain.

The power of branding

Yoplait have recently completely changed the labels on their yoghurts. Our kids are now refusing to eat them “cos they are not the same”. I’m willing to be that a huge percentage of yoghurt sales are for kids. Did any brand manager actually ask any kids what they thought? Any blip noticed in sales? Blip down, right? Sometimes, just sometimes, leaving things as they are is the smart thing to do.

Bandon Show on this Saturday

Bandon Show Begins: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 at 1:00 PM Ends: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 at 6:00 PM Entry fee: A few Euro **Location**: <span class='location'><p>Castlebernard Estate Bandon, Co Cork Ireland The annual Bandon Agricultural show is on this Saturday having been delayed due to atrocious weather in May. This is a great day out for the family and covers far more than championship cattle! We had a giggle there last year and this year looks even better.

Bandon Farmer's Market this Saturday

Bandon Farmer’s Market Sat, 17 Jun 2006 at 10:00 AM Old Market Garden New Spar Car Park Bandon, Co Cork Ireland The next bi-weekly Bandon Farmer’s Market is on this Saturday in the usual place. I missed the last one so I’ll definitely be heading down to stock up on breads, coffee, eggs, veg, sweeties for myself for Father’s day, pickles, smoked goods, herbs and anything else I can carry!

Now I'm not saying Vodafone read my blog but

ElectricNews reports that Vodafone launches flat-rate 3G access. €49 incl VAT sounds excellent but I’ll bet that is on top of a basic plan so there is no way we will end up paying less than €78 EUR per month. Fine if you are in business, silly if you are not. Another wasted opportunity? I’d be ringing them now to sign up if they halved the price. I think I quoted a tenner as being reasonable.

An Irish day at the beach

Where were the multi-coloured windbreakers when I needed them? Flasks of milky tea and gritty sandwiches would have helped too. But the kids didn’t notice and had a whale of a time. Long Strand is still one of the most impressive beaches in Cork. I’m only disappointed that the para-glider-surfer-thingy dude disappeared before I could get a photo. Ah shur the sun will come out any minute now: One 7 year old and one who wishes he was:

Nokia N70 Niggles

I’ve had the N70 since April and I’m still in two minds about it. My biggest beef is less with Nokia and more with Vodafone. When I got the phone, I checked the firmware and it was at v2.x whilst a check on the web said that the latest was v5.x. I went into Choice Communications in Cork city and asked for an upgrade. It came back with exactly the same version.