Conor's Bandon Blog

Running, Food and Local stuff from a blow-in

There goes my Blogging by Telegram money-spinning idea

Will I ever get the my timing right? “What God had wrought” courtesy of JWZ

Structured Blogging Plug-in Review

Structured Blogging Plug-in for Wordpress Year: 2006 Version: 1.0pre13 Author: structuredblogging.org Platform: Linux Category: Publishing Publisher: structuredblogging.org Price: Free **Rating**: 3 out of 5 How about this for a bit of recursion - I am reviewing the Structured Blogging Plug-in for Wordpress using the Structured Blogging Plug-in. I think the basic idea of it should suit a lot of the posts on this blog which tend to be reviews.

Postie Plug-in now works with Vodafone MMS e-mail

[![image095.jpg](http://conoroneill.com/wp-photos/thumb.20060130-150541-10.jpg)](http://conoroneill.com/wp-admin/post.php#) Big big thanks to Dirk over at Economy Size Geek. E-mails with picture attachments sent from my Nokia on the Vodafone Ireland network to this blog were not working with his plug-in. He says that the format from Vodafone is crazy. But he got it working! He is an absolute star for putting all of that effort in to get his code working for one user. Now I just need to get a phone that can take decent pictures…

Davida Tapas Bar - Reason enough to stop in Bandon

A few Saturdays ago, myself and the worlds most understanding wife headed out to the new Tapas Bar in Bandon. I know, I know, you don’t often hear the words Tapas and Bandon in the same sentence, but bear with me. Davida is in a fantastic location on Patrick’s Quay in Bandon looking out on the little river (the Bride?) rather than the Bandon itself. There are a few tables out the front for the warmer days and there is a heated area outside at the back too.

Danano's in Derry - Nice Italianish food with incredible value

Eating out in Derry on a Saturday night without a booking proved to be a bigger challenge than the NI Peace Process. Eoin’s unique understanding of local restaurant booking dynamics (all that chemical engineering process training didn’t go to waste) meant that most places quoted us up to two hours waiting time at around 8pm. We put our names down in a few spots and retired to the pub for some pints.

Mickey D's - From not bad to bloody hell

We pop in to McDonald’s in Roscrea on most trips from Bandon to Cavan. It is about half way and the kids are usually starving at that stage. It’s a wee bit small and parking is a hassle but it is one of the best run ones in the country. They have one of those “helper” people permanently on the floor mainly doing clean-up but also offering to mind kids if you need to order the food or go to the loo.

Bandon to Derry - Nearly Mizen to Malin

We finally did it. Up to Derry to visit the Pierce’s. On the way up we over-nighted with Mary in Cavan and then arrived at Saturday lunchtime. Incredible location looking out over the Foyle. Great weekend. On Sunday we braced ourselves for the return journey. There were three options - some bizarre route via Tuam suggested by AAIreland, via Dublin suggested by Eoin or back the way we came via Cavan.

The all-time worst cup of coffee I have ever tasted

Congratulations to Myer’s Maxol Garage in Mitchelstown. Without doubt the most disgusting, undrinkable excuse for a cup of coffee we have ever bought. I have to wonder if they are using mud in the machine rather than coffeee beans. I’ve had some pretty dire coffee over the years. What some Greek cafes did to Nescafe when I was there in 1988 should be banned under the Geneva Convention but they were better than the thing we had yesterday.

I am the grim reaper for Texas Heroes

I just had a comment posted to my old blog by Kim on something I wrote about Bill Hicks back last May. She was stunned that I saw him live about a year before he died and wanted some details. It is odd timing that she posted now considering I’m just back from Austin. But I was also thinking about Bill when I was over there. I was in the airport and spotted some Stevie Ray Vaughan CDs.

Cully and Sully Chicken and Leek Pie - Thumbs up from 2 to 37

I got back from the US on Sunday after a tortuous routing - if our feet didn’t actually touch the ground in St Louis, can we say we have been there? I was pretty much all beefed out (hope to god that is not some awful double entendre) after a Texan week. Catherine had spotted the Cully & Sully ready-meals in Supervalue and grabbed two to see what they were like.