"There's a New 'M' in Town...."

Watch out, McDonald's, there's another monopoly over taking everything from pubs to convenience stores, clothing stores and ice-cream parlours in Ireland......

Whilst Maccas produces burgers and fries, the Murphy empire spawn as a result of Catholism.....

And there's more to come..... Post Script 30/09/08

Postscript 2: 19th October 2008

Postscript 2nd November 2008:

Postscript 20th Dec 2008, location: Kinsale.

Postscript Jan 2009 - Mallow Town



....and Cork City

March 2009 - Murphy competition on the high street, Cork city (St Patrick's St).

Signs of tough times and the economic downturn.

St Paddy's Wkend, Kilkenny:

April 2009: Murphy's Rhubarb Pie - made from flour, sugar, butter & rhubarb. Optional "ginger" may be included.

Postscript 23rd May 2009: Around Midleton, East Cork

Postscript 28th May 2009: Galway


Postscript 18th June 2009:

It's like somebody tried to phonetically spell the word "Murphy" from listening to the Irish accent.

(Below: On the way to work in M Town)

Postscript September 2009
Murphy's in Dingle


Postscript Oct 2009

Murphy's Pub, Luxor, Egypt
The Bar that serves no Guinness

Postscript Nov 2009
Cork City


Postcript January 2010
Murphy in Kinsale


Postscript 1st May 2010
Lower Baggot St, Dublin

"Looking for Friends without having to Go Down the Organised Team Sport/Club Route"

As the Chasers did their internet dating "experiment", I decided to do my own internet friends experiment.

The Chasers' results:

"Pretty in Pink": Average girl looking for a nice guy, outcome: 7 hits.
"Lord-is-my-Shepard": Hot looking religious nut with a policy of ONLY chaperoned dates, no sex before marriage, seeking for a guy to do mission work in third world countires, outcome: 15 hits.
"Fun Gal": Really, really, REALLY hot looking chick, married with a husband dying of cancer, looking for hot sex to meet her needs, outcome: 360 hits.

Obviously, all the above profiles were fake. Moral of the story: all the internet dating cliches are true, guys are idiots. (Why do women want to live with them, I don't know. Most women seem to end up complaining about how they have to pick up after their slobby male counterpart and all that other domestic mundane crap.) But seriously, if you had seen how the Chasers' experiment played out, NOBODY would ever want to admit that they've tried internet dating.

The Closetblonde's "Looking-For-Friends" experiment:
Results: 2 hits. One young Irish guy (nice, but little in common), one fantastic world citizen :)

Why so few hits? Was it my pepper spray comment or because the Gumtree friends section seems to be mainly monopolised by guys looking to "hang out" and asking girls to "please send a photo and let me know what kind of fun you're willing to get up to". As I said before, guys are idiots. Fuck buddies are NOT friends, and you should be posting in the fricking "casual sex" section, NOT the friends section. Grrrr.

/end rant. Personally, I thought my ad was pretty cool. You be the judge:

Random conversation with a good cup of coffee in one hand - (or should I say a pint seeing that we're in Ireland after all). Run Lola Run. Hospital Records - (London Elektricity, High Contrast, Cyantific - woohoo!). Groove Armada. Fatboy Slim. Basement Jaxx. Music festivals. Globe trotting for cultural thrills. Flight of the Conchords. Eagle vs Shark. Fashion and Design. Food. What's with the fluro that's back in fashion?!?!

If the above words and the pictures mean something to you and make you smile, why don't you drop me a line?

Life isn't meant to be about grocery shopping, laundry and collecting screaming kids from school. Instead of accepting a life of weekend trips to my local hardware store to buy tomato plants, I decided to challenge myself by moving city/country/continents/hemispheres to a place where I wouldn't know a single soul. I have a car, I have a house, and I have wireless internet (very important, har har), and the only thing missing now is a group of friends to find that elusive, quirky hidden gem of a bar or coffee shop.

In case people are wondering, I am a 26 year old girl. I would be happy hanging out with either girls or guys (and guys, when I say as friends, I mean friends. Anybody up to any funny business, be warned. I know some pretty spectacular karate moves - one of them is called pepper spray. Just kidding. Maybe... Hahahah).


Signing off, Closetblonde. XXX

Postscript: Maybe I should have posted my photo instead, Chaser style - one from the shoulders up and another incorporating chest up. They did this in their experiment, and the pic showing the girl's boobs got more hits than shoulders only. Yeah, guys are idiots. And it probably wouldn't have worked for me seeing that I'm completely flat chested :p Tee hee hee.....

PPS: I know that I'm sounding really harsh towards guys in this blog entry, but I one time did tell a guy that I thought men were one of the most stupid creatures on earth, and he totally agreed with me. (Intelligent boy. That, or maybe he was trying to get into my pants.) Meanwhile, on the side of town, people on their high horses are saying in high pitched voices, "Oh, but you just haven't been in love. Once you fall in love, you will be wanting babies and that white picket fence" and blah de blah de blah........... Not listening any more..... This is the real life people. There is not a person for everybody. And not everybody finds love. If love was a guarantee in life, there wouldn't be stupid guys wanting fuck buddies in the "friends" section of Gumtree.

Sights of Corcaigh and Contae Corcaigh

Note: Unlike Philadelphia, it is not always sunny in Cork. I just basically ran out with my camera every time the sun was shining.

Which wasn't very often.

In Cork city, the intelligent people insure their liver.

After all, nobody assures your liver like Royal Liver Assurance.


Cork's main industry is.....

?!?Brewing stouts maybe? (My aunty always asks me about this and then I tell her that I'm not sure, and that I'm going to google it, and then I end up forgetting to do so until she goes asking me again. So somebody please google it for me please. Maybe it was cork, hence why the city is called Cork, har har.)


Cork at its most artistic....

Scenes from county Cork:

Above: Moo cows in Kanturk.

The Shamrock house, Kilcorney. Plays into every Irish stereotype....

.....but makes a damn good landmark when all rural roads seem to be basically unnamed, and your instructions on how to get to people's houses include: go past the grave yard and about 300 yards you'd pass a house with some dog pillars, and then you turn left after that, and then go up the hill and then turn right after you see the white bungalow.....

The old, derelict castle that seems to be in almost every small little country town. The one below can be found in Lismore.

If this was in the UK, they would have set up an admission booth charging:
1. 8 pounds a pop to go and have a look see,
2. An additional 5 pounds for an audio guide.
3. Guided tours with a tour guide dressed in an Olde English costume (with tail coat and curly white wig to boot) for 16 pounds (admission price included, naturally).

Scenes from little M town, (population 9 thousand....)
Yeah, can you hear me running down the road, tearing my hair out and screaming.....

First things first, my car and my house :)

Scenes from my neighbourhood.

My local river walk

Yeah, with the deer and the nature all around, I am kept sane by the broadband and Project Runway..... (A couple nights ago, I actually dreamt I was on Project Runway Australia. I had chosen Lee as my partner and was trying to figure out how to sew a kimono style jacket. Yeah, even in my dream I still couldn't sew.)

And every afternoon over summer, the tune of Yankee Doodle can be heard coming from my street.....

Every afternoon aside from Friday, that is, as I think Yankee Doodle is doodling down at the local pub.

I swear one of my neighbours owns an ice cream truck. That thing is like the pan piper. I laughed at it until I saw a whole entire horde of children come running (out of nowhere) from multiple directions on foot, bicycles and tricycles.... I wanted to take a photo of the kids, but I thought I might be mistaken for a paedophile.....

And finally, the saddest car award goes to.....

Does this mean that somewhere in China, there are people with modified cars that have random English words plasted on it such as, "the", "it", and "is".....? Rhetorical question only. No need to respond.