Marking Time

For the weekend that’s in it…

… I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

After over fifteen years with the same car insurance company, I’ve finally switched. A few things were irritating me about my insurance company. For a start, they started sending me piles of junk mail for offers and product tie-ins that I had no interest in and for which I don’t recall ever signing up to. Then they mislaid a request for a piece of correspondence that I requested - “it was never logged on the system” - resulting in multiple time consuming phone calls and “hold please”. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when I received my renewal form complete with a sneaky 15% increase in the premium. I thought that the premium was supposed to decrease with experience. Apparently, I was wrong. I’m just another sucker to be milked dry. Sure we all have money to burn these days.

Within five minutes I had found a quote on the Internet that was almost 25% cheaper. Needless to say I jumped at it straight away. They say that when you find a cheaper quote that you should go back to your own insurer and start haggling with them. But after fifteen years I’d expect a little more respect from them than to put me through this stupid dance. Goodbye and good riddance.

Thankfully, the car insurance market is reasonably competitive and the consumer has some power. If only more markets were like that here in Monopolyland.

• The State We’re In: Sergeant Arrested and Questioned…
  In case you haven’t noticed, there are two sets of laws in this country (and still no independent oversight of the police force).
  (tags: Irish Politics Law)
• BreakingNews.ie: Government admits role in journalist’s arrest
  Michael “No hand, act or part” McDowell is surrounded by so many Chinese walls it’s a wonder he can turn sideways.
  (tags: Irish Politics)

I have added some more photos to the Derelict Set.

Demountable dwellings are often provided to citizens when their own houses become too derelict to live in. The lucky citizen can have the demountable erected on their own land to save them the trouble of moving. The picture above shows a derelict demountable so we’re really pushing the boundaries of dereliction now.

A story goes that one time my grandfather was out walking when he was caught short. Spying a derelict house nearby he took advantage of its cover to relieve himself. It was only after he had completed his business and was turning to leave that he noticed a little old woman sitting in the corner. Derelict as it was, the house had not yet been abandoned. What happened next I don’t know. As I say, so the story goes.

A similar thing happened to me on one of my outings. I was happily snapping a house that appeared to all intents and purposes to be abandoned (and was in a worse state than many of those in the set) when suddenly a little peaked cap appeared out from behind the front door. The first thought that went through my head was that I was very far from civilization should a shotgun be attached to the owner of the peaked cap and a cry for help be emitted from the slum tourist. But as I beat a hasty retreat, my thoughts turned from fear for my own safety to a little guilt that I had probably frightened this man so much that he wouldn’t sleep easy for several nights. I felt helpless to rectify the situation. I didn’t even feel I could approach the man.

There are parts of this country that will be forever impenetrable.

Tomorrow I will turn off my television and not turn it on again for forty days. I might not turn it on again at all if I keep reading stuff like this:

Despite its protestations to the contrary, RTÉ must pipe the tunes of those who pay the most, that is to say, the commercial interests who want bland pap that will not disturb the trance of consumers. Certainly some tunes must necessarily be dictated to the people who authorise or pay the licence fee, but these are placatory offerings to appease vengeful minor gods. The real business is bread and circuses at the behest of the advertising pantheon. And this has always been RTÉ’s balancing act: trying to keep both paymasters happy. The choice is easy. One lobby is a well-heeled and articulate coterie of global profiteers; the other is the disorganised and disparate million-odd who pay the licence fee which is their personal entertainment tax, and who are effectively disenfranchised.

Bob Quinn, Maverick (2001)

I’m half-way through Bob Quinn’s Maverick, his account of his time as a member of the RTÉ Authority along with his outspoken views on the role of the public broadcaster. It’s an interesting insight into the workings of RTÉ and into the sorry state of our national identity. It also offers some glimpses into the possibilities of an alternative Ireland. Writing in 2001, Quinn was ringing alarm bells about the corruption of the public service remit by commercial forces. If anything it’s even worse now with the You’re a Star generation and the advent of programme funding by text message.

Let’s see how long I last in the wilderness.

RTÉ Radio’s listenership figures continue to slide. I wonder why? Here’s a possible symptom.

Where once we started our weekend with the political satire of Scrap Saturday, now we have soft focus interviews with “prominent people”. Harmless stuff, and guaranteed not to put anyone’s nose out of joint. Why, just this morning we had a lovely interview with the wife of a prominent politician who just happens to be leading his party’s annual conference this weekend. Coincidence or what? RTÉ as ever, glad to help our poor misunderstood politicians to get their message across. And, by the way, thanks for the license fee increase lads.

Ah yes, public service broadcasting at its best.

A short canal runs along the left-bank of the Corrib river. On Saturday I strolled with the camera phone.

more…

• Interconnected: 30 year prediction
  A little tongue-in-cheek but still there’s a point. It’s all about China and India.
  (tags: environment culture)

• ie-politics: NCC report shows government economic failure
  “It’s time to put the government’s stewardship of the economy firmly on the agenda.”
  (tags: Irish Politics economics)

Treasa has previously noted the amount of derelict houses in Ireland. Sometime last year I got the notion of photographing some of them for a project I was putting together. It turned out they didn’t really suit the project so I abandoned them. I’ve put them here for posterity. They’re mostly taken around west Clare and Galway. I may add to them if the mood takes me.