Our man Frank on the supposed phasing out of diesel and petrol cars; Enjoying the local club football scene (even in defeat) over the Premier League; And some musings on successful dogs…
The last petrol car that I had, as far as I can remember, was a Hillman Hunter. It came to a sad end one evening almost 50 years ago when I left it neatly balanced on a roadside wall. Since then I have exclusively driven pre-loved diesel cars.
A number of trusty old Volvos have passed through my hands, and in recent years I have had four or five Volkswagen Passats. All of this went through my mind as I drove to Galway on Friday afternoon. I couldn’t help but notice the fact that there are hardly any normal-type saloon cars on the road anymore.
Everything is either a people carrier or an SUV (not sure what an SUV is, but it sounds good), and there is obviously now a big number of electric vehicles out there. So, as I pulled into a service station to fill up with diesel, I wondered what had happened to all the plans to dispense with diesel cars by 2030.
We are all aware, or at least we should be, of greenhouse gas emissions, and their detrimental effect on climate change, and so with great fanfare the Government announced in 2019 (as part of our Climate Action Plan) that the sale of new petrol and diesel cars would cease in 2030.
That is now only six years away, but there seems to be very little said about it these days. At the time there were also meant to be incentives to phase out diesel cars altogether by making diesel more expensive than petrol, and encouraging people to buy hybrid and electric vehicles.
A number of modern large petrol cars only have one-litre engines, but apparently with the huge advances in technology the one-litre engine is plenty powerful enough to drive any of these bigger vehicles. The smaller engine produces much less greenhouse gas emissions and therefore does less damage to our environment.
Back in the day, a one-litre engine would hardly pull a wheelbarrow, but a friend of mine has a big Ford something and its one litre-engine is more than strong enough to give it plenty of poke.
And so, with the obvious environmental advantages of having these better and more efficient petrol engines in new cars, I wondered, as I filled up my 11-year-old diesel Passat, why diesel is 10 cent a litre cheaper than petrol. At a time when we are supposed to be encouraging drivers to be more environmentally responsible, it just doesn’t make any sense.
The good news is that it seems nothing will now happen until 2035, but the big question is… despite all the publicity back in 2019, will it ever happen at all?
Why the local GAA scene trumps Premier League
For all of us sports lovers, a new English Premier League soccer season kicked off last Friday evening when the much-maligned Manchester United hosted Fulham at Old Trafford stadium. Now I’ve told you before of my 61-year love/hate relationship with United, born out of the 1963 Cup Final, and how in recent years I have fallen out of love, not with United, but with the whole game of football.
Too much money, diving, cheating, and lack of respect for referees, coaches, opponents and especially the fans, has really dampened my enthusiasm, and the truth is that I hardly ever watch games anymore.
However, with the All-Irelands over, and a television gap to be filled, I have to admit that I tuned into the Friday night game – but it will be a while before I do it again.
The mini-buzz that I experienced as I waited for kick-off had disappeared after a few minutes, and while we got a very welcome win with a late goal, the truth is that the fare on offer was pretty dire, and the feeling is that it will be another long, miserable season for United fans.
Anyway, and thank God for it, out here in Creggs we had a daunting trip to Loughglynn to play Eire Óg in the Intermediate Football Championship on Saturday evening to look forward to, and if ever there was an example of why I have turned my back on soccer, this was it.
Passion, commitment, wholehearted effort and totally committed exchanges were all on offer, and even though the home side won a tight game by three points, I have to say that I left Loughglynn in a much better frame of mind than the one I was in after watching the game at Old Trafford.
We knew going down that we were up against it, but in fairness we acquitted ourselves well, and were more than competitive against a team that many people fancy to win the competition. In less than two weeks’ time we have another big task on our hands when we meet another of the more fancied teams, our neighbours, Fuerty, and all I can say is I can’t wait. The Premier League isn’t a patch on the local club GAA scene.
The world’s ugliest dogs…
As we babysit a couple of dogs (belonging to a friend of ours) for a few days, my eye was drawn to a recent competition, held in Petaluma, California, to find the world’s ugliest dog.
This competition, which can attract up to 30,000 spectators, has been running for more than 50 years. Entrants come mostly from the United States, but also from other parts of the world.
Winners of the competition receive $1600 (that is the dog owner, not the dog), a trophy and a trip to New York. Each year the winner is photographed (the dog, not the owner) and their picture features on the show’s website, and will be included in the book World’s Ugliest Dogs, which is produced every few years.
This year, the winner was an eight-year-old Pekingese called Wild Thang, and from the publicity pictures that I’ve seen, the toothless pug was a worthy winner. He was also a very popular winner, as this was his fifth time to enter the competition, and after finishing second on a couple of occasions he was delighted (the dog, not the owner) to come out on top.
As with lots of things, it proves that ‘stickability’ is such an important quality, and Wild Thang is an example to everyone (animal or human) to keep going and never give up. I’d say he can defend his title next year, and unless I am a poor judge of doggy looks, I think he has a very good chance of keeping his place at the top of the podium.
I am going out now to have a good look at my two doggy guests, and who knows, we might be all off to California. Look out Wild Thang, we are after your title.
And finally…
Down there in Rosslare, the customs officers must be feeling very pleased with themselves. In the last week or so they have confiscated almost €23m worth of illegal drugs which arrived into the port, while this week they have confiscated almost €8m worth of cigarettes.
The sad truth seems to be that millions and millions of euro worth of drugs are landing here on a regular basis. At least nowadays the gangs who lose such large amounts of their stuff have to be feeling the pinch. So well done to all involved. The good news for dog lovers is that a cocker spaniel named Jasper has played a huge part in the seizures – he is specially trained to sniff out concealed illegal drugs and has been involved in several big hauls in the last year.
So, as I applaud the winner of the ugliest dog in the world competition (separate item), it is only right to similarly applaud Jasper, a dog that’s waging war on our big drugs gangs! He too is winning!
