Things have been rather hectic over the last few weeks as you might have gathered, so quite a bit of news to tell you about.
Business first unfortunately the season wound down a lot earlier than usual this year and so we were forced to stop our full programme a couple of weeks ago in mid October but immediately before that we decided to take a Thursday off and head over to Birmingham for coach and bus live at the NEC – our trade show, we had a great time with one night in Birmingham with a superb meal at one of our favourite Indian restaurants followed by a great night of live music at The Jam House where we saw a great band who I think I have mentioned before – The Subterraneans who were brilliant it was a great night and such a change from the Limerick music scene!
We also have made our end of season visit to Englandto visit our parents, I also made one of my famous rash purchases, we have been thinking of changing our car for no great reason other than we felt after 5 years of running our faithful and incredibly reliable Vauxhall we fancied a change. We have been thinking of putting a car on the road for custom tours and so I decided to take the plunge and buy a magnificent Mercedes E class in England. We returned home to run our weekend tours but then had to go over to UK again to collect our prize from Sheffield.
Last week we flew into Liverpool and caught the bus and train over to Sheffield where we collected the car and headed the short distance to my lovely sister Linda’s place in Chesterfield where we stayed the night before heading over to Liverpool for the night (more Indian food mmmm!) before taking the ferry to Dublin and heading home last Wednesday.
We are now home and whilst we are delighted with our purchase we are facing up to the sad job of selling our faithful car which by the way is a beautiful Vauxhall omega 2.5DT (BMW engine), it is the full spec Elite model and is absolutely gorgeous so if you fancy travelling in style give us a shout – you might be amazed how cheap a car like that is but be quick or we might decide to keep it!
We are still offering weekend tours and hope to be until the end of this month so our last 2009 tour will be on 29th November so don’t miss out – book now!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Richards Blog 22.09.09 – More guests!
I have missed a week of blogging as we have had more guests, my lovely parents arrived the week before last on Thursday and stayed until last Wednesday, I was great to see them but as usual the time absolutely flew by, they took a few tours with me and it was lovely to have some company out on the road, we were actually busy on the Saturday and needed 2 coaches so it was a bit like a family outing! Their visit always puts us in mind of the winter and some time off – it won’t be too long now!
I had a trip to Dublin with my folks last Wednesday and managed to choose one of the most chaotic days in the capital for a long time as there was unfortunately a collision between a LUAS tram and a Dublin Bus right in O’Connoll Street but at least I was on foot and never had to cope with the traffic. I headed back to Limerick on the last train and because the LUAS wasn’t running me and my dad had a great walk right up the Liffy to Heuston Station – great exercise!
The train journey was all we have now come to expect from Irish Rail, it was one of the new mark 4 trains, it was immaculately clean, smooth, punctual and the on board team were as charming as they were efficient, this got me thinking about our relative lack of success in promoting our Cliffs of Moher Tour from Dublin which included return rail travel with a reserved seat for a very reasonable package price. Competition is fierce in Dublin and 2 other companies appear to be capturing a lot of business by doing the tour by coach throughout which would seem a good idea until you realise that Dublin to Limerick is well over 3 hours by coach each way and put that on top of the 2 hours each way to The Cliffs and it starts to look like a bit of a marathon without thinking about having a look at the Burren! Still people are taking these tours but we intend to promote our products advantages more next year particularly focusing on the comfort and speed of the rail connection so watch this space as ever – we are on a mission!
Music wise I have been listening to Ian Browns’ new single – Stellify and I absolutely love it, it really does have a Stone Roses feel to it and indeed it inspired me to buy F.E.A.R one of his older solo albums and it is steadily growing on me, might have to check out some more and I cant wait for the forthcoming album!
This week is also the last of our Galway tours for 2009 and as regular readers will know this is a particular favourite of mine but the upside is one of us will be getting an extra day off work for a while. We will keep operating our remaining tours until mid October then we are going to have to see how numbers are holding up as to whether we continue our full programme or go over to weekend tours so, as ever – watch this space!
I had a trip to Dublin with my folks last Wednesday and managed to choose one of the most chaotic days in the capital for a long time as there was unfortunately a collision between a LUAS tram and a Dublin Bus right in O’Connoll Street but at least I was on foot and never had to cope with the traffic. I headed back to Limerick on the last train and because the LUAS wasn’t running me and my dad had a great walk right up the Liffy to Heuston Station – great exercise!
The train journey was all we have now come to expect from Irish Rail, it was one of the new mark 4 trains, it was immaculately clean, smooth, punctual and the on board team were as charming as they were efficient, this got me thinking about our relative lack of success in promoting our Cliffs of Moher Tour from Dublin which included return rail travel with a reserved seat for a very reasonable package price. Competition is fierce in Dublin and 2 other companies appear to be capturing a lot of business by doing the tour by coach throughout which would seem a good idea until you realise that Dublin to Limerick is well over 3 hours by coach each way and put that on top of the 2 hours each way to The Cliffs and it starts to look like a bit of a marathon without thinking about having a look at the Burren! Still people are taking these tours but we intend to promote our products advantages more next year particularly focusing on the comfort and speed of the rail connection so watch this space as ever – we are on a mission!
Music wise I have been listening to Ian Browns’ new single – Stellify and I absolutely love it, it really does have a Stone Roses feel to it and indeed it inspired me to buy F.E.A.R one of his older solo albums and it is steadily growing on me, might have to check out some more and I cant wait for the forthcoming album!
This week is also the last of our Galway tours for 2009 and as regular readers will know this is a particular favourite of mine but the upside is one of us will be getting an extra day off work for a while. We will keep operating our remaining tours until mid October then we are going to have to see how numbers are holding up as to whether we continue our full programme or go over to weekend tours so, as ever – watch this space!
Richards Blog 05.09.09 – Mixed feelings
Another week has flown by and although numbers have been a bit patchy, we have made it through to Saturday and we are busy today, the weather is still miserable but at least we are having some dry spells today between the mist and showers!
I actually got 3 days off his week and have been busy with repairs etc as well as trying to sort the garage out as it is in total disarray after the trials of the last few weeks. We also received some very sad news about the death of the son of one of our local coach operators Joe Lawlor and I hope it goes without saying that our thoughts are with with Joe and his family at this difficult time.
I received an interesting e.mail a few weeks ago and thought I would share it with you, a potential customer questioned our guest book on the website saying basically that we should have negative feedback published as well as the good. The response I gave was that we have only had one negative report and that was about one of Chris’ tours and I honestly never published it as I felt it was a little too personal and needlessly negative, it goes without saying that we cannot please all of the people all of the time but that is honestly the only negative that we have received since our new site went live 3 years ago. If this sounds like my head is swelling in the belief that our tours are perfect, nothing could be further from the truth but I do believe that our hands on approach to business means that any potential complaints are dealt with promptly by the company owners and whilst I’am sure some of our customers are not thrilled with our service they at least do not hate us enough to publish some of the vitriolic comments I read about our competitors!
Things are a bit hectic at home at the moment and we are still trying to sort everything out, we are under more pressure currently as we have guests coming on Thursday, my parents are coming over for a few days and will be great to see them particularly as their arrival tends to start the wind down of the season so happy days! We are continuing to operate our full programme until the end of this month and a more limited programme for October, one tour that will certainly be finishing soon is our Galway City and Lough Corrib tour as the Corrib Princess will finish its public tour programme at the end of the month so if you want to sample one of my favourite tours book now – there are only 3 tours left!
I actually got 3 days off his week and have been busy with repairs etc as well as trying to sort the garage out as it is in total disarray after the trials of the last few weeks. We also received some very sad news about the death of the son of one of our local coach operators Joe Lawlor and I hope it goes without saying that our thoughts are with with Joe and his family at this difficult time.
I received an interesting e.mail a few weeks ago and thought I would share it with you, a potential customer questioned our guest book on the website saying basically that we should have negative feedback published as well as the good. The response I gave was that we have only had one negative report and that was about one of Chris’ tours and I honestly never published it as I felt it was a little too personal and needlessly negative, it goes without saying that we cannot please all of the people all of the time but that is honestly the only negative that we have received since our new site went live 3 years ago. If this sounds like my head is swelling in the belief that our tours are perfect, nothing could be further from the truth but I do believe that our hands on approach to business means that any potential complaints are dealt with promptly by the company owners and whilst I’am sure some of our customers are not thrilled with our service they at least do not hate us enough to publish some of the vitriolic comments I read about our competitors!
Things are a bit hectic at home at the moment and we are still trying to sort everything out, we are under more pressure currently as we have guests coming on Thursday, my parents are coming over for a few days and will be great to see them particularly as their arrival tends to start the wind down of the season so happy days! We are continuing to operate our full programme until the end of this month and a more limited programme for October, one tour that will certainly be finishing soon is our Galway City and Lough Corrib tour as the Corrib Princess will finish its public tour programme at the end of the month so if you want to sample one of my favourite tours book now – there are only 3 tours left!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Richards Blog 29.08.09 – Another good week and some edgy rock!
This week seems to have flown by and its hard to believe we are at the end of August and at the time of year when the season starts to wind down, we have had a fairly good week and ran all our tours, I have even had 2 days off, as I think I mentioned Monday was spent servicing Celtic Princess and then most of Wednesday was taken up cleaning out the guttering around the house – not an exciting job but strangely enough one I quite enjoyed, it made a pleasant change from driving! We are working hard to tidy the place up particularly after the break in and also because we are having more guests soon – my parents are heading over the week after next and that will give us just the lift we need also it starts to make us think of the end of the season and a well earned break!
We have a few nice things to look forward to this winter and one of the nicest will be my parents’ Golden Wedding anniversary which we will celebrate in grand style – I hope! We have not finalized our holiday plans yet but suffice to say we are hoping to be heading toThailand again – now that really does cheer me up! The Weather here is continuing to depress with rain at sometime nearly every day but we are well used to that after the last 2 seasons. One thing that does irritate with all this wet weather is that the coaches are having to be cleaned every day, I have to be honest and say that I’am now heartily sick of bus washing, indeed it has now gone to the point where I often wait until the morning before the tour and if it is raining again I only clean windows and mirrors as by the time any customers see the bus it will likely be as bad as ever after the drive from home to Limerick!
We had a good night out on Thursday and saw a great band in Smyths that we last saw about a year ago – Whitewater, I think that they have really come on and whilst I was impressed with them last time, this time they blew me away – they seem to have developed their style to focus on more edgy music from the normal pub fayre , one track that grabbed my attention (and probably bored Chris!) was The Doors track L.A Women in its’ entirety and they really did it justice, I don’t know what the rest of the pub thought to it but fair play to the lads for playing it as the great Morrison intended! Check out Whitewater if you ever get chance also the drummer played a solo which had to be heard to be believed – all in all a cut above what we often hear and backed up with a superb PA system which isn’t always the case with pub bands!
We have a few nice things to look forward to this winter and one of the nicest will be my parents’ Golden Wedding anniversary which we will celebrate in grand style – I hope! We have not finalized our holiday plans yet but suffice to say we are hoping to be heading toThailand again – now that really does cheer me up! The Weather here is continuing to depress with rain at sometime nearly every day but we are well used to that after the last 2 seasons. One thing that does irritate with all this wet weather is that the coaches are having to be cleaned every day, I have to be honest and say that I’am now heartily sick of bus washing, indeed it has now gone to the point where I often wait until the morning before the tour and if it is raining again I only clean windows and mirrors as by the time any customers see the bus it will likely be as bad as ever after the drive from home to Limerick!
We had a good night out on Thursday and saw a great band in Smyths that we last saw about a year ago – Whitewater, I think that they have really come on and whilst I was impressed with them last time, this time they blew me away – they seem to have developed their style to focus on more edgy music from the normal pub fayre , one track that grabbed my attention (and probably bored Chris!) was The Doors track L.A Women in its’ entirety and they really did it justice, I don’t know what the rest of the pub thought to it but fair play to the lads for playing it as the great Morrison intended! Check out Whitewater if you ever get chance also the drummer played a solo which had to be heard to be believed – all in all a cut above what we often hear and backed up with a superb PA system which isn’t always the case with pub bands!
Richards Blog 25.08.09 – “I’am tired I said, you always look tired she said”
This week a good excuse for using a lyric from one of my favourite Elbow songs – Fugitive Motel. Things are always tough at this time of year but I suppose I just feel particularly burned out at the moment, business is good and that’s why I’am tired, whenever loadings go up I end up using my coach for tours, Chris will drive it if she is forced but I think it is a bit big and shiny for her still! We work things so we each get at least one day off per week in addition to Fridays but that goes out the window if we have to put 2 coaches on a tour or I means if we are fairly busy Chris gets extra days off but that’s just how it goes at this time of year! Things will get easier for us at the end of next month as our Galway tour will finish as the Corrib Princess ends its’ season then so at least Thursdays will be a little easier. We hope to continue our other tours until the end of October subject to demand and then we will be offering our weekend tours until November so still plenty to do!
After our disturbed break last year we have not made any firm plans for holidays but just thinking about them is keeping us going! We are both desperate for time off as we have still not got the house put straight after the break in, I actually got a day off yesterday but spent it servicing Celtic Princess and trying to get a part for the heating system on Chris’ coach – still it made a change from driving! Also her coach still has a bit of a makeshift mirror, we are awaiting the arrival of a mirror glass from Spain - someday soon!
I have just finished a great re- read “Welcome to Hell’ by Collin Martin – an absolutely fantastic story of ones mans’ struggle against false imprisonment in a Thai prison, it is absolutely terrifying but equally un-putdownable! One thing that amazed me is how much torture and abuse the human body and mind can endure. If I ever go back to Thailand I don’t even intend to get a parking ticket!
After our disturbed break last year we have not made any firm plans for holidays but just thinking about them is keeping us going! We are both desperate for time off as we have still not got the house put straight after the break in, I actually got a day off yesterday but spent it servicing Celtic Princess and trying to get a part for the heating system on Chris’ coach – still it made a change from driving! Also her coach still has a bit of a makeshift mirror, we are awaiting the arrival of a mirror glass from Spain - someday soon!
I have just finished a great re- read “Welcome to Hell’ by Collin Martin – an absolutely fantastic story of ones mans’ struggle against false imprisonment in a Thai prison, it is absolutely terrifying but equally un-putdownable! One thing that amazed me is how much torture and abuse the human body and mind can endure. If I ever go back to Thailand I don’t even intend to get a parking ticket!
Richards Blog 15.08.09 – After the storm!
I suppose we are gradually getting used to the events of last week and slowly clearing up and repairing the damage that was done, it is still really hard leaving home every morning but I suppose it has forced us to tighten up on security, I think the healing process could be a long one though.
Business wise it has been a good week and loadings are finally what we would expect for this time of year and (fingers crossed) our coaches are behaving themselves. I have been to The Cliffs quite a lot lately and I’am heading back that way today. Wednesday was a bit of a stressful day as we had the Ireland v Australia football friendly in Limerick, however as usual I had a plan and for once it worked – I tried to delay our return to Limerick as much as possible to avoid the worst of the traffic, I actually arrived back a Limerick Station at 7.30 – not too bad but then just had time for a quick coffee before collecting some passengers returning from The Ring of Kerry at 8.00 and transferring them back to their hotel – a long day! I arrived home about 8.45 then had to wash and fuel my coach – its tough at the top!
After all that has gone on lately we felt that we deserved a good night out and had a great night on Thursday with a lovely meal and a few well earned drinks in town. Yesterday was spent with more clearing and getting a new tyre fitted to my coach, we have a fairly busy weekend and we are actually full for tomorrow’s tour – typical we have loads of space today but have to turn away business for tomorrow!
Business wise it has been a good week and loadings are finally what we would expect for this time of year and (fingers crossed) our coaches are behaving themselves. I have been to The Cliffs quite a lot lately and I’am heading back that way today. Wednesday was a bit of a stressful day as we had the Ireland v Australia football friendly in Limerick, however as usual I had a plan and for once it worked – I tried to delay our return to Limerick as much as possible to avoid the worst of the traffic, I actually arrived back a Limerick Station at 7.30 – not too bad but then just had time for a quick coffee before collecting some passengers returning from The Ring of Kerry at 8.00 and transferring them back to their hotel – a long day! I arrived home about 8.45 then had to wash and fuel my coach – its tough at the top!
After all that has gone on lately we felt that we deserved a good night out and had a great night on Thursday with a lovely meal and a few well earned drinks in town. Yesterday was spent with more clearing and getting a new tyre fitted to my coach, we have a fairly busy weekend and we are actually full for tomorrow’s tour – typical we have loads of space today but have to turn away business for tomorrow!
Richards Blog 08.08.09 – If I only had words!
Today I have to be honest and say I feel more down than I can remember feeling in years, I’am on our Cliffs tour and we are very busy indeed we have both had to work, so why the misery? Well here goes …….
Last week was fairly busy and although we were busy we were a little down after our guests leaving, however as usual we snapped back into the work routine and the week flew by then before we knew it it was Thursday and we were looking forward to our weekly night out, I was on my favourite Galway tour with my coach and Chris on the Cliffs with hers, all was good with the world as I headed home to sort the e.mails and get changed before Chris arrived. I pulled into our yard and headed to the back door only to notice it had been broken into, it took a couple of seconds to register but quickly a black feeling fell around me, we had been burgled! I tried to remain calm and walked around the house to find virtually every room had been totally ransacked. I needed to talk so I rang Chris and told her to pull over before breaking the news. She arrived about 15 min later while I was on the phone to The Garda and for one of the only times in my life I was struck dum, we just hugged then went inside to inspect the damage, we had some well hidden cash taken although fortunately we never keep business takings at home – they go straight into the night safe at our bank, also quite a lot of personal items and jewellery were taken and much of our furniture was damaged by the ruthless searching that had gone on.
All this is bad enough but it is the feeling of violation which I never understood – it really does cut you to the bone and stays no matter how much you try to cut it out it occupies most of your waking hours, we couldn’t face sleeping in the chaos on Thursday night and decided to stay in town once the place was secured. We phoned our friends at The Absolute Hotel and they kindly gave us a complimentary suite so we had a takeaway pizza in grand style in our room before doing the only thing we could think of in this situation – go for a drink! We settled into one of our favourite haunts – Nancy Blakes and had a few drinks which did make us feel a bit better – but not much!
After a good breakfast we returned home to start clearing up the mess and take stock of what was missing, we actually probably got off quite lightly but it doesn’t feel like it at the moment! Friday was also spent trying to catch up with paperwork and cleaning coaches but to be honest our heart wasn’t really in it and if ever we needed time to ourselves it was yesterday but as usual business came first!
Today we awoke shaken but not stirred and had to face a busy day with both of us out on tour, it was really hard leaving the house for the first time but the show must go on! however fate had not quite finished with us yet, Chris had to meet the train from Dublin which managed to be 50 minutes late after that she met an unmarked white van on a narrow section of road in the Burren and pulled over as far as she could but the van still kept driving and smashed her mirror. Normally she would take all this in her stride but when I met her at Caherconnoll she just broke down and I cannot blame her – my heart is really bleeding for her at the moment – I think women are probably more affected by the feelings of invasion of privacy and I think the break in will be in the back of our mind for years to come.
You might be wondering why I have not mentioned the perpetrators of this hideous crime but to quote the words of one of my favourite Christians song “If I only had words”
Now as some of you might know I’am not a very religious but I do firmly believe in Karma and also that in the last few moments before you leave this mortal coil everyone will take stock of their life and their achievements so I think that whoever did this will recall ruining peoples lives and taking their hard earned cash and hopefully this will ensure a life of eternal torment, hopefully happier thoughts next week folks – the only way is up!
Last week was fairly busy and although we were busy we were a little down after our guests leaving, however as usual we snapped back into the work routine and the week flew by then before we knew it it was Thursday and we were looking forward to our weekly night out, I was on my favourite Galway tour with my coach and Chris on the Cliffs with hers, all was good with the world as I headed home to sort the e.mails and get changed before Chris arrived. I pulled into our yard and headed to the back door only to notice it had been broken into, it took a couple of seconds to register but quickly a black feeling fell around me, we had been burgled! I tried to remain calm and walked around the house to find virtually every room had been totally ransacked. I needed to talk so I rang Chris and told her to pull over before breaking the news. She arrived about 15 min later while I was on the phone to The Garda and for one of the only times in my life I was struck dum, we just hugged then went inside to inspect the damage, we had some well hidden cash taken although fortunately we never keep business takings at home – they go straight into the night safe at our bank, also quite a lot of personal items and jewellery were taken and much of our furniture was damaged by the ruthless searching that had gone on.
All this is bad enough but it is the feeling of violation which I never understood – it really does cut you to the bone and stays no matter how much you try to cut it out it occupies most of your waking hours, we couldn’t face sleeping in the chaos on Thursday night and decided to stay in town once the place was secured. We phoned our friends at The Absolute Hotel and they kindly gave us a complimentary suite so we had a takeaway pizza in grand style in our room before doing the only thing we could think of in this situation – go for a drink! We settled into one of our favourite haunts – Nancy Blakes and had a few drinks which did make us feel a bit better – but not much!
After a good breakfast we returned home to start clearing up the mess and take stock of what was missing, we actually probably got off quite lightly but it doesn’t feel like it at the moment! Friday was also spent trying to catch up with paperwork and cleaning coaches but to be honest our heart wasn’t really in it and if ever we needed time to ourselves it was yesterday but as usual business came first!
Today we awoke shaken but not stirred and had to face a busy day with both of us out on tour, it was really hard leaving the house for the first time but the show must go on! however fate had not quite finished with us yet, Chris had to meet the train from Dublin which managed to be 50 minutes late after that she met an unmarked white van on a narrow section of road in the Burren and pulled over as far as she could but the van still kept driving and smashed her mirror. Normally she would take all this in her stride but when I met her at Caherconnoll she just broke down and I cannot blame her – my heart is really bleeding for her at the moment – I think women are probably more affected by the feelings of invasion of privacy and I think the break in will be in the back of our mind for years to come.
You might be wondering why I have not mentioned the perpetrators of this hideous crime but to quote the words of one of my favourite Christians song “If I only had words”
Now as some of you might know I’am not a very religious but I do firmly believe in Karma and also that in the last few moments before you leave this mortal coil everyone will take stock of their life and their achievements so I think that whoever did this will recall ruining peoples lives and taking their hard earned cash and hopefully this will ensure a life of eternal torment, hopefully happier thoughts next week folks – the only way is up!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
