Pat O'Brien

Tis' suddenly the season of barbeques, trips to the beach and, of course, this being Ireland, frequent cloudbursts.

But we'll just be thankful for awhile that the rest of the year's damp and cold are mostly held at bay while we go about our business and play.

There isn't much news at the moment. The Irish political landscape is littered with all sorts of tripe about the public's rejection of the European Union's proposed constitution in a referendum last week. That all but incomprehensible document was doctored up to look like a one-size-fits-all good-for-everyone pact that the Irish voters solidly turned down.

After seeing the original constitutional offering rejected by France and Denmark two years ago, the Eurocrats tried to do an end run around voters by having the so-called Lisbon Treaty ratified only by the various lawmaking bodies in the 27 EU countries. That wasn't workable in Ireland, which requires a voter referendum when the constitution here is changed.

Around and around it all goes and where it will stop is anyone's guess.

On other topics in the news, we have no food crisis here, but it is getting more expensive all the time.

Petrol (gasoline) is running €1.32 a litre and 10 cents more for diesel. That's $7.57 a gallon as of today for you metric challenged Americans who are constantly whinging about $4 a gallon fuel..

By the way, that symbol used in the U.S. to denote a pound (#) is actually called an octothorpe. How many knew that?

Look for something interesting here when something worth noting is happening.

Photo above is a section of the Donegal Atlantic Coast.

Updated: 17.06.08