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The Ballybunion thread

snow scorpion

I was in Ballybunion 20 years ago and have happy memories of the village.

I'd love to hear what it's like today and how much it has changed.

The only recent picture I've seen on the world wide interweb is this:

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TargetWidow

Good luck to the new owners keeping people quiet outside their apartments as there is a public right of way right outside their very lovely windows. If they try any fancy footwork with preventing access to that right of way WW3 will break out with the locals (and rightly so). And finally that wall like structure is just ugly, it doesn't fit with the surroundings at all. I hope that is really good glass in those big windows. The Atlantic gales have a 6,000 mile run at you before they hit that glass, it can get fairly lively down there! I once lived in a house on cliff road just above these facing the sea. The windows used to bend so severely that houseplants on the inner windowsill used to fall onto the living room floor!:eek: I assume they are trying to sell them off the plans as you wouldn't exactly be keen to build these and then hope that the above issues aren't noticed by the prospective buyers!

TargetWidow

Just a quick addendum to my glowing reference for McMunns earlier in this thread.... They opened today. I had the worst pizza of my life there. Now everything else was superb as always. Hubby and child both cleaned the plates (they had bolognese and salmon) and child was well catered for with crayons and paper and sorting puzzle toys.... so I don't mean to be churlish.... but pizza with greasy base, too much cheap cheddar instead of a little mozarella and being (other than the clawing aftertaste of grease) absolutely flavourless. I ate one slice before deciding to go home and stick a goodfellas in the oven instead. And it's not my first bad pizza there unfortunately.... the last one was a bit greasy and tasteless too but I made mental allowances for it at the time because I thought it might be a one-off... but it seems not. Mario is your man for the pizza in my opinion from now on.;)

RiderOnTheStorm

sorry to hear about your bad experience in McMunns.... nowhere is perfect I guess! I hope they change their pizza recipe after this!
Yes, Marios pizza is lovely. Great chips too! Real spuds chopped and fried!

and lastly .... yeaaaaa!!! RiderOnTheStorm is back online... :-)

snow scorpion

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

and lastly .... yeaaaaa!!! RiderOnTheStorm is back online... :-)

Can't keep a good man down.

You see? This is why you don't enter a road race until the last minute: I sprained my ankle yesterday and now my half-marathon quest is in major doubt.

Irishkid

I was talking one of the planners for this ballyb and he says they are trying to make a cluster of contemporary dwellings. TO be honest I think that with the credit crunch going on any development in Ireland is going to have to be of a decent quality for people to part with their cash. I think the dross that has been thrown up over the last 10 years will stop. I also think that at some stage BallyB has to up its game but at least it has massive positives, the beach and golfcourse.

RiderOnTheStorm

I dont think there is a quick fix (or even medium-term fix) for increasing development / improving town appeal / raising ourselves out of the recession generally, here in Ballyb. It will just take lots of small improvements, effort, and time.

Those apartments proposed for the ladies beach are a bit wierd. Not my cup of tea, but fantastic location and great view. I think you will pay for that view in the winter!

If there is a development on the beach then that is seperate from dev in town, and vice versa. I think we need more activities / facilities in town and on the beach.

Sorry to hear about the body, Snow. Maybe you can walk the half-m, or the 10k? Lots of folk will be walking it. I know one fella that wants to cycle the half-m to raise some money for the Sea Rescue unit.

Did anyone see that artice in Sunday Times (21st March) about Ballyb, the new proposed developments, Monday Madness, and the general decline of sea-side tourist towns. But it did say that Ballyb had more going for it than most, and had lots of potential. No such thing as bad advertising, maybe.......

snow scorpion

Sorry to hear about the body, Snow. Maybe you can walk the half-m, or the 10k? Lots of folk will be walking it.

No worries, dude!

72 hours of rest did the ankle a world of good. I'm back in the game!

I have to pass on the 10K. In the first place, the race organizers already have my money for the half, and besides, I want one of those medals the half-marathoners are getting for finishing. I've never gotten a medal for being in a race before and having a medal that says Ballybunion on it is more temptation than I can resist.

I wonder what the medals look like? I assume they will have that logo on the runballybunion website.

AnBealBocht

jezzag wrote: »

Well that is true. But IMO a development like that at the top of the hill and closer to the main street would benefit the town more as it would stimulate development. Although the location on the beach is fantastic, its too far removed to spur the town into cleaning up its act, and without that I wonder if the development will happen anyway if the town is less attractive a proposition for prospective purchasers.

..and especially ' snow scorpion ' who got this one going and contributes mightily to the Listowel thread also.
I am the brother of the late ' SandHillRd '. My mother used to live down Sandhill Road ( St. Martin's and, later, Villa Marie---behind Aisling, which my aunt owned and laterally John, AKA ' SandHillRd ') from 1966 to her death in 1988, having migrated the 9 miles from Main St/Small Square Listowel to Ballybunion.
I visit our old neighbours down Sandhill Road yearly ( most especially Mary Buckle), though few left now.

Any developments at the old Castle Hotel site?.

bbfishy

TargetWidow wrote: »

Just a quick addendum to my glowing reference for McMunns earlier in this thread.... They opened today. I had the worst pizza of my life there. Now everything else was superb as always. Hubby and child both cleaned the plates (they had bolognese and salmon) and child was well catered for with crayons and paper and sorting puzzle toys.... so I don't mean to be churlish.... but pizza with greasy base, too much cheap cheddar instead of a little mozarella and being (other than the clawing aftertaste of grease) absolutely flavourless. I ate one slice before deciding to go home and stick a goodfellas in the oven instead. And it's not my first bad pizza there unfortunately.... the last one was a bit greasy and tasteless too but I made mental allowances for it at the time because I thought it might be a one-off... but it seems not. Mario is your man for the pizza in my opinion from now on.;)

I'd be interested to hear what McMunns manager or whoever you mentioned your disatisfaction to had to say - its all great to be able to post on the internet about your experiences - but of course we only have one opinion. As a counter balance I ate there Sunday night and saw lots of empty pizza plates going back after meals !!

RiderOnTheStorm

AnBealBocht wrote: »

I am the brother of the late ' SandHillRd '....

hi ABB .... I hope you know how much we liked SHR and how great a Ballybunnioner he was, here on Boards and in abstencia. we miss him.

Any developments at the old Castle Hotel site?

Well, there was plans going around the year before last, fr a new hotel on that site, with a path going down to the beach linking the hotel to a few beach houses / suites. It looked great on paper. Suffice to say, nothing concrete (pardon the pun) has happened.

TargetWidow

bbfishy wrote: »

I'd be interested to hear what McMunns manager or whoever you mentioned your disatisfaction to had to say

I didn't bother. I grew up in a catering family and have spent a good few years of my adult life working in the industry. Normally I would not hesitate to have a discreet word at the right moment with the manager. However, this particular pizza was so atrocious on such basic levels that complaining to the manager would have been a complete waste of time. If it had been obviously burned I would have felt the same. If it had just been somehow undercooked in a way the chef might not have spotted I would certainly have asked nicely for it to be put back in the oven for just a few minutes more. But it was beyond redemption and anyway, nobody took the time to ask if everything had been ok so in my book they didn't care.

There are some foods that certain chefs are good at. And some that they are particularly weak on. That is a fact of life. This particular chef does knockout fantastic chips. His salmon is cooked to perfection. The veg are just tender. Women come from far and wide for the chocolate dessert. That is a singular rarity in the chef world. Unfortunately either management are cheap on the pizza ingredients (rare because the chef often rules the roost with menu costing, but it does occasionally occur) or the chef is possibly clueless about Pizza (most people would only go to a pizzaria for pizza as they consider it something different to a normal menu), or, just downright careless with this one item on the menu. In the case of the latter, complaining achieves nothing, except to annoy the chef.

I have occasionally seen customers get caught up in political dramas between management and chefs. The management want a particular item on a menu. The chef thinks its a pain in the ass and just keeps on making a mess of it until people stop ordering it and management are forced to withdraw it from the menu because of the high numbers of complaints.

I give any chef a bad night. Suppliers will let you down, ovens go on the blitz just as the dinner service gets going. But this was the second strike for me with this item on the menu. Its not as if this is the 1980s and mozarella hasn't happened in Ballyb yet. If this were my kitchen, no complaint would have been needed. One look at the puddle of greasy cheddar and I would not have let it out to the customer. If I didn't have the correct ingredients I would have advised the waiting staff that the item was not on for tonight's service and not to take orders for it. I routinely make my own pizza. It is something I love to do well. My friends ask me to make them some so they can pass it off as their own, if I didn't have goats cheese or mozarella or other suitable ingredients I wouldn't make it. No one needs to tell me this, it's called standards. If something doesn't meet them, it hits the bin. Charge more by all means for quality, but don't ask me to pay for carelessly made food.

As to my having only one opinion that is true. I never claimed otherwise.The post was an addendum to a previous post, left to advise one particular poster who had enquired which restaurants were good to eat in, before he visits the town over Easter. My intention was to clarify that, for me, McMunn's was the place to go for everything else except pizza. I made it clear that I would recommend the restaurant for everything else.

And as for the other pizza plates going back empty, you ate there on a different night but even if you had seen lots of empty plates going back on the night I was there ... well, lets just say it was St Paddy's Day and the pubs had been rather busy all day. I might have gobbled it all up too if I were half or fully tanked. There is certainly no other way it would have passed my lips.

AnBealBocht

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

hi ABB .... I hope you know how much we liked SHR and how great a Ballybunnioner he was, here on Boards and in abstencia. we miss him.

Well, there was plans going around the year before last, fr a new hotel on that site, with a path going down to the beach linking the hotel to a few beach houses / suites. It looked great on paper. Suffice to say, nothing concrete (pardon the pun) has happened.

..about SHR/SandHill Road. Like yourself and Snow Scorpion and other frequent posters across the years to this ( & the Listowel) thread, how he would be jumping for joy and writing in LARGE FONT " 126,000 + views " to our Ballybunion thread!. Great job, all round.

I began working at the Central Hotel/Matt Sullivan's, later the Ambassador, in 1958, while staying w/ my aunt & uncle-in-law at Salmon Lodge, which they rented for a year or two while awaiting the building of their home ( " Aisling ") down Sand Hill Road. I continued working during the Summer months, while on holidays from St. Michael's College in Listowel---where then my father had a shop on Main St./Small Square---at Matt Sullivan's Hotel until 1964, by which time I was in UCD, and thereafter worked for the Summer months in USA. My mother re-located to St. Martin's on Sandhill Road following my father's death in 1966 and she remained there ( though building a smaller house--Villa Marie--behind Aisling in the mid-1970s) until her death in 1988. I emigrated to USA ( NYC for 17 years, & now Phoenix, AZ since 1982) in 1968, having been conferred with my degree @ UCD.

My aunt, Mrs. Tom/Josie Flynn. died in 1981 & left Aisling to John AKA ' SandHill Rd '. John, by then was in NY himself and sold that house soon thereafter.

Here's wishing you well, Ballybunion, and all on here.

AnBealBocht

BillyGoatGruff wrote: »

She is a brilliant singer. Lovely woman. I have to say that though. She is my Gmother:D All true though

Is she still with us?. I hope so.
Brother John Sheehy ( AKA ' Sandhill Rd ') knew/know her well.
I dropped into her boutique a few years ago & had a fine chat with her. She then specifically asked about John Sheehy, my brother, who was then alive.
BallyB would not be what it was back then in the 1950s/1960s, etc. without Mollie Miller & Matt Sullivan.

Joe Locke, the fine singer, also graced Ballybunion & Listowel in those years with his presence.

Such grand memories.

Vipermax55

Hi All

Is there any provider providing wireless broadband in the Ballybunion area . If so any idea on the cost per month . I did the usual google search
but nothing showing .

Thanks

BPKS

I stumbled across this thread recently. I felt I had to comment despite saying to myself that I wouldnt originally.
Very amusing I must say - a Ballybunion thread dominated by people not from Ballybunion at all.
And the latest Pizzagate scandal - I bet it'll be the lead story in the Kerryseye next Thursday.

TargetWidow

BPKS wrote: »

I stumbled across this thread recently. I felt I had to comment despite saying to myself that I wouldnt originally.
Very amusing I must say - a Ballybunion thread dominated by people not from Ballybunion at all.
And the latest Pizzagate scandal - I bet it'll be the lead story in the Kerryseye next Thursday.

I'm from Ballybunion. Born and bred. I am SO glad you did comment afterall. Now I see what I've been waiting to read hanging around this thread all this time. Valuable contribution.:rolleyes:

As to the others who supposedly "dominate" this thread, they keep it going. They have done so now for years. Making it one of the most popular regional threads on Boards.ie. and I appreciate their efforts, regardless of where they are based. It doesn't say the "From Ballybunion Thread", it is a thread for those with an interest in or opinion about Ballybunion.

@Vipermax As far as I know Permanet are doing a broadband service in Ballyb, I think it's what two of my brothers are using there. It's a good service from my own experience too.

Vipermax55

TargetWidow wrote: »

I'm from Ballybunion. Born and bred. I am SO glad you did comment afterall. Now I see what I've been waiting to read hanging around this thread all this time. Valuable contribution.:rolleyes:

As to the others who supposedly "dominate" this thread, they keep it going. They have done so now for years. Making it one of the most popular regional threads on Boards.ie. and I appreciate their efforts, regardless of where they are based. It doesn't say the "From Ballybunion Thread", it is a thread for those with an interest in or opinion about Ballybunion.

@Vipermax As far as I know Permanet are doing a broadband service in Ballyb, I think it's what two of my brothers are using there. It's a good service from my own experience too.

Cheers for that TargetWidow . I will check out Permanet . Thanks

snow scorpion

So how's the weather in Ballybunion these days?

Radio Kerry (when I'm listening to it) makes it sound like it's dry more often than not. No chance of the race getting rained out, I hope.

Well, either way, I'll be seeing it for myself by Wednesday afternoon.

RiderOnTheStorm

AnBealBocht wrote: »

Is she still with us?. I hope so.

Molly Miller is still with us. I saw her the other day. Time is moving on and she seems to shrink with age. She was not a big woman to start with. I think she may be indestructable. She doesnt have the boutique anymore. It closed last year. I think she misses going there and socialising with everyone.

RiderOnTheStorm

TargetWidow wrote: »

...As far as I know Permanet are doing a broadband service in Ballyb...

Yes, Permanet operate here, in Ballybuniuon, where I live, with my wife, who works in Ballyb, and where my 2 sons go to school, in the schools in Ballyb (one secondary and one primary) .

By the way, I love Liverpool football club. Maybe I shouldnt comment on that as I am not from Liverpool. When they loose (and lately they seem to be doing a lot of that) I should hold my tongue as I dont live in L'pool . And when they buy a very very expensive player and leave him on the bench game after game, maybe I dont qualify to comment as I am not 'from' there. . . . . .

Anyway, VM & TW.... Permanet do operate here. Its a 1g broadband, installed with a satelite dish on the roof / chimney (as long has you have a semi-decent view of the mountain) and you can add a wireless router to their box to get full wireless throughout the house (just like i did)

Or you can get a 3 broadband modem (i got one of them too). Reception is good, and the max speed is 3g.

RiderOnTheStorm

snow scorpion wrote: »

So how's the weather in Ballybunion these days?

Weather is hit & miss. Was dry for a long time. I actually had to water the plants outside! Started to rain last night. Forecast is for it to get cold again and more rain (maybe even snow in places!)

You around Wed? Trying out the route before Sat's h'marathon? Might be a good idea, even for those doing the 10k, as its quite hilly and exposed (weather forcast for Sat is not good).

snow scorpion

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Weather is hit & miss. Was dry for a long time. I actually had to water the plants outside! Started to rain last night. Forecast is for it to get cold again and more rain (maybe even snow in places!)

You around Wed? Trying out the route before Sat's h'marathon? Might be a good idea, even for those doing the 10k, as its quite hilly and exposed (weather forcast for Sat is not good).

Sounds like my run of bad luck is continuing right up to the race. I'll drive the course Thursday or Friday to get an idea what to expect.

TargetWidow

Drove down Doon this afternoon and thought I might need a boat at one stage! Lads I really do hope the weather improves for the half marathon on Saturday for ye! I am sending sunny thoughts your way!

snow scorpion

TargetWidow wrote: »

Drove down Doon this afternoon and thought I might need a boat at one stage! Lads I really do hope the weather improves for the half marathon on Saturday for ye! I am sending sunny thoughts your way!

:eek:

Let me continue with my packing.

:eek::eek: mytown.ie says the temperature in Ballybunion right now is 2 degrees!

TargetWidow

Snow forecast for "the west" this afternoon (they would elaborate no further!) temps in the region of 0-5 degrees.

As for packing, I'd stick a set of thermals in there just in case and you can always pick up some swimming trunks and a tee shirt in Cissy Macs if it improves!

If we are watching the race how will we know you? Will you be the one running with a rose in his lapel?:D

snow scorpion

TargetWidow wrote: »

Snow forecast for "the west" this afternoon (they would elaborate no further!) temps in the region of 0-5 degrees.

As for packing, I'd stick a set of thermals in there just in case and you can always pick up some swimming trunks and a tee shirt in Cissy Macs if it improves!

If we are watching the race how will we know you? Will you be the one running with a rose in his lapel?:D

Maybe I should just stay home!

How will you know me? Well, I was going to be the fella running in a gray t-shirt and blue mirrored sunglasses, but given your weather report it looks like I'm going to have to re-think that.

AnBealBocht

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Molly Miller is still with us. I saw her the other day. Time is moving on and she seems to shrink with age. She was not a big woman to start with. I think she may be indestructable. She doesnt have the boutique anymore. It closed last year. I think she misses going there and socialising with everyone.

Glad to hear that she is still with us. Yes, she was always a wee woman.
Long may she grace Ballybunion.

Good luck to the runners at the Marathon this weekend.

boroman

I hope that Molly Miller is well and that the good people of Ballbunion look after her, she is there since the late fifties when Mattie Sullivan first brought her to the Central. Many a song she sang in the Rainbow Lounge during party nights. She always had a big heart and a lot of her great charity work went unnoticed, which should not be forgotten. To paraphrase an old saying ‘she has walked with princes but she has never lost the her common touch’.

RiderOnTheStorm

TargetWidow wrote: »

If we are watching the race how will we know you? Will you be the one running with a rose in his lapel?:D

I dont know what Snow will wear, but I will be in a red Ballybunion Sea & Cliff Rescue t-shirt...... and i will be the one thats exhausted !!

Weather situation is very worrying. Did my 2nd last run yesterday, and got caught in a hail storm that freezed me to the bone.... and I usually dont mind the cold !
I really hope it improves a small bit.....

Good luck to everyone that partakes! See y'all in Kilcooleys afterwards for the Pasta Party !!

RiderOnTheStorm

well, the Runballybuinion 10k and half-marathon is over. The day went really really well. Weather was good. Cool, but sunny & dry. It was really well organised and there were lots & lots of smiling faces. Congrats to the organisers (P&R, J&J)

I hope some of the compeditors & their supporters will come back for a longer visit some time.

My wife & I performed very well. She took 10 mins of her PB and I equaled mine (set 2 years ago!)

I kept an eye out for Snow, but didnt see ya. Then again, unless you wore a t-shirt that said 'Snow Scorpion from da Boards' I would not have recognised you! How did you do?

It sure was a great sight to see.... 1200+ compeditors lined up in front of the barricks! And then to see the trail of runners filling the road for as far as the eye can see (hills will do that!)

So congrats to all .... and I hope y'all got your Run Ballybunion t-shirt !!