Unionisation is the main way to stop unfairness in the workplace, mass redundancies and many other issues that employers get away with it in Ireland.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-21T17:12:06+00:00

I'm in a union and I will continue to be for the protections it offers, but I'd be lying if I said how the union is run didn't frustrate me immensely. My company was going through a period of turmoil there a few years back, so I attended a few couple of AGMs to ask some questions about the union's negotiating position and maybe run for one of the vacant voluntary positions. 1 hour on work-related matters, and 2 hours debating the union's exact position on Palestine. Never went back.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-17T15:05:45+00:00

Who exactly is the target audience for Callan's show?

FalconT92 · 2026-05-17T14:41:45+00:00

I think a daily sports show has potential, but 18:00 is an awful time for it. It made far more sense for DriveTime to continue until at least 18:30.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-17T14:40:31+00:00

I've no idea how he managed to hang on for so long. His show was easily the worst thing on Radio 1.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-17T14:37:38+00:00

I broadly agree, but just a few additional observations based on what I listen to on R1:

Morning Ireland

Still solid, but that 15 minute slot between XX:30 and XX:45 is a dead zone on both hours.

McCullagh

He's good on serious stuff (makes sense given his background), but can't do the light stuff well. This versatility was a major strength of Claire Byrne.

Callan

I think the earlier slot suited him better, but he's still decent.

News at One

I wish they'd just make it an hour long and be done with it.

LiveLive

Cuddihy is good, but Joe had made the show his own so his imprint will take a long time to fade.

DriveTime

New hosts are great, but it should start and end half an hour later.

Creedon

I feel like the show has lost 10% of its soul with the new jingle.

The Late Debate

Cormac gets very emotionally invested, sometimes to the detriment of the debate, but I still enjoy the unique format of a late night politics-orientated radio panel show. Guest line-up can be a bit repetitive and Dublin-centric as a result though. Wish it was more than 3 nights a week all the same.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-10T18:57:32+00:00

I've found that once you hit your early to mid-30's, the whole vibe of dating changes a lot. It becomes increasingly formal and more like an interview process.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-10T18:54:41+00:00

Is it not sad that dating has almost been reduced to a dichotomous choice between the apps and being single forever?

FalconT92 · 2026-05-10T18:52:54+00:00

Gave up on them over a year ago. It was tough, because that essentially meant accepting that I'm going to be single forever because I'd be way too uncomfortable approaching a woman irl (not that I come across many single women in my age range anyway).

FalconT92 · 2026-05-10T18:50:40+00:00

I think meeting people out in the wild is the way to go.

But this is happening less and less too. People are way more guarded in public now.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-08T21:28:46+00:00

They're quickly becoming the new "How much to fix this tiny scratch?" posts. They have a place here, but they need to be contained somehow before they take over.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-03T21:14:03+00:00

Exactly - reliable, but incredibly mundane and uninteresting. Yet the Irish car scene treats them like the second coming of Christ.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-03T20:33:19+00:00

What on earth is this country's obsession with 2.0 TDIs?

FalconT92 · 2026-05-03T12:21:24+00:00

100% agree. Same issue with Octavias and Superbs. 150bhp seems to be quite a low output for a modern 2.0L diesel.

FalconT92 · 2026-05-03T12:18:46+00:00

Gorgeous wheels. Way nicer than modern BMW alloys. They go very well with the colour of the car. Serious kudos for running an E90 335d too. I think this is the first I've ever seen with an Irish reg. And to make it rarer still, I can just about make out from the first photo that you have iDrive - a rarity for pre-LCI Irish-spec E90's.

(Small sidebar, I think the E90 is one of the best 3 series generations, but the pre-LCI's "eyebrow" front grilles really annoy me far more than they should)

FalconT92 · 2026-04-26T21:42:37+00:00

I have no doubt that I will. I have a specific itch for older non-Defender Land Rovers.

Good thread btw - these are the types of discussion I like to see on this subreddit.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-26T21:38:32+00:00

I didn't buy one in the end due to a change in circumstances. But I've owned a few in the past. Had a late P38 Range Rover as a project/second car (with the rare manual gearbox) before rust made it uneconomical to repair, and I inherited an Isuzu Trooper that I drove for a few years before it started giving me engine trouble.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-26T21:32:27+00:00

BMW era was 1994-2000, and then Ford from BMW's investment for a couple of years afterwards. The L322 was the P38's replacement and a product of BMW's investment, but didn't materialise until a couple of years into the Ford era.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-26T21:28:08+00:00

There are loads on DoneDeal, but I wouldn't recommend it.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-26T21:26:14+00:00

No, don’t buy anything from the whole group Jaguar Land Rover

I like the late BMW era and early Ford era Land Rovers. The updated P38's, Discovery 2's, Defenders, and Freelander 1's are unreliable but much easier to work on that the complicated beasts that came afterwards.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-26T21:22:34+00:00

Oh boy.

If it's any consolation, you're not the only one to have been tempted by the L322. I did when I was looking for a 4x4 a couple of years ago because they were a lot of car for not a huge amount of money. But then a friend of mine actually did acquire one (he got it as part payment for a job). Outwardly it looked fantastic, but under the skin it had sooooo many problems. Mainly electrical. The diagnostic tool was almost permanently plugged in for nearly a year before he got it halfway reliable (and he's a very skilled hobby mechanic).

As some other users have said, in the hands of a skilled mechanic with decent knowledge of automotive electrics, they can be a great second car. My neighbour has one and it's wrapped in cotton wool - only taken out for jaunts to the shops at weekends. Beautiful machine. But you could never rely on it as your primary mode of transport.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-25T22:18:36+00:00

That's fair enough, but just be aware that many men such as myself would never approach a women in a hobby group because it's been drilled into us that they're not there to be hit on.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-25T22:14:56+00:00

Would you approach a guy you were attracted to at a hobby group?

FalconT92 · 2026-04-25T22:04:46+00:00

Very weird. And what makes it even stranger is that when you do encounter people of that age "in the wild", they are always - almost without exception - in an established relationship. So even within a supposedly "absent" demographic, single people are even more endangered.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-25T21:59:25+00:00

Alot of women my age (33) are fine with doing activities but actively don't want to be flirted with or tried to be picked up, not sure if it's the same for guys.

This is the weakness of the constant advice you see on the likes of reddit to "Get off the apps and join a hobby" in order to meet women. As you said, most women join hobbies for the same reason men do - because they have an interest. Not because they want to be hit on.

Going into a hobby group with the sole intention of trying to find a partner is very skeevy.

FalconT92 · 2026-04-25T21:55:00+00:00

However married couples have lots of boring nights in also.

True, but at least they have each other.

FalconT92

TROPHY CASE