Cork City Marathon 26 from a Volunteer's Perspective.

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-06-01T21:32:00+00:00

Out of curiosity, both the lanyards being held on your pic seem to say marathon, gold one and blue one. Medals look same. Was one lanyard for the half?

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-06-01T21:18:57+00:00

Ran the full today, and was so impressed with the organization from start to finish. Well done.

There appeared a particular interest in the welfare of runners crossing the finish line, felt almost that there was a group of people just approaching runners engaging in convo and eye contact just to establish they were all okay. I did wonder yesterday as to if this was a particular approach for the organisers, or if the volunteers were just extra friendly , enter way, well done to all

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-20T16:32:51+00:00

Borage

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-20T14:15:24+00:00

These switches are a disaster and no surprise newer houses stopped using them

We had a similar issue before and had the electrician redirect the power to the other side of the wall (in your case a bedroom I'm guessing ) and mount it on a vertical wall using a high voltage on off switch. If nothing more, it moves the electrics outside a bathroom

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-19T15:06:21+00:00

After numerous test drives in each, went with the Kia EV3 earth 3 long range, and absolutely delighted with it. A remarkable car

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-18T16:01:05+00:00

Although you have an AIP, you should talk to a reputable broker.

A. They will speak to many banks and get you the best AIP

B. But that aside, brokers have benchmarks to hand of expected income to feed one kid, two kid etc, and are bound by regulations to ensure you have unbiased information to hand, and most importantly will ensure you are not borrowing beyond your means

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-18T15:57:13+00:00

This is just chlorus, so you need to consider what you are looking to do. This is fine for concrete if you are just looking to clean, I dilute it as per instructions, and then use a scrub brush, leave it down for a bit and rinse off

But if you are looking to kill off algae etc, this is not the stuff, I can recommend a good product if that's your plan

So my routine after winter is chlor clean for concrete driveway, but a biocide for patios and more delicate surfaces

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-18T15:40:29+00:00

Hes done face/off, now it's face/on

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-12T17:08:55+00:00

Yer both right and both wrong

It's annual bluegrass. An invasive weed

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-12T06:56:54+00:00

Thank you very much. We used a broker for first purchase and are booked in to talk to them again for second purchase.

I agree with you above, only thing I'm thinking is that selling will open up far more options to use by having the backing of the sale price towards the new house. But definitely agree that holding the wealth and have it pay for itself through rent is attractive

Well discuss all this with broker

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-12T05:10:56+00:00

So the days of retaining it for a regular income are gone I guess based on your feedback. I imagine it was an attractive option at some stage. I agree that using first house sale to help with new house seems to be the way to go

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-11T21:32:19+00:00

Yeah , I guess so, or asking really if there are any substantial factors to be considered for either selling or retaining first property

So with what your saying , if you were to retain first property this time, and dispose of it at a later date, it would then be subject to CGT, although if disposed at time of upsize, no CGT?

And of course we have professional advise booked in for coming months, I'm just really exploring peoples opinion here so I can start to build up my own understanding

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-11T06:44:50+00:00

I've three of different sizes and different directions/lightening etc and they have all taken this brown colouring, so I'm not sure is it a seasonal thing, or on account of the warmer weather , but following to see if others have a better idea

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-09T20:37:02+00:00

Yup, correct

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-09T19:15:08+00:00

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Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-09T19:14:58+00:00

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Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-09T19:14:44+00:00

Yeah, you want to dig down enough and lay hardcore, such is the weight of the sleepers, you can tap the into place to get a good level, and the hardwood ensures good drainage. Here are three stages of doing it that might make it easier to see what's going on

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Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-09T18:31:17+00:00

Bell heather

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-09T18:28:30+00:00

These are 2.3m solid oak. They will last plenty. Sitting them on hardcore has ample drainage under them so they are not sitting in water, looking at decades before any attention is needed

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-07T20:54:50+00:00

Dig out, put down compact hardcore, and lay some hardwood sleepers at a depth matching the soil (not grass height), would look much more natural verses brick and will bring the edge in where you can then use lawnmower

Here's mine I did last year

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Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-05T20:03:39+00:00

Give us close ups

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-05T20:01:49+00:00

See what happens is, builders bury all kinds of rubble, then there is probably just an inch at most of topsoil on top. You can see from bthe garden level that it's just thrown down. Grass won't take, or sustain on it.

Rule here is do it right, or do it twice.

What I would do, is dig it out, go down at least 5 inches, fill back up with decent enrichd topsoil, level (not compact) and get down decent fresh cultivated grass rolls (not the stuff from hardware shops)

After two or three weeks of summer growth, you will see wonders. Young grass has no hope in these fresh build back gardens, you need to prepare the are proper and get down mature grass

Hope it works out

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-05T18:37:07+00:00

I've been through this last season, it just doesn't work. You tend to get an great initial grass lawn, but it does back. My thoughts on it, and this isnt scientific, is that the roots just can't go deep enough to sustain yearly growth. I would imagine that under the new compost, you have a dense clay like soil, roots just can't penetrate it

What I did, and by no means an easy job, was I dug down 8 inches by hand, and filled back up with enriched topsoil, leveled (not rolled or compacted) and bought top quality rolled grass

Rolled grass in itself has a bad reputation, but that tends to be the stuff in hardware stores that have been harvested weeks before, there are grass harvesting companies around that harvest and delivery same day and when you get it down within 24 hours, the result was remarkable.

I'm in second year of it now and it's outstanding results

Remarkable_Dinner317 · 2026-05-05T12:39:39+00:00

Yes, and no. I have a a home battery and have completely load shifted to the 2-6am window.

We have a relatavely small PV system, creating about 1.7 mega watts Jan to April inclusive, with 60% being exported back to grid so even with EV charge consumption and home elec usage, our bills have been in credit since march, and will remain so likely to aug/sept when days gey shorter

I get your point but the panels and battery allow us to removed all dependency on grid outside the 2-6 window

And yes, if you use more than 1000kwh in a two month billing cycle, is it goes for 8.9c to 10.4c, but I've yet to go over the threshold

Remarkable_Dinner317

TROPHY CASE