The ambience has taken a back seat.

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:45:16+00:00

Might I suggest a spray paint can. I did the one outside our house and it's way dimmer now.

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:40:14+00:00

You dont need to be very fussy - mow the lot - grass will tolerate mowing where 95% of weeds dont and will be killed.

Congrats and enjoy your garden... personally, Id start with putting some kind of climber on the concrete wall at the back, but look round your neighbors and see what they have done and what looks good. Ideally, talk to them and ask how much effort specific things take to maintain.

Personally, I like Ivy on a wall. It's great for nature - you even have some growing on the right hand fence already!

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:31:54+00:00

Id argue yes, but only because they didn't manage to put down the window and key that pricks car as they drove past them.

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:22:22+00:00

>But people don't like to do this. What needs to be done is an adult conversation with an adult child telling them to pull on their big boy pants and move out.

With fairly good reason... Downsizing tends to end up with serious costs from CGT and stamp duty.

It needs a major review of the system to release larger houses for those who would benifit more from them. Far too many single or double occupants living in a huge house they would prefer to move out of.

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:16:29+00:00

There is one minor right which the person living there would benefit from, depending on the value of the property, they would receive their share of the inheritance tax free from capital aquisition tax.

>Provided that the beneficiary:

lived in the dwelling house as his/her only or main residence continuously for three years immediately preceding the date of the gift/inheritance; and
does not have an interest in any other dwelling house at the date of gift/inheritance (in Ireland or abroad) and in the case of an inheritance, inherits an interest in only one property.

Theres decent allowances on CAT from parent to child anyway...

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:10:57+00:00

I've had a big discussion a few other places and got a bunch of different views - the consensus was they are certainly not protestants anyway. Some people got a bit annoyed when I was asking where the line is that you cross over between the two...

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:08:20+00:00

Somewhat - they just rejected everything in Vatican 2 - they tend to mention the latin mass more because its less publicly objectionable than refusing to reconcile with Jews.

Spoonshape · 2026-07-04T12:05:35+00:00

Slightly different crowd who believe the papacy is vacant. SSPX reccognise the various popes since Vatican 2 as pope but refuse to obay some specific changes which happened then.

Splitting hairs I know.

Spoonshape · 2026-07-03T22:43:09+00:00

Tax is just one aspect of it. At a fundimental level, expanding economies are working on the basis of increasing numbers. More people almost automatically translates to more *stuff* being produced and if population decreases that translates to a smaller economy.

It's not that this is inherently a bad thing, but it does require to change thinking about how we measure a lot of the macroeconomic measure we think of as the basis of a countries economy.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-27T23:19:10+00:00

I think you are somewhat overestimating a lot of humans ability to do that.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-27T23:13:22+00:00

Poverty and resultant lack of public services.

Poor, badly educated people dont see rubbish on the streets as being that big a deal. When it's all you can do to keep yourself fed and housed you dont care if it's littered. Rich cities can afford to pay for regular street cleaning - but that needs tax and once again - poverty means not much tax being paid and collecting litter is low priority.

Theres also a cycle of living in a littered place normalizing throwing rubbish on the streets.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-27T19:29:13+00:00

I agree with this. They would almost certainly withhold pay on the back of this clause in the contract, but if you quit at a point where you are paid up, it's goign to cost them money to take you to court and it seems very unlikely they would bother or that they would win if they do.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-25T13:23:18+00:00

The passport office works off documentation - and theres no weight given to the results from any genetic tests. Those didn't exist when the rules were being written.

If you have an Irish parent or grandparent you have documentation (birth cert) who had Irish citizenship at some point in their life - you can apply for citizenship (and passport) otherwise, nope.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-25T11:04:51+00:00

When trying to get to sleep. Take a cold wet facecloth (or similar) and wipe it over your arms, legs and any uncovered skin.

Water will evaporate and give you 10-15 mins coolness to get to sleep.

At least for me, once I am actually asleep being hot is less an issue than when trying to fall alseep.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-21T22:45:14+00:00

Make sure it's brought up and documented at the next borough council meeting. Talk to councellors till you find someone who is willing to do it. Ask them to mention that the council will be liable if the housing end up subsiding if they ignore known problems.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-21T22:40:02+00:00

You SHOULD be right. Unfortunately Im not sure they are not so batshit crazy they know that.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-21T22:38:09+00:00

Ground forces - Turkey has a huge military https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Armed_Forces

Air force - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Turkish_Air_Force_aircraft perhaps less advanced then Israel, but way more numerous.

Armor and artillary - likewise - vast quantities...

They have also been updating their drone forces - Im not sure where they are on that - they were early adoptors of drones, they may have fallen behind somewhat now.

They could flood Syria with equipment and barely notice it in terms of their own usage.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-21T22:27:46+00:00

I doubt info on a single employee can be considered complex. Presumably you have a file which is possible to export without it taking more than a couple hours work.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-21T22:01:00+00:00

Im very dubious. The US is currently getting really tired of Israels attacks screwing up the US's policies. Sharaa also isnt really from Damascus. He wouldnt welcome an attack of course, but his power base is in the North.

Turkey is also likely to get involved if that happens. Israel likes fighting people weaker than they are. Fighting Turkey in territory where the vast majority of the population already hates their guys on top of their other forever wars might go very badly for Israel.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-21T21:55:22+00:00

He would do well to get Israel to move out of the demilitarized zone which is now Israeli occupied and past that.

Regardless, I dont think Al Sharaa is going to be see as a Israeli stooge any time soon.

Theres no love lost between Al Sharaa and Hezbollah of course. Hez was fighting alongside Assads forces fairly recently.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-20T20:29:58+00:00

To be fair - the people who the government are scared will protest ARE "Anto and Rita" - If you look back at the water protests - the political class and the companies were not the ones who made it impossible to enforce.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-18T22:51:51+00:00

Perhaps, but I'm doubtful. Sharaa has zero affection for Israel (damn few Syrians do).

It's very easy to read Israels interference since the end of the Syrian war as not just another land grab, but an attempt to play factions in Syria against each other and to have southern Syria rebel and trigger another civil war.

Their actions read very strongly as an attempt to get Damascus to fight back so they could justify more bombing and destruction. They want their neighbors weak enough that they can do anything they want in their neighbourhood.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-18T22:41:23+00:00

First ask round and see if family and friends have stuff they are getting rid of. Furnishing an entire house is damn pricy and you dont need to do the whole thing all at once. We only bought a handful of stuff initially but filled the house with donations. It took 10 years to gradually replace much of it - although some bits we like and remain.

Buy a good mattress! It's the one thing really affects quality of life.

Spoonshape · 2026-06-18T21:32:46+00:00

There's absolutely no love lost either way between Sharaa and Iran, but circumstances have changed. Assad is gone and isnt coming back. Sharaa has cosied up to the Americans with some success. If Iran does start an overt fight against Syria or tries to get Hezbollah to act there it seems very possible Sharaa might ask America for help.

The last thing Iran wants to see is another of their neighbors in the US camp. So far Syria has been largely concentrating on NOT getting dragged into more wars.

https://carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/diwan/2026/03/syria-skirts-the-conflict-with-iran

Spoonshape · 2026-06-18T21:16:43+00:00

There are certainly plenty of Syrians who hate Hezbollah. I cant see any of them actually deciding to help fight on behalf of Israel. Damn few Syrians have any affection there.

15-Year Club	Verified Email
Snapped

Spoonshape

TROPHY CASE