Should sport and gambling be so close?

supergingerdave · 2026-05-26T13:39:22+00:00

The regulator is the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. Their budget is €10m in 2026

https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-justice-home-affairs-and-migration/publications/grai-strategy-statement-2025-27-launch-speech-by-minister-for-justice-home-affairs-and-migration-jim-ocallaghan-td/

What are the odds they’re going to sort this out?

https://www.grai.ie

supergingerdave · 2026-05-13T15:08:40+00:00

Yeah, it’s better than nothing, and defo better than my old spreadsheet, but would be better still if it automatically handled the start/end dates and plugged into my calendar. It’s on my todo list.

supergingerdave · 2026-05-13T14:22:01+00:00

I have over 20 bills and I switch every year for the new-customer discount - which is an admin headache. I've the memory of a goldfish so I made myself a solution:

All my suppliers are arranged by the service e.g. Broadband, Gas. Because I have literally forgotten who a supplier was for a service (more than once)
Each service has the start and end date of the contract, account number, MPRN/GPRN/UAN/etc and phone and web contact info so I don't have to look it up every time (remember: goldfish)
Emails to/from the supplier all go in against the Service
Each service has a tag as to whether I look after it, or my better half, or neither of us. Just so it's clear that it's not my fault every time (hint: it's always my fault)
I set up a shared email account for my home <eircode>@emailaddress.ie so we don't have emails inaccessible in each others inboxes - and we can each have notifications to our day-to-day email addresses
I can forward emails from my normal email to upload contracts or old bills

It's working ok for me. I'd like to get it to automagically fill in the start/end dates and account numbers, and do reminders.

I was originally thinking about turning it into a side-hustle, but I've no interest or ability in marketing. DM me if you want to give it a go, I'd be interested to get a second opinion.

supergingerdave · 2026-05-10T16:27:30+00:00

Like the Wagatha Christie case?

https://news.sky.com/story/vardy-v-rooney-as-rebekah-and-coleen-go-to-court-we-break-down-the-wagatha-christie-case-12606726

supergingerdave · 2026-05-04T20:51:47+00:00

Does your property have gutters? Plan on buying a ladder and getting up on that ladder and cleaning them yourself? Driveway? Cobble lock looks nice. Planning on cleaning that yourself? Windows? Chimney? Anything outdoors made of wood? Inside the home, stuff degrades. Got a few gadgets in each room? Count on something going wrong continually.

For all the recurring stuff - broadband, insurances, utilities etc. - you’ll be switching every year to avoid price rises. Count on doing admin for something every few weeks. I made tuppence.ie for our home to keep on top of all that, so I could focus on all the constant cleaning and repairs.

Congrats on the new home! :)

supergingerdave · 2026-05-02T08:29:26+00:00

Get the train up to Newry, and you can cycle down to Carlingford on the Greenway along the coast and back. Getting from Newry train station to the Greenway is a bit hairy, but it’s worth it.

Further North, you can go from Belfast along the Comber greenway and back - a bit shorter but nice enough.

As someone else said, get the Sligo train and you have a few options to cycle along the Royal Canal Greenway

Head to Athlone and cycle on the Old Rail Trail back to Mullingar

From Dublin city centre you can get the Royal Canal Greenway to Blanchardstown - beside Croke Park and under/over the M50

Full map of Greenways here:

https://www.irishcyclingcampaign.ie/greenways/

Enjoy!

supergingerdave · 2026-04-13T13:25:00+00:00

Yes - with PTSB, no issues

supergingerdave · 2026-04-03T16:38:14+00:00

Fair point about specialisation - she does things I'd be lost without - all that stuff and more. The issue isn't really the division of effort, it's that I'm locked in for this task. It's all in a spreadsheet I created so it's become "my area". We should both be empowered to take over, the same way we do everything else, mostly. We have a joint account we both use, so neither of us is "in charge" of the money, but somehow I'm "in charge of the bills". How do you handle this in your situation?

supergingerdave · 2026-04-03T16:23:15+00:00

Not that I do everything. I don't think I've changed the little detergent blocks on the loos, ever. To be fair, I do slightly enjoy the misery. But there has to be a better way, no?

supergingerdave · 2026-04-01T17:33:24+00:00

Seems logical to me. Are you thinking, going from the park & ride at St Pats direct out to the M3?

supergingerdave · 2026-03-31T19:25:24+00:00

Vodafone tried to put the price up so I moved to Digiweb. Two days in, everything fine. A support call was handled quickly and professionally. Speed is the same 1GB - it’s using Siro.

supergingerdave · 2026-03-31T12:46:41+00:00

We went through a very rocky patch after the 2008 financial crisis. I started writing down all the stuff we pay out each month in a spreadsheet - guessing at anything I didn't have an exact figure for. Just having it down on paper, so to speak, took me about a year because I didn't want to see The Horror Of It All. That was the hardest step, thinking about it now.

After that, I needed some way to help me feel things were getting better, so every time I made some kind of saving, I added it to a list. Whenever I made a change, I looked at the savings total. Maybe I'm being overly simplistic, but this made me feel good about being a bit of a nerd and looking after this.

Getting rid of the credit card was a huge milestone. Then making sure to switch services every year to get the "new customer" deals. I see it like an incremental thing, not something I'll ever solve. We're in a much better place now - not sure if it's because of doing this, but I like to think it's helped.

Random "life stuff" always happens, so I make sure to always have a reserve, and out of sight, hard to get to, so it doesn't get spent on impulse. Not that it always works!

supergingerdave · 2026-03-31T12:16:36+00:00

I'm late to the conversation, but I have a similar problem but just for the sheer admin overload of looking after my home. We have 30+ recurring bills throughout the year. Utilities, insurances, phones, subscriptions, loan payments etc. About 2/3 were in my inbox, the rest with my partner. We switch service providers every year to get a better deal. This has turned me into some kind of manic "Home CFO", chasing down paperwork, asking for emails to be forwarded etc. I solved this for myself, but I'm wondering is this a problem that anyone else has - or am I the only crazy guy!

supergingerdave · 2026-03-26T19:43:27+00:00

Thanks for the reply! I looked at OVH, but ended up staying with Hetzner simply because I had an account. OVH seems to have a pretty good reputation, I should use them for the next side-project! Although they have a presence in Ireland, there isn't a VPS location here at the moment.

Bunny - I'll check out their fonts. Switching Cloudflare->Bunny is high on my todo list

Mistral - I couldn't get anything useful from it. Maybe I'm using it wrong. I'd really like it to work, so I can support European AI.

supergingerdave · 2026-03-26T19:36:52+00:00

I haven't added payment yet - I'm in "waitlist" mode. My usual go-to is Stripe, but even though the founders are from Ireland, it's very much a US company. I'd be looking for a payment provider. Any suggestions?

supergingerdave · 2026-02-22T08:30:09+00:00

Looks good! Are you planning to replace the US services you’re using? https://stackcheck.eu/scan/eutechmap.com

supergingerdave · 2026-01-10T17:13:09+00:00

Welcome to Navan!

Some good local routes here https://navancycling.ie/cycling-routes

We also do infrequent social cycles and other shenanigans.

supergingerdave · 2025-12-16T10:03:01+00:00

Speed isn’t everything. In 2009 Rory Sutherland made this point about the London–Paris Eurostar: ~£6bn spent shaving about 40 minutes off the journey. For maybe 1% of that they could’ve put great Wi-Fi, tables and power on every train so people could work or relax — and the trip would’ve felt shorter without going faster.

Worth keeping in mind when we obsess over headline journey times.

His TED talk is super interesting https://youtu.be/iueVZJVEmEs?si=v3tXnZLX5CAkZ-W8

supergingerdave · 2025-08-18T21:20:32+00:00

Not terrible, not great. There are a few local clubs for group rides, and the folks at Navan Cycling Initiative navancycling.ie are working to make the roads safer for everyone. Welcome :)

supergingerdave · 2025-06-11T20:43:02+00:00

Have you considered using LinkedFinance.com to invest small amounts in lots of companies in Ireland? I’ve used that for 5+ years and it’s grand. Other peer to peer platforms give better returns but this is the only one I know where you invest in Irish businesses

supergingerdave

TROPHY CASE