the bog hotel

[biff]

hi folks,
     i do wish christmas has been good to you and the new year brings steady wind to your turbines and decent sunshine to your solar setups.the week before christmas our wind fell off to nothing,truly the doldrums,however our solar panels and f/l batteries carried us through to christmas day when the wind came back and things returned to normal.strangely,this has been the calmest period in the 4 years we have been using wind turbines.we had our fair share of -8s and -11 temp during the week but today it is raining and miserable.
     our neighbour p. brogan is in the news.he was supposed to get married just before christmas.pj is the owner of the famous" bog hotel".his bride to be is a young blond polish lass,40 years his junior and by all accounts the are madly in love.she takes to the stage in the bog hotel and does a lot of patsy cline numbers.our local council has been trying hard to close the "bog" down, but without success. the guards have mingled undercover with the guests in an effort to prove he was selling drink on the premise however after a few glasses of the local brew they could.nt remember seeing anything "duly unwrong."and the bog hotel which is high in the bluestack mountains in donegal, remains open and a becon of enlightment to those who would like to set up their own hotel and bar without worrying about the paperwork.they come from all over,wedding parties,hen parties,stags,,they even fly in in their helicopters.wow!,,.just imagine getting a skinfull and trying to fly out of the bluestacks in the dark.
      so despites the recession ,there are people alert and active and getting on with life,giving their local council one hell of a run around the bog.
        2010 is just around the corner,we have had a budget a few weeks ago which made everyone feel the pain.we are due another budget shortly,, probely  to shore up n.a.m.a. and fatten the bankers.every newspaper you open speaks of greed and corruption in every department.2010 will truly be the year......
     biff

[dhaslam]

Good to see someone  still able to stand up to  over fussy regulations.    He has a fair chance of succeeding because generally 70 year olds generally don't  get sent to prison in Ireland unless they murder someone.    His life expectancy might to shortened a bit by marrying a thirty year old Polish girl but perhaps he is well able for that as well. 

www.donegalpost.com/2008/03/21/“bog-hotel”-ordered-to-close/

[biff]

i found our local council pretty straightforward,perhaps a bit slow to respond to some requests but generally speaking i would have to say they are good.
      on the other hand,sheebens and drinking dens will without doubt damage the area,they do not have anyone to answer to and are not time restricted to closing at a legal hour.the roads through the bluestacks are tricky at the best of times but meeting someone who has had a feed of rotgut driving along the middle of the road at 10 miles an hour at any hour of the day or night is not something you want.
         the whole notion might have a romantic old world tinge to it, but that is only a notion. the reality is anything but romantic.
     i would like to see the thing done legally,it would be a goldmine,the scenery is fantastic and the conversation,,? well i would have to say the conversation would be intresting to say the least.pj is an x 747 pilot, he has already been married three times and he definatly made me laugh out loud in any conversation i had with him.
    at the end of the day,the council is only doing what is supposed to do and pj wants his bar.i have no idea how it will end but it seems that neither the council nor pj can win this one.
                biff

[biff]

wonders never cease,
                        P,J and his bog hotel have left court victorious and the donegal county council have to pick up the bill for costs etc.amid cheers from the public gallery,he again announced that he was getting married to his polish beauty,his live in barmaid and love of his life.this time however he asked paudge dorrian of buncrana ,his solicitor to be his best man.paudge said he could not refuse because he had been his best man since this case started.
                 P,J,s defence was simple, dorrian himself said that when he visited the bog hotel himself and had a drink there,he was not asked to pay for anything.despite the council,s best efforts they could not produce a single soul to say that they had paid for a drink in the bog hotel. the judge said he had no alternative but to throw the case out.
   it would seem a happy outcome for all,except that there are neighbours in that remote bluestack locality who have been visited at all hours of the day and night by people looking for P,J,s establishment.most of them are drunk and out of their skull. the roads are narrow and dangerous and its simply no joke to meet these crazy souls.time will tell.
                        biff

[noelsquibb]

Anyone over 55 will probably consider the 'Bog' victory to be a good thing, as they grew up in a time where driving
( or even racing ) from the pub at kicking out time to someones place was part of the fun. There was no guilt in drunk driving and anyone who wrecked their vehicle doing this, was talk of the town.
Occasionally someone died.

Now a younger generation frowns upon this but we see young drivers doing some pretty stupid things, possibly whilst using drugs, and people still die occasionally.

At least you knew not to be out on the roads between 10.30 and 11.30 if you didn't want to mix it with the pub kicking out traffic.  Now you can probably only consider daylight hours to be the less risky.

Not moralising, just observing changing social attitudes ....

[biff]

my good wife and i gave the ledgend that is pj,the owner of the bog hotel a lift into the frosses yesterday,he looked well and was in high spirit,the air in the car was thick with the fumes of raw spirit,i dont exagerate when i say it was an eye watering encounter,,so ,windows down we wound our way downhill to the frosses where we left the happy man to his day.
      x 747 pilot,based in birmingham for 35 years,pj has flown all over the world but marriage to his polish beauty seems to have taken a back seat,he is busy planning signs to show the way to the bog hotel,so there is more excitment due high in the bluestacks and when the locals get to see the signs it could get a bit noisy to say the least.
                     biff,