Working, Living & Travelling In Ireland

Tag: Galway

Mary’s Walk in Peterswell

Hi all,

A few years ago, I took part in a charity walk called “ Run for Mary” in Peterswell. As it happens, I live in Peterswell, but had never really explored that side of Peterswell( the actual village). It was an amazing walk and as the charity walk is coming up soon( click here for more info) I thought I’d walk it again, without the crowds. I have called the walk Mary’s walk, in memory of Mary.

The walk is just under 6 Kms, and it took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to walk it. Regardless of the time of year, wear a high Viz Jacket. Bring some snacks/drinks in case you get hungry or thirsty. And yes, it’s a looped walk!

Join my Facebook Group Gort Cycling Trails and let me know if you cycled or walked any of the trails, what you thought about them, and if there are other cycle trails that should be mapped in the #burrenlowlands

For a full list of #SafeCycleTrails and maps I have mapped so far, click here

So where is this walk?

Make your way to Peterswell, off the main road between Loughrea and Gort.

Here is a little map of the walk. ( If you are Runtastic User, click here

Park your car at the Community Center and walk toward the church.

One you are the church, look back to get a view over Peterswell.

View over Peterswell Village

This is a country road, so just be mindful of traffic.

As your walk progresses, you’ll pass many fields, and enjoy views over the countryside.

Keep walking, the road veers to the left , don’t take the road over the bridge.

At this point you are in a very rural location! I loved the view with all the leaves on the ground.

The road comes to an end, take the left turn. As you walk on that road, it’s a bit hilly, you’ll see hedgerows on the left.

There is a beautiful view from the top of the hill:)

Keep walking till you come to the end of the road. Take a right, as you are now back on the road that leads you to Peterswell.

Hope to see you at the Charity event in memory Of Mary which takes place on the 10th of November. Follow the Run for Mary Facebook Page here.

Greetings from Peterswell,

Katleen

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October 21, 2018
How I found a dog groomer via Facebook

Hi all,

Meet Max, our family pet!

Max the dog

As you can see, he’s in need of a major grooming effort, one that I’d rather leave to the experts ( I still have bad memories of racing him around the garden, trying to wash him!!)

So I thought let me see if my Facebook friends could recommend a local dog groomer and see if Facebook can actually make this task easier for me.

I found a closed group Called Gort Buy and Sell, I thought that would be a good place to get some recommendations.

As I started to write the post, it automatically asked me what I wanted to sell, which is not what I wanted to do!

Click on more to get to the recommendations tab

By clicking on the “more” button I was able to select recommendations

And then I wrote the below post.

Within a few minutes, I had a number of recommendations. A number of names kept appearing, and also their Facebook pages! Yes, that’s what I wanted, so I could contact a Dog groomer.

I was quite location specific, and preferred to keep it local, and then someone suggested a dog groomer literally around the corner .Once I clicked on the Facebook page, that’s where the magic really kicked in for me. The owner had enabled an automatic bot, asking me what my query was, one of them was , I would like to book an appointment. This is how the conversation went :

The conversation went on for a while, and a few suggestions went back and forward, to finally arrive to a date that worked for both of us, so I was happy and the groomer was happy too!! I will have to post the ” after” picture when he’s done!

Following on this, I attended an event in Dublin on Friday, organized by Facebook, called “Boost your business” #fbboost, to show how small business in Ireland can grow their business leveraging Facebook. I heard about it via Amanda’s Webb- Spiderworking who is specialised in Social Media For SMEs And Local Businesses. I particularly love her videos!

It was a half day event, showcasing the opportunities there are using Facebook both locally and internationally, the importance of video and visuals, and to emphasis that mobile is the way forward and to make sure your website makes it easy to buy! The customer panel was excellent, Where Magee told their stories how 1 Euro invested in Facebook gave a return of 14 Euros. The last session was about best practise, and also that session I found very interesting, as I am always curious what the latest and greatest tools are. These days nearly all the tools are free, making it so much easier to create artwork. Here is the link to the top 10 ten tools Facebook recommends.

Yes, they want you to pay to advertise on their platform, but as you can see from the above, word of mouth is still very powerful, and setting up their Facebook page has enabled me to interact with them( at no cost to them). If you are business in the Burrenlowlands, and are interested to learn more, drop me an email.

Greetings from Galway,

Katleen

PS..My dryer has broken down, any suggestions who can fix my dryer??

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December 3, 2017
The unexpected benefits of a library card
Hi readers,

Some of you may have a public library card, others probably haven’t set foot in a library in ages. I fell into the latter category! I walk past the Galway Library twice (!) a day, and one lunchtime – yes, they are open over lunch as well 🙂 – I went in and I got myself a library card. These days it’s a credit card sized card, see below. How to join!

Image of a an Irish Public Library card

The card was free, and is valid pretty much around the country, meaning that if you rented a book in Galway City, you can return it to the library that’s nearest to you. My nearest library is in Gort, but as I am never in Gort during the day, I am now having access to a service I never had before. Actually, when the kids were smaller we did avail of the mobile library to rent children’s books( yeah, I think we still have them)..

So now onto the unexpected benefit parts. I am a keen listener to podcasts, but never really ventured into Audio books. Turns out there is an app you can download called “Borrowbox” aka Bolinda, that enables you to get free access to Ebooks and AudioBooks , using your library card. Just a quick note, your login is your library card, the pin are the last 4 digits of your library card number.

Access e-books and e-audiobooks at Bolinda

Online Courses – really?

1)Universal Class

This resource provides a wide range of over 500 courses, including Yoga, Digital Photography, Computer Basics, Excel, and much more. You can learn at your own pace.

Access online courses at Universal Class

2)Mango Languages – awesome!

This online resource will help you learn a new language. There are over seventy languages to choose from including Mandarin, Arabic and Japanese.

Access online language courses at Mango Languages

3)Magazines – it’s getting better!

Zinio

This resource provides unlimited digital access to a wide selection of magazines.

Access e-magazines at Zinio

Online Newspapers – who would have thought!

Proquest

This resource is the world’s most comprehensive collection of news content. It’s database’s detailed indexing helps users quickly find the news information they need. Each issue of each newspaper is indexed thoroughly, so researchers have access to not only top news stories but also the information contained on the various sections of the papers. The indexing covers not only complete bibliographic information but also companies, people, products, etc.

Newspapers included are…
- Irish Times
- The Independent
- The Examiner
- The New York Times
- Wall Street Journal
- The Guardian Observer
- The Globe
Access online newspapers at Proquest

I am enjoying my audio book, I am currently listening to the “Compassionate Achiever” on my daily commute – it’s interesting and look forward to listen to others!

Sunny greetings from Galway,

Katleen

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July 11, 2017
Thoor Ballylee auction, Castle to be reopenend 13th of June 2015

Dear Readers,

I am just back from a great event which was held at Thoor Ballylee, which is located (almost) around the corner from where I live.

The event was organized by the Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society and consisted of an auction that started at the rooftop of the castle, and continued inside. We were also treated to some traditional music, performed by Coole Music.

Check out my new blog article about the auction at Thoor Ballylee yesterday, we had great fun! Below some fragment of the music played by Coole Music!http://www.workinglivingtravellinginireland.com/2015/06/thoor-ballylee-auction-castle-to-be-reopenend-13th-of-june-2015.html Posted by Workinglivingtravelinginireland on Monday, 1 June 2015

It’s been a long time I have been inside the castle, as it was badly flooded in 2009 and a lot of damage was done, and has been closed ever since. The castle ( or Thoor in Irish) is very central in the life of Yeats and his family, as he bought the castle in 1916-1917 and lived there with his family from 1921 to 1929. You can read more detail about Thoor Ballylee here. The castle then fell into disrepair, and was reopened on Yeats 100th birthday, 20th of June 1965. 50 years later, thanks to the Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society, Thoor Ballylee is being reinvented and today’s fundraiser will go a long way towards the reopening later in June! There were many items for auction , and a last minute submission of a letter & book by Maud Gonne fetched an amazing 5200 Euros. It was a nail-biting auction, and the items were very close to go to Dublin when a local couple from Salthill put in the winning bid! There was roar of applause and the buyers shed a tear of relief, as they wanted to keep these historic items in Galway! There was a stand outside with yummie burgers and hotdogs. The local youngsters kept the tea and coffee flowing. They had great fun! The next event is taking place on the 13th of June, starting with a picnic at Kiltartan Museum and then the official re opening of Thoor Ballylee. If you are interested to become a friend of Thoor Ballylee, or join the society, please follow this link. Really happy we went and supported this worthwhile community event! Katleen

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June 1, 2015
Eén – Vlaanderen vakantieland – Thuis op de Wild Atlantic Way, deel 1 | Eén

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September 25, 2014
Overview of the big games companies in Ireland

Dear Readers,

I have talked it before, there are a lot of gaming companies based in Ireland that have a lot of vacancies.
The type of jobs can be in customer support, but also in fraud , community support, quality , testing
and there is also a good few where you can be at the core of it all, design the actual games!

For those who love coding and creating , there are lot’s of opportunities!

Add a language or two, and the world is your oyster!

Oh yes, it’s really quite important that you LOVE gaming!!

I was reading an article in http://www.bizplus.ie and they listed following companies in Ireland in the (online) gaming industry.

So..

Activision Blizzard – couldn’t really find the details of their offices in Ireland, but they seem to have a studio in Cork and Dublin – here is link to the vacancies

As I am based in Galway, I would know about Electronic Arts(also known as Bioware Ireland), as they have their European customer service here, and as it happens they are probably the largest.Lot’s of vacancies – check out their jobs here.

Popcap Games (recently acquired by EA)have an office in Dublin, and primarily involved in the game development side of the business. Check out their vacancies here

And another player – Zenimax Media – also based in Galway( all good things happen in Galway:) – sorry I am biased) Here is the link to their vacancies. From what I can gather , they are a specialist MMOG, which is means Massive multiplayer online Games.
A great example would be The Elder Scrolls, where millions of people play this game on line and pay a micro payment to play this game. ( I have learnt something new!)

Gala Networks Europe – a Japanese publisher, also in the MMOG sphere ( but the games are free), with offices in Dublin ..check out their vacancies here. It seems Martial arts is their thing!

GOA Games Services -Dublin based – is the online games unit of mobile phone company Orange- owned by France Telecom. They are also linked to EA, so vacancies are on the https://jobs.ea.com/ website. Their actual website is : http://warhammeronline.com/

Zynga – Dublin based – Best known for Farmville on facebook.. vacancies here

Jolt – owned by Gamestop (video games retailer) Dublin based – Career section here

Big Fish Games – Cork based – best known for Mystery Case files – current open vacancies here

Riot Games – Dublin based – Best known for League of Legends – for jobs , please click here

I know, that’s a lot sites to check.. there is also a dedicated website to gaming jobs in Ireland,

you can find it here I don’t think it lists all the jobs, so you are better off to check the individual sites.

If you are interested in training/studying to enter this market, there are lot’s of courses,

you can find them here and they also have job section.

I’d recommend you check out http://www.siliconrepublic.com/ and http://www.thedigitalhub.com/

Hope this was usefull!

Katleen

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November 29, 2011

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