NiallOK’s Blog

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As reported on RTÉ News, it’s the end of the road for (unaccompanied) unlicensed drivers as it’s now illegal (as of midnight, Monday night) to drive on your own unless you’re fully licensed - and damn right too.

That’s not to say that Irish people won’t moan about this - sure where would we be if we didn’t have something to moan about?
(… Jersey?) One common excuse is bound to be the old “we didn’t get enough warning” chestnut which, I’m afraid, is bollocks. The longest driving test back-log that I’ve heard of was 6-8 weeks (it’s come down a LOT recently) and this new law was announced over 6 months ago, so the truth behind that excuse was being too forgetful or lazy to bother applying for the test not not having enough time !

As I said last October, I’m glad I have my full license myself. I felt sorry for learner drivers back then, but that was because it seemed as if the laws were going to be introduced very quickly and not in fact many months later. I don’t feel sorry for them now as they’ve had a more than adequate chance to sort themselves out with a test.

We’ve always had one of the most lax “ah sure it’s grand” style attitudes towards learner driver laws in the world. As I said in a recent TV interview, it’s always been a case of “just send away for the piece of paper, it arrives in the post and out you go on the road”. This law plugs a gap that has been open for far too long. I’m sure it’ll reduce the number of cars on the roads (better for the environment!) and will annoy a lot of people - well, unlicensed drivers (who have no excuse anyway…) but as long as it helps reduce the level of carnage, it’s worth it.

In related news, I’m closing ShiteDrivers.com. The domain name is due to expire on July 18th and unless someone takes it off my hands well before that, that’s the end of it.

I’m stunned, although I shouldn’t be. I’m shocked, although I should know better.

If you’re not going to read the rest of this post - at least read this: Avoid swimming in the north-central Pacific Ocean (also known as the North Pacific Gyre). I KNOW… it’ll be difficult… but please,… it’s for the best, honest!

Tonight, while watching a repeat of the quiz show QI (Quite Interesting), hosted by that brilliant bi-polar comic and intellectual genius, Mr. Stephen Fry, on the all-too-easy-to-remember Sky Digital channel 111 (Dave), I learned the shocking fact that an enormous area of the Pacific Ocean is filled (read “filled” as over 3 million pieces per square kilometre) with rubbish… trash… garbage… call it what you will… and most of it totally non-biodegradable plastics.

This … THING… is causing havoc with marine wildlife on a massive scale. Estimates put the size of this plastic mass at anywhere between ‘the size of Texas’ and ‘twice the size of the continental United States’. Let’s put that in perspective - it’s (I’m guesstimating here…) somewhere between 10 and 280 times bigger than the island of Ireland. Yowch.

Anyway, they call it the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or the ‘Pacific Trash Vortex’ - and the word ‘vortex’ is kinda appropriate as it’s got a bit of a whirlpool … or, yes, "gyre"… thing going on there) and it’s a stunning phenomenon;- a testament to just how bad it’s gotten and how humankind as we know it are truly destroying the world.

Have a read of that Wikipedia page. I did, and I still find it difficult to digest (… as do the fish, plankton, etc. in the area, I understand…).

I guess I’m posting this because .. well, I think more people should know about it, basically!

By the way, yes - the title of this post comes from a song in an episode of the Simpsons.