Screaming at the radio

I like the auld wireless I do. The telly is too much of a distraction. Watch and listen at the same time! No way. That’s like trying to have a conversation with a woman.

Ah, the wireless. Now that’s a different story. You can let it blabber away there in the background and you only have to pay attention when you overhear something interesting.

This morning was one of those times when I did pay attention. In fact I even engaged in rapport. If screaming at a radio can be called rapport.

It was the Ian Dempsey Show on Today FM and it being morning drive-time, texts were coming in hot and heavy about a traffic jam in Ballybunion, a chicken crossing the road near Emo, a red Mitsi with its fog-lights on etc.

Then some tool of a trucker asked if it was legal to drive on the hard-shoulder. Mary said no. John said yes. Pat said yes, but only if …

And this is when the screams began. What sort of plonkers are on our roads? Has it gotten to the stage where the law of the land is only a guide and we are all free to interpret it a) as we see fit, b) to suit our needs or c) as we vaguely remember it from our reading of the rules of the road decades ago?

A dog is not just for Christmas. But learning the rules for driving is just for the day of your driving test.

4 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

Your first mistake was listening to Ian Dempsey.

Mind you, maybe they did one of those hilarious impressions of Bertie on it. Or maybe that side-splitting Dutch guy made an appearance. He’s so funny. Did I say funny? I meant incredibly and infuriatingly annoying and nauseating.

1. Jimmy Page's Trouserswww.jimmypagestrousers.com on February 7th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Know what you mean. There are plenty of gobshites on the roads over here too, but I was shocked the last time I was home by how poor some of the driving was. They aren’t feckin guidelines to be interpreted as you see fit, they are rules to be followed.

2. Kavhttp://kavanf1.blogspot.com on February 7th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Hard shoulder is only for emergencies, not for driving. Thats the official version, however as Ireland is going for the “lets see how many vehicles we can fit on the island of Ireland record” you can safely say that if there is any room to drive on the hard shoulder or anybodys shoulder it will be driven on.

3. Timruttledge.se on February 7th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Mr. Dempsey is beginning to flag of late, JPT, but the show still has its moments. The Bosco meets Bertie sketch was worth waiting a whole year for.

You’re right, Kav and Tim. It gets worse by the day here. I’ve been working on a post about why I think that is. (One of my serious ones … or maybe I’ll rewrite … sarcasm often works better).

4. Primal Sneeze on February 8th, 2007 at 6:48 am