the future for power stations

it looks like a tree, doesn't it? Absolutely, but there was *something* funny about it. And on close inspection, it was made from plastic! Yes, this tree is actually an electric mast (I don't have the correct terminology - is that a sub-station under it?)
How awful if this were to be the future of electricity poles. Instead of local groups with signs requesting "bury the cables" "put them underground", their signs would read "give us fake trees".
The future could look grim.
This particular one is located along the start of the Wicklow way near the back of Marlay Park.

Green post boxes

I've been a fan of these postboxes for a while now.
If you see beyond the green - Irish National Colour, don't forget! - and look at the writing on the box above, you'll see a crown sitting above the letters ER.
There are also postboxes with VR and others with GR.
The British Monarchs they refer to are:
George V 1910–1936 (26 years reign)
Edward VII 1901–1910 (9 years reign)
Victoria 1837–1901 (64 years reign)
I've never spotted one with WR but if it existed it would be even older and would refer to:
William IV 1830–1837

The story goes that when the Irish republic was formed, we couldn't afford new postboxes and the good cast iron ones that were in place were perfectly functional - so we simply sent people around with buckets of green paints and thereby nationalised our postboxes!

Cycle Lane or Footpath?

I cycle to work via the docklands in Dublin. If I'm on the path at around 8:50 it's a nightmare - pedestrians walking on the clearly-marked and well-used cycle path.
Why?!I think I discovered one of the possible reasons the other day. The dustbins!
I was walking along that route and had an apple core in my hand. I spotted the bins and started walking towards them - lo and behold, I'm walking on the cycle path. The bins are located adjacent to the cycle path.What a stupid location! They should be accessible to pedestrians, or to pedestrians and cyclists but surely pedestrians as a priority... I throw my hands up in despair!

The Bag Levy

I can't remember exactly when it came in, I could prob find out for sure on the Department of Environment website but it doesn't really matter. The consequence of the bag levy is what I want to discuss.
In Ireland, we have to pay for plastic shopping bags. It used to be 15c, I think it's gone up, I never take a bag now. It's supposed to free the hedgegrows of ugly plastic bags and help the environment etc.
But I am cursed, as a result, finding the right-sized plastic bin liner for my kitchen bin. I went through a phase of having a big bin with a black bag in the kitchen, to cut down on the small bags I was using but this was, needless to say, less than hygienic. So I'm back to using the little bin which is a perfect size for the handled bags we can get in supermarkets to bring home the groceries (the ones I don't get any more cos there's a levy and I'm trying to be good to the environment...) and I end up buying a roll of 50 bags in Tesco or somewhere. But they're never the right size. It's so frustrating. I don't know if the size of my bin was designed to accommodate the grocery bags or if that was a coincidence but my bin certainly wasn't designed to accommodate any of the bin bags I've bought so far.
Phew, I've got that off my chest! - that's what bloggings for eh?