Already registered Sign In
Like "DaithaiC", join Jamespot!
Jamespot is a free social network in which each user -Spotter- can create one or several personal spaces -Spots- according to his interests, and share those interest with his contacts. And you, what are you interested in right now? Join the community, meet new users and express yourself!
 

DaithaiC

Member since the 01/05/2008  |  Creator Of 80 Spots  |  197 Spot It  |  Last connection 24 September 2009
IDENTITY
Nickname DaithaiC
First name David
Surname Caldwell
Country United Kingdom
Short description of yourself Irish expat in London casting a cold eye
Blog http://www.daithaic.blogspot.com
Karma
LAST SPOT-IT
DaithaiC says : According to the London Evening Standard a nightclub and banqueting hall are to be built inside a reconstructed Victorian monument at Euston station under plans announced today. The Euston Arch stood in front of the station from 1838 until it was demolished by modernist town planners in 1962. Built at Euston Grove, the station was for many years the only north-bound railway exit from London. Designed in the classical style, the most notable feature was the massive Doric Arch entrance. Euston Station was one of the glories of British railway architecture it served as the terminus for travellers to London from Birmingham and the North West. Its architecture, based on Greek temples, was deemed a fitting gateway to the capital and an introduction to the engineering marvels of the railway beyond.
Euston Arch

Euston Arch

Daithai C

daithaic.blogspot.com   |   the 24/09   |   Add or View Comment
SPOTS
A Day in London
Avoid tacky Tourist Traps and save...
A Very Long Engagement
Superb performance from Audrey Tautou
An Independent Constabulary?
Do the police remain Idependent?
Auf Wiedersehen Joerg Haider
So Auf Wiedersehen to Joerg Haider...
See all
Bella Torino
When Hannibal’s Elephants came...
Bertie Ahern and Poverty in ireland
The life and financial times of an...
Bob Geldof and Me
My part in Pop History?
Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin.
One of the unsung joys of Dublin City...
Britain in Iraq
Britain's shameful history in Iraq
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace
THE WAY WE WERE – FROM theonion.com...
Caledonian Sleeper
Britain's Great Train Journey
Capri
The beautiful Isle of Capri
Caprse
The cuisine of the Isle of Capri
Clemency Denied for Troy Davis
Troy Davis is still scheduled to be...
Cliffs of Moher
For native and visitor alike one of...
DaithaiC
An Irish expat in London casting a...
Do you take this Tube?
The Eco wedding of the future?
Dustin is a Turkey!
The Eurovision Turkey is culled!
E-Towns Ireland.
E-Towns is a Shannon Development...
Examination Blues.
The Tabloids in the UK have been...
Excess, excess Baggage?
Unfair charges by airlines
Fair Coppers?
Britain's unreformed police service
Fall of Byzantium
The end of the Roman Empire and the...
For St. George and England?
It is time to face up to two...
Gerard Cowan 1959 - 2009
Gerard died in the United States in...
Good Old Magna Carta
David Davis provokes debate on civil...
Guy Fawkes Night
Remember, remember the 5th of November!
Harassed by the Home Secretary?
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says she...
Heathrow achieves International Recognition.
Service levels at Heathrow are a...
Human Rights
Human Rights Day on the Blogosphere
Ireland’s Lisbon Treaty Referendum.
Ireland rejects Lisbon Treaty
Irish Parliament Building
The world's first purpose built...
James Joyce and Me
Dublin celebrates Bloomsday
Kalymnos - Island of the Sponge Divers.
The terrible cost of Sponge Fishing
Kos Town
These stepping stones en route to the...
Lingotto Factory, Turin
The historic FIAT works with the 1 km...
Liverpool, Paddy Hitler and Paddy Murphy.
interestingly Liverpool had a strange...
London 7/7 Bombings Memorial
The fourth anniversary of the London...
London’s Other Underground
Deep down beneath the choked streets...
Longford Lecture 2008 - We Can't Build Our W
“We Can't Build Our Way Out of...
Marrakech the Red City - On a Budget.
The city of Marrakech is one of those...
Martello Towers
Growing up in Dublin Martello Towers...
Mdina and Rabat, Malta.
Malta's amazing ancient capital.
On yer Bike in Europe!
London lags behind other cities in...
Once
This Irish indie budget movie shot...
One Term in Paris
Shock! Horror!! Air head celebrity...
Orange March, Glasgow.
So, who is out of step? The Orange...
P.S. A few words
The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational
Paparazzi Insight
Shame on the Paps
Paralympic Games
The Paralympics are a particular...
Poems on the Underground
The most succesful Public Arts programme
Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step
The American Dream is alive and the...
Proms in the Park 2007
London's best musical event
Sadie Mc Mahon in Holby City
Sadie is one to watch not just in...
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece
Save the St. Reatham One!
Naomi Campbell in trouble
Shannon Airport Ireland
The recent trip to Shannon was a...
Squaring the Circle
The most historic and iconic...
St Valentine in Dublin
It is a little known fact as we...
Steward of the Manor of Northstead
Boris Johnson made his final...
Surveillance Britain
Britain: One Nation Under CCTV
Temp or Perm?
Pitfalls of using Agency workers
The Amalfi Coast
Stunning scenery and incredible history
The Clockwork Orange
This "Clockwork Orange" is the...
The Death of Brian Keenan
Former IRA Commander dies in Belfast
The Lives of Others
With The Lives of Others, von...
The Oyster is their World.
A new craze has City Boys squaring...
The Paddy's Day Blog
Ireland's National Holiday
The Science of Sleep
An adventure into the mind of Michel...
The Taxi Driver of Nisyros
A volcanic Greek Island
The Years of the French
Happy Bastille Day?
The Years of the French
The momentous year of 1798 in Ireland
Towards the Somme - A personal journey
Rediscoving sacrafices close to home
Towards the Somme – A personal journey.
Ireland and the First World War
Toxic Blacklist
Employee Blacklist
Unbearable Lightness of Being
A thought provoking Movie
Valletta and Grand harbour, Malta
The unigue UNESCO Heritage city of...
Wendover, Buckinghamshire.
Historic Chilterns Village
Why do they say that? - No. 1
The origin of every day words
LAST STORIES SPOTTED
DaithaiC says : The last time I wrote about Waddesdon Manor (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/11/waddesdon-manor-buckinghamshire.html )the wonderful Victorian gardens were wrapped in their winter coat of repentance. This is not entirely an allegorical flight for the statues and garden ornaments are wrapped to protect them from the frost and the house is closed up for maintenance, conservation and a deep clean. The Parterre which is the last original parterre in England is dug out and in spring roundly 58,000 thousand fresh plants are planted according to a computer template in a design which like the labels of the Rothschild’s Chateau Mouton changes each year. So I thought it would be an idea to catch these lovingly tended gardens and plants in the Plant Centre when they are in their full summer glory.
Waddesdon in bloom

Waddesdon in bloom

Daithai C: Waddesdon in bloom

daithaic.blogspot.com   |   the 08/09   |   Add or View Comment
DaithaiC says : For many years in England the only form of a gamble which didn’t involve going to a Betting Shop was the Football Pools where you had to predict the outcome of football matches. The main pools company was Littlewoods owned by the Moore’s family from Liverpool. The family have largely retired from business using their large cash pile for philanthropy. They endow and support John Moores University and today I was heading up the M40 Motorway to one of my favourite parts of England, South Warwickshire to see another fruit of the family’s philanthropy, Compton Verney Art Gallery.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire

Compton Verney, Warwickshire

Daithai C

daithaic.blogspot.com   |   the 08/09   |   Add or View Comment
DaithaiC says : Irish Railways have always had a bit of a Noddy status suffering from a toxic mixture of neglect and confused pork barrel politics. The neglect resulted in the system being starved of meaningful investment for years and gaining a negative public perception for shabby crowded trains particularly at peak times. I remember standing in a 40 year old coach from Mullingar to Dublin where the floor was the ashtray for a carriage full of chain smokers. Over the past 50 years a number of lines have closed to passenger services and gone into that euphemistic state “In the care of the Chief Engineer.” More seriously railways have been justified on social grounds with bottomless subsidies given as a PSO (Public Service Obligation) and pensioners, irrespective of means given the “right” to free unlimited rail travel. Well, as Ireland has certainly found out recently, there is no such thing as a free lunch and somebody has had to pay for “free travel.”
Irish Railway Safety Scandal

Irish Railway Safety Scandal

Daithai C

daithaic.blogspot.com   |   the 29/08   |   Add or View Comment
DaithaiC says : The death of Teddy Kennedy is no doubt a momentous event and the Kennedy Family have always produced mixed feelings in Britain. Kennedy battled a malignant brain tumour first diagnosed in May 2008, which greatly limited his appearances in the Senate; though he survived longer than doctors first expected, he died just before midnight on August 25, 2009 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Here in the UK there is the legacy of their Patriarch “Ambassador” Joe Kennedy who was seen as anti-British and having written off Britain before World War II. A more considered view may have been surprised that had he not reacted well to the British Imperial proposition that because they were “superior” they were entitled to lift up the “White Man’s Burden” and rule a quarter of the world. Their Catholicism was resented in a Britain which still had a certain sectarian undercurrent, all the more so because they were wealthy and successful, and their support for Irish Nationalism stuck in the Great British craw. Not that anybody, whatever their viewpoint, can argue that the partition of a Small Island which was always united has been anything other than a disaster for Irish People, whatever their persuasion. But just as Doctors tell us we can’t defy nature so we can’t undo history.
Teddy Kennedy

Teddy Kennedy

Daithai C: Teddy Kennedy

daithaic.blogspot.com   |   the 28/08   |   Add or View Comment
DaithaiC says : Once upon a time, not too long ago, there were 27 unique narrow gauge railways and tramways in Ireland. The last of these to close was the West Clare Railway in 1961, a line immortalised in song and remembered by railway enthusiasts as a special railway with more than its fair share of lore and colourful stories which ran from Ennis, the county town of Clare through a unique landscape to the wild Atlantic coast at Kilkee and Kilrush. There it stopped for the next station would have been America! Ireland in the 1960’s was in a grip of an urge to modernise and railways were just so yesterday as the pork barrel politicians concentrated on road and buses and turning Ireland’s Georgian Heritage into a quarry for the client builders and developers who contributed to their political coffers. The legacy of these short sighted and economically illiterate policies can be seen today in “Gridlock Ireland” and the over 90 Bn Euros of toxic property “assets” the state is having to nationalise to preserve the Irish banking system. The Celtic Tiger has gone to the great cattery in the sky and the hapless Irish taxpayer is left holding worthless “assets” in Dubai, Bulgaria, London and the States whilst property speculators bellow from their mansions at the end of half mile long driveways that their “family homes” are sacrosanct!
West Clare Railway

West Clare Railway

Daithai C

daithaic.blogspot.com   |   the 27/08   |   Add or View Comment
Favorite topics
CONTACTS
All