Update for People left behind

2021-08-12T11:35:00.000+01:00

Does this look like gobbledygook to you? It's the foundation for the new Listowel Characters mural on Mill lane. Work on the mural by Mack Signs started this week, August 9 2021.

It has been brought to my attention that some of my blog followers here did not come with me to Wordpress.

You will have to go listowelconnection.com

and you will have to submit your email address again if you would like to continue getting email alerts when I post a new blogpost.

AND You'll be able to make sense of the above gobbledygook.

Important Development for Listowel Connection

2021-05-12T07:30:00.093+01:00

The Way Forward for Listowel Connection

The story so far

Listowel Connection posted for the first time in August 2011. For the best part of the past 10 years I have posted almost daily on weekdays.

This is the first photo I posted on Listowel Connection.

Here is how I stated my aim for the blog;

"What I intend to do with this blog is to post news from Listowel along with some of my photos and every now and again to post some old stories, anecdotes and anything else I find interesting. "

Nothing much has changed in the ten years.

From the start I have written the posts using Google Blogger. This is a very simple to use free blogging tool and it has served me well for 10 years.

If you so wish, each new post is delivered to your email inbox by another free service from Google called Google FeedBurner.

Now you and I know that there is no such thing as a free lunch. I expected that Google would eventually charge for hosting the blog and emailing it to subscribers. I was wrong.

Hosting on Blogger is still free but instead of charging for the FeedBurner service they have decided to discontinue it. From next month, June 2021, people who used to get the Listowel Connection email every morning from Google Feedburner will no longer do so.

This development made me rethink things. I felt it was a time to put the blog on a more secure footing, one where the rug couldn't be pulled at short notice.

THEN

I remembered a lovely young man who had approached me once during Writers' Week a good few years ago. He told me that he thought what I was doing was a valuable service. He asked me if I had backed up the material. I hadn't. He told me that if I ever wanted help archiving the material from the site or if there was any other way he could help me, he would.

Who was this knight in shining armour?

He is Alan Groarke, formerly of Moyvane and now of Denver, Colerado. Alan has his own internet company

Koality Web solutions

Alan gave me his business card that day and I kept it safely for all these years.

So this is where I turned for my next move.

On Alan's invaluably detailed advice and helped by my son, Bobby,

I am (more correctly, Bobby is) effecting a big change.

The Future

I have bought the domain, Listowel Connection and this will be my new home.

I am proud to say that Bobby is a young man of infinite patience. He has transferred all the old material from Blogger to Wordpress. There were 2406 posts!

We are now leaving Google behind and going to our new home with

Blacknight

What is Changing?

For you, very little unless you depend on the Google Feedburner email to access the blog.

Lads, I am now in very unfamiliar territory, knee-deep in Widgets and Plugins.

Bobby has inserted a widget into our new site which lets you subscribe to an email service, similar to Feedburner.

Don't be frightened by the word subscribe, it's free.

Here is what to do ;

1. Go with a click to Listowel Connection

2. On the right hand side, if you scroll down a little bit, you will see this text

Subscribe to blog via email

3. Fill in your email address into the little box.

4. Click Subscribe.

5. You will receive a confirmation email. Follow the instructions and you will receive an email with each new post.

The Immediate Future

I will have to take a bit of time out to learn how to use Wordpress. Blogger was very easy, "Intuitive" is the word they use nowadays. Wordpress is just different.

It has lots more features, most of which I will probably never use.

We know what the old adage says about an old dog and new tricks! This old dog is needing a bit of time to acclimatise to my new surroundings

My firm resolve is to be back to you as soon as possible in our new shiny, all mine site.

Meanwhile

All 10 years of the old content is available to you

HERE

The posts will probably stay up on Blogger as well for the foreseeable future.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement over the past ten years. I really hope that you follow me over to Wordpress and Blacknight.

And a big thank you to Alan and Bobby for all your help this far. You'll probably be hearing some more pleas for help in the future.

Coffee, The Man's Shop and Some People I met in the Park

2021-05-11T07:30:00.079+01:00

Wake up and Smell the Coffee

There I was bowling along, listening to Pat Kenny and Prof. Luke O'Neill on Thursday May 6 2021, when Pat told us that studies had discovered that people who had lost their sense of smell due to Covid 19 had it restored by smelling Turkish coffee. They also told us that your sense of taste is very closely bound up with your sense of smell so if you have lost both due to Covid it's worth a try at restoring them by smelling the coffee.

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The Mans Shop

Ned O'Sullivan shared this photo of his family shop William Street. It was taken in 1963.

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Out and About with Camera

It was lovely to run into friends I haven't seen in ages. We are all missing the attentions of professional hairdressers.

Jim and Liz Dunn were making a rare foray into Listowel. I was pleased to note that they are in good spirits, part vaccinated and looking forward to resuming their very busy lives.

Seán Treacy was sporting an impressive head of curls.

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Lovely New Coffee (and lots more) Shop in Ballybunion

They even have a little creche for your dog while you are indoors.

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*Look out for News of a moving house nature tomorrow*