Wheres me jumpa

Spending the weekend in Carlow generally means great dinners, all the dessert a man could ever want, cheap pints of Guinness, the occasional donation of food or household items for my place in Dublin, generally its a cheap and relaxing weekend.

I spent last weekend in Rome with Minnie so a wallet recharging weekend in Carlow was required. I was in the county all of 20 minutes when the Moon surface replica that is Carlow roads, struck. One of my Alfa alloys descended into a crevice so deep that molten magma was found at the base. The result was a loud banging noise which did not go away, as I hoped. Buckled rim, burst tyre.

A few phone calls and a friend was able to find me a replacement. But as with most car trouble, once you find one problem, the floodgates open. Turns out my back two tyres would make Kojak look like Chubacka. And I cant just put in a new tyre on the front, so 4 new tyres.

The mechanic I left it with also suggested that my timing belt should be done immediately. It is not due for another 5k but better safe than sorry. Its also due a service. So down a nice few quid.

I have returned to the pothole to take a picture. I have also taken a picture of the damage to the rim. I have also taken a copy of the bill to replace the tyre and rim. I will be submitting it to the local council office.

My sisters boyfriend is living my dream. He has acquired a Volkswagon Kombi van. For the past year or so he has been working on getting it roadworthy. Now the moment has come, where he can take to the road on this four wheeled legend!

On Thursday 29th May, the Carlow Bypass was officially opened. It ended months of speculation as to when the opening date was with several dates being mentioned. The bypass will form a section of a motorway linking Waterford to Dublin. A badly needed motorway at that.

For myself it means, if Im ever driving to Dublin I wont have to endure Carlow town. On a typical day this knocks 10-15 minutes off the journey to Dublin. However on say a Friday evening it could take up to 30 minutes to get through Carlow.

As I work in Carlow town, I will not be using it on a daily basis. So I decided to take a drive along it today and it looks very impressive. Speed limit is currently 100 kmph, Im not sure if this is how it will remain. Also the speed limits on the demoted regional roads have not yet been updated in terms of signs to 80 kmph.

One thing I did notice is that the bypass means other routes into Carlow have the potential for more traffic. I left the bypass and headed for Carlow Town on the Tullow/Wexford road. This road really needs improving, particular as you come into the town along by Lidl, Closh and past the Tesco /New Oak entrance.

It will be interesting to see the impact this has on the town and also its surrounding areas. With the amount of exits it opens up new potential business locations that were previously remote locations.