Sounds of the kitchen in Paul O’Mahony’s House:  Tuesday around 8am. 

Paul is distracted by work for OneCountryOneWorld Toastmasters club members

You hear Paul O’Mahony driving into the heat - driving towards Cobh Golf Club. 

Photo taken from The Irish Times

You hear Paul O’Mahony welcoming the arrival of the collection of haiku edited by Gabriela Marie Milton, published by Literary Revelations (ISBN 9798999732576).

Paul reads the group of his five haiku included in the collection, on page 73. 

You hear Paul O’Mahony waxing lyrically about transcription provided by Voice Record Pro app.  

“I almost forgot what I wanted to talk about.

I wanted to tell you the story of what's happened to an app on which I use, almost every day, called voice record pro, sometimes called voice record pro seven.

Something wonderful has happened.

Out of the blue, I had no idea it was coming.

Transcription comes.

And it's fast, fast, fast.

You can record your audio.

Press the transcription, and it'll be there in seconds.

Now, for years I've been using this app.

And for years, the transcription's been no good.

Okay, all transcriptions are inaccurate.

But it takes forever, takes forever, up until what, 3 days ago or something like that?

I tell you, there isn't a better app on which to record audio, and if there is in your opinion, something superb, something that you rate out of this world, please mention it.

Please send me some kind of information about it.

I would really like that because I'm fully prepared to give another app a go.

Absolutely, fully prepared to download another app, try it out, give it a fair chance.

But this is coming to you via voice record pro and I might even transcribe it and put it in the notes that go along with this podcast episode, which I'll put up on audioboom back to the studio.”

You hear Paul O’Mahony reporting on the latest situation
“Hello and welcome to my kitchen, where I've been doing research.
As far as I found out, the UK government is doing nothing significant to reduce the cost of fuel or diesel to compensate or support the businesses that are dependent on these. That means farmers, truck drivers and private bus drivers. There seems to be general societal peace, no roadblockages, no long queues outside petrol stations - nor fuel shortages.

According to what I've been able to find out, via Internet, BBC News app, and artificial intelligence, all's well in UK.

All is not well in Ireland.
Big meeting this afternoon between government and 2 or 3 representative organisations.
Probably, some spokespersons from those blocking roads will be at the meeting - if they were members of the Irish Farmers Association or Road Hauliers 

I had conversation this morning about how much it would cost the government to peg or reduce the price of fuel down to €1.90 per litre for diesel, and €1.60 for petrol.

(Diesel is currently €2.10, petrol €1.95) -  but few can get fuel because protesters are blocking roads.

One person said the government can't do that because it would cost a billion a week (or 1 billion a month).

I went to sources, 2 artificial sources, DeepSeek sink &  ChatGPT.

According to Deep Seek, it would cost the Exchequer €80-120 million for 3 months.

Chat GPT said it would cost 300 million per year for petrol, for all diesel €275m -  €575m per year.

Both went into detail on how they did their calculations.

Chat GPT is estimating what the cost would be to the annual exchequer. The answer it comes up with is roughly €39m per year.
Correction: 

Including excise duty, cost would be between €80 - 90m a year.

ChatGPT is now offering information on a 25% reduction across the board. It says that overall -  when you include transport, farming, and home heating, you're talking nearly €2 billion a year.

Divide by 52 to to estimate how much revenue the government will lose per week. How much less investment is available for roads, hospitals, schools, social welfare, et cetera. 

Ireland has a massive stash of money in some kind of escrow account which has been collected Google, Apple foreign direct investment. There’s no doubt the money is there. However  the consequences of releasing  money from that fund, we call the Rainy Day Fund, is beyond me to calculate.

Here's the news update.

There's a big meeting this afternoon, and goodness knows what will be the outcome of it”

in relation to the protests, Road blockages, and fuel shortage in Ireland at 1 pm on 10th of April 2026.

You hear Paul O’Mahony giving his speech at the Area International Speech Final” in Garryvoe Hotel in East Cork.
#Toastmasters

You hear Paul O’Mahony reading a poem he selected - may be first in a series “Poems for Bedtime” 
This is an extract from “Gravity and Light”.

You hear Paul O’Mahony using quotations from the Irish government announcement of a public holiday:
In January 2022, then-Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar announced the new holiday, stating: "This new public holiday will be a national day to recognise the efforts of the general public, volunteers and all workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in remembrance of people who lost their lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Paul argues that (unfortunately) the purpose of the public holiday is gradually being forgotten- being wiped from public consciousness. 

You hear Paul O’Mahony talking while driving his new car from the ‘showroom’ to home.  It’s an electric one. #Audio365

A penny for the Old Guy

You might forget the exact sound of her voice
or how her face looked when sleeping.
You might forget the sound of her quiet weeping
curled into the shape of a half moon,

when smaller than her self, she seemed already to be leaving
before she left, when the blossom was on the trees
and the sun was out, and all seemed good in the world.
I held her hand and sang a song from when I was a girl -

Heel y'ho boys, let her go boys -
and when I stopped singing she had slipped away,
already a slip of a girl again, skipping off,
her heart light, her face almost smiling.

And what I didn't know or couldn't say then
was that she hadn't really gone.
The dead don't go till you do, loved ones.
The dead are still here holding our hands.

Quarantine

In the worst hour of the worst season

Wild geese

Oh my goodness, what a treat.  I'm sitting in my kitchen drinking coffee with this amazing couple. By the way, they're not a couple but an amazing two people who come to carry a sofa out of my house before my wife comes back here.  what is this man Gustavo, born in Chile - I have no idea how long he lived there - took himself off to Sweden to study industrial design.  Can you believe he comes to Ireland in the middle of his studies, and what does he do? He goes and works in Ballymaloe, the very famous slow food destination in Ireland, the most famous in terms of Irish quality food.  What does he do there? Instead of becoming a behind the scenes Chilean and Swedish chef, he becomes a nanny.  (I'm about to introduce you to him in a second.)  Next he takes himself off to muck out horses in Hyde's Equestrian in Cork. I have the owner of Hyde's Equestrian here with him, but first of all Gustavo welcome to Ireland.

Gustavo was on residency in Sweden.  To comply with Visa requirements he had to leave Sweden and go somewhere else for three months or 90 days or whatever the Visa is.  I have loads and loads and loads of cousins. One of my cousins is married to Ted who's Swedish. Gustavo knows Ted and knows his parents.  They decided Gustavo would go to Ballymaloe to work for another cousin of mine Roche is married to Ted this Swedish and that he'd work for her brother Darren in Ballymaloe helping out with the kids.  A few things just changed there and last week Darren rang me when I was rushing out the door.  He started to tell me about Gustavo and I said "Send him up and I'll sort him out".    We were up to our eyeballs with horses that needed to be looked after.  Gustavo had no experience at all with horses  - never even touched a horse. He rolled up his sleeves and dived in. I told him to spend the first day watching and learning because we hardly had time to train him.  I said just watch watch watch watch and be very conscious of your safety.   Now that the weather is a little bit better - he's absolutely fine and delighted to have him to help us out in the yard.  

1. Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
   
   
   • Song: Melodic and sweet, with varied phrases.
   • Active: Year-round, often one of the most vocal birds in winter.
2. Blackbird (Turdus merula)
   
   
   • Song: Rich, flute-like notes, but may be less common as they sing more in spring and summer.
   • Calls: You might hear alarm calls or chatter rather than full songs.
3. Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
   
   
   • Song: Loud, complex, and surprisingly powerful for its size.
   • Active: Wrens often remain vocal even in winter.
4. Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
   
   
   • Song: High-pitched, repetitive calls and chirps.
   • Active: Frequently heard flitting through trees.
5. Great Tit (Parus major)
   
   
   • Song: Two-note "teacher-teacher" call and other variations.
   • Active: Vocal year-round.
6. Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)
   
   
   • Song: Repetitive phrases; often subdued in winter but occasionally heard.
   • Calls: Sharp "tic" calls.
7. European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
   
   
   • Song: Complex mix of whistles, clicks, and mimicry.
   • Active: May sing from roosting spots.
8. Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
   
   
   • Song: Cheerful, descending "chip-chip-cheerio" song, though less common in winter.
   • Calls: Sharp "pink-pink" calls are typical.