Turas go Port Láirge. Ar an 15ú lá de mhí na Samhna chuaigh grúpa daltaí ón gceathrú bliain go Port Láirge chun taitneamh a bhaint as bheith ag caint as Gaeilge lasmuigh den seomra ranga. Bhailíomar le chéile ag ceathrú chun a hocht ag an scoil. D’fhágamar ag a hocht, nuair a bhí gach duine den 43 dalta i láthair. Bhí an aimsir ceomhar agus an trácht trom ach faoin am a shroicheamar An Trá Mhór ghlan an ceo agus tháinig an ghrian amach. Is é an chéad rud a bhí le déanamh againn ná surfáil. Chuamar go dtí an scoil tonnmharcaíochta Freedom. Chuireamar éadai surfála orainn agus shiúlamar go dtí an trá. Ansan mhínigh na ceannairí dúinn cad a bhí le déanamh. Tar éis tamaill chuamar isteach san fharraige ar feadh uair a’ chloig. Bhí an-spórt againn. D’fhilleamar ar ais go dtí an bus agus d’itheamar ár lón ar an slí chuig Nemeton, is é sin comhlacht teilifíse a bhfuil freagarthacht orthu cláranna spóirt TG4 a dhéanamh – mar shampla Rugbaí Beo. Thaispeáin siad dúinn conas a oibríonn an comhlacht agus chonaiceamar na scannáin, an ‘set’ ina mbíonn na tráchtairí agus na satailítí go leir. Bhí sé an-suimiúil agus thaitin sé go mór linn. Ina dhiaidh seo thánamar abhaile ar an mbus. Bhain gach éinne taitneamh agus tairbhe as an lá, a bhuíochas leis na múinteoirí agus na daoine i Freedom agus Nemeton. Ta súil agam go mbeidh turas eile mar seo eagraithe arís mar is turas luachmhar é. Gavin O’...

In the mornings You make me eggs And rashers, just right Thin ‘n’ crispy, tasty, tasty And a mug of piping hot tea. Then we watch TV: I do impressions to make you laugh; “You should have been a mimic!” You say in fits of giggles. Then the Sunday papers. I watch my feet; They’re resting on your coffee table. I fall asleep....

San Marino is considered to be the oldest continuous country in the world. In 1993 Davide Gualtieri, a former Sammarinese forward for the national team, scored the quickest goal in professional football in a World Cup qualifier against England after eight seconds. England went on to win the game 7-1 but failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals in the United States. Brazil won it for the fourth time, and so are the country to win the World Cup most often, with five titles; Italy come next, with four. They won the 2006 World Cup in an epic game which featured French legend Zinedine Zidane head butting Marco Materazzi. So Zidane got sent off in his very last game for France. Italy’s win was overshadowed by this and a match fixing scandal involving Juventus, AC Milan and Fiorentina. Juventus come from the famous city of Turin, home to Fiat. Fiat recently took control of Detroit-based car company Chrysler. Chrysler was founded by the same man who built the art deco Chrysler Building in New York, which was at one point the tallest building in the world. It was overtaken by the more famous, and arguably uglier, Empire State Building. The Empire State Building is one of the most iconic buildings in America. Both are in the top 10 on the list of America’s Favourite Architecture, compiled by the American Institute of Architects. Another building on this list is the Lincoln Memorial. This honours the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, before he died, happily received an honorary citizenship to the small, European republic of San...

So, let me ask the question: what exactly is so bad about the recession? It’s a serious question. At the time of writing we have the Cypriots protesting, much to Turkey’s amusement, one might suspect. We have Greeks throwing bricks, furniture and anything else they can get their impoverished hands on. Here in old Eire we remain disgruntled yet docile and even show signs of having forgiven Fianna Fáil (my spell checker tells me the fada is not necessary.) But let’s consider the benefits of this catastrophe we have been thrown into by Seánie Fitzpatrick, Michael “Fingers” Fingleton et al. Firstly, day to day costs have come down in price (mostly.) Now, it is a pity chocolate is going up but, otherwise, we now have more competition between the German shops and our own over-priced ones. As the adverts tell you, vegetables can be bought for as little as twenty or thirty cents – ditto for clothes. Some prices may still be high but now the wool you could sheer off the old sheep yourself and knit for half nothing costs a lot less in the high street shops. However, we have learnt a bit of cop on (temporarily, at the very least.) Secondly, houses aren’t springing up like mushrooms. These days there are stricter regulations on one-offs and sprawling drug estates are not as numerous, though the ones currently around can be sorted easily, so quit complaining. During the Celtic Tiger money was as plentiful as jobs. Hence, on this understanding, ugly, often unpainted houses were built, notably in more rural areas. These were buildings which rivalled their 70s counterparts for the (un)coveted prize of ugliest architecture. If these houses were left unpainted they were nearly always suffocated in brickwork on the façade....

  Aaron McCarthy takes a look at a rather amusing, and surprising short story. Recently Cloud Of Think held a competition to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge. We were tasked with identifying the films from which the quotes (which had been translated into Irish) had originated. Fortunately I won and the prize I got was a book of short stories. Now, here’s a little secret: I probably wouldn’t go out and buy a book of short stories. Yet that’s the reason this prize was so great. It was something different and, as it turns out, something incredibly enjoyable. The first short story I’ve read from “Next Stop Hollywood“, edited by Steve Cohen, is a short story written by someone with an incredibly famous literary surname – E. E. King. Like the famous King who writes stories (Stephen King, if you haven’t clued guessed by now), E. E. has that rare ability to produce an entertaining read that flows extremely well, jumps off the page and has a few tricks up its sleeves. Her story is called Dirk Snigby’s Guide to the Afterlife and is an incredibly funny tale featuring a PR rep (we all hate them, right? Wrong! Dirk, as it turns out, is quite the character). Near the start of the story Dirk is called upon by someone who, it transpires, is called Lucifer…that’s right, he’s the devil. Now – in quite an ingenius twist – Lucifer asks Dirk to sell the concept of the different Heavens, because he’s fed up of so many people going to Hell. Therefore Dirk sets out on an odyssey which entails drawing up a five-star rating system for the different Heavens. These ratings are very clever, draw funny references to real-life religions, and act as a gentle breath of fresh...

In 2012 Ray Cooney founded a portal of creative thoughts known as Cloud Of Think. Aaron McCarthy is a  frequent contributor to the Cloud. In January 2013, Aaron published a modern “book-form” adaptation of the Shakespearean play “Macbeth“. Macbeth has been turned into a film many times including an adaptation by Roman Polanski. In 2011 Polanski directed and released the comedy film Carnage. Carnage stars Kate Winslet who got her boobs out for Titanic. In Titanic, Winslet’s character, Rose says, “Look Jack, I’m flying!” The Jack in question was played by Leonardo DiCaprio who recently starred in Django Unchained. Django Unchained was directed by Quentin Tarantino, who also directed the cult classic Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction features a song called Son of a Preacher Man. This song was performed by Stacey Solomon who came third in the 2009 X Factor. The year after Stacey, a boyband placed third in the X Factor. This boyband is known as One Direction. One Direction has five members: Liam Payne; Harry Styles (the one who went out with Taylor Swift); Louis Tomlinson; Zayn Malik and the naturally brown-haired, Irish, Niall Horan. One thing that Niall Horan, according to Twitter, does not want to talk about is his “opinion on GAA”. GAA stands for “Gaeilic Athletic Association” and in 2008 a Cork man was elected as its president. This man’s first name is Christy and he shares the same surname as another famous Corkonian, a teacher and writer known as Ray...