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MAYDAY 2000.
Failte,
and many of them to you all! 
Failte, to you all wherever you are in this shrinking planet....
Kiely's Comments and your own very own interactive Waterford & County Weekly are here once again.
Easter has been and gone, and May (Once a popular name for girls in this part of the world) is upon us once again..
Down this way, the cheery blossom trees have just burst open for their few days of glorious splendour, the odd bicycle and veteran hitchiker superb, Tommy Parker are all on the streets again.
Everywhere Kiely looks around the county there are people licking ice creams... a sure sign that summer will soon be here at last...
Dungavan has just finished its very successful, four day Fiele na nDeise and today it was Waterford's turn to show itself off with street pagents and plenty of free street entertainment, pity they were not as successful at the match up in Galway.
But first.... Regardless of the sunny weather Kiely has had to sit down and type out these few words and scan in some more pics for you all once again...
A thankyou to all who have sent and are still sending Kiely real postcards for his new homepage which has already been awarded three shamrocks by Telecom's Doras... more later...
To start off this week we have a story about how a couple from the States used a lady in Canada to tell them what it was like in a guesthouse in County Waterford! Puzzled? .....Read on!....
Booking Up Your Ideas!
One time if you wanted to choose a holiday you would probably
visit a travel agent, check out a newspaper advert or travel
brochure, then book up on trust and hope that when you reached
your destination that the accommodation and food was as good as
the brochure or the travel agent promised, and you hoped that
your room would be clean and spotless. 
Sometimes on arrival in a strange town or country you could be delighted, other times disappointed, disgusted or even worse, but the risks are fast disappearing for those linked up, and competent with the use of the Internet.
In just a few minutes its now possible to get loads of info about even a tiny place you intend to visit half way across the world, including pictures and sound or even a short video clip.
Those familiar with the use of email and news groups can now often check out a place they wish to stay at by e mailing a previous guest for information.
This recently happened to Will and Marjorie Jankiewicz who had written in the traditional way to June and John Powers Guest House in Deerpark, Lismore after seeing it advertised on the Internet.
June then asked Pat Kiely if he could reply on her behalf to the J’s mail address in the USA as she was not yet online herself. Kiely did this the same day and suggested that the J’s check out with the Finlayson family, who stayed at the Power’s guest house last year.
Susan Finlayson in Canada, gave them a glowing report and recommendation about her visit to Lismore and where she stayed, and on the strength of this the J’s contacted June Power by phone and made a firm booking.
The couple recently visited Kiely to say thanks for a most enjoyable time in Lismore.
Will Jankiewicz worked as a type setter for the Keane Sentinel Newspaper in his home town in the USA since 1955 when he started work there as a trainee compositor.
Will said he admired the quality of the display and colour pictures in the Dungarvan Observer (The paper where Kiely writes his column) which he said were excellent.
His parents were originally from Poland and he has no Irish connections that he knows of, but his wife Marjorie who has just retired from her office job, has distant Irish relatives on one side of her family.
One thing the couple do share though, is the Polish Polka which they dance together every month at a dance hall in they regularly attend.
‘UNCLE PADDY!' (Photos
Single man, Paddy Leahy (77) of Tallow, has been called ‘Uncle Paddy,’ by Jim Fitzgerald and his family of New Street, ‘Botany,’ Lismore, for as long as they can remember.
‘They say blood is thicker than water, but in Paddy’s case I think that might be a contradiction.’ said Jim, as he and Paddy recently shared their memories with Kiely over coffee in Keniry’s, well known Tallow pub.
Our own children and now, even our grandchildren regard him as a relative, said Jim, who added, that ‘Uncle Paddy,’ has also attended at least three of our family’s weddings, several funerals and loads of christenings over the years.
‘He went to the same school in Tallow as my dad Declan.
He knew my grandparents Jim and Hanna Fitzgerald, and still clearly remembers my grandmother, who was a well known local Tallow character, and he has known me, since birth .’
‘When I was quite small, in the 1950s my parents moved to England to look for employment, but accommodation was very difficult to find in those times for Irish people especially those with a baby, so they left me here with my aunt Nellie Walsh(nee Coleman) , and my granny, Ellen Coleman, intending to collect me later. ‘
‘Time passed, and when my granny died, I stayed on here
with my aunt Nellie (featured in this column a few months ago)
who was like a second Mam to me and I never did go over to join
them, but all through my childhood I remember ‘Uncle Paddy,’
kept in contact with me,’Jim said. 
Paddy continued the story:
‘After Jim’s parents married, they moved to Lismore where Jim was born, and I used to regularly cycle the three or four miles from Tallow to see them.
I continued to visit Jim and his relatives in Lismore regularly, after his parents moved over to England, until I went over there myself. ’ he said. ’
‘I remember Jim had a fascination for cycle lamps when he was just 5 or 6 years old, and when I used to visit his aunt’s house in Parks Road, he would wait until my back was turned and then take the lamp off my bike and disappear off with it to explore any dark nooks and crannies that he could find.'
'When it was time for me to cycle back to Tallow, my cycle lamp would be replaced on my bike, but the battery would be flat, and I would have to go back along that dark road without a light,’ added Paddy with a smile.
‘Although I went to the Tallow National School with Jim’s dad, Declan Fitzgerald, Paddy continued, it was not until we were teenagers that we became great friends.
We used to go off to the local dance halls together, and it was at one of these dances that Declan met Jim’s Mam, Alice (Coleman).’
Reflecting on his own childhood, Jimmy then asked Paddy if he could remember taking him , to ‘Teasy Mead’s’ shop in Main Street, Lismore, was near to where John O’Gorman’s newsagents shop is today.
‘Meads used to sell everything you could imagine in that little shop from a pencil to a musical instrument, Jim said, as well as toys and sweets, and I recall when I was no more than 5 or 6 years old, wanting this plastic toy roundabout very badly.’
‘ After quite a bit of gentle persuasion you agreed to buy it for me, it was about 3 pounds, a lot those times.
When we got to the shop however, the roundabout had been sold, and I was really disappointed.’
It was around the time of this incident in the 1950s that Paddy Leahy moved away to England and got a job with British Rail where he worked on maintenance for many years, living quite near to Jim’s parents and Jim’s younger sister Eileen in London.
‘My sister once told me you spoiled her rotten as well,’Jim added with a grin.
Paddy kept in regular contact with Jim by letter over the years, and when he used to return home on holidays he would always bring presents etc back with him.
Earlier in the conversation, Paddy had spoken about Jim’s granny Hanna Fitzgerald, a local Tallow character, who had 14 children, and still loved to get up and dance even when in her 80s.
‘They say she took out all her own teeth, and never visited a dentist in her long life, and she lived to be almost a hundred,’ said Paddy.
‘I remember one story I heard tell about her, when she was well on in years, that after obtaining a copy somewhere of the infamous book, ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover.’ which had just been taken off the banned book list in England after a sensational court case, she was supposed to have asked the local Priest if he had ever read it.’
‘That remark must have raised a few eyebrows in Tallow at the time, Paddy said, and the priest’s answer is not recorded!’
Before we left Keniry's pub, Jim said that one of his happiest memories as a boy was getting a lift over to Tallow on a Saturday, to see his ‘uncle Paddy.’
On another Saturday, many years later Jim met his wife Nellie at the Arch Dance Hall, a local hop, which was held in what is now the community centre building in Tallow.
Kiely forgot to ask if ‘Uncle Paddy,’ if he was at Jim’s wedding, but I suspect he was! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A MAN WHO KNOWS HIS STUFF!
Photo: Tom Kearney and Van!
Talking of new things...Tom Kearney, a native of Ballyduff is
just the man to get your appliances working like new again in
just a few minutes, as he recently proved when he called to Kiely’s
cottage to repair his broken down central heating system. 
Within just a few minutes Tom had detected the cause of the ignition not sparking and had it sparking away perfectly, just in time to heat up Kiely’s abode before the last cold spell of weather.
Tom has been self employed for the last three years and is very busy working around the Ballyduff and Lismore area.
BIG TURN OFF!
Last week, 24th to 30th of April, 18 million people in 30 countries around the world turned off their TV sets in what has become known during the last five years as ‘No Television Week.’
The movement was founded by a group of concerned people who wanted to rediscover family life without the intrusion of television, and to experience what they had long lost, since TV had become so dominant in their lives.
Figures for those abstaining in Waterford and County for the week in our cable and satellite TV watching nation are not available, but with as many as 250 channels bouncing into Irsih homes everyday, surely we need to ration the amount of this ‘electronic junk food,’ we feed ourselves and our children with each day.
Our Blessed Lady allegedly said in a private message to a man visiting Melleray Grotto which is near Cappoquin, a few years ago, that TV was like a 'child molester in the home.'
Unfortunately its all too easy for many of today’s over worked and overstressed parents to allow the television and video recorder and even the computer to become a child’s ‘uncensored,’ baby-sitter .
TV addicts are often described as ‘couch potatoes,’ lets hope that the moral blight that TV addition can produce will not be the cause of a spiritual famine in the future!
A BIRTHDAY PARTY AND A NIGHT TO REMEMBER!
PHOTO Left to right.
Philip Foley, Nora Green, Michael Foley, Anne Coleman, Mary O Dwyer, David Foley
Front Row...(Dad) Patrick Foley. 
On Saturday 8th April, widower Patrick Foley originally from Round Hill but now resident at St Carthage’s Home, Lismore celebrated his 80th birthday in style at the Lismore Hotel.
After a few drinks in the bar, Patrick was treated by his loving family to a slap up meal in the hotel restaurant, which was attended by six of his seven grown up children and their partners, some of his 25 grandchildren and even one of his 15 great grandchildren, baby Emma, as well as by close family friends and well wishers who had all gathered together in the packed room to give Patrick a party to remember
Patrick who was featured in this column last year, thoroughly enjoyed the night and the rousing recitation of happy birthday sang by all present.
Six of Patrick’s seven children still live in Ireland and one son Patrick ‘Pakie’ who is married and living in London was unfortunately unable to attend.
Emails.
Chris Lennon emailed from Britain to say,
'Its good to see the town (Lismore) looking so tidy. Jim Slogg and Paddy the Gas would have liked it but Mrs Cooney may not have
News of the Strand and the Warren would be interesting.
In case your readers are wondering, I spent my holidays in Lismore in the 1960 s.
Best wishes,
Chris Lennon.
Thanks a million to the following for sending real postcards to Kiely..
Brigid Guoirimo...........Falmouth.....Cape Cod.........USA
Angela Johanson........ Burlington.. San Francisco . .USA.
Susan Finlayson. ........Vancouver . . .. . .... . . .....Canada
Ann Llambi............. ..Gold Coast .....................Australia.
James E Sinnot....... ...Spokane....Washington, .......USA.
Clara Burke Byrne.... Newfoundland,.................Canada.
Sandy (Kiely) Hunter...N.W. Indiana......................USA.
Julie Lawry..........Dunedin...........................NewZealand.
Mary Ann Mc Clellan..Linwood..NJ...................... USA
Tom Kiely............Sligo...................................... Ireland
Tony Kiely........ Prague, Berlin.Ceska Rep....+ Germany
Kevin Moloney....... California....San Diego............USA
McGrath family ......Westborough)..Mass...............USA
Fred &Cindy Bell.....Winsconsin....Green Bay.........USA
R. Kormska ..........Winsconsin ...............................USA
Beverly A.Hannon.....Anamosa........Iowa................USA
and thanks to the 50 + of you who have recently signed Kiely's guestbook so far.
Hello to Charlie and Cynthia Baumhauser. Charlie reckons where they live in Mobile Alabama is the wettest place in the USA.....EVEN wetter than County Waterford where he and Cynthia intend to move to live later in the year! (Can't be wetter than Ireland Charlie!)
Hello to Sue in Western Australia and Gig in the USA who say they just 'luvv' my accent after hearing my recent Easter voice message!!!
Well, the clock has beaten me once again.
So finally,finally, finally.....
Thanks once again to all who subscribed, signed the guestbook, sent postcards or emailed..and as they say down this way...
Thanks a million!
There will be more name mentions next week,and Remember you must go on-line to see the photos....
See 'ya all next week. God bless, Pat.
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COPYRIGHT 1999-2000 All written work and images are copyright Pat Kiely........Lismore...Ireland. email patkiely@eircom.net