Donal » UK http://www.donal.ie Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:43:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The Magic Numbers at Band on the Wall http://www.donal.ie/2009/12/05/the-magic-numbers-at-band-on-the-wall/ http://www.donal.ie/2009/12/05/the-magic-numbers-at-band-on-the-wall/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:25:17 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/?p=767

A few weeks ago I headed over to Manchester for a spot of footie and looked up gig listings for the weekend.  I spotted that The Magic Numbers were playing on the Sunday night so I thought why not?  I didn’t really know much of their stuff but I had heard some songs.  It’s always great to go to a gig with little expectation and be subsequently blown away by the buzz and atmosphere that they generate.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable gig and for those of you luck enough to get a ticket to see them tonight in The Opera House here in Cork as part of the Murphy’s Little Big Nights Out campaign, enjoy!  I, along with 7000 others apparently, unfortunately got a lovely rejection email from Murphy’s.  It felt like a PFO for a job application!

Just a short note on the venue, Band on the Wall, it looks like it has a great line-up with different types of music going on there all the time.  Well worth checking out if you’re in Manchester.

Lots more photos in the full set on Flickr.

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2009/12/05/the-magic-numbers-at-band-on-the-wall/feed/ 0 London Eye: Up Close and Personal http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/04/london-eye-up-close-and-personal/ http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/04/london-eye-up-close-and-personal/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2007 07:18:31 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/04/london-eye-up-close-and-personal/ London Eye

Final pictures from the London Eye, until the next time I’m in London at least.  These shots seemed to have been over-exposed but I quite like the way they look as if it’s a film negative.  I exposed for the available light on manual but the lit-up sections came out much brighter than expected. 

London Eye

See all the shots from my brief trip to London. 

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/04/london-eye-up-close-and-personal/feed/ 0 Stomp at the Vaudeville http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/03/stomp-at-the-vaudeville/ http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/03/stomp-at-the-vaudeville/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2007 07:32:22 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/03/stomp-at-the-vaudeville/ Stomp

While over in London, we went along to see Stomp at the Vaudeville.  This long-running has been in Cork but it was my first time seeing it and I resisted taking photographs until close to the end.  A thoroughly enjoyable show, or more eloquently put: “Stomp ist wieder in der Stadt, und das Haus tobt” (see final picture). 

Stomp

Stomp

Stomp

Stomp

Stomp

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/03/stomp-at-the-vaudeville/feed/ 2 London Eye Revisited http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/02/london-eye-revisited/ http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/02/london-eye-revisited/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:32:41 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/02/london-eye-revisited/ London Eye

In keeping with the current London Eye theme, here’s another picture of this wonderful structure.  Cork has it’s very own “Eye” at the moment… Well OK it’s Funderland down at the Showgrounds but it has a big wheel!  Must get a photo and do a comparison. 

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/02/london-eye-revisited/feed/ 3 London Eye by Night http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/01/london-eye-by-night/ http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/01/london-eye-by-night/#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:00:31 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/01/london-eye-by-night/ London Eye

After approaching the London Eye I took a few close up shots. We didn’t stay too long because it was freezing cold and it was eerily quiet there at about 2am. I’m not sure how safe it is do be around this area at this time of night, especially with a full-size tripod and taking thirty second exposure shots!

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2007/04/01/london-eye-by-night/feed/ 5 Approaching the London Eye http://www.donal.ie/2007/03/31/approaching-the-london-eye/ http://www.donal.ie/2007/03/31/approaching-the-london-eye/#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:38:23 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2007/03/31/approaching-the-london-eye/ London Eye

Last weekend I was over in London for a short break with C.  The weather wasn’t great so I had to make do with a few night shots and a few sneaky shots at Stomp, to come in the next few days.

We got a great deal on LastMinute.com where we booked our hotel the night before leaving.  Managed to get a 4 star hotel for the price of a normal hotel in London.  It wasn’t far from this spot if you know London…

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2007/03/31/approaching-the-london-eye/feed/ 5 Do Not Buy CDWow Vouchers … until you read this http://www.donal.ie/2006/09/15/do-not-buy-cdwow-vouchers/ http://www.donal.ie/2006/09/15/do-not-buy-cdwow-vouchers/#comments Fri, 15 Sep 2006 07:14:05 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2006/09/15/do-not-buy-cdwow-vouchers/ Update: Before you read the following, let me make it clear that I like CDWow as a company and continue to use their services. However, I have a problem with their slightly annoying terms and conditions on the use of vouchers.  Read on…

It’s a scam. No more, no less. Read this if you are considering buying CDWow vouchers as a present.

I have been a fan of CDWow and have bought many CDs from them over the years and recently I was given a present of €100 worth of vouchers, 2 €20 vouchers and 2 €30 vouchers. Fantastic, I thought. So a few months on, mindful of the 6 month limit of the vouchers I picked out CDs totalling €99.16. I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over the extra 84c.

So I add the CDs to the cart and go to the checkout and redeem my voucher but then I find that once I have redeemed one voucher I cannot redeem another one. It’s painfully obvious at this stage that you can only redeem one voucher. So I politely contact customer service at CDWow.

Sent: 14 September 2006 17:07
To: help@cd-wow.com
Subject: Customer mail – RE.C/S General
The following customer mail was received:

Name: Donal O Caoimh
Email: myemailadress
User Number:
Site: www2.cdwow.ie

Body of message follows:

Name: Donal O CaoimhEmail Address: myemailadress
Comments: Hi,

I have €100 worth of vouchers which I want to spend on various CDs. However, I can only use one voucher at a time so, as I’ve found out, I used one €30 voucher and it now has about €6 left on it but I can’t add my other vouchers to this, can I? I don’t want to spend money using vouchers as this money has already been given to you!

Hope there is a way around this.

Regards.

Donal

In return, I got the even politer reply:

Hi Donal,

Thanks for your e-mail message.

I can confirm that you can only redeem one voucher per order.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused to you on this occasion.

If there is anything else we can do for you please don’t hesitate to get
back to us.

Kind regards
Mark.R
http://www.cd-wow.com/

This is not just an inconvenience, it’s a scam. I do a quick calculation and work out that to use the full balance on my four different vouchers I would need to buy an extra 2 CDs from CDWow. Oh, and I’d also need to spend an extra €23.14 to get full use of the vouchers, vouchers which have already been paid for. I don’t like the sound of this so I make some suggestions to CDWow.

—–Original Message—–
From: Donal O Caoimh [mailto:myemailadress]
Sent: 14 September 2006 22:06
To: reply@cd-wow.com
Subject: Re: CD WOW! Query
Hi Mark R.,

Thank you for your reply. However, I would like to take issue with this scenario.

As most of your CDs cost €11.99 at the moment, a €20 voucher is only good for one CD purchase, where a €30 voucher is only good for 2 such priced CDs. Then, you are left the situation of buying another CD using your own money. I am not going to spend more money than that given to me as a gift voucher.

I have an account with you so why can’t I just redeem my vouchers against this account and buy my CDs that way? Alternatively, I would be happy to redeem my vouchers against one single €100 voucher which I could then use to buy the CDs I have picked out already.

I look forward to your response.
Donal
http://donal.wordpress.com/

But they were having none of this. Their short response didn’t take me up on either of my solutions.

Hi Donal,

Thanks for your e-mail message.

I can confirm that our Terms and Condition state that only one voucher can be used per order.

My apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Kind Regards

Craig
http://www.cd-wow.com/

So, I go and look at their terms and conditions and sure enough, there it is in black and white, albeit two clicks away hidden behind the Useful Info link on the sidebar.

Gift Voucher redemption
Only one gift voucher per person can be redeemed per transaction. We cannot allow more than one gift voucher to be redeemed per transaction.

There it is, so good they state it twice. But gift vouchers, by their very nature are, well, gifts. The person making use of them will not have read the terms and conditions. The highest denomination gift voucher available is a €30 voucher so you cannot get one €100 voucher which could be redeemed in one transaction.

My next email to CDWow will be to ask them to refund the €100 in full and I’ll just buy the CDs using the €100.

On the CDWow gift voucher page:

“The pleasure is in the giving”

Well, the pleasure is all theirs.

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2006/09/15/do-not-buy-cdwow-vouchers/feed/ 18 Fancy Some Johnny Cash? http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/06/fancy-some-johnny-cash/ http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/06/fancy-some-johnny-cash/#comments Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:57:22 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/06/fancy-some-johnny-cash/ Johnny Cash

A street trader in London who had an assortment of Johnny Cash albums but I resisted.  I’m glad I did as I’m going to treat myself to the new album American V – A Hundred Highways.  I heard one song off it last week and even though it was recorded close to his death, Johnny still had it.  One of a few artists I wish I had seen live, Nina Simone being another notable one.

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/06/fancy-some-johnny-cash/feed/ 5 Shoreditch Station Closes Down http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/05/shoreditch-station-closes-down/ http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/05/shoreditch-station-closes-down/#comments Wed, 05 Jul 2006 07:40:37 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/05/shoreditch-station-closes-down/ Shoreditch Station

Shoreditch Station closed down on the 9th of June. I was only on this train once but it was an end of an era for anyone living there.  Here are a few pictures from the station on its last day.

Shoreditch Station

Shoreditch Station

And finally, one of the last trains to leave Shoreditch.  The last one was about an hour later than this I think and the place was already full of people taking photos.

Shoreditch Station

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]]> http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/05/shoreditch-station-closes-down/feed/ 0 No 1 London Bridge http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/04/no-1-london-bridge/ http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/04/no-1-london-bridge/#comments Tue, 04 Jul 2006 07:40:24 +0000 Donal http://www.donal.ie/2006/07/04/no-1-london-bridge/ Looking up at No 1 London Bridge.
London Bridge

A building across the way from No 1 reflected in the windows.
London Bridge

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