Follow the Irish Cops on Twitter!

Ireland's national police force, An Garda Siochana, have a very active and sometimes entertaining Twitter account.

Most of their notifications are mundane public safety and traffic announcements.

Dublin: Port Tunnel has re-opened.
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 16, 2015

Important, but not very exciting.

It's also nice to see the creative use of social media to return lost property.

Do you own this Raleigh bike recovered by Finglas Gardaí. To arrange to view please contact Finglas @ 01-6667500 pic.twitter.com/JUaN7yqURF
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 15, 2015

The preference, of course, would be to help curb the scourge that is bike theft in Dublin. But hey, they've started watching the bike rack outside their own police station more closely recently! Isn't that enough for you people?

No word yet on whether or not bike theft numbers are down outside the Pearse Street Garda Station, though. And the known stolen bike merchants continue to operate in broad daylight all over the...

Yes! More tweets from the friendly local police force. Thinkin' about doin' a bit o' drinkin' and drivin' home? Better think twice! The Guards'll nab you and put you on Twitter for your trouble!

Pearse St Traffic conducting Mat Checkpoint on Pembroke St. 44 tested/passed. Don't ever drink and drive! pic.twitter.com/ylUD26hzSw
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 13, 2015

Seriously, drinking and driving is dangerous and stupid. The force has been publicly cracking down on this menace recently with a blitz of TV and radio commercials and "safety checkpoints" on busy roads throughout the day. They have been pushing particularly hard to educate the public about the length of time alcohol stays in the system and impairs driving. A few hours of sleep and a cup of coffee after an all-nighter just isn't enough.

At these safety checks, the guards also make sure vehicles are properly registered and all safety functions are working correctly. If they aren't...

Car seized Lwr Rathmines Rd. No tax (08/14) no insurance. Obstructed cycle track attracting attention DMR Sth Traffic pic.twitter.com/is12EEoO5K
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 13, 2015

This pickup has bed held down with rope,a lamp,a banjaxed clutch,a trolley,no tax(since May 13),no DOE.Seized(again). pic.twitter.com/z0bq6lxgnH
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 13, 2015

Both cars on left seized in Waterford for no tax,insurance or NCT.Opel had none since 2012 & was doing school run pic.twitter.com/LdPzxIsfZK
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 12, 2015

It's healthy for a public police force to engage with the people they are sworn to protect and serve. This punishment by social media shaming might have a real future as a law enforcement tactic in the future. Can you imagine a judge one day ordering you to put "caught drinking and driving" on the top of your Facebook profile? How about mandatory mugshot selfies permanently pinned to your Twitter account?

Oh, and in case you were thinking about sharing that tweet while driving...

Roscommon Town - driver on mobile phone. FCPN issued pic.twitter.com/EvyLjrsBFM
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 12, 2015

Don't! Remember, if you mess with the Garda, you might get a swift kick of polite social media justice!

Actual Garda Bustin' Perps in Dublin Last Week

Happy Hallowe'en!

Today, much of the Western Christian world- and many non-Western countries by cultural rub-off- celebrate Halloween.

Roll the theme!

The word is sometimes spelled Hallowe'en, after a series of contractions. Let's work through them here. Hallow means sacred or holy, referring to the spirits of the dead. All Hallows Eve celebrates, you guessed it, all of the deceased ancestors and spirits. Eve is sometimes spelled even, which would have been contracted to e'en, with the apostrophe replacing the "v" sound. Take out the all and we get Hallowe'en. Boom.

Different countries and communities have widely-varying traditions around this changing-of-the-seasons time of year, but many of them have similar themes: Celebration and remembrance their ancestors, thanking the powers-that-be (God, gods, earth, spirits) for a bountiful and successful harvest, marking the changing of the season and the hours of daylight, and wishing for good fortune in the coming winter and following spring. In addition to the spiritual celebrations of Halloween night, we also have Diwali- the Indian festival of light, Dia de los Muertos- a Mexican celebration of deceased family, and a number of other festivals celebrated this time of year.

In ancient Ireland, the festival marked the coming of winter and its cold, crushing darkness. Ancestors were celebrated, but evil was also warded off with the carving of rutabagas into scary faces and the construction of huge bonfires to ward off darkness and to scare the evil spirits straight.

Archaeologists have found two probable sites for ancient Halloween celebrations: Tlachtga and the Hill of Tara. Both have structures pointing to the rising sun at the end of October and may have been used for celebrations of this autumn festival.

The vegetable carving survives today as the art of pumpkin carving, pumpkins being native to North America and thus not available to the ancient Gaels and later Celts of Ireland. The bonfire didn't make it over to mainstream North American Halloween celebrations, but young people in Ireland have kept this tradition alive, often building huge, unsafe fires in urban areas. Yikes.

Although technically illegal, bonfires in Ireland seem to be enforced just like drug dealing, illegal parking, and all other street crimes. They are discouraged, but not actively policed.

We might try some of these traditions this year, especially that of the fortune-telling bowl of colcannon. Simply, a trinket of some kind is mixed into a big bowl of colcannon (a mashed potato and cabbage mix) and the bowl is served to the party guests. Whoever gets the trinket gets good luck (or married, or will die, or any other superstition) for the next year. Cool!

However you celebrate the changing of the seasons, do so safely and responsibly! Happy Hallowe'en!

Wild Wallabies in Ireland!?

While doing some research for my Dublin eBook- specifically for the north-of-Dublin village of Howth- I stumbled upon an interesting little factoid: a population of wild wallabies has colonized Lambay Island, a small burg off the Irish coast north of Dublin.

www.broadsheet.ie/2012/06/01/the-wallabies-of-north-dublin/

Almost unbelievably, the wallabies were reportedly introduced to the island by Dublin Zoo as a way to humanely handle an unexpected population boom... in the 1980s!

I had to look around for confirmation of that- and I only found a few vague references to it. I certainly hope they are all wrong. Accidental introduction is a problem, but intentional colonization as late as the 1980s by an exotic species seems extremely irresponsible to the animals being introduced and the native animals hosting this new species.

Island ecosystems are as fragile as they come. I find it difficult to believe that zoo officials- presumably animal and ecosystem preservers- would do something with such potential for disaster as recently as this reported wallaby dump.

In any case, environmental soapbox speeches aside, the wallabies are there on the island and they seem to be sustaining a small breeding population. It seems that these shy marsupials are difficult to capture on film or photograph. The only pictures I could find are from the air or from a great distance.

www.skerriesseatours.ie/

The island is mostly privately-owned, and people can only visit via a special cruise package. Either way, let's hope this cute little invasion stays on the island- I'm sure mainland people don't want these guys hopping around their back gardens!