John Ó'Ríordáns Blog

I went to see Rammstein in Cleveland over the weekend. Best gig ever! I highly recommend anyone go and see them. If their music is a little heavy for you you should still go as the stage show is fantastic! I’ve a video below if you want to get a taste. Sorry about the sound quality for some reason my HTC Sensation records crappy sound at concerts.

Rammstein in Cleveland

So it’s been a year in Canada already. I must admit I didn’t like it at the start but I think that’s where we were living. It was pretty boring. A few things still bug me but that’s the same everywhere I get. No where is perfect. Moving to Toronto should really make the experience more positive. Her are some pictures from our first year in no particular order.

Canada Year One

Our Car. Mazda 3. With a manual gearbox and Irish wing mirrors	Possibly a Transformer	Why is Elton John on all of the money over here?	Blending in with the Hipsters
Disaster! Until Podge came to the rescue	Now that is a big TV at the Real Sports Bar	A Hurling pitch in Centennial Park	Dog, bear or a fox? Who knows?
The view from our condo in Mississauga	Toronto at night	The Marilyn Monroe buildings in Mississauga.	Bacon Sundae!?!
Considering a purchase for winter.	My dream car. A Dodge Viper.	Going to Dave Poaps Birthday in a stretch Hummer.	You can run but…..
A little run around for the city	Enjoying Kris and Brendas Wedding with Rachel and Amy	Enjoying Kris and Brendas Wedding with Darryl and Emily	Merry Christmas in Mississauga
A survival package from home	Happy Chinese New year at Vmware	Viel spass mit Jurgen	Ice skating at Square One, Mississauga
Crystal head Vodka bottle	Enjoying a lunch at work al fresco	The Gardaí. They are fecking everywhere	Streaming Football on the laptop and Rugby on the TV
Canadians love paperwork :(	Drinking at the lads house in Mississauga	Local Brew, Molsen Canadian	Baseball at the Rogers Center
A small lake in High Park	If walking through High Park isn’t your thing take the train.	The Hideout on Queen	Street Art on Queen
Drinks at Fáilte with Noel	Drinks at Fáilte with Dave	A little taste of Cork in Canada	Paddys Day 2012 with Prashant
Paddys Day 2012 with Ashad, Fiona and Amber	Paddys Day 2012 with Amber, Shaun and Patricia	Paddys Day 2012 with Scott and Mads	Paddys Day 2012 with Shaun.
Dropkick Murphys concert at Sound Academy	Getting ready to snowboard 1	Getting ready to snowboard 2	Chicken Burger, Chips & Beer at Mississauga’s classiest diner, "Wallys"
World Class Chocolate from Baskin Robbins	Big decisions at the Chip Shop	Concentration at the Chip Shop.	Local dish Poutine (Chips, Cheese and Gravy) with Bacon
Having a few Guinness’ on Authurs Day.	Chilling out on the patio	Getting pumped for the UFC	Enjoying the pub with Owen and Sara
Scruffy Murphys. Our local in Mississauga.	Niagara Falls from the top.	Lorri’s put on a bit of weight since her move to North America	Niagara falls from the boat
Ronan get’s a small bit wet under the falls	Mounties at Niagara Falls	Canadas Wonderland. A very cool Amusement Park	Halloween Hearse at Canadas Wonderland
Fire Hydrant at Mill Street Brewery	Careful now!	Clearing the footpaths	Icicles
Mean looking Police car	Clearing the snow on the back roads	Rocking the sun tan in the middle of summer	Ice cream on Queen
Moving again. To Toronto this time	Drinks with friends in Toronto	Blending in with the locals	Teaching the locals hurling
Chilling out with Owen, Ronan and Lorraine	Considering a purchase for winter.	Paddys Day 2012 with the lads	Photo Booth at the wedding with Faisel, Darryl, Dave, Mads and Nathan.

I went to my first Baseball game yesterday. Toronto Blue Jays vs Texas Rangers. Surprisingly good fun actually. Once you understand the rules the game tips along nicely. Because the action isn’t non-stop like Hurling you can actually have good conversations with the people around you so it feels more like you are in a pub than at a game. Well a very expensive pub that is.

The parallels with my own hurling “career” is freaky!

Who ate the Cadburys Creme Egg?

Weird sign.

Went to see the Rubberbandits last night as part of the Canadian Music Week. Great craic. Unfortunately I don’t think the organisers understood how popular they are with the Irish. There were very few people there for the first two bands. The place was practically empty when the “main event” was on but it was packed for the Rubberbandits. Unfortunately since they weren’t the main event they only played for around 45 minutes. Hopefully they will come back again in the future for a dedicated gig.

Went into Toronto for Paddys Day. It was a good day bar the result of the rugby. A good few people made it out to celebrate it with us so it was great craic! Looking forward to next year already.

Click on the collage to view the Gallery.

In the words of Bonnie Tyler “Where have all the good men gone?”. Well the answer it seems to is mainly to the UK and Australia. Although personally I believe the really good men have gone to Canada.

Using this fantastic interactive graphic from Locus Insight we can very easily see where Irelands Emigrants have gone to in the last 6 years.

Some interesting facts from the graphic

• In 2011, 7 people a minute left Ireland
• In 2006, 2285 people emigrated to Canada
• In 2011 that number jumped to 5779
• The most popular countries to emigrate to are the UK and Australia
• Since 2006 the number of people emigrating each year has more than doubled

Barbara Deignan and her boyfriend Cian McDevitt moved to Toronto just over a year ago, and have made a short film about the Irish diaspora, capturing “the fears and hopes of those calling the city their new home”.

DIASPORA was screened at the Toronto Irish Film Festival over the weekend, and received a huge response from recently arrived emigrants and older, more settled Irish who said they would have loved to have seen a film like this when they first landed in the city to remind them that they were not alone.

DIASPORA from Barbara on Vimeo.