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It's been 10 days now since it started raining. A rainy day or two never bothered me, but ten rainy days in succession and torrential rain at that, is more than any summer deserves. Not that the weather alone is giving me reason to complain. Everytime I turn on the radio or open a newspaper somebody has just found a body in a fridge, or fallen over one while out jogging, or trains are at a standstill because there's a body on the line.

Whats going on in this country? Tourists are attacked with machetes and hatchets within 24 hrs. of arriving in the country, while others are head-butted on the street in broad daylight in our capital city. Old people are terrorized and even the guards are being pushed into rivers and beaten up by drunken yobs, while their friends applaud, film, and upload to YouTube.

Ban YouTube, police YouTube! The call goes out from all corners of the country. What a ridiculous, responsibility shirking reaction to what is clearly our own problem. It's time we took a long look at our changing society and find the real reasons for the decline in values instead of looking for scapegoats and assigning blame to the last frontier of democracy, the internet. We might as well blame the weather!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a quick message to Mr. D. O' Farrell of Malahide , Dublin, who had the misfortune to get a bad cup of coffee at one of our forecourts and actually had the good sense to contact us as he was drinking it. We are looking into the problem. Together with our coffee partner Lavazza we hope to have an explanation for you within a day or two. It's most likely a machine/maintenance problem. We use the same coffee bean on each forecourt and pride ourselves on serving top quality coffee. I will keep you informed. Hope the weather improves.

These days, music festivals have become, boutique festivals. No longer do overcharged music fans have to wade ankle deep in mud and rubbish to queue endlessly in the rain for an undercooked burger, or try without success to erect a tent, finally waking up with a tent pole in their ear.

Fans at festivals now look forward to a mouthwatering array of ethnic and classic food stands serving everything from sushi to Mexican, from fine vegetarian to traditional German sausages. When they get tired of the music they go to the relaxation area or bed down in a Bedouin tent, luxury teepee, in some cases even a classy chalet with all mod cons.

But surely the greatest thing that's happened to music festivals has to be, serviced toilets. Up until recently a visit to the toilet at any event was to be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately this has also been the case in many roadside establishments and public restroom facilities.

So to help you plan your trips to festivals or any destination (worldwide) just check out
thebathroomdiaries. Not only can you find the nearest toilet, but you also can rate them, and in so doing help towards improving restroom facilities, everywhere. The boss said I should tell you that if you have any complaints about applegreen facilities you should drop him..er, I mean me, a mail, at hello@applegreen.com . He would say that, wouldn't he.

The news from Bloom is that the Applegreen / Lavazza sponsored garden designed by Dubliner Brian O Hara entitled Outspace 1-Galleria, has been awarded the silver medal in Design in the category Medium Show Gardens. Congratulations to Brian and the projectgarden team from all at Applegreen. Best wishes to Donald Burgess of Foxrock, Dublin who won our Bloom tickets competition. Get on over to the Phoenix Park this weekend with the family and see whats new in the gardening world. Drop in and say hello at the pagoda in front of the Galleria garden. Lets hope the rain stays away for the holiday weekend.