Smoke on the water, small fire in hotel in Washington, Taoiseach and RTÉ Chief News Correspondent not hurt, ..This is news? April 30, 2008
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, Media and Journalism.trackback
Got to love the values of our 24 hour news cycle, for today RTÉ brings us the news that:
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has returned to his hotel in Washington after he and his official party were evacuated for a time because of a fire alert.
RTÉ’s Chief News Correspondent Charlie Bird says Mr Ahern was awoken by the US Secret Service at 4.20am (9.20am Irish time) and told they believed there was a fire in a generator a floor above him.
Wooh… Taoiseach. Secret Service. RTÉ’s Chief News Correspondent. 4.20am (9.20am Irish time for all us dolts who don’t realise, like y’know it’s a five hour differential). It’s a bit like 24, but without the excitement, or Jack Bauer, or… er… anything.
Amazingly…
Mr Ahern said that everybody walked down the stairs in an orderly fashion without any panic.
Fancy that! No panic. And…
He said there was a strong smell of smoke in the roof of the Renaissance Mayflower hotel just above him
Well… it was a fire… There’s a lovely photograph of Ahern and the Chief Correspondent in the foyer of the hotel, Ahern clutching a small bottle of water to himself, perhaps to assist in putting out the conflagration.
Finally…
The whole party is understood to be somewhat shaken by the experience.
Never! Let’s hope our beloved Taoiseach has recovered from the upset in time to for the historic address to Congress today…
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
There was a news story a few years ago in the UK about how David Seaman had been in a car accident but nobody was hurt. It was on hoardings and everything.
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My favourite news story ever was on TVE, the national Spanish broadcaster. The main sports headline was about Roberto Carlos and how during a training session they suspected he had picked up an injury, but that after a quick check-up with the physio, they confirmed that he was ok. The detailed report did not disappoint either, with footage -from two different angles no less- of Roberto Carlos walking off the pitch to get his checkup.
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🙂 And both are sports stories… Voracious isn’t it, the demand for something, anything, however banal?
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Actually, that’s pretty much the sports news on TVE1 every evening. Here’s some shots of Real Madrid in training, they all look OK, soundbites from Bernd Schuster and a player or two, back to the studio. Ditto with Barca and then we’ll have about ten minutes of adverts before the weather.
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Then of course there’s the ‘It’s summertime, and, as we Spanish like to go to restaurants, our nation’s chefs have rustled up some innovative and delicious summer recipes, even for those who like to keep in shape’ stories, which never fail to get me drooling like a labrador, even though I’ve just eaten.
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Oh, you were watching last night then?
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Hmmm. Channel 4 is rerunning a heap of similar programmes about househunters in Barcelona, and indeed a foodie one where the chef traipses around Europe… cue some upset at lack of direct proximity to various foods and restaurants on my part…
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