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A 36-YEAR-old man has posted an advertisement online, seeking a “companion/wife” to live on Inishfree Island with him for a year.
John McManus, a former hotel manager who is now unemployed, told TheJournal.ie that he was inspired by the original film Castaway and the book it was based on. The book features a writer who lives on an island with a woman, having advertised for a companion in a newspaper, and a real life couple on an island in the South Pacific have already done something similar.
“They managed to tough it out for a year and I thought it was amazing and just such an unusual thing to do with a year of your life,” he said.
The last remaining resident of the island, Barry Pilcher, left earlier this year and now that it is totally unoccupied, McManus said he thought he’d “give it a go”.
But McManus doesn’t want to go it alone, saying he’d “rather have the company – someone to have a cup of tea and a chat with”.
John McManus, pictured with Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.
Though the 36-year-old is looking for a female companion, he said there doesn’t necessarily have to be a romantic element to the relationship.
“Someone really open-minded, someone with a good sense of humour, and definitely someone who can laugh through the tough times” is an ideal applicant, though he stressed he’d rather they were not “crazy”.
“If we’re living together for a year, obviously it’d be nice to have a love interest, but beggars can’t be choosers,” he added.
Women of every age, height, weight and hair colour are encouraged to apply – McManus is just looking for someone who is “fully committed” to the project.
Image from polling the Fiscal Treaty Referendum on Inishfree. This could be your home for a year… (Image: Peter Morrison/AP/PA)
“It is going to be a challenge but it’s such a beautiful place,” he said. “The previous guy said that you can see all of the stars at night and there’s no street pollution so there are aspects of it that are unique.”
The Castaway enthusiast is aiming to start the project in January but is starting his search now to give himself time to find “someone mad enough to do it”. If it sounds tempting to you, you can contact him at 5boderg@gmail.com.
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Good product. Well done to them.
Brilliant good news story. Well done. Great to see you bringing the jobs back to dublin. Don’t be minding the begrudgers!
Ha. A unicorn that’s (last line) “trending aggressively to becoming a profitable company”!
@Adrian: only applies to the definition of its valuation not its profitability
@Adrian: Twitter has been around over 15 years and still hasn’t posted a profit. Profitability in Tech is not as important as in traditional businesses
@ForeverFeel1ng: You’re joking right? Twitter surviving for 15 years without making a profit hints that it’s being kept afloat for other reasons, just like loss making newspapers.
@ForeverFeel1ng: Said no investor ever. Twitter is being kept afloat like a newspaper making losses: it’s a great propaganda and political agitation tool.
Intercom, isn’t that a communication device used in shopping centres. A mic and a speaker. The simple things, eh! Wish I thought of it.
@Paddy O Sullivan: That’s a tannoy.
Very interesting and innovative business model!
Finally, a powerful, scalable, efficient, growth supporting, and cost effective management tool / business platform capable of capturing and pulling together all channels of communications between likely participators in the global marketplace seeking the particular product or service and the firm offering same.
Early days, but with 25,000 customers already contributing $50 mil in annual Revenues, outlook is excellent for Intercom. Tenfold increase in customer base is a distinct possibility, which would comfortably justify existing valuations mentioned. Clearly, with $241 m invested already, someone has lots of faith!
Congratulations to all concerned!
And btw what is it? A messaging service wow, probably a advanced data collection service. That’s were the money is, apparently. Well done Irish guys! You’ve sold your soul for a few bob.
@Paddy O Sullivan: Jesus you’re some begrudger. They’re making money and putting Ireland on the tech map globally. Selling their souls? Would you rather them be on the dole? They’re working.
@Paddy O Sullivan: Close…but no cigar. It is customer service software actually with plenty of uses. Instead of whinging about it familiarise yourself with the company and the software it provides
I’m a bit uncomfortable with these valuations on, thus far, unprofitable companies.
The FAANG companies are already responsible for a huge proportion of market valuations. I hope we’re not heading for another dotcom bubble.
I wouldn’t be investing in them, they are swelled with VC money, $50mil Revenue is peanuts and VC money will need to be paid back sometime. Their product is essentially a chatbox which is tiresome for website visitors and very expensive compared to free alternatives (Drift etc)
They will be bust in a couple of years, big valuation comes with a price… But hopefully they will make a lot of moneys for them self’s.
This is the type of homegrown success and entrepnurial spirit we need to foster.
have your say