Okay, so lately what have I been up to[1] Well let me see. Last night I went to see The Sick and Indigent Song Club, they play every Monday in the Ha’Penny Bridge Inn. And tis free in[2] One of the lads at work goes a fair amount I think so he invited a few of us from work. For discussions about our upcoming xmas party[3] Doesn’t look like we’ll be having an official one this year. What with the cutbacks and credit crunch[4] We decided on precisely nothing. Apart from the fact that yes we would organise something ourselves. So yay.
Oh yeah, the music! Twas good. Blue-grassy style I suppose you’d call it, but sure me and labels don’t always get along too well. I did like The Shrew Shanty song, you can hear that on their MySpace site.
At the weekend I went home to Sligo, and had huge amount of fun on the train being entertained by a crazy[5] But we disagreed over boiled eggs and he told me that there would be no honeymoon for us. Alas.
Then I went to watch B#5 play rugby on Sat in Galway. And the weather! Peoples, the weather! On the journey from Sligo to Galway it was totally horrendous. What with the rain and the wind, and the rain. Did I mention the rain? But once we got to the ground it wasn’t so bad. Freezing. And a little rainy, but we escaped the worst of it. Plus they won. So yay.
Sun I did nothing. Well traveled back up to Dublin. No crazy entertainment this time.
Anything else…
Oh yes, Neil Gaiman was in Easons a while back, promoting The Graveyard Book so I now have myself a signed copy of it. Well, Harlequin has a signed copy of it for me as she was good enough to hang around in the queue after the talk. I bailed. I know, I know, not a true dedicated fan. But while I think having a signed book is cool, I think tis cooler to listen to him talk.
Think that is about all I’ve been up to recently. You are all filled in. Or bored. Whichever.
Linknotes:
I can hear you wondering. Really, I have great hearing. Honest. ↩
of course a tip jar goes around, they aren’t working for nothing. ↩
I’m hoarse today. So hoarse I can’t actually speak at all. Well, the odd croak and a bit of a wheeze. Totally the fault of the cough I have. And the playing football in the rain. Nothing whatsoever to do with the drunken singing in the pub. No siree bob!
So I spent the day watching telly. Showjumping at 11 or so. Quick hop out to the shops to pick up the essentials; Strepsils, cough medicine, sausages and wedges. Pour essentials. Then home to watch the GAA. Two hurling quarters were on. Tip v Wexford was on first. I switched it on thinking, ah sure, I’ll support Tip, you know, what with the family connection to that county. But then I found myself urging Wexford on. That old underdog sympathy thing got me. And they won. Which was great. And a drama filled ending.
The other quarter-final was between Kilkenny and Galway. Kilkenny being the favourites, and me having been to college in Galway I was going to cheer them on. But then I was reminded of Vanessa McGarry’s death by seeing her son and her husband (Kilkenny goalkeeper) in the players’ section of the stand and it seemed somehow wrong to be wishing the team till. Course, as some hurling fella said, life is real and can be tragic, but that is exactly why we have things like sport.
The other two quarters are on tomorrow; Luimneach v An Clár and Port Láirge v Corcaigh. I’ll be cheering on Limerick and Waterford. I think. Well, Limerick for sure. I’m not to definite about the other match. Waterford deserve their shot at glory. But then again, as I’ve mentioned before I do like to cheer Cork on. We’ll see how the teams play.
Anyway, back to my exciting adventures on the couch. I then watched bits of Coast as they were doing the West coast of Ireland today. I did miss most of it, but caught the end. Did you know that seaweed is used in the making of beer and ice-cream? Well, now you do.
After that it was time for Jekyll. The final episode. And it was good, but I’m not too sure about the final scene. Was a bit “we want a twist” rather than an ending. Still, I’ll be keeping my eye out for anything else that Steven Moffat writes.
I was thinking of going to bed then. But instead I pulled out a dvd; A Little Princess which I bought in a 3 for €22 thingie during the week. I’d watched it years and years ago when the kids I was babysitting had rented it. And it really is a beautifully shot and directed film. And the music is great too. And I discovered that Alfonso Cuarón directed it. I may do a proper review at some stage.
So, that was my thrilling Saturday. I know you couldn’t possibly have gotten upto anything more exciting than that!
Yesterday, about 3, after posting my Thursday Thirteen, it began to really rain. And the heavens made with the thunder, and the lightening, and the darkening of the skies. And I thought to myself “not going to football then”. But then it stopped. And I shrugged, and come half five I was out on the pitch. And come 5.35 there was more rain.
At first it wasn’t so bad. Just a soft pattering. But that turned into a drizzle. Which developed into a downpour. Eventually whole buckets were falling from the sky.
But we played on.
Are we ever hardcore or what
Course on account of the previous rain it was actually pretty hard to play, some of the fellas had football boots, and they managed to stay up more than us fools mud-skating in our runners. But is was good fun, even the bits when it rained so much that you couldn’t really see where you were going.
It’ll have done wonders for my cough; this running around in muck and rain.
Someone said 36 days. I’m not so sure but it has been a long time since we had a day without rain.
Now, I know that Ireland is known for being a rainy part of the world. But this has gone far enough, umbrellas are becoming part of hands, they’ve been in use for so long that the handles are melting into skin. Totally not an exaggeration.
Urgh. It is still raining. Actually that should probably be it is still raining. Now, unlike many, I don’t have a problem with the rain. I quite like water, even when it falls from the sky. But this is getting a bit ridiculous.
Today, in case you didn’t know, is the 5th of July. The Fifth of July! And outside it is raining. As it was yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and I could go on repeating myself for a whole winter’s worth of day befores. Only it isn’t winter. It is summer. Supposed to be.
Over the past 7 days we’ve gotten 328% of what we’d normally get. Or at least I think that is what Met Eireann are telling me. And I’d like to say to whomever is responsible that enough is enough. We’d like our regulation day of summer, if you don’t mind. Or at least the phantom of a blue sky for an hour or two. But this maybe it’ll clear up outlook in the morning followed by huge downpours in the evening. Yeah, not so good. Although I did have fun walking in the monsoon like downpour on Tues. It was great, although my runners didn’t thank me for it afterwards. And despite the coat and umbrella, neither did my shirt or trousers.
and this sort of forecast:
Friday night will be largely dry, apart from the odd shower near some western and northern coasts. A few showers are still possible on Saturday, but it will be a mostly dry day with sunny spells. Highest temperatures will range 16 C to 19 C, with a light west to southwest breeze. Sunday will bring showery outbreaks of rain, heavy in places, though some bright or sunny spells can also be expected. Highest temperatures of 16 C to 19 C, with fresh and gusty southwest winds. Monday will be another breezy day with showers or longer outbreaks of rain.
, come on! It’ll be sunny and rainy and breezy and rainy and showery with sunny spells and gusty win and rainy and rainy and rainy. That’s not a forecast.
Even Oscar Wilde’d be moaning about this weather. Though possibly with a couple of wittier sayings and one-liners.
Tags: rain, summer of rain, weather
Crap. I forgot that the server peeps were upgrading yesterday. That’s why yesterday’s post has been eradicated, and Peter is missing from the header. There is no hope of me remembering exactly what I said, so I’ll just ramble on again about how great Saturday was. And there is always the possibility that it’ll show up again, then again it may not. But first, Luna Nina says:
Yours ::
Charcoal ::
Platitude ::
Graduation ::
Hungry ::
Somewhere ::
Nurse ::
Freak ::
Unbelievable ::
Walk ::
and mine will be after the rugby rambles and the cut.
If you read the post yesterday there will be similarities here, but you’ll just have to deal with that
Now where to begin? Oh yes, with the site of ultra-focused Ronan O’Gara being prodded with an umbrella as he and some of the other rugby lads fought over a red cowboy hat.
See, yesterday saw the Munster team arrive in Limerick for a homecoming celebration. They’d landed in Shannon around 1.00 that morning and after a stay in a hotel began the bus journey to O’Connell St, Limerick. That’d be the street that was flashed up on the big screen in the middle of the match on Sat. And that youtube video is the scenes from Limerick in the final minutes of the match.
Can you picture this, a bus load of semi-drunk fella on an open top bus, in the rain, drinking cans of Bulmers and bottles of Heineken. What a sight Being cheered on by around 40,000 supporters according to some newspapers
It didn’t have any hint of professionalism about it, but that is what made it so great. It was just so honest. And plenty of it was obviously very unplanned. Like Marty Morrissey being summoned on to the stage. Marty, you see, is a GAA commentator, not a rugby man. but he was on duty for RTE covering this event, but well away from the stage. Obviously though he got spotted, and as we’ve all heard this Munster rugby team are not so serious when off the pitch[1] And it ended up with Marty after trying to make his escape being hoisted onto the rugby team’s shoulders. That’s something you don’t see everyday.
I think Marty Morrissey is the nearest thing to O Muirceartaigh that TV has. Though Marty should carry a health warning as he is not good for those of us with even the slightest of cardiac problems! Sometimes you are left thinking that Marty is either going to swallow the microphone whole or jump out of the telly and land beside you.
Who will ever forget ‘There won’t be a cow milked in Clare for a week’ (Munster SFC Final 1992) or ‘By God these Wexford boys mean business’ (Marty, complete with lump in throat, Leinster SHC Final, 1996).
It was a great day, and I’m sure all those who waited frrom 10 in the morning[2] felt it was worth it when they were there to cheer on the team at around 5 that afternoon. It was a long wait in the rain, but after losing 2 previous finals, not to mention a few semi’s, it was one way of showing their appreciation.
Although to the few fans who are now expecting three in a row! Come on, I know that you have to be hungry in order to win at sport, but wanting something and expecting it are two very different things.
Still, they showed up in that rain yesterday, they spent fortunes following the team around Europe. Maybe the fans deserve to have some expectations.
In other sporting news in Ireland most matches were called off because of the rain, including the Sligo v galway one, which means that Galway’s Padraig Joyce will probably be fit for next weekend. The boring golf was also hit, meaning it’ll go into a fifth day today. Although I did like that Darren Clarke[3] excused his bad play on Sat by saying he was too busy watching the rugby to think about his golf game.
And surprise of surprises New york actually won a GAA match. They beat Derry in the opening round of the hurling, although visa issues mean they might not play in the next round. Well, thems the breaks for illegal immigrants. or at least I assume that is the problem they’ll have trying to re-enter the States afterwards if they leave.
Now, is there anything else I mentioned yesterday? Oh yes, the Eurovision. Which, fantastically, was won by Finland, in the form of Monster Rock band Lordi. And I’m proud to report that Irish viewers, clearly taking the competition very seriously, awarded Lordi 10 points. With our 12 going to the weird Lithuanian “We Are the Winners” song[4]
Now, is there anything else I mentioned yesterday? Oh yes, the 