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!
Also a bit of a telly round up: Prison Break is back[1] on RTE 2. Course I’ve been watching Heroes on SciFiUk at that particular time so haven’t been watching it. But thanks to the joys of d’internet I got to watch it last night. I wasn’t overly impressed[2]
Hopefully I’ll be more entertained when Rome makes its come back on Wednesday. And Sunday[3] Which might be awkward as I’m heading up to Sligo this weekend. Don’t wanna be on the train when Lamb and Chicken are back on the screen.
Over the weekend there was a feast of GAA action but there was too much going on. I watched the Limerick v Tipp hurling match on Sat. evening. I was cheering for Limerick, on account of that is where de mudder is from, but I didn’t think they win. And they didn’t. They did however draw. Again. So it’ll be a third replay.
On the face of it Limerick have simply trailed Tipp like a particularly enthusiastic puppy: every time Tipp have tried to shoo them away, Limerick have scampered happily back to their heel. Will Tipp finally rid themselves of the troublesome mutt, or will Limerick eventually bite them on the bum?
On Sunday we had a dilemma to face. Watch the Dublin V Meath replay in the football or switch over and enjoy the Cork V Waterford hurling? A peak audience of 792,000 watched both matches, with 342,000 watching the hurling and 285,000 watching the football, according to the Irish Times[4] but I’d guess that most people did what I ended up doing. Flicking between the two and missing out on most of the action. Luckily we had The Sunday Game later on for all the bits we missed. And the Sligo match. Which we won, by two points, which means that for the first time since 2002 Sligo will be in a Connacht final.
Today is a bank holiday. Yay! Day off. Four day week, and all that malarky. And what have I decided to do today? I know what you are thinking, oooh something exciting, possibly involving finally launching my plans to take over the world, but alas, no. I’m tidying[1] my room. Isn’t that thrilling? So far I have found approximately three hundred plastic bottles. Some empty, some with a few drops of water, some half full. I think I’m responsible for that hole in the ozone layer[2] but what can you do? I’m also thinking of building a new leaning tower, the leaning tower of books that I really should donate somewhere out of my room. They are threatening to topple over, I’ll have to require all visitors to my room to sign a disclosure of some description.
In other, less important news, the Leaving Cert begins this week[3] on Wednesday to be precise. The last of de brudders will be sitting it. I really should have some sort of sympathy for him, should I? But no, instead I’ll sit here and laugh[4] at him. Course he is pretty sorted. He got accepted to the rugby academy thingy[5] in Limerick, so all he has to do now is get enough points to do a proper course there and he’ll be happy. The problem is that he has spent so much time playing the rugby this past year that he didn’t actually do much studying.
I spent yesterday watching the GAA. The Waterford Kerry match was as boring as… well, I can’t quite think what else might have been that boring, Kerry won. Easily. Waterford got all of 4 points. But then I watched the Dublin Meath encounter. And that was much better fun. As first I was a bit worried cause Meath didn’t score at all in the first 20 minutes, but then they got stuck in, or maybe Dublin did their usual “omg! we’re in front, what do we do now”. It is weird, when I first moved to Sligo I totally didn’t get the whole anti-Dublin thing. And would always support Dublin. I was born here after all. But I think I’ve really turned into a culchie, cause I was half hoping that Meath would win. Especially after that goal that wasn’t. But at the same time I wasn’t too bothered either way. And so when Geraghty started throwing the odd punch I decided to support Dublin again. But then again, I didn’t. In the end it was a draw, and they get to “have at each other” all over again in two weeks time. Should be fun. I’d say that Meath might do it, but you never know.
I’m thinking I should support Dublin. I live here. I was born here. Rationally speaking I should support them, right? But I don’t. This summer I think I’m going to change that and tell myself to support them. Just like I tell myself I should support Leinster rugby ahead of Munster rugby.
