The River Moy in Ballina with their lovely cathedral
9:00 am Woke up and wanted to perhaps go for a jog, but after running probably 10 miles total in the last two days I decided to take it easy.
Sidebar - At many points during the day was somewhat saddened I would not be grilling out and celebrating the birth of our great nation. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. Even though we stuck it to the British, who the Irish hate for good reason, they do not celebrate our Independence Day.
10:00 am No more cereal. Getting very used to missing meals here.
12:00 am Terry Kennedy shows up to take me to his place. He is the one who arranged this trip. He is known as TK so we will do the same in the interest of saving typing time. He asks me if I have had lunch and I emphatically say no. He is also hungry but in typical Irish fashion we still sit around and BS for two hours before leaving.
2:00 pm Ride over to Ballina is nice and TK tells a great story about the fighting in N. Ireland. I thought the fighting there ended in the late 80’s. Stupid American. They signed a peace deal in 2002. And there are still occasional flair ups. For those who care, the fighting is between loyalists who want to remain under British rule and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who want N. Ireland’s 8 counties to join the other 32 as one Irish nation. Anyway, TK was playing a game in Belfast in the early 80s and before the game they were seeing the sights and walking through a neighborhood. Suddenly all three of them had guns pulled on them by the police. Neighbors had phoned them in as suspicious characters. Luckily they were just told to go back to their hotel rooms and stay there.
3:00 pm Finally lunch at a nice diner that seats a grand total of 12 peoples. It is right on what they call a beach. The water never gets above 60 degrees, but apparently there is very good surfing on the NW coast of Ireland.
4:00 pm TK shows me the many sights of Ballina. They have a quaint little castle, the best salmon fishing river in the world and a beautiful cathedral. They also have 20-30 pubs even though the town is about the size of Seneca, SC. This seems not that abnormal since each pub appears to be very small. But, most of these pubs with there small street front extend forever in depth. They also have at least 3 stories, each one differing in the type of music. More on this later with even an appearance by OOC.
7:30 pm TK’s family is lovely. The mother and daughter are warm and funny people and make me feel welcome. Even there loud but small dog is not a problem on my allergies. Thank god they keep their two cats outside. After a great meal of fresh cod, corn and guess… potatoes, we head out to the pub.
Sidebar – You know those nights where you start drinking at a pretty good pace with one group. Then you get caught up with another group who is way behind you. Yet your too much of a prideful man to say sorry, I can’t keep up this “torrid” pace. So you go toe to toe with the new group. Never ends well. Ever happen to you? Why do I ask? No reason.
9:00 TK turns me on to a Dutch beer Carlsberg. Good stuff. Very smooth and apparently decently strong. After 4 pints at 3 different I am feeling pretty good.
11:30 Meet up with TK’s wife and her younger friends. Don’t remember their names, what they do for a living, but there was 4 of them and they were hilarious and fun…and they got to meet OOC. For those that don’t know (and if you don’t I wonder why you are reading this blog) OOC stands for Out Of Control. He is my alter ego who looms large after a heavy night of drinking. I am not proud of his accomplishments, but just to give you an idea, they include and are not limited to shooting a firework of Joe’s jugular, going “Nascar” with a champagne bottle in Tiger Town Tavern the night before my graduation and a whole lot of stomping on the dance floor at weddings. He has never been to Ireland but he is looming.
12:00 am So at midnight TK and his wife decide they’re calling it a night, but I should stay out with the girls. Sounds great, but they are just starting to booze and begin ordering beers and a round of “Baby Guinness.” Who knows what they are, but they awaken the beast. So now we are going to the club. Normally very opposed, but when in Rome. Plus I’d like to at least see what goes on at a European night club. Well, very similar to an American one except almost everyone dances, including of course OOC. In America it seems those with rhythm dance and those who don’t stay off the dance floor. Well, in Ireland, no one has rhythm so everyone dances, surprisingly in a manner very familiar to OOC. I told you guys I am more Irish than I ever realized. At one point OOC broke into an Irish river dance. Not really, but I had a ton of fun.
2:30 Spent 30 min waiting on a cab and OOC met TK’s daughter. That made for amusement the next day. All in all, a successful Irish pub crawl. The next day would be a very different story.
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