Well into it now

   OK, so what’s been happening in the land New Zealand copied? Since last we spoke I’ve settled into my new job, meet a lot of new people & seen some amazing parts of the country.

I’ll start off with my B Day weekend…I have definitely not grown up. It all kicked off Sat afternoon after picking Chris up from the airport, dropping his bags off & heading straight to the pub for a few Beamish (The Cork Guinness), back to mine to introduce Chris to the flaties & prove that it wasn’t just me that drinks before 9pm (Good luck getting a Spaniard to drink while the sun is up!!) then out to town to meet up with some German friends of mine & a lot more ales. It gets a bit fuzzy after  that but I do remember turning the mains power off at a party we had crashed & were in the process of leaving. Also of offering some girls a ride home in my shopping trolley that we had found & that Chris was pushing me down the road in…They declined which was probably a smart move as I’m fairly sure Chris was over the limit…I of cause was perfectly sober. Sunday (My B Day) dawned a little too bright & pokey for my liking (I prefer my B Day’s to start in good company, to the sounds of waves gently lapping the shore) but had no one to blame but myself…& maybe Mr Viccars. Chris kindly offered to buy me B Day Breakie which was most probably better for me than the B Day drinks he had bought me the night before. Over breakfast we discussed going & checking out Blarney Castle, I had a nagging feeling Steffie had expressed an interest in going with us the night before, I rung her & confirmed so the three of us headed out to snog a stone.

Blarney Castle is very cool & exactly what the Doc  had ordered for 3 less than sprightly individuals. Yes I did kiss the Blarney Stone but I must say I haven’t noticed an increase in my gift of the gab…Still I would imagine most people I know think this is a good thing. The Castle is very old & parts have fallen down plus it’s quite tall & offers great views of the surrounding country side, with those two points I think it pretty much covers most things people expect from a castle. Meandering around the grounds was very soothing, investigating the Druids cave, Witches Kitchen -thankfully a good distance from the Sacrificial Altar- & the wishing steps, which to get your wish granted you have to walk down backward only thinking about your wish. None of us quite felt up to such a strenuous vertical exercise so we amused ourselves by pointing & laughing at others attempting to do it.

Chris; Newly filled with 'The Gab'

That evening we shared some great wine given to me last year by Dave & I enjoyed a massive Cuban cigar thanks to Light footed Vince, yet another smoking present from Cancer Research. Then the Spanish lads amazed me by presenting me with a cake & a present (Playstation game – They know me so well). Then out to meet an Irish girl that enjoyed txt messaging too much. All in all it was a good way to see in a new decade.

Congratulations to Wales on clean sweeping the six nations. I introduced a couple of the Spanish lads to rugby over this period and now they understand why I get disgusted by the diving in Mediterranean football. The other good point about the 6 nations was on the days the lads couldn’t watch the rugby with me I’d just go to the pub & make new friends. Once they realised I’m a Kiwi & not a Brit -The downfall of living out of NZ for 6 years now everyone thinks I’m English (not the best of things in Ireland at times) - the Irish lads expected me to know everything about rugby, luckily I’m a fairly competent blagger & the pints we were drinking dulled their ability to spot the more inept rugby commentaries.

St Patrick’s Day was exactly what it should be. I think I’ve devoted more than enough words in this blog to drinking so I’ll leave it at that & let the pics do the talking.

I have been doing heaps of travelling with work from New Ross to Tralee to Bandon. Here are a few shots I’ve taken; I need to stop the car more often.  Don’t ask me what’s up with these statues of the Virgin Mary but they are everywhere and in some random places to boot.

Luis is leaving next week so we went for a drive to Mizen Head last week, it’s pretty cool but by far the highlight was Mt Gabriel. The road between Ballydehob and Goleen was closed (We never did find out why) and the detour took us close to a mountain with what I thought was an observatory on top of it. This being Ireland the road up the mountain was not on an y maps & there were no sign posts anywhere, this resulted in us circling the mountain & finally stopping a man on a tractor for directions (They always know where to go) when we finally found  the road we were meet by a closed gate, but more importantly n o signs telling us it was illegal to enter, just frowned upon. Now I’ve never let a small thing like a closed gate stop me (Sometimes to me detriment) so I had Lois open the gate (Better to have his fingerprints on it) and in we drove. The view from the top more than paid off for the puny amount of rule breaking.

Finally F1 has started off again (not that I was hanging out for it or anything). I’ll put my money where my mouth is & state right now that I expect Kimi to win the championship this year but Lewis will make him work for it. I’m hoping Williams can pull 4^th (What a great start) but will be happy as long as they don’t drop below 5^th.