MONDAY 10TH - THURSDAY 20TH
We found out a couple of weeks ago there is this saying over in Ireland about magpies:
“One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.”
Therefore, seeing one magpie on its own is bad luck. If you see a lone magpie, you have to either wave away the bad luck with your hand, or bless yourself by making a cross over your chest. People here feel quite strongly about this – their hands just do it involuntarily. It's quite funny because when you are on the bus or something, and you see a magpie you see half the people on the bus waving the bad luck away. Anyway I saw a magpie on its own last Friday, and because I am not superstitious, didn't bother to do anything. Well the first two days of the week, the Magpie had it's payback.
On Monday, Em didn't go to work because she was sick with a tummy bug. So after I came home from work, I decided to go to the supermarket to get a few things. I took the back road which is a country road, which I discovered a couple of weeks ago. I was going along well, until I came over a rise and there in front of me was a van half way across the road! So I slammed on the breaks, and they locked up, so I couldn't steer or anything, and had a collision with the van. Luckily I must have only been doing about 10km an hour by the time I hit him, so neither of us were injured. There were also 2 cars behind me, but thankfully they must have been good cars, because there brakes worked brilliantly. It turned out I had hit the side of his bumper, he was in a van, and had only put a small ding into the front of our bonnet and also a very small impression into our bumper. It was an older guy, mid 70's who was in the van. He was quite shaken up, so after making sure he got inside his home safely, I was back on my way. It was a very close call, and was extremely lucky more damage or injuries weren't caused. So I made it to the supermarket then back home without further incident.
Tuesday, Em was feeling better, but not quite 100% so I made her stay home, to allow her to get some energy back, as she only managed eating a small potato on Monday. After work, I came home and cooked the dinner. I had some veges on baking paper, and was putting them back in the oven, and it just touched the top element in the oven, and caught fire. Again we were lucky, and it wasn't too big, and a bit of water did the trick, and didn't ruin our dinner.
Despite all of this I will not be waving away Magpies. It is entertaining to see people doing it though. Em is convinced – she's busy waving them away. Lucky we don't see many over here.
Wednesday was my day off, and Em went to work. I had a call from Marie's sister's boyfriend (Justin) about playing hockey, so went into town to have a look at getting some gear. Unfortunately hockey is not a big sport here and I didnt have much luck.
After the run of bad luck, things settled down on Thursday really. After working in the afternoon, I came home, and then went out again to my first hockey training. I decided I would play, it will be an easy way to meet more people and should be good fun. It turns out that Justin is the captain of one of the team, so I am playing for them. It was tough to have my first run around for 4 years, and I was left with a few sore muscles, ones that I didn’t realize you use in hockey. But it was good fun.
On Friday after work Em and I met in town as Caf, a friend of mine from uni was coming
over from London for a long weekend. We met Caf in town, then headed home for dinner.
Later that evening Em and Caf went to the Curragower for a drink and some Irish music. I didn't go as I had an upset tummy. They had a really good night. They also found out that the All Blacks were staying at the Strand Hotel in Limerick, and were arriving on Sunday afternoon at 4pm. It is amazing how easily news spreads in a city of Limericks size.
On Saturday morning after a bit of a sleep in, despite the relatively bad weather we decided to head to the Cliffs of Moher. A number of people had said that we must go there because they are “grand”. It has been transformed into a real tourist attraction with a café, shop, and an information center there. Luckily they have put up barrier fences on the cliffs – apparently quite a few people have been blown off by the strange winds there. It turned out we arrived just in time. When we arrived it was grey and overcast. We did manage to have a pretty good look at the cliffs which are over 600ft in height. Within 10 minutes of arriving, as the photos show, there were no cliffs. The fog blew on, but didn’t blow out. So we were lucky from that perspective. From here we went into the information center and had a look around. It just showed different animals that live around the cliffs and things.
The weather probably did detract from how grand they really are. Hopefully we will get back there in better weather for another look around.
On the way home we stopped in at a rock shop, which had amazing fossils including fish, leaves, and other things selling for rather big figures. After this we stopped in at a nice little pub with a cosy fire going for lunch, before heading home to settle on the couch to watch the All Blacks vs Ireland. Our original plan was to go to one of the pubs in town to watch the match, but my upset tummy put a stop to that.
Sunday was the day where Em, Caf, and I all gained “the gift of the gab”. We set off later in the morning for Blarney Castle. The further south we got, the better the weather got which was great. After we arrived, we had a quick look through the Blarney Woolen Mill which is supposed to be really nice. I only saw gaudy patterned Aran jerseys and things. The girls liked it. We got free mulled wine which was good. From there we headed to Blarney Castle. It was a beautiful setting, with large gardens, a stream, the castle, and also Blarney house on site. Blarney house was not open, but it looked very grand from the top of Blarney castle. It was particularly nice to be there in Autumn, with the trees changing colour.
After a good hike to the top of the castle, going up an extremely narrow set of spiraling stairs, we made it to the top. Thankfully there was not the one hour wait to kiss the stone, as is common during the summer. So we all kissed the stone, and of course instantly became eloquent speakers, like those who came before us, including Winston Chruchill. You have to sit on a wall with your back to the stone, and an elderly man (who definitely had the 'gift of the gab') holds you around the hips. You then lean backwards and down quite far, to kiss the stone upside down.
After a bit to eat we headed home for dinner. Then that evening we met Marie and Joe and went to a play called “Alone it Stands” which is a fantastic comedy based around the 1978 Munster victory over the All Blacks. It is probably one of or the proudest sporting moment in Limerick. It is still talked about daily, particularly when anyone discovers you are a New Zealander. Anyway within a couple of minutes of arriving I saw AB's Kevin Mealamu, then Mils Muliaina and Ma’a Nonu. Once we went inside to our seats we quickly learnt that the full All Blacks team was there, including management apart from Graham Henry. At the start of the play the playwright was present and made a quick speech, announcing that the All Black squad was present, and they received massive applause & cheering. At half time a the girls had a few photos, and then again after the play as well. The play itself was really good as well, although there were a few inhouse Limerick jokes, which were explained by Joe thankfully.
On Monday and Tuesday Em and I both had work, so Caf looked after herself, went to Ennis one day, and wandered around Limerick the other. Tuesday, the 18th, was the All Blacks vs Munster game. Never before have we been in a city buzzing about a game so much. By 3:00pm traffic was pilled up. It took Em 1 hour to get home, which is a 10 minute trip. It was a very exciting event to be a part of. After work, I met Em and Caf, and Eva and Shane (Em works with Eva) at Clohesseys, which is a pub we were told is great to watch rugby at. It was packed and had a great atmosphere. Before the match started, there was a minute silence in the memory of a young man called Shane Geogahan, who was murdered by a gang about 2 weeks ago, in a case of mistaken identity. It was eerily quiet. Then they launched into the dual Haka’s - firstly the 4 New Zealanders playing for Munster did one, which made the pub go WILD, and then the All Blacks after that. As anyone who watched the match would know, it was pretty tight, and kicks taken for penalties and conversions during the match were quite important. Thomond park, the ground the game was played at, has a rule that no matter who is taking the kick, Munster or the opposition, there is dead silence. And this was the case at the pub as well. It was amazing – even people whispering were “shooshed”. Luckily the All Blacks won, well lucky from our point of view. This didn’t detract from the night, which was fantastic. We headed home at about midnight, as Em was working the next day.
Wednesday, Caf and I stayed home as it was not a nice day at all, so we just sat back and relaxed. That evening, Em came home, then we went to Shannon airport and dropped Caf off, to fly back to London.
On Thursday, Em went to work as normal, and I only worked in the afternoon, which is my current normal. After work, we rushed home, and had dinner. Then I dropped Em back at work to go to a parent's group she was running there, and I went to hockey training. It was not a nice evening at all for it. After training, I picked up Em and we headed home.
