Kilrush Library

I'm supposed to be helping out at the market, but I've buggered off to the library to take advantage of the highspeed internet. Unfortunately they won't let me upload any pictures I've taken so it's another flippin' text post I'm afraid.

I've recently changed my itinerary a bit. I had been plannin on going to Kilarney next, but will now be going up to Galway first. Everyone I meet says it's the best place in Ireland for young people. I heard a story about an Aussie who had the same plans as I do, to backpack accross Europe. Like me he started in Ireland, but he never made it past Galway. Apparently that happens a lot around here. Everyone seems to have a story of someone who came to visit and who's still here 10 years later. I don't see that happening to me, but who knows?!?!

The family I'm staying with at the moment have two children. The eldest, Tom, told me a poem the other day which made me laugh. He must have written it on the spot but there were a couple of lines that cracked me up . . .

'I had a little pig, and he wanted to tell me something,

but I couldn't chance it,

so I put him outside.'

Tell me that's not genius!

The other day Colm picked me up (he was my first host) and took myself, a Frenchman, an Italian and an American up to see the Burren. (this is not the setup for some wacky joke, I swear!) It was awsome! I saw some monoliths, the cliffs of Moher, and I even got a picture taken in front of the house where Father Ted was filmed. Talk about an eventfull day!

Anyway, I better get back to the market. I've been gone for the better part of a couple hours now!!

Anyone out there???

Well I've moved on since last I've posted and I'm in West Claire now. Things are great and the ocean is only a hop, skip and a jump away. (Actually you might not want to take that last jump or you'll end up actually in the water.)

I've taken a few pictures recently, and then not brought my camera to the library in Kilrush. Oh well, another time I guess.

I thought today I would just list a couple of things I've learned since arriving in Ireland . . .

1) Stuff is expensive
2) If you ever want to meet anyone, just go to the pub
3) Every store looks like a pub (and some do double duty)*
4) Um . . . I guess thats it.

I had a much longer list in my head, but when I sat down to type it out I could only remember three of them. Perhaps I'll add more in the future.

Nah!

* In Carigaholt (or something like it) the village I'm staying beside there is a pub built into the back of the local grocery store. Apparently this used to be quite common practice!

A tad of Irony

The other day I got to drive the 4 wheeler up the hill to the forest where I blazed a trail into the woods. It's funny how a Canadian (from a country renowned for it's timber industry) can come to Ireland (a country famous for rolling green fields) and find some work blazing trails through a forest.

Last night at Pepper's

I've got today off and I think I'm going to go for a bike ride. I took advantage of not having to wake up early today by attending a music session in Pepper's Pub last night. It was in a neighboring village called Feakle (rather unfortunate name, I know).

It was a lot less formal than I was expecting, I had thought it would be a band playing traditional music, but it was really a bunch of local musicians who sat around a table and played music for the crowd. There were another couple folks in the audience who (after a little prodding) sang or recited poetry (there was a little Canadiana moment when one gent regaled the crowd with the story surrounding the Cremation of Sam McGee)

Overall a good time was had by all, and in the tiny pub, with not more than 30 people in attendance I met an American, some South Africans, a French contingent and a bunch of Dutch folks. (That's not counting the Austrian and Australian who I had arrived with) I think there might even have been a couple Irish people there too!

A couple missing pieces.

Ok, while I've got a moment I'll fill everyone in on a few things that've happened since my arrival in Ireland.

Since my arrival the weather has been pretty cold and wet. This is to be expected in Ireland but what bugs me is the past few weeks have been really beautiful and sunny. Everyone I've met has jokingly mentioned that I missed summer.

I've been helping one of my hosts build a tunnel (greenhouse thing) and that's been interesting. The biggest accomplishment of the day was getting power to our caravan! We've been powerless 'till now, reading at night to the light of flashlights. But that's sorted now, and it wasn't bad to begin with anyway, just makes for an interesting trip!

I've been eating great as well, everyone seems eager to feed Keith and I. Today for lunch we had fried pumpkin, potatoes with cheese over them, baked beans and cooked carrots with peas. It was tasty and we washed it all down with some Darjeeling tea.

I guess that's all I really missed since my last post, and I should go now anyway. I told Keith and Colm (my host) that I was just going to respond to an e-mail and I've been gone for the better part of a half an hour!

(There'll be more pictures when I remember to take my camera with me to update my blog)

I made it!

I don't have much time to post, and I've got a million and one stories to tell already. I've been in Ireland now for 3 days and I've met lots of people and had many great experiences. Everyone is really friendly and likes to chat over a pint or three of Guinness.

Last night I went to Mass (really interesting) at a small Catholic church on the walk between where I live and Taumgraney and then watched a hurling match (there was a man I had met earlier in the day who took some time to explain rules to me. His team had their asses handed to them). Following that I hitched a lift into Taumgraney and walked from there to Scarriff. That was fun, and I met some locals, had some drinks and some laughs before having to walk all the way home alone in the cold and dark.

Today I went to a car boot sale in a horse arena. There wasn't really anything there that I was interested in, so Keith (the Aussie I'm sharing a caravan with) just came home and had some tea.

Last second creations

This year for Christmas I got a sweet watch. It’s not a brand name or anything, but it works well and I like it. Very recently the band broke on me, so (before hearing that the missing piece had been retrieved) I put a snap on it as a fastener. Sadly this wasn’t a very secure method of keeping my watch attached to my arm so I surrendered and went to the mall to buy a new band. After finding watchbands much more costly than I had expected, I suddenly got an idea. I don’t know where it came from, but suddenly I could see clearly in my mind’s eye how to MAKE MY OWN watchband!

Following my epiphany I dashed to the dollar store and bought a lanyard with the Canadian flag on it. Then I purchased some ‘backpack strap’ material at Len’s Mill. I combined this with an old belt buckle I had at home and after a little creative engineering I had a new watch band, perfect for backpacking across Europe.

It’s clearly homemade (you can see stitch work etc.) but that just adds character right?

ALSO . . .

. . . Some of you may recall that I promised to post a picture of the cool ‘Rock Monster’ I found while at work a month or so ago. Well, here he is . . .
Pretty awesome eh? I also made this wallpaper to showcase how totally rad the green beast really is.