Celebrating the 70's - A chronicle of time and temperature

  Tuesday 30 April Last day in Ireland today. We stay at the airport tonight then an early flight to Bordeaux in the morning. We have been here a month and it’s probably long enough. Not trying to sound Irish, but there’s not that much difference around the country. Ireland is very Irish. Sure, the wild Atlantic coast is rocky and wind swept but it’s green. Everywhere here is green, No doubt about it, the scenery is dramatic and beautiful. And the people are certainly friendly. The Prodies in NI can be a bit bolshi though. The sameness I think, applies to their architecture and food. The regional towns and cities are very similar, particularly the smaller regional ones (excluding Belfast and Dublin) and Ireland surely must be the country of ruins and pubs. There are falling down, hundreds of years old, stone buildings, not just castles and there’s hundreds of those, everywhere. Row upon row of houses all the same design. Some lovely little towns have started painting these ...

  Monday 29 April 2024 Today Flashy toured the Guinness Storehouse. This is an amazing marketing effort by Guinness, housed in a seven story building with audio and video interpretative displays interspersed with bits and pieces of brewing paraphernalia. Hyped to heaven by the Irish. Thousands of people go each day. You end up on the top sky deck for a pint of Guinness – all for €22. Was it worth it? Apart from appreciating the technology, no! There were probably 437 people on the sky deck, (mathematical calculation) coming and going and as a home brewer, I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know and the free Guinness was average not mind blowingly good as hyped. Did I expect anything else? I’m not sure, but I was not lifted to heaven at the altar of stout. Lady P was waiting by the cute horse and carts outside and we briefly considered a €50 ride back home, but decided that it would be better invested in dinner. After a long walk via a Templebar pub, we arrive across the...

  26-28 April 2024 Friday 26 th We are off to Cushendall today along the minor roads following the north-west coast of Northern Ireland, eventually making our way to Belfast in two days. It must be the 100 th time we have said ‘I don’t believe this is Ireland!’, as the weather is blue sky and warm, around 9c to 10c but toasty behind glass, say, in a pub for example. A stop at Ballycastle is pleasant and a walk around produces a little store selling home made bread and some prosciutto and salami, which we will have as a picnic along the way. While in Ballycastle, we spot a pub called the ANZAC and since it’s just gone ANZAC Day, well, we decided to do what a good ANZAC would and have a beer. Pub is closed! Nonetheless, the barman offered to show as around. The story goes that the previous owner fought with the Gloucester’s on Gallipoli and got separated from his battalion and ended up with the ANZAC’s for a while. In 1945, quite a while later, he renamed the pub ANZAC in ho...

 ANZAC Day 2024 There has been some minor criticism of my description of the Bushmills distillery tour. I was acting under the assumption that my readers were well versed in the art of making and drinking whiskey. Anyway, the distillery, which claims to be the oldest licensed distillery in the world, was originally owned by Mr Phillips (two LL’s even). They operate five 40,000 litre copper pot stills and like that other Irish whiskey starting with a J, they triple distill to make a fine spirit. The barrels come from Spain (sherry) USA (bourbon) and Portugal (port) and are stored out in the open – rain, hail or shine and are lovingly attended to by two coopers - 4th generation father and son. The various whiskeys are a product of barrel choice and years they are asleep in said barrels, before bottling. After touring the distillery from inwards goods, through the mashing of the barley, the fermentation in large stainless steel vats, the distillation room, bottling plant and poppi...

  Tuesday 24 April 2024 A cold, crisp morning around 7c with brilliant blue skies. Up early and off to drop Flashy at Bushmills Distillery for his 10.00 am tour. There were 11 people and Anne the tour guide was very polished, not Polish, she was Irish but very good at being a tour guide. At the end we had a taste of 12 year old Bushmills, Very smooth, I can report. So good, in fact that Flashy bought a bottle and is drinking it as he types. Anything can happen. Lady P collects him and we head off to Port Stewart, a short drive west along the coast, where a pub meal is planned (after a long walk of course). Well, it was a pleasant walk of about 25 mins to Harry’s Shack, right on the beach and we anticipated the ubiquitous fish and chips. Oh no, the menu was heavily seafood as expected but our mussels entrée was spectacular. Lots of butter and leeks with a hint of spice (chilli we reckon) which is not so Irish. The whole sole for Lady P was trimmed and almost filleted and not a...

  Monday 22 April 2024 A reasonable day again, so we went to the local forest for a walk. The 5 km round walk was very pleasant despite the complete lack of signs. This makes the walk somewhat of a challenge when faced with a fork in the track. Not to worry, if you follow the river down stream, you’ll eventually reach the sea. Tuesday 23 April 2024 Our hosts arrived home at 2.00 am this morning and we were packed and ready to go at 9.00 am, after doing our last chores of cat feeding and water changing for the ducks. After goodbyes, we headed for Bushmills in Northern Ireland, around 3.5 hrs away. At Dungannon, around 12.00, we popped into a little pub. Just a bar that would fit 12 people and there were already nine men there. On hearing our accents, they welcomed us with open arms. One old guy was particularly welcoming. He insisted on buying us a drink. Well, we got what he meant eventually because he was a bit pissed, was 85 years old, with a strong Irish brogue and only ha...

  Sunday 21 April 2024 What a stunning morning it is, to be sure! Blue sky, bright sunshine, happy ducks, cats and chook. We drove to Greystones, 20 minutes away on the coast just south of Dublin, parked the car and headed off on a 5 km round trip cliff walk. By the time we got back there were lots of people out for a sunny Sunday outing. Around 1 pm we drove back along the coastal road to a village of Kilcoole, to a little pub for lunch. It is operated by Indians (ex-Goa) and has a traditional Irish menu at the front and at the back, a traditional Goanese menu. We had the Indian food from their tandoor oven and it was terrific. So too a couple of cold beers. Back home at 4.00 pm and it’s still sunny and a crisp 12c Some beautiful photos today of fields of Irish rape, planted for the rape seed oil. Pizza from last night Cliff top track Greystones and fields of rape Blue sky For those young readers, this is a beer glass. Traditionally it holds 7 fl oz or 207 ml. It was once ...

  Saturday 20 April 2024 Off early to the 17 th century mansion on 800 acres at Killruddery House, for a farmer’s market and a tour of the gardens and house, as recommended by our hosts. Fourteen or fifteen generations of Earls of something er other, have lived in the mansion, set on 800 acres of gardens. The current Lord and Lady live there with their four children and their elderly parents. I’m not sure why you’d bother opening it up to the great unwashed at €10 a pop. Wouldn’t pay the wine bill. It was a stunning day and we did the house and garden tour. Got the senior’s discount as well. Then shared a gigantic roast chicken roll from the farmers market set up in the old stables, then headed back home. While prepping the pizza base for dinner tonight, there was a knock at the door. Flashy was concerned that it was the single woman from next door, who suggested to our hosts that she might pop over for a drink.   Apparently, she’d talk the leg off a chair!  No, ...

  Friday 19 April 2004 Another cold day 10 c to 11c, but no rain. Both of us doing admin including detailed and often frustrating research into accommodation for the end of the Ireland component (Lady P of course). It is certainly not cheap here. Nonetheless, we will have achieved 63% free accommodation for April. We headed west this afternoon for a little drive to a cute village of Glendalough on the lough Glenda, where there is a 6 th  century ruin of a monastery and cathedral of St Kevin. We are in Ireland after all, the land  of stone ruins!  There is also a very smart restaurant and a quality hotel and bar where Flashy spent sometime observing the various good and bad service and OHS standards of two bar staff, while sampling a Jamesons or two. Lady P went for a light infantry march – she calls it a walk - and joined Flashy for a shandy before driving home. Flashy put all the duck and chook eggs into a billy of water this morning, to see if any floated. ...

  Thursday 18 April 2024 Still cold here, although the change we made to the heating cycle has helped and it’s toasty inside. After a slow start to the morning, including only a partially successful administration of the black cat’s blood pressure pill, we head down the road 10 minutes by car to Wicklow, to find the Tesco’s for some minor supplies. On the way, Lady P asks, “I wonder if they have Vegemite?” Guess what. They did! Flashy bought three jars. Should have bought the six on the shelf. Not to worry, he pushed the remainder to the back and can always come back for more. However, on my calculation, we have 253 days left before we head home. That means I need 506 grams of vegemite, based on my consumption of the one and only jar taken from Australia and now empty. Well, I have 660 grams with today’s purchase, so I’m going to splurge every day for a week. Anyway, Andrew is coming over in September if I am running low. An interesting thing about Ireland’s streets. Most d...

  Tuesday and Wednesday 16 and April 17 2024 Tuesday was a travel day to Ashford for our new house sit. A bit over two hours along the south east coast on mainly ‘N’ roads, so a pleasant, unhurried journey. We stopped at Macroom, Co. Cork, for coffee at what appeared to be the only place in town open. We were the only customers and the owner was a Syrian refugee. How did he end up in a very small village in Ireland, we wondered? Turns out he had been to Cairns once and Australia three times before the war interfered with his life. His wife’s baklava was pretty good too. Now able to function reasonably well, Lady P drove to Dungarvan for lunch at a little café  and an attached off-licence . Great toasted sandwiches and a couple of bottles of wine, then on to Ashford. We met our delightful hosts, Michael and Karen, who cooked a meal of gnocchi for us, and we shared a NZ Pinot Noir before they went to bed for a 4.00 am departure to the airport. Wednesday Up at 7.30 am t...