Thursday, June Tabor on now. Went to the Social Welfare Office in Mallow today. And guess what? After about two minutes everything was sorted out. Amazing, isn’t it? Tried to open a bank account as well, but that was expecting too much at the same time. As long as I don’t have an permanent residence, they won’t open an account for me. Well….guess I’m getting used to it.
As most of you know, I’ve spend my weekend in Belfast. So I guess you’re all waiting for a report. To be honest, it feels a bit awkward. Cause for the first time in the short existence of my little website, I have to write a report about time I’ve spend with people who are going to read about it here themselves. Feels a bit strange. But I’ll try to be honest and sincere anyway.
Belfast-report: part 1
Starts in Dublin. Cause I already booked a seat in Vicar Street for Luka’s show a couple of weeks before I arrived in Ireland. It was only at the last minute that I decided to go to the show in Belfast as well. Two shows in four days it was indeed.
I arrived in Dublin after a bus trip from almost five hours. Weather wasn’t very nice that day, so I spend most of the time exploring the different shopping centres of Dublin. Went back to the hostel around six to have a quick meal, meet some people there and get dressed for the concert. Had a bed in an eight-bed-dorm. But were only two of us there that night. Me and……a middle aged….man…..from…..Cork. He was really in the organic food stuff, so we had a topic of conversation as I worked in an organic food shop for a short time myself. I even didn’t had too many problems understanding him. ‘t Was only at night when I tried to fell asleep that I realised that it is indeed a bit of a strange idea to share the room with a completely unknown older guy. Guess I was lucky, as he even didn’t snore. The only strange thing he did was taking all kind of organic pills and medicines when he woke up.
The show in Vicar Street was great. People were allowed to drink during the concert (we were sitting at small round tables). And when Irish people are not thirsty, they are always in the mood for some real craic. So they start singing along with guest appearance Alyanya and they continued doing that when Luka performed Sunny Sailor Boy and other great songs. Really enjoyed the show. Met Niall and one of Luka’s sisters after the show. And had a quick visit to the VIP room, where I saw Christy Moore in the corner of the bar (think Jonny still is a bit envious of that).
As most of you know, I’ve spend my weekend in Belfast. So I guess you’re all waiting for a report. To be honest, it feels a bit awkward. Cause for the first time in the short existence of my little website, I have to write a report about time I’ve spend with people who are going to read about it here themselves. Feels a bit strange. But I’ll try to be honest and sincere anyway.
Belfast-report: part 1
Starts in Dublin. Cause I already booked a seat in Vicar Street for Luka’s show a couple of weeks before I arrived in Ireland. It was only at the last minute that I decided to go to the show in Belfast as well. Two shows in four days it was indeed.
I arrived in Dublin after a bus trip from almost five hours. Weather wasn’t very nice that day, so I spend most of the time exploring the different shopping centres of Dublin. Went back to the hostel around six to have a quick meal, meet some people there and get dressed for the concert. Had a bed in an eight-bed-dorm. But were only two of us there that night. Me and……a middle aged….man…..from…..Cork. He was really in the organic food stuff, so we had a topic of conversation as I worked in an organic food shop for a short time myself. I even didn’t had too many problems understanding him. ‘t Was only at night when I tried to fell asleep that I realised that it is indeed a bit of a strange idea to share the room with a completely unknown older guy. Guess I was lucky, as he even didn’t snore. The only strange thing he did was taking all kind of organic pills and medicines when he woke up.
The show in Vicar Street was great. People were allowed to drink during the concert (we were sitting at small round tables). And when Irish people are not thirsty, they are always in the mood for some real craic. So they start singing along with guest appearance Alyanya and they continued doing that when Luka performed Sunny Sailor Boy and other great songs. Really enjoyed the show. Met Niall and one of Luka’s sisters after the show. And had a quick visit to the VIP room, where I saw Christy Moore in the corner of the bar (think Jonny still is a bit envious of that).
Next day I got up quite early, took a shower and…..discovered four text messages on my mobile phone from the same sender. Dirk….that he cancelled his flight last minute. A shock it was indeed, as we had planned to meet each other a couple of hours later in Belfast, together with Jonny and Katie. But he had a good reason for not coming and I took the bus to Belfast anyway. A bit anxious, ‘cause I only met Jonny a couple of weeks before I left Belgium as he is a friend of Dirk. And it were actually only those particular occasions where there was a lot of drinking involved that I really spoke to him.
I met Katie and Jonny in the most bombed hotel of Europe (there was indeed no need to tell you guys this before). The plan was to have a quick drink there and go for a car drive through Belfast city. Instead we went for a nice lunch in a very modern launch bar and for another drink in one of the other ‘you’ve must seen’ bars in Belfast. Afterwards we just drove to Jonny’s place, as we were all a bit (or very) tired. Jonny’s mum received us with open arms. I got my own single bedroom downstairs. It was Jonny’s youngest brother’s birthday, so I soon was going to find out how they celebrate someone’s birthday in Northern Ireland. First of all, there was loads of food. There were some nice people as well (including some work colleagues of Jonny’s mum, Darren’s fiancée and her Scottish father). There was music. And there was drink of course. Around half ten they called a cab to continue the party in Jonny’s local pub. To his own big disappointment it was relatively calm there, but there was a nice atmosphere anyway. Around one ‘o clock some heavy looking bouncers with earphones kicked us all out, which obliged us to get back in the cab and continue the party at home again. Don’t remember what time I went to bed, wasn’t too bad. Katie went to bed as well. Jonny tried to do the same, but instead…his mum found him a couple of hours later in…..the…..bath. Sleeping peacefully and completely dressed.
Next morning we managed to get in the car around eleven to go for a trip to the Antrim Coast. Passed through Carrickfergus (Van Morrison is singing about it) first. Jonny had some problems to find the Coastal Route, but after a quick stop at his favourite toyshop for an ice cream (sorry Jonny, don’t remember the name of the shop. Rivka or something it was) we finally get there. High light of the day was of course The Giant’s Causeway. It’s one of the Unesco World Heritage sites. And also one of the thousand places everyone should visit before he dies. But that was only in the afternoon. The first big stop was at the Carrick-a-Rede Rode Bridge. In spite of several signs on the road telling us that the bridge was closed, we only believed it when we actually stood in front of the closed gate. A bit of a disappointment maybe, but on the other side also a relief as I’m not a real hero on heights. And we enjoyed the view anyway. Driving on we passed several small coastal towns. When we passed the bog we got out the car again. ‘Cause Katie wanted us to experience the elasticity of the peat ourselves. It didn’t work out very well. And instead we did a quite macabre discovery. Just a couple of metres from the road we found several skulls of sheep or goats, and bones and pieces of fleece as well. Like there had took place a ritual slaughtering. Very creepy. Back to the car. There were still two main things on our to do list: the Giants Causeway and the Bushmills Distillery (thé oldest legal whiskey distillery of the world). As we were a bit short of time we could only do one of them and so……we went to the Giants Causeway (what else did you expected?). I was really impressed. Think we ‘couldn’t come at a better time’. The sun was shining, it was not too cold, no wind and there were not too many tourists either. I’m not going to dwell on the geological explanation of how the Giant’s Causeway was created. ‘Cause that’s all twaddle for people who won’t believe that the Irish giant Finn MacCool build this way to get to Scotland to fight his rival Benandonner.
After the Giant’s Causeway we started to feel hungry and as Katie had an appetite for seafood Jonny decided to take us to a restaurant called The Salmon Leap. Before we just dropped our stuff in Jonny’s mum’s caravan (yes indeed Belgian shivery people, we stayed at the end of February in Northern-Ireland in a CARAVAN! Isn’t life and Irish weather just beautiful?). As we didn’t make a reservation we went for a pint in expectation of a free table. Reading the menu it seemed they didn’t had that many seafood at all, so I ordered lamb (I’m getting used to the meat now) with vegetables and one big backed potato. The salmon was prepared in a Chinese way, which didn’t appeal to me at all. After dinner back to the caravan. There was plenty of wine there (although I couldn’t even finish half a bottle of it). Played cards. Was quite fun. I went to bed early. Tired.
As I’m now too, so I’m afraid Belfast Part 2 is for after the weekend. Hear you all soon.
Saskia
I met Katie and Jonny in the most bombed hotel of Europe (there was indeed no need to tell you guys this before). The plan was to have a quick drink there and go for a car drive through Belfast city. Instead we went for a nice lunch in a very modern launch bar and for another drink in one of the other ‘you’ve must seen’ bars in Belfast. Afterwards we just drove to Jonny’s place, as we were all a bit (or very) tired. Jonny’s mum received us with open arms. I got my own single bedroom downstairs. It was Jonny’s youngest brother’s birthday, so I soon was going to find out how they celebrate someone’s birthday in Northern Ireland. First of all, there was loads of food. There were some nice people as well (including some work colleagues of Jonny’s mum, Darren’s fiancée and her Scottish father). There was music. And there was drink of course. Around half ten they called a cab to continue the party in Jonny’s local pub. To his own big disappointment it was relatively calm there, but there was a nice atmosphere anyway. Around one ‘o clock some heavy looking bouncers with earphones kicked us all out, which obliged us to get back in the cab and continue the party at home again. Don’t remember what time I went to bed, wasn’t too bad. Katie went to bed as well. Jonny tried to do the same, but instead…his mum found him a couple of hours later in…..the…..bath. Sleeping peacefully and completely dressed.
Next morning we managed to get in the car around eleven to go for a trip to the Antrim Coast. Passed through Carrickfergus (Van Morrison is singing about it) first. Jonny had some problems to find the Coastal Route, but after a quick stop at his favourite toyshop for an ice cream (sorry Jonny, don’t remember the name of the shop. Rivka or something it was) we finally get there. High light of the day was of course The Giant’s Causeway. It’s one of the Unesco World Heritage sites. And also one of the thousand places everyone should visit before he dies. But that was only in the afternoon. The first big stop was at the Carrick-a-Rede Rode Bridge. In spite of several signs on the road telling us that the bridge was closed, we only believed it when we actually stood in front of the closed gate. A bit of a disappointment maybe, but on the other side also a relief as I’m not a real hero on heights. And we enjoyed the view anyway. Driving on we passed several small coastal towns. When we passed the bog we got out the car again. ‘Cause Katie wanted us to experience the elasticity of the peat ourselves. It didn’t work out very well. And instead we did a quite macabre discovery. Just a couple of metres from the road we found several skulls of sheep or goats, and bones and pieces of fleece as well. Like there had took place a ritual slaughtering. Very creepy. Back to the car. There were still two main things on our to do list: the Giants Causeway and the Bushmills Distillery (thé oldest legal whiskey distillery of the world). As we were a bit short of time we could only do one of them and so……we went to the Giants Causeway (what else did you expected?). I was really impressed. Think we ‘couldn’t come at a better time’. The sun was shining, it was not too cold, no wind and there were not too many tourists either. I’m not going to dwell on the geological explanation of how the Giant’s Causeway was created. ‘Cause that’s all twaddle for people who won’t believe that the Irish giant Finn MacCool build this way to get to Scotland to fight his rival Benandonner.
After the Giant’s Causeway we started to feel hungry and as Katie had an appetite for seafood Jonny decided to take us to a restaurant called The Salmon Leap. Before we just dropped our stuff in Jonny’s mum’s caravan (yes indeed Belgian shivery people, we stayed at the end of February in Northern-Ireland in a CARAVAN! Isn’t life and Irish weather just beautiful?). As we didn’t make a reservation we went for a pint in expectation of a free table. Reading the menu it seemed they didn’t had that many seafood at all, so I ordered lamb (I’m getting used to the meat now) with vegetables and one big backed potato. The salmon was prepared in a Chinese way, which didn’t appeal to me at all. After dinner back to the caravan. There was plenty of wine there (although I couldn’t even finish half a bottle of it). Played cards. Was quite fun. I went to bed early. Tired.
As I’m now too, so I’m afraid Belfast Part 2 is for after the weekend. Hear you all soon.
Saskia
