Speaking of breaking limbs…

That’s the one. So after finishing my first full week of work in months I was needless to say a tad thirsty. I lashed home on the auld bicycle and after grabbing a quick bite and a shower I headed straight for the 40ft – The pub, not the swimming venue. Col was already there – good man – waiting for me at a table outside. I ordered a Becks Vier and sat down. While waiting for others to turn up I noticed Ron Atkinson walking towards us and into the bar. Col’s ranting that the guy looked nothing like Ron Atkinson can be attributed to his poor eyesight since we all know how good I am at identifying faces. Needless to say we both agreed that the waitress did look something like Katie Holmes. Soon I noticed two girls wandering around in what can only be described as promotional attire. Never one to pass up an opportunity to get something free I demanded to know what they were promoting. It appears that had I arrived earlier, I could have purchased a Grolsch and gotten a free burger or hot dog. Still it took only a minimal amount of sweet talking to persuade the promoter to give me a spare burger hanging around if I bought a Grolsch. I happily obliged and also filled out a card with my personal details in an attempt to win a BBQ from a draw. The draw occurred only moments later and the feckin girl came right up to me, looked into my eye and said “We have a winner!” Then she looked out to the table beside me and read out the winner’s name – Philip somebody. Talk about rubbing it in! Not too impressed at losing out to the guy sitting beside me I began to persuade myself that I didn’t want the BBQ anyway and that the BBQ itself was actually crap.

Soon Ems and Clare arrived and we moved inside as it was getting chilly and moving inside was inevitable and better to do it when there were seats still available inside. Slightly miffed that three whole sections of the pub were reserved for private parties on a Friday night we took a high table with several stools around it. We had the conversation about Turkey which is our primary reason for being there and having got that matter out of the way we proceeded with the Friday night boozing. A lot of people from Clare’s course ended up there too as well as Zoe and Jessica. Emsy was on flying form as usual with more quotes than I care to remember! One that springs to mind was her blurting out seemingly randomly “I’d love to milk a cow!” There was also the most incredibly random segueing, the details of which I can’t quite remember. Unfortunately neither does Col and so those details are more than likely lost forever. It was something like we were talking about someone breaking their arm and then Ems says “Speaking of broken limbs…” and then launched into a COMPLETELY different topic of conversation. If anyone has any further information on this point please let me know? Soon the group had reduced to Clare, Col, Ems, Zoe and I and we decided to head back to Ems’ Dad’s place where her sister Kate was having a party. Kate etc… were in The Coast and so we had to go there to obtain keys for the house. Clare drove and when we arrived at The Coast somebody got out meeting Kate to get the keys. I assumed it was Ems who had gone to meet her and seeing Kate herself walking towards the car I made some comments that weren’t intended for Emsy’s ears. Alas it appears it was Clare and not Ems that had gone to meet Kate and Ems was still in the back of the car. This was not to be the last slip of my tongue of the night. Before heading to Ems’s Dad’s place we had to stock up on the auld alcomohol. Col and I went into the Off License to get the stuff and I swore I saw Sophie, Zoe’s sister in there. As it turns out it wasn’t but we only discovered this after I exclaimed “Sophie!” and the girl had turned around. Finally it was onto out final destination.

The place clearly used to belong to a drug dealer as it was totally pimped out with a pole for pole dancing and everything. We set ourselves up on the downstairs level with out beers and had the banter. A good while later, Kate and her mates arrived back from The Coast. Disaster struck! As one of her friends was coming down the stairs, I thought to myself “Is that a guy or a girl?” Soon everybody was looking at me funnily and I realized with horror that I had said it out loud. I desperately tried to apologise but in doing so I dug the hole further and further. Then came the crushing blow. Clare apologised on my behalf on account of my drunkenness which made me furious. As many of you know the one way to get me angry is to say things like “Oh don’t worry about him, he’s drunk” or “Graham, you’ve a little too much to drink. Calm down”. This will have the opposite effect and enrage me further. Once this incident occurred, all hopes of enjoying the rest of the night were dashed. I stayed for a while longer but not being able to enjoy myself I eventually walked home around 4.15. By the time I reached Kilbogget Park, it was so late/early that it was as bright as day and so I was able to walk through it without fear of drug dealers pouncing on me. A disappointing end to an otherwise enjoyable evening.

Now away with ye…

Byron's Big Bad BBQ

I was working off a serious lack of sleep. Claire and Lisa had stayed over the night before and after getting to sleep around 9am I awoke at 12pm feeling perfectly rested and perky. Of course this feeling was short lived and I began to fade in the early afternoon. Although the house was in a mess, the luxury of my parents being away meant I was able to defer the cleaning to another unspecified point in the future. I watched England getting knocked out of the world cup which is always good and then headed to Byron’s for a BBQ. Earlier in the day I sounded Byron out about bringing food and drink and he assured me that if I were to bring drink I would be well looked after on the food front. Bearing that in mind, I set off at 7 with a 10 pack of bottled Bavaria and a six pack of canned Bavaria. Good old Dublin Bus pulled through once more and I and Cakes (who I had met at the bus stop) were waiting for well over an hour. By the time we arrived at Byron’s it was almost 9pm! Still I was well up for a beer at this stage and cracked into them before you could say BYRN! Perhaps it was due to the late arrival of my bus but I somehow always suspected that Byron’s claims of there being enough food for everyone were a bit sketchy. Sure enough as I arrived, the last of the burgers and sausages were being polished off. Never mind though, I stuffed a pitta bread full of re-fried beans and salsa and it kept me ticking over. The vibe was nice and relaxed, perfect considering the night I had before. Had a good auld chat with Sam re things like Mr. McCaughan, Theoretical Physics, Karima and pelvis-cracking!

Soon Col and Aily turned up and at about 2am it was only us three and Byron left. We figured we had outstayed our welcome and headed back to mine in Aily’s car for more fun and games. As usual we stopped off at the Esso and this time it was Col’s turn to make a scene. He found himself stood in front of the household accessories section and felt compelled to buy a pack of rubber bands on the strength of them being of price code ‘G’. Back at the gaff we George Foremaned some delicious looking sausage things that Aily had bought in a random shop but unfortunately the reality turned out to be quiet different. They were minging! Even Roger coming home in a drunken hungry state at 6.30am couldn’t manage to eat one! Col with his general lack of respect for taste didn’t even try one and while Aily and I were force feeding ourselves these sausages, Col was busy covering himself in the rubber bands he bought. He covered his arms and legs with them before getting bored and ripping them off in his usual drunken violent manner. Then Col and I skanked it up in the kitchen to a couple of madness tunes before retiring to the living room for drinks and chat. Eventually I threw Col into the spare room and we all went to bed. Nice.

Now away with ye…

Final Results

I had spent the last week chilling with my folks and bro in hot and sunny Barcelona. Upon arrival home in Dublin I was greeted by my exam results. Although the results were ones to be pleased about, the week of debauchery in Barcelona left me with feelings of fatigue and not wanting to go out. I reluctantly took up Aideen’s invitation, via Fi, to her party (The reluctance was on account of my aforementioned fatigue rather than any lack of will). I presumed that once I got there and cracked into one or two brewskis I would liven up as is usually the case however I still only planned to stay for a couple of hours. I should never have expected to get away with not going out on the night of getting our exam results and it wasn’t long before I was getting calls from multiple members of my class insisting that I go out. Far be it from me to disappoint and so I caught the last bus into town from Aideen’s.

The first stop was in Hogan’s on George’s St. to meet Claire and Lis. By the time I had arrived they had already been approached by two blokes! Unfortunately it seemed the blokes weren’t making much headway because as soon as I arrived, the two girls jumped at the opportunity to run out to the atm and leave me all alone with the two random blokes. This wasn’t so bad since they were both good craic however this trip to the atm turned out to be a half an hour sightseeing tour of Dublin! In the end I had to call them and tell them to get their asses back to the pub. In the meantime, I had discovered that one of the fellas, an Americano-Italio, was a jazz guitarist. Being in a slightly less than sober state I was seriously impressed and after showing great interest in his gig on Monday I gave him my number. He promised he would text me to remind me the whereabouts and time of his gig because as we all know memory isn’t my strong point! So the guys got bored waiting for Claire and Lis and headed off before they got back leaving me on my own for a few minutes. During this time I spotted a girl behind the bar who I was sure I had seen somewhere before. I approached her and asked her had she been to any Present Arms gigs since she looked like the ska type. The answer was no. Just then, Claire and Lis returned. After a while chatting to the girls I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked around and who do I see? None other than Colleeeeee! Amazed that he would coincidentally turn up at the same pub as me I asked him how he knew I was in Hogan’s. It turns out, rather embarrassingly, that I had texted him not 10 minutes earlier telling him we were in Hogan’s and completely forgotten! Oh Dear. It was at this point I got an inkling that the night might not be the short couple of drinks I had originally intended. More evidence of memory loss presented itself when my phone alerted me to a new text message. It was from JennieFlynn and although I could remember texting her a few minutes previously, the body of the message was beyond my memory recall abilities. Thanks to a further inability to access my sent messages folder to see what I actually had written, I was forced to simply reply and admit that I couldn’t remember my original message.

Unfortunately Col wasn’t in a position to hang around and so as he left, the two girls and I headed for The Palace *groan* to meet up with more MSISS heads. As usual, going to the palace resulted in nothing but bother and agro. For a start it was full. Then Lisa’s sister was passing cloakroom armbands through the fence to us so we could try and get in. I was extremely against this as The Palace is never worth arguing with a bouncer for. Still we tried and Lisa got in but Claire and I were not so lucky (or unlucky if you ask me). So Claire and I were off to down under and for a while it seemed like the night was going nowhere. Just then we bumped into Clare and Mark and after a good chat with them, Lisa called advising us to return to the palace. Since down under wasn’t letting any more people in either we figured we had nothing to lose. Amazingly, this time it worked! All of a sudden we found ourselves upstairs in the palace with Si, Redser, Derek and Rob. Despite a severe lack of respect for The Palace it was good to see come of the class. At this stage it was close to closing time and it wasn’t long before we were kicked out by bouncers. Not a minute to soon if you ask me!

After a long time arseing about on Leeson St, I decided that I was going for the 4am 84N and I was taking the girls with me. At first they were reluctant but I soon won them over with my boyish charm ;) We only just made the bus and on it we met Cakes and Zoe on their way back from a night in Fitzsimon’s. When we got off the bus we dropped by the Esso. Lisa picked up a pack of Phileas Fogg and was at the counter when she decided she needed dip. Mild salsa dip. Aware of causing a scene I quickly located a jar of Phileas Fogg mild salsa. “No No No!”, Lisa exclaimed. “Take it back! I don’t want it.” I tried reasoning with her that it was mild salsa dip just as she had requested but it was no use. Lisa only wanted Doritos brand salsa. Sheesh! I never knew she was such a salsa connoisseur. I reckoned it was time to get her out of there ASAP and after grabbing a couple of pizzas we departed for my gaff. On the way we bumped into Cakes again having a ‘moke outside his gaff and took him along for the ride too. On the walk to mine, Lisa entertained us by talking about her Chinese colleagues. The conversation was too funny yielding such quotes as “They’re deadly at cleaning in Taylor’s. They clean under the floorboards because they’re so dedicated to Taylor’s” and “Chen is lovely but Ying has acne!” Obviously I can’t remember their real names so just replace Chen and Ying with arbitrary Chinese names.

Back at mine, I scoured the house for beer. I managed to rustle up 8 bottles and together with the pizzas and phileas fogg made a nice snack. The most logical thing to do seemed to be to call everyone in our class even though it was well after 5.30. Only Ronan answered (tit!) but was happy enough to engage in lengthy talks with myself, Lisa and Claire, possibly even Cakes too (unconfirmed). I do feel slightly bad about calling Rob’s house phone though knowing him he some tracking satellite and knew it was us calling even before we dialed the number. After watching VH1 for a while we put on Shaun of the Dead. At this stage it was late (or early!) and very bright and we were all fading by the end. At 8.30 it was bed time so I kicked Cakes out, put Lisa up in the spare room and left Claire on the couch. Graham Thomas, B.A. (Mod) :)

Now away with ye…

Friday 9th June - FREEDOM!!!

I hadn't slept in days. Partly from studying and partly from the sheer excitement at the prospect of being college forever. Sure enough the day finally came and I could barely sit still in the exam when the invigilator announced there was only 40 minutes of the exam left. Once it finished I just couldn't get to the Pav quick enough! But first we went to centra for a crate and another coors light cooler. Finally we got down to some drinking in the pav. Clare and her mates were there as well as half of MSISS. Col turned up shortly before two. I was half way through my 4th can when I got a call from Bank of Ireland telling me I'd got the job I went for in internal audit. How fitting! A job offer on my last day of college! So now it was really time to celebrate. At about 6 we headed up to Clare's for a BBQ. On the way we bought the ingredients for home made burgers. When we got there, it turned out Clare was not feeling the Mae West so she went to bed and left me as hostess! YES! The novelty of having to answer her phone and direct guests to her place soon wore off though and I was relieved when she re-joined the party after a lie-down feeling much better. We ate food, drank beer, watched world cup, had the banter and played buzz. Buzz resulted in quite a competitive relationship developing between me and Mark. Col left around 11.30 to meet soome of his mates in town. After another hour and a half I decided to join him. After all, the mates he was joining were my future work mates! I only intended on going for one as a 13 hour drinking session was beginning to take its toll. However when I arrived in The Oak, I felt a lot better. The tiger beer went down well. Bumped into Trish there and had a good auld chat about girls, the weather and the state of the nation. After that, more shots and beers with the lads and we were on our way to Iskanders for the obligatory end of night kebab. This went down well and before long I was on a 7N bound for Loughlinstown. A great night to finish off four years of Statistics.




Now away with ye...

Friday 2nd June - Second last exam ever!

The majority of MSISS finished MSISS today forever and I had completed my second last exam ever and the worst one of this year. For this reason, we were at the pav from 1 o'clock tucking into an inflatable Coors Light cooler full of the beautiful Bavaria. We chilled out on the grass playing multiple rounds of "Homer Simpson" and getting nicely toasted in the hot June sun. Come late afternoon I decided to go home and shower and change before heading back in. As I arrived at the pav for the second time, I was greeted by a refreshingly drunk Alard. After much general bantering around the pav including a streak by none other than Luke Keily we decided to head palace bound. As it was a little early for that we stopped off in O'Neill's for a quick one. As usual, this turned into quite a few and there was no chance of us getting into the palace. At this stage our group consisted of Me, Fi, Wig, Danny and Trish. Alard had bailed on account of an already impressive 11 hours boozing under his belt while Lenny quite characteristically
headed home early. On the way to the palace, Fi encountered an individual for whom she had a letter in her bag stamped and ready to post. Being the practical guy that I am, I insisted on posting the letter even though the person it was destined for was right there. I was later informed that this individual was Rónán and I don't recall recognising him at the time. Being
refused admission to the palace meant we had to settle for Flannery's which quite frankly is a damn sight better anyway. It was also named after a certain world class Munster hooker (possibly untrue). Nothing major occurred here just having the craic. Shortly after 2, Fi left on account of having to be up early to go to Austria in the morning and Danny Trish and Wig left soon after that. I was about to (again) go home unsatisfied with an early night when Colin pulled through as usual. He called me from a payphone outside the palace and therefore outside Flannery's too and I told him to get his ass inside Flannery's post haste! At that moment JennieFlynn turned up with her mate Aisling and the party got started! When Flannery's closed, we headed out for a taxi. While Jennie and Aisling were trying to hail a taxi Col and I decided to head across the road to chat to the large congregation outside the palace. As we were chatting to Caroline Lenehan and Mark Moriarty I looked up and saw a taxi speeding past containing Jennie and Aisling. Thinking quickly I grabbed Col and dragged him up the road chasing the taxi. We managed to catch up with it although Col had no idea what was going on. I peered in and recognising Jennie I proclaimed to Col "Yep. This is the one! Get in." So we did and arrived momentarily at Teach Jennie. Thanks to her generous supply of alcohol and homemade homous we had a proper party with her flat mate Carla and her boyfriend. Not a great lot of what happened next resides in my memory but I know at one stage Col was on one couch and Jennie and I on the other. Col ws telling us something and right in the middle of a sentence, at exactly the same time, both me and Jennie fell asleep! A short while later I woke up and was convinced there was a spare bed somewhere in the house. I got up to go in search of it. As expected, my search proved fruitless and came back to the sitting room to find Col asleep ono my couch. Grrrrr! Thankfully, being the great guy he is, he surrendered it back to me. A few hours later I awoke and looking around the room noticed a plant had been knocked over and the earth on the carpet all around it. As I exclaimed that it was a "proper mess", Col filled me in that I had been the mess maker. It was definitely time to get out of there. I told Jennie we were leaving and notified her that although I was the maker of the mess I would not be cleaning it up. And so we left and after dropping into temple bar for a quick hamburger we headed home.

Now away with ye...

Saturday 27th May - Special Brew

The situation was all wrong. It was a Saturday night, I had been out on the Friday night, I had an exam coming up on the Monday and had done feck all study for it and I had just finished my last gig ever with present arms. Yet somehow it seemed so right to go straight to the sugar club and see my new band, special brew playing. So I managed to rope in the 2 tone man himself, Ems and her friend Amy. I met them in good auld Hartigans where they were finishing off some pints before heading across to the sugar club. Even though we were late arriving, the band before special brew had run late so the band hadn't started yet. I had a bit of a chat with my new band members before they went on and as they started into One Step Beyond, Col and I started into our routine. By the break, Col was wrecked and had to make an early exit. No matter though as Emsy and Amy were still up for it. Although they hadn't been dancing in the first half they had been quietly getting drunker and were on top form for the second half. Eoin had asked me to take some pictures of the band for the website. Despite being under the influence, I still managed to take good photos. Unfortunately, the subject of the photography wasn't always the band and was often boobs and lesbian goings on. During the intro to Lorraine, Steveo asked the crowd if there was anyone there called Lorraine. For some reason Amy thought this was her and made it known to Steveo and so the song was dedicated to her. Amy was please with this until the chorus: "When I find her I'm gonna kill her!" Well, Amy was quite displeased to say the least! After the set, Ems and Amy became all star struck and insisted on getting each band member's autograph. Thankfully Steveo managed to set things straight with Amy by signing her paper with "Dear Amy (Lorraine), I promise I won't kill you!" Haha! With that we exited the venue but not before a band photo shoot for the new website. Out on the street, I let Ems and Amy head for food while I returned back to my room on campus. Another good night at the Sugar Club!

Now away with ye...

Friday 12th May - Trinity Ball

What a day! It all started I suppose the night before. For some stupid reason we got it into our heads to have a pre ball drink in O'Neill's. It started off as a quiet one with a friend of Fi's she met in Germany and as you can imagine it ended up being a proper one. After a few pints in O'Neill's it was only natural to progress on to bigger and better things in Doyles. The party consisted of myself, Fi, Cyath-eh, Lenny and his friend who's country of origin is still as yet undecided. After getting kicked out we stalled it round the back of Trinity so that Lenny could sneak Fi in to stay at my place. The next morning we awoke and were far too hungover for the morning of the ball. We headed to Goldsmith to collect our tickets and bumped into everybody we knew on the way. After Fi left, many attempts were made at catching up on lost sleep in anticipation of the ball however this proved impossible as people were calling over every 5 minutes for a variety of different reasons. I gave up and decided to attempt to get my gear over to the stage we were playing on in advance so I wouldn't have to cart it through throngs of drunken students later on that night. After a 3 hour search for the stage manager I gave up and met Col and headed up to Clare's for some pre-ball merriment. This was good and both Ems and Clare were in top form. A while later, my stunning date Joanne arrived albeit with mismatched shoes. Myself, herself and Col all headed down to Trinity for around 10 to collect my drunken band from Doyles. It appears they blatantly disregarded my instructions to not get pissed before the gig which only further eased my conscience on the decision I had recently taken to leave the band. After a brief spell in the "green room" (aka smokey dingy theatre with a few chairs and room temparature budweiser) the bands manager called us to the stage. The gig went better than it seemed to at the time. Unfortunately all I could hear in my monitor were keyboards and Noel's drunken ramblings. Couldn't even hear Tommy's kit! But reports from the crowd were pretty positive. Anyway regardless of how the sound was the gig was still good for several other reasons. Nuala and Andie's carefully made sign lasted about 3 seconds before Dan "c**t" Needham robbed it on them. He spent the rest of the gig waving it around, throwing it on stage, jumping over the barriers to get it, getting thrown back behind the barriers by the bouncers and waving it around back to front. The highlight of the gig, however was an impromptu skanking performance by none other than Colin "2 tone man" O'Driscoll. During Monkey Man, I remember seeing Noel beckoning someone in the crowd. Looking into the crowd all I could see was a very excited black and white blur running round to the stage entrance and flashing a backstage pass at a bouncer. Next thing I know Col is on stage dancing with Noel! Was a great performance and one I doubt Col will forget any time soon. After the gig I just couldn't get my gear back to my apartment quick enough. I was dying to rush out and see the end of Ocean Colour Scene. I only managed to make the last song but it was The Day we Caught the Train so that was good. Saw a few other bands after that but don't really know who they were. The rest of the night was spent bumping into people I knew and chatting to them. The last act I remember seeing was the Guns 'n' Roses tribute act who were, to be frank, dire! After Joanne had gone home I spent a while longer chatting to a few more people before turning in for the night. Thanks to the pre ball drinks the night before I was well and truly ready for bed.















Now away with ye...

The last 2 months of my life

Trinity Ball 2006
Making a proper mess
Ronan getting refused admission on account of his knobbly knees
Yet another special brew gig
Plus a funny story about abortion

Coming soon...

SKA SKA SKA!

Nice. BAsically this is like a really short executive summary of last Friday. I definitely plan to add to it in the future but I feel I should put something up in the meantime lest I completely forget about it.

Basically Col and I went to see Special Brew at the Sugar Club courtesy of Mr. Stephen Rooney. Great gig and afterwards we ran amuck around Dublin. For some reason I thought it was completely reasonable to steal a chair from burger king. I chickened out at the last minute but once we were outside I wanted to go back for it. Alas I was not willing to put my money where my mouth is. Also for some reason I purchased some porn involoving 18 year old ladies. Although the seller of the porn insisted that it was not a bad thing that I was buying it I was still very much embarrassed by it. At one stage I dropped it in the queue in Burger King and it landed with a dodgy page showing face up much to my mortification. Another incident on the way down Grafton St was my donation of €2 to the buskers which I demanded to be returned to me when I figured out they were shit. Thanks to Col for preventing a fight that I could easily have gotten into. On a more positive note, I managed to win the gold medal for hurdles in the special olympics that night despite there being bikes chained to the hurdles. My feet and body generally were killing me the next day as a result of the dancing but twas a goodnight all the same.

Now away with ye...

Day 3 - I am a Weapon!

Waking up on the third day of our Tilburg trip I didn't feel half as bad as I did waking up
on the second day. Unfortunately my travelling companions did not share my lack of hangover
and Fi in particular was in a bad way. Joris once again was nowhere to be seen and we began
to wonder if he even came home at all last night. We woke up properly and whipped up a
batch of the obligatory toasties. Fi who is normally quite intolerant was at the height of
her intolerance this morning and I actually feared for Max's life if he were to mention the
T word to Fi again. Some time was spent filling Max in on his drunken antics from the night
before. Due to falling sleep and our general drunken state we didn't get to finish Kingdom
of Heavan from the night before and so we decided to watch the lat 30 minutes again. The
leading woman seemed a lot hotter the night before and the film was even worse than we
remembered it. After this and listening to the same Nirvana album 5 times Joris turned up
to show us round his university. The bus today was €1.60 when the day before it had only
cost 50c. Even Joris is confused by this and can't explain it himself. The university was
simple and quiet - a bit like Lenny! Ah no. We went up to the top floor and thanks to the
flat nature of the Dutch countryside we could see for literally miles and miles. Lenny as
always was only thinking about his stomach and when he was going to get his next fix of
toasties. So after a lot of Fi being intolerant towards his grumbling we headed for their
equivalent of the buttery. Toasties and soup for a change. With a bit of food in us we
began to feel thirsty again and so the first beers of the day were ordered. After a few in
"The Buttery pleesh" we went into the town to look around. On our travels we encountered
the Dutch equivalent of Hector Grey's. Still feeling guilty about breaking Joris' chair on
the first night I decided to buy him a replacement. Unfortuantely the only chairs they had
were small, flimsy, breakable neon fold up ones however it would have to do. I promptly
bought it and presented it to Joris. Frankly Joris thought it was shit but Max seemed a lot
more interested in it. From that point on it was a rare thing to see Max without the chair.
On our way to a pub I needed to stop off at an atm. The chair provided the perfect way to
rest my posterior while withdrawing cash. More Heineken Bavaria and Grolsch in the pub.
Then it was on to the restaurant that Joris booked us into where we caught up with his
girlfriend. I ordered the wrong thing by accident but it ended up being delicious. Still
would have loved the steak that Lenny got. A nice after dinner game of Guess Who was fun
except for the cheating. If you're going to play a game you should play it properly. On the
way to the next bar, Max insisted on having a photo of him sitting on the chair taken at
every point along the way. He even asked randomers to stand beside him while he sat on the
chair. Some randomers were more happy about this than others especially the 15 year old
girls he asked. It was impossible to wrench the chair from his hands. He just would not let
go! We were now in this bar that sells many many different types of beer and each one comes
in its own glass with its own beermat. One final photo with the chair was taken in the mens
toilets. Sat at the table next to ours was a couple eating a platter of cold meat and
cheese. As soon as they left Max was over there in a flash to tidy up the remains of their
food. He has no morals! After this it was back to Joris' place where the others smoked the
last joint - HAZE! This is, as the packet says, for the experienced smokers only. Well when
they came back up to Joris' room from smoking it you could see why. I could tell there was
a lot of laughter contained within them ready to burst out. It only took about 30 seconds
for me to make a completely non-funny comment about the crisps we were eating which
resulted in everyone crying with laughter till there were no more tears left. For some
reason Fi's logic was wreaking havoc. She got the idea into her head that becuase of
Lenny's army training he might be officially classified as a weapon! Lenny relished this
and made Fi regret asking him that for the next 24 hours. He even compared himself to
rambo! It was just then that Lenny decided to tell me that the chair I broke on the first
night was not in fact given to Joris by his grandfather and it was of no sentimental value
to him whatsoever. BASTAD! But I decided to let him away with it since buying the new chair
had been such a great source of amusement. We decided to hit the sack relatively early
since we were leaving the next day much to the disappointment of Max. He would have kept on
going forever if he was given half the chance! Lying in bed trying to sleep we played a
newly invented word game that Lenny kicked our asses at despite him being German. Nothing
against Germans like! So that was it. The next morning we were up and out everyone was
feeling like shit and not saying much. An uneventful journey home however I must mention
that wins from both Leinster and Munster in the Heineken Cup mean an all-Ireland semi final
in three weeks time in Lansdowne road. I CAN'T WAIT!


Now away with ye...

Day 2 - Best city ever!

My eyes open. I regard the unfamiliar ceiling with curiosity. As I sit up to check the time a sharp pain shoots through my head. I lie there for a while as some memories come flooding back while others are lost in the vast cosmos of my subconscious. Looking round I notice a 3 legged chair with a splintered leg lying beside it. I somehow have a strange feeling that the current state of this chair had something to do with me. I look around further and there is Lenny with a smug German grin on his face. He remembers! Bastad. The next while is spent filling in the gaps. Lenny reminds me of the breaking the chair incident. The chair, he tells me, was one given to Joris by his Grandfather. As Lenny himself put it: "Monetary value - €20. Sentimental value - Priceless!" I felt like shit. I was also reminded of my incessant Dutch accent. While Lenny's advice to cut out the Dutch accent while we are here was harsh, I definitely agreed I should cut back. At least for 5 minutes. Pleesh! Joris had long since left the gaff to go to the University to organise the party tonight. We all got up, showered and headed out to marvel at the beautiful sights of Tilburg. The arguing began as soon as we left Joris' place. Lenny, despite never having been here before, insisted that he was 100% sure of the way to town and that there was no need to get a bus. I have to admit that after much grumbling along the way we did arrive at the town after not too long a walk. The plan was to find an eatery ASAP. Easier said than done! Some of us (mainly me) were happy with eating in literally the first place available. Others wanted to look for the most suitable place available. It was then that we stumbled upon a lovely little place called Havana. True to it's name the bar/restaurant was a Cuban style establishment. We noted its attractiveness on the way in and yet again after we had consumed food. Although we required something substantial, it was difficult to look at a menu in Holland and not order Toasties! Lenny and I solved this problem by ordering a burger each with all the trimmings and a minitosti to share. This caused much amusement when the small table we were sitting at was full with our respective dishes and Lenny was forced to hold the plate of tosti in his hand while eating it. After the food and about 6 cokes we moved on to next door. This was a pleasant bar in which I got a beer while the others drank coffee. We didn't stay for long though as people were eager to scout out the coffee shops. We asked directions to a coffee shop in Havana and although they seemed simple enough we still managed to get lost. We did however know the name of the establishment to which we were headed and Fi asked a couple of young girls where The Grass Company was. They looked terrified and replied "We wouldn't know where that is!" before running away down the flat Dutch street. Perplexed we decided to look for the place a bit more before finally deciding the best thing would be to head back to Havana and reinforce the directions in our mind. After following them again we finally managed to find the place. It was great! Very mellow and chilled out and the music was spot on. On entry we were given a drinks menu, food menu and Marijuana menu. After sampling some of the products that the coffee shop had on offer we headed back to Joris' to freshen up for the party that night but not before stopping off at the local Jumbo. Here we stocked up on Tosti ingredients, snacks and 4 crates of beer. Joris' eyes nearly popped out of his head when we arrived back with all that. A quick freshen up later we were on our way down to the restaurant for dinner with about 30 other guys that Joris works with. Upon arriving there we realised it was the same establishment we visited straight after Havana earlier. We were served a 3 course meal for only ten bucks. Tomato soup, followed by Schnitzel followed by Gemischtes Eis. The final bill was split evenly which came to only €17 each! We felt kind of bad since we had probably drank 3 times as much beer ass everyone else but we weren't complaining. In any case, we were on holildays!

After the dinner we trekked on over to the party venue. It wasn't open yet and Joris had to go in to get set up so we mozied over to the Irish bar across the road for a quick one. After a rather not nice guinness we headed over to the venue. Since the first 500 beers were free we were eager to get in early. We strolled straight up to the bar and ordered a round. We met many people that night. Of note were Joris' girlfriend who was lovely and a guy who when wearing his dreadlock wig looked like Drexel from True Romance. We danced to trance, drank, danced to R&b and drank some more. When the 500 free beers ran out we had to buy tokens from a machine and exchange them for beers for the rest of the night. You never exchange money with the bartender. The party was beach themed and had sand on the floor and everyone was wearing shorts, tank tops, bikinis and garlands (Thanks Emsy!). At one stage during the night I saw a guy fall and hit his face off the bar. When he got up, he was missing a tooth and there was blood pouring out of his mouth! OUCH! Around 3.30 am we headed back to Joris' apartment sans Joris. We were all in good spirits but Max was in expecially good form. At Joris' Fi instantly collapsed on the pile of matresses. Max felt it necessary to jump on top of Fi and Lenny and I were not about to argue and so jumped on too. After squishing Fi so flat that you would need a vernier callipers to measure her width, we decided that tostis and a viewing of Kingdom of Heaven was in order. I began to prepare the tosti ingredients and Max in his high spirited state insisted on helping. I repeatedly told him to sit down and that I would make the tostis and bring one to him when they were ready. He still insisted on helping so I reluctantly put him in charge of cutting the cheese. I busied myself with the ham and bread and when I looked back several minutes later Max had cut almost the entire block of Gouda! This time I banished him to the couch and told him to sit still. When the Tostis were ready we sat down to watch the film. Unfortunately the Tostis were not enought to fill Max's rumbling stomach and he proceeded to eat every other piece of food in the gaff including Fi's precious bugles. The film wasn't great although the main female character was hot. Half way through the film, Lenny got up to go to the jacks. Upon his arrival, he sat down on the couch, looked at me and declared in the best German accent ever "I've been sick." Hilarious! After the terrible film ended, we hit the sack. Fi by this stage was unconscious on Joris' bed and since we didn't know if he would return tonight, we thought it best to remove her from the bed. This proved to be more easily said than done and Fi was not happy about being moved. Still we managed it eventually and we all slipped into alcohol induced unconsciousness for the second time this holiday.

Now away with ye...

Day 1 - Toshtis Pleesh!

Apologies for the lack of blog entries which comes at the hands of Final Year Project. Said project is now done and dusted and all 5 copies handed into the Department of Statistics reception. Speaking of FYP, a trip to Tilburg to celebrate its completion was undertaken last week and this is the subject of the forthcoming entry.






I guess the trip began at 11 am on the morning of Wednesday 29th March 2006. Lenny called over then and after a while we headed to O'Neills to meet Fi and Max. Lenny decided that it would be prudent to buy a gift for Joris and after considering many fine articles of Irish tack from O'Carrolls, we finally decided on a €8 rugby ball from Champion Sports. Onwards and upwards as I say we went to Bruxelles. It was well after midday at this stage and a pint was already overdue. I must say the guinness is extra creamy at that hour of the day. Either it was the pre holiday jitters or the excitement of having finally handed in FYP but I was in an overly giddy mood. Along with this came a new found clumsiness which resulted in many pints being spilt and people being bumped around. Soon it was time to go and after a quick stop off at my place to pick up my digital camera we headed for the 16A bus stop to bring us to the hairyport. On the bus we decided that the can of Prascky burning a hole in Fi's bag had to be drunk. Although I was in pain due to bladder burstage being imminent, I somehow managed to get half the can into me. After arriving at the airport and making a much welcomed piss stop, we checked in and headed straight for the bar. Just as we ordered our pints, our flight was called. No problem. We downed the pints and headed for the gate. On the plane we met up with Philip, a rather nice Dutch guy who was returning home after visiting Guiseppe (hehe!). During the safety demonstration on the plane, Fi and I were repremanded for talking by a fiesty yet strangely attractive air hostess. The plane ride itself was unusally quick, no doubt our perception due to alcohol already consumed, high holiday spirits and the several Amstels imbibed while on the plane.

By the time we arrived at Eindhoven airport, the rugby ball no longer looked like brand new. In fact it more looked like we had found it in a skip and decided to bring it for Joris. The man himself picked us up at the airport and drove us in his very VERY small Renault to Tilburg. Despite a near crash on the way we made in one piece to his luxurious bachelor pad. It wasn't long before we raided his fridge, cracked open the beers and were having the banter. Max and Joris very kindly made us the best meal EVER! Mashed potato, cabbage and bacon. Delicious! Although they made more than enough, within minutes we were literally scraping the bottom of the large saucepan and whining for more. After the hearty meal and long day of drinking we began to feel tired. Fi was concerned about imminent fadeage and suggested heading out to the local for a few pints. In the end we decided to stay in and hang out with Joris since he had been so kind in making us dinner and providing us with alcohol. It didn't take long for someone to suggest drinking games and that's when all hell broke loose! The first was ring of fire. Despite a considerably weak rule that only beer and whiskey be allowed in the dirty pint, the game resulted in carnage. Suitably, Lenny got the dirty pint. After this, the next game was quite a complicated one involving dice and numbers and stuff. Although the Germans assured me this was a game played by young kids in Germany I still couldn't get to grips with this. However I eventually managed to exploit my ingorance into making others drink which was fun. The next thing I remember was waking up the next morning although I was subsequently filled in on some events that happened. First, I apparently broke Joris' chair when leaning back on it. Second, I apparently INSISTED that Joris make us toasties! Finally, I apparently made fun of the Dutch accent to the point of annoyance on Joris' behalf. All I can say is sorry Joris. Also a big apology to Lenny and Max for other events that took place that night that we will discuss in a more appropriate forum.

Now away with ye...

Linton's First Paddy's Day

The day started as my most sober Paddy's day ever. Due to working at the Spring House and Garden Show in the RDS, I managed to stay completely sober until 7pm. By the time I was finished in the RDS I had the serious jitters and a pint in Crowe's with work people was definitely in order. After two in Crowe's I strolled half way to town before getting a bus the rest of the way. Met Concrete COlleeeeeeeee outside Trininty and after briefly dropping off some gear in my gaff we wandered to Bruxelles to meet Fi et al. Bruxelles was packed and feeling very behind the others in terms of alcoholic influence, Col downed a double vodka. After one or two and a bit of dancing to such anthems as Another one bites the dust, It must be love, Jailbreak, and Viva Las Vegas, we all headed outside to decide on the next port of call.

We called the Germans who were in McDaid's for some reason but alas this didn't result in seeing them. I made use of Fi's artistic skill in the form of a shamrock on my left cheek and an Irish flag before we all headed up to Hogans. Not a whole lot of interest here but the place was rammed again. Close to midnight, myself and Col went back to Trinity to sign him in. Heading back to my room for a quick toilet stop we spied the tennis courts looking particularly inviting. We wouldn't be the men we are if we didn't stop for a quick game. Since Ro ro ro was being a knob and wouldn't lend us some floodlight tokens the game was played in the dark. Still in the same way as Pool and Darts I actually played my best ever game. No doubt due to the alcohol content in my body. WHile we were playing, a group of people were getting into a car. They asked me and Col to join them which were well up for until we realised their intended destination - Dandelion! We politely refused, finished up our game of tennis and headed back to Hogans to be reunited with the others.

Possibly the funniest thing happening in Hogans was when I heard a loud crash of many drinks and glasses hitting the ground and smashing. Looking around, I saw Fi's cousin on the floor and insisted knowing what had happened. I was expecting that he had been punched or had an epileptic fit or something that could explain him making a mess of the bar but it turns out he had literally just fell due to being polluted. As he was feeling somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing, Col tried to shut me up and stop me from insisting what had happened. Alas his subtle gestures were unnoticed and I continued to publicise this event. Unfortunately we were situated directly in front of a fire exit and random annoying punters kept trying to use it as a regular exit despite our cries of "It's not a door. IT'S NOT A DOOR!!"

When Hogans closed, Fi and the othes went home. Not ready to end the night yet, Col and I headed up to The Palace to meet Jennie and her mates. Hands down the most embarrassing part of the night was getting refused access to The Palace albeit only because it was full. It was waiting for Jennie outside the palace that I had a random encounter with Jeeban. Although I informed Jennie why we weren't getting into the palace she still had to verify for herself. So then it was on to The Village and on the way I bumped into my old tennis partner! Unfortunately, as COl just reminded me, I never had a tennis partner so I've no idea who that actually was on the street. I also have a vague recollection of smoking a cigar like a joint much to the interest of passing Guards. There was quite an older crowd in the Village and I felt quite young however we then went downstairs to where Jennie's friend was DJ-ing and that was much better. We danced to some funky music and when Michael Jackson's thriller came on, some randomer turned into a zombie!? Thankfully Jennie confiscated my phone and I was spared the opportunity to send drunken texts. We sat down and chatted after that and a bag of minstrels and a bag of wine gums mysteriously appeared from nowhere! I don't know who was adminstrating the sweets but all I know is that every few minutes a wine gum was stuffed into my mouth. I was talking to Pauline who I assumed was French. After a lengthy discussion about the Wales V France rugby match tomorrow I eventually discerned that she is in fact Belgian.

After being kicked out of the Village we headed for obligatory kebabs in a place that began with a Z. Kebabs were good but people were weird. Memory was seriously vague at this stage but I do recall a dodgy chat with Jennie about a certain other lecturer in the institute. Walking home, Col and I stopped into a newsagent where we were asked what the result of the England Ireland match was. When we arrived at the front gate of Trinity the security guard informed us that he was feeling "terrific" before heading on to 18.0.01 and to bed.

I sit writing this blog entry the next morning with a star on my forehead and drinking a glass of red wine.

Now away with ye...

American Pie Tribute Party

Apologies for the delay in this blog entry. Bloggy has suffered at the hands of final year project. Still better late than never and what a night it was! I'll disclaim now that this account may contain gaps where my brain shut down its memory record functions and may be inaccurate due to distortions in my memory record.

I recently moved into room 18.0.01B in Botany Bay and was obliged to celebrate with a flat warming party. Fi came round at 7 to cook up some delicious vegetable stir fry with minging LIDL rice that tasted like ground. We spent the next hour or so chilling out with cans and lemon jelly till Cathy arrived. Nik was next and for a while it seemed that I wasn't as popular as I initially thought. Thankfully several of Mike's crazy English friends turned up and the place began to feel more like a party. One by one people started turning up and about another hour later the place was like a tin of sardines. It seemed impossible that so many people could fit in the apartment but another hour later, the number of people had doubled again! I was slightly wary of campus security prowling around outside but I soon learned to ignore that fact and just enjoy the party. Whatever was to be would be. The freaky armless baby featured greatly throughout the night making many more friends than anyone else. It was also used to demonstrate the art of mouth to mouth resuscitation. Like I said before, thanks to my old friend alcohol, specific events of the night may have slipped my mind. I do however recall spending some time chatting to the beautiful Fiona Wilkes. The one memory that stood out in my mind was Mike's speech. I've no recollection as to what he was actually saying but I do remember him lifting his glass of red wine in toast and it spilling all down his t-shirt before smashing into a million pieces on the carpet. Literally one second later, a bottle of buckfast had already been thrust into his hand and he was guzzling away. Classic! It was then that I realised this party was going to be mental and decided to shed my concerns of damaged upholstery and irate security staff.

One event I was recently reminded of by Fi was her display of maverick. Once I had informed her that the carpet was already stained when I moved into the apartment, Fi decided to take advantage of this by blatantly pouring her beer all over it. "You're a maverick!" I exclaimed. My brother Rog was also there and at one stage he looked as if he had seen a ghost. I went over to him and he was all shook up. Being the concerned brother that I am I asked him what was wrong. It turns out he was recovering from a drunken chat with Karin that has left him scarred for life. He's still dealing with the trauma. Speaking of Karin, she seemed to be getting pretty close to Gepetto at one stage. Her level of drunkeness was confirmed as soon as she asked me to give Gepetto her number. I was happy to oblige much to her distaste the next morning. As it was getting closer to midnight it was time to kick everyone out and into Doyles. Again, memory is vague here. I did, apparently, spend some time chatting to Fiona Sinead and Niall. I remember one stage Niall assaulting me and trying to drag me upstairs to see Mike. I was uninterested at the time but I still wonder what it was that got Niall so excited that he practically kidnapped me to bring me upstairs. I left Doyles somewhat early due to my Godfather's father's funeral taking place first thing in the morning. Fi also left early thanks to an early morning drive to Cork and while we were walking down Dame St we had quite the tiff! I got back to my room and had a vague idea that I was fighting with Fi yet couldn't for the life of me remember why! A quick text to Fi and we were friends again but I had to wait till later in the week before finding out what the fight was about. Quite funny but probably shouldn't repeat it here...

Thanks to everyone who came. Was a great turnout from all walks of life. Was great to see Emma and Karen there from Rathmichael as well as other Emma and other Karen. Thanks to Ronan for bringing girls. Thanks to Mike's friend for the white chocolate buttons. Thanks to Ailbhe (Dave) for the Yop.








Now away with ye...

Blocked toilet

Well. So much has happened since the last entry. I am now currently residing in Apartment 18.0.01 Botany Bay with a slightly untidy yet very pleasant guy called Mike. In addition to this I recently found out that Present Arms are to play Trinity Ball 2006 mainstage at midnight. This pleases me greatly. A win for Ireland against Wales at the weekend coupled with England losing to Scotland pleases me even more. My first night in my new apartment was interesting. I celebrated with a few(!) cans up in Clares with the usual suspects before heading on down to The Mezz. At roughly 1.30am I joined Fi in Charlies 3 for some quality Chinese cuisine before heading off to spend my first night on campus. The next day I awoke to the sounds of rioting and sure enough as I looked out my bedroom window onto Pearse St I witnessed an outbreak of pandemonium. Guards running everywhere dressed in riot gear trying to keep northside scumbags at bay who were doing everything from smashing in shop windows to burning cars. Many people were running into the thick of it however I decided to take the advice of my parents and stay indoors well away from it all. On Sunday I finally got to meet my flatmate Mike of which I was feeling quite aprehensive as I was told his name was Constantinos!

Although plans were set in motion to have a flatwarming party this Friday, as I arrived home from work last night, Mike and his mates were busy getting stuck into a few cans. Far be it from me to pass up a cool alcoholic beverage so I legged it over to Londis for a few cans of cheap Czech Lager. Unfortunately our toilet took a turn for the worse and as most people know, cheap Czech lager + blocked toilet = Mess. Still we did well running back and forth from the Buttery for all our excretery needs and midnight saw our departure from the gaff to a pub on Dame St whose name escapes me right now. Multiple pints of guinness followed and I slowly but surely began to realise that the next day might be a write off. Back at the gaff after being chucked out of the pub, Mike, being the nice guy that he is, whipped us up a batch of his famous pancake batter. A couple more cans of Pravscy later and I was off to bed with no intention of making Data Mining at 11am. Party at mine on Friday!!!

Now away with ye...

The 4 year anniversary of "that night"

Cast your mind way back to February 13th 2002. It was the week before our mocks started and half term. My parents and brother had gone away for the week to give me plenty of quiet time to study for the mocks. Now don't get me wrong, I did get plenty enough study done that week. However I thought it only right that I have a little get together at mine to celebrate the first time having the house totally to myself for a week. The gathering consisted of myself, Ali, Wigs, Danny, Nik, Fi and Shoz. Wig being on antibiotics at the time managed to stay sober for the entire night but had the benefit of being able to completely dedicate his time to filming the show! Between the alochol that night and the time passed since, my memory has become corrupt and I can't quite remember all the sordid details. However it did involve sitting around and playing a game that involved forfeits. It wasn't long before the girls were down to their bras and knickers with the lads just in their boxers. Wigs, despite being sober, was strangely naked. Another forfeit consisted of Wigs using his teeth to protect a banana from STIs. Again slightly disturbing given his level of drunkeness - or lack thereof. Fi somehow ended up having a penis drawn on each cheek. The first, drawn by Ali was miniscule. The other, by Danny, was a 6 inch sausage! This, unfortunately for Ali, earned him the embarrassing reputation of having a small member, a reputation that would haunt him at every subsequent visit to the pub for years to come. There are several other good memories from that night which I won't share here for various reasons. Mainly because this blog entry is not about that night but about the 4 year anniversary of that night.

When we first heard Shoz was visiting from London for 2 nights and one of them was the 13th of February we couldn't believe our luck at the opportunity for an anniversary celebration. We began by drinking a few of the old reliable 6 for €7 in Fi's before heading into town to meet the others in Dakota. Unfortunately the atmosphere was close to nil there and so we moved on swiftly to Flannery's of Camden St. This was much better and the craic was mighty and Alard was doing his Gordon Darcy impersonation again. Upstairs with a booth we felt the need to dance on the seats to certain patriotic songs such as Crazy World by Aslan and Saints and Sinners by Paddy Casey. The bouncers were not amused and we got off the seats pretty sharpish. So we continued dancing on the floor. As we were leaving the place, Col in his usual drunken thievery mode managed to swipe a feathery scarf and an umbrella! When confronted he claimed he found them but chances are he found them on a seat beside a group of people who owned them! He was wearing the scarf but the umbrella was cleverly concealed in his sleeve. He kept insisting that his arm was made out of umbrella and wanted people to touch it. He then went off into the night singing about how he was the motherfucking shit with his tinsil. It was then onto the Berkley Court hotel where Shoz was staying. There we were 7 drunk students all piling into the residence bar of this 5 star hotel and demanding guinness and other assorted alcoholic beverages. Despite our well formed arguments we were not allowed to play the piano. At this stage Ali was suffering and so myself and Fi decided to put him to bed. We bid Shoz farewell and took a taxi back to Fi's. Ali went straight to bed and Fi and I were up for drinking a while longer in her kitchen. Fi told me she was going to the toilet and to wait for her in the kitchen and she would be back in a few minutes. I was quite content to sit there revelling in my own toughts when I soon realised that 30 minutes had passed. Where the fuck was Fi?!! Thinking she had gone to bed without telling me I went upstairs to check. Alard was fast asleep in the spare room but no sign of Fi in her room. I went back downstairs and noticed a rectangular glow of light around the downstairs toilet door. Ah. She ws still in there. I waited another 10 minutes before giving up and going to bed myself. Unfortunately Fi's memory was in no state to fill me in on what actually happened to her in the morning but my theory is she fell asleep on the toilet. And as she woke up in her bed still wearing her jacket God knows what actually happened! The next day was spent recovering and watching the previous night's recorded epsiode of Lost. (It was deadly!) Farewell Shoz. See you again in another 4 years!

Now away with ye...

Hot boy!!!

So I lashed in to town first thing in the morning with the idea of obtaining optimal viewing spaceage for the match. It was as I sat down right in front of the biggest screen in the Woolshed with a pint of guinness at 11.45 am that it occurred to me I might have a problem. Nonetheless the pint was creamy and the Australian rugby league match that was on was highly entertaining. As was to be expected both Claire and Fi were late and the first group to turn up was Fi and Rachel. Rachel unexpected, yet highly welcome, proved to be quite the rugby watching buddy as we will later see. Although I'd had no breakfast and was currently underway with my 2nd pint, we decided to defer the ordering of food till a later point. Just then Claire and Lisa arrived and our little group began expanding. The pre-match banter was immense and 15 mins before it started we ordered chicken wings. Alas the portion was quite large and the food quite antisocial. I spent the first 10-15 mins of the match shouting and cheering for Ireland through a mouthful of chicken and spicy BBQ sauce. By this stage the pub was packed and we had quite a group going on including Emsy, Karine, Joanne, Clare, Byron, Colin, Ronan and a few of Claire's friends. Unfortunately the match wasn't quite shaping up to be the match we expected it to be. We were making sloppy mistakes and the French were punishing us for it. At one stage Geordan Murphy got the ball. Rachel beside me screamed "Go on Geordo!!!" Just as she said that he passed the ball right into the hands of a French player who went on to score. We were gutted! At half time all seemed lost and we were getting ready for another afternoon of drinking our sorrows away. This continues for the first half of the second half until we suddenly got a try! Despite the French already having 4 tries under their belt we celebrated this try immensly. 13 minutes or so later we had 4 tries under our belt with 10 minutes to go! This match was turning out to be the most stressful 80 minutes of my life. I dreaded to think what would happen if we got a 5th try in and came within 5 points of the French. Nobody dared to admit it but we actually had a chance of turning this game around! Unfortuantely it wasn't to be and the game ended in a French victory. But we can take confidence from the way in which we bravely fought back and for those last 20 minutes the French were completely shook up. Their defence was in tatters. If only that had happened 20 minutes earlier... Oh well. We still have a chance to win the championship and if we can play like the 2nd half of the France match in future matches we should have a considerable chance.

After the game, most people decided against hanging around for the Italy V England match. Having lost to the French the last thing we wanted to do was watch the English win! Those of us who did stay, however, were treated to a valiant battle from the Italians who only trailed by a point at half time. Disappointingly they couldn't keep it up for the full 80 minutes and around 3/4 through the game the English took control and banged home a good victory. At this stage though we didn't care and were well on our way to a good evening. Amongst the people still left were me, Fi, Claire, Lisa and Fi's cousin + mates. Claire and Lisa had met some "Hot Boys" downstairs and were back and forth between us and them. Maybe I hadn't been paying attention becuase of the rugby but it was now fairly clear to me that Lisa wasn't drunk. She was obliterated! Sorry Lis but there's no other word! Beside me there was a French guy sitting down and as he went to the toilet he asked Lisa to mind his seat for him. I grimaced and wondered whether the seat would still be there when he got back. Sure enough by the time the guy got back Lisa had pawned the chair away! Later on that evening I was at the bar when Lisa came up enthusing wildly about the Hot Boy she had met downstairs. At first she was making full sentences but soon resorted to just screaming in my ear "HOT BOY HOT BOY!!!" Just then the barlady asked us for our orders and all Lisa could manage was to order a Hot Boy! At first the barlady looked bewildered and then thought Lisa was asking for a cocktail. She swiftly produced the cocktail menu and asked Lisa to indicate which cocktail she wanted. Lisa just pointed to any old random cocktail and kept shouting "HOT BOY! HOT BOY!" At this point I made my apologies to the barlady and led Lisa away from the bar. Then Lisa went to the jacks and I decided to order her a pint of water. When I went back to the bar, before I could order anything the barlady told me I was not allowed order alcohol for my "little friend" as she was too drunk! :-/ We hung around for a bit of the banter with Fi's cousin and his mates before grabbing a taxi back to their place in Drumcondra.

Back in Drumcondra we drank and munched on pizza. Was fairly mellow here which was quite a change from the lively atmosphere of the Woolshed. After an hour or two of chilling out we decided to head back to town and called for another taxi. It was eventually decided that The Mezz be our destination. Unfortunately it was after midnight and it had been a long day. A 12+ hour stint was taking its toll and Fi was complaining of a severe headache. Myself and Fi left her cousin and friends in the mezz and shared a taxi home but not before a juicy lamb kebab courtesy of Ananya in Temple Bar. Once home I indulged in a few more beers with my folks while watching Cream's reunion concert on TV. Soon enough I was in bed and on my way to slumberland.

Now away with ye...

Proper Bo'

A quick blog entry due to the fact that the last one was almost a month ago. Lack of entries is largely down to my ongoing abstinance of alcohol between the days of Sunday and Thursday. Unfortuantely the invisible random troll that follows me round throwing my life into a topsy turvy world of randomness needs alcohol to function. Having said that, my life has progressed somewhat and this entry will be a quick update on the goings on of Grum.

I may as well start with the most recent memory as it is still fresh in my head. Last night saw the coming of the long awaited second series of Lost. After a long day at college I cycled to Fi's where we cycled on together to Emsy's. Here we met Alard, Wig and Dan and were in high spirits at the anticipation of what lay ahead. We sat around getting more and more giddy before retiring to the tv room at 9 for a double episode of beauty. Alas our hopes were too high as the first episode was a catch-up episode. This might prove useful for some but since most of us finished watching the first season only 24 hours earlier this catch up episode was unnecessary. However it only made us more hungry for the actual epsidoe that followed straight after. While brilliant in every possible way, it was far too short and a whole week is far too long to wait for the next episode. Discussion followed as did much popcorn courtesy of Danny's popcorn making machine. Around the midnight mark I cycled home sounding my abnoxious horn.

Saturday was a pretty good day too. I awoke that morning with high hopes for arguably the best Irish rugby team in decades. It was the opening match of the 6 nations championship 2006 between Ireland and Italy at Lansdowne Rd. Thanks to Claire's powers of persuasion over her Daddy she managed to box us off with a pair of seats in the upper east stand. We met outside Mary Macs at midday for a few pints and then strolled down to the stadium just making the kick off at 1.30. Disaster. An abismal performance from Ireland who should not have won. The Italians fought well and closed us down at every opportunity. A wrongfully awarded try to Tommy Bowe made even more sickening. Still a win is a win and Ireland are still on track for the grandslam. After the match, myself and Claire headed to Kitty O'Shea's to watch the England V Wales match at Twikenham with Fi & family. I was hoping for a good result here from our Celtic Brethern especially as I had a €1 bet riding on England to win the wooden spoon. Alas it was not to be and England completely thrashed Wales. The day was not turning out as planned. The last glimmer of hope for the day to turn good lay in the first Present Arms gig in over a quarter of a year. The gig was at a 21st somewhere on the Northside in a GAA club. I arrived there, we soundchecked, listened to the support band who were very good for a change and had a few pints. By the time we got on stage we were gagging for it. We played well I thought but the crowd didn't care. They didn't want to know who we were. There was no atmosphere and more importantly no dancing. After 2 hours of hell we were bored and dying to quit and get drunk. And quit and get drunk we did. Somehow I managed to call in the services of Taxi Dave to bring me home at the end of the night. The last thing I remember as I was leaving the GAA club was a bloody brawl in the carpark. I've seen a couple of fisticuff fights in my life but this was an all out bloodbath. The 2 guys were kicking the absolute shit out of each other surrounded by a large crowd. I got into my taxi and the driver called the cops. My next memory is not a pleasant one and I shall refrain from sharing it in this forum. I was suffering on Sunday and somehow managed to get through a whole practice with The Fez down in Steveo's place in Gorey. I'm never drinking again!

Now away with ye...