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...