What with the one month abstinence from alcohol and the two 3-day detoxes I recently undertook, not to mention all the fresh vegetable juice I've been drinking, I've been on a bit of a health buzz lately. As such, I was due a big boozy weekend and the one just gone was such a weekend. It started as usual at lunchtime on Friday. Once I'd had my lunch, the Friday feeling kicked in and there was no way I was going to be doing any productive work for the rest of the day. I kept things ticking over nicely until 4.30 when I headed for home. I knew I had a fair bit of socialising to do over the next couple of days and so I decided it would be prudent to do a workout before the madness began. By the time I was finished exercising, I could scarecly contain my giddiness and rushed downstairs for the first beer of the weekend. Myself and Wig enjoyed a couple of cans of Tuborg ver a few slices of McCambridge's apricot & cranberry bread with some mashed avocado on top. Shortly after 8pm, we hopped on a bus and headed over to Lia's house in Blackrock. Lia was due to emigrate to London on Sunday and Friday night was her going away drinks.
We stopped off along the way for some brewskies and found Lia's house with much thanks to my old friend Google Maps. As Lia had invited us all around for 8pm, Wig and I figured that turning up at 9 would be sufficiently cool. We didn't want to be the first ones there. Obviously we're far less cool than we thought and even though we were an hour late, we were still the first ones there. Not to worry, it wasn't long before people started to turn up. The beauty of this night was the amount of old Andrew's people who turned up, most of who I hadn't seen in a long time, some of who I hadn't even seen since school finished! Time passed quickly while we had fun chatting to people and catching up. The time came for us to all head into town and my original plan was to hit the Gaeity to see Special Brew. Unfortunately due to a number of reasons, this plan didn't materialise and after a bit of time messing around, I wasn't even in the mood to go out anymore. Wig and Ali (who had joined us at this stage) decided to head in with the rest of them while I opted for a taxi home in order to prepare for the onslaught of Saturday. All the same, I had a really nice evening and it was great to see some of my old schoolmates again.
Saturday began with Dad calling around in the morning to watch Ireland play Australia in the last game of a very disappointing season. Funnily enough, we ended up having countless chances which sadly we just couldn't convert into points on the scoreboard. The final score was 18-12 to Australia and I reckon the Irish boys will be glad at the opportunity to have a bit of rest. Later on in the day, myself and the lads headed into town to check out the street entertainment festival that was on in Merrion Square. We walked around the square observing the various entertainment. A few of the entertainers were impressive however they tended to drag out their acts while telling a few very poor jokes along the way. Just then, we spotted what had to have been the best entertainer of the festival. An Australian guy was performing a series of feats, the first of which was swallowing a long sword. After a quick bow with the sword inside him, he proceeded to the next feat. The man attached a sword to a long horizontal bar with a beer keg attached to each end of the bar. He then swallowed the sword and lifted the two kegs attached to the bar using the hilt of the sword which was resting on his mouth. Unbelievable! For his final trick, the guy decided it would be fun to juggle two knives and some fire while blindfolded on top of a suicycle (very tall unicycle). After a bit of messing around, he finally managed it and it was incredible to watch. Afterwards the guy appealed to the onlookers for donations and I watched in amazement as he collected probably a couple of thousand euro in change from the few hundred people who had been watching him. People were handing him notes and one guy even gave him a fifty!
It was late enough at this stage and we rushed back to the gaff to get ready for Fi's sister's party that evening. It was Fi's actual birthday but it was Maria's birthday a couple of weeks previously. So it was kind of a joint party but with more of an emphasis on Maria. After a few quick showers and a couple more beers we were on our way. We stopped off in Tesco in Stillorgan to purchase some boozy presents for the two birthday girls. Fi's parties have always been good and this one was no different. We were lucky with the weather and got to sit outside with beers and burgers courtesy of Joe Swan. Fi's cousins were all there too including Brizer who we stayed with while in Melbourne last year. We sat, ate, drank and shot the shit. Once the sun went down, we headed indoors to continue the party. At one stage myself, Ali and Fi held a bit of a conference in the upstairs toilet. I've no idea what we talked about but I just remember sitting on the floor of the jax for ages talking to them! The night wore on and at around 4am it seemed logical to crack out the guitars and have a bit of a sing song! This was a little obnoxious seeing as Fi's parents had gone to bed already and late night drunken rowdy singing is not good for those who want to sleep. Also, I had bought a bottle of cava in Tesco earlier. I suddenly remembered about it and went off to find it. I thought I had found
it and I opened it only to find it was completely corked. Then I noticed the label - I had opened a really old bottle of champagne! Luckily it was corked anyway but it could have been disastrous! I soon found the cava though and everything was alright again.
Eventually at around 5.30am myself, Ali and Wig said our goodbyes and ambled up to the N11 to try and find a taxi back to Glenageary Park. By the time we got home, the sun was very much out and Sunday had already begun. I had only one thing on my mind - bed. I awoke around 1pm feeling a bit worse for wear and remembered it was Father's Day. What better way to celebrate the day of Father's and get rid of a hangover than hit the pub? So a short while later I found myself down in the Eagle House with the folks for some afternoon pints. Later on that evening, Fi called round for some post-party analysis and a jam. We jammed out a couple of songs and then retired to the sitting room with a take-away and a funny film. A great relaxing way to finish off a very enjoyable weekend. This weekend I'm off to London (probably for the last time :) and I'm sure there'll be no end to the scandal this time either.
Now away with ye...
We stopped off along the way for some brewskies and found Lia's house with much thanks to my old friend Google Maps. As Lia had invited us all around for 8pm, Wig and I figured that turning up at 9 would be sufficiently cool. We didn't want to be the first ones there. Obviously we're far less cool than we thought and even though we were an hour late, we were still the first ones there. Not to worry, it wasn't long before people started to turn up. The beauty of this night was the amount of old Andrew's people who turned up, most of who I hadn't seen in a long time, some of who I hadn't even seen since school finished! Time passed quickly while we had fun chatting to people and catching up. The time came for us to all head into town and my original plan was to hit the Gaeity to see Special Brew. Unfortunately due to a number of reasons, this plan didn't materialise and after a bit of time messing around, I wasn't even in the mood to go out anymore. Wig and Ali (who had joined us at this stage) decided to head in with the rest of them while I opted for a taxi home in order to prepare for the onslaught of Saturday. All the same, I had a really nice evening and it was great to see some of my old schoolmates again.
Saturday began with Dad calling around in the morning to watch Ireland play Australia in the last game of a very disappointing season. Funnily enough, we ended up having countless chances which sadly we just couldn't convert into points on the scoreboard. The final score was 18-12 to Australia and I reckon the Irish boys will be glad at the opportunity to have a bit of rest. Later on in the day, myself and the lads headed into town to check out the street entertainment festival that was on in Merrion Square. We walked around the square observing the various entertainment. A few of the entertainers were impressive however they tended to drag out their acts while telling a few very poor jokes along the way. Just then, we spotted what had to have been the best entertainer of the festival. An Australian guy was performing a series of feats, the first of which was swallowing a long sword. After a quick bow with the sword inside him, he proceeded to the next feat. The man attached a sword to a long horizontal bar with a beer keg attached to each end of the bar. He then swallowed the sword and lifted the two kegs attached to the bar using the hilt of the sword which was resting on his mouth. Unbelievable! For his final trick, the guy decided it would be fun to juggle two knives and some fire while blindfolded on top of a suicycle (very tall unicycle). After a bit of messing around, he finally managed it and it was incredible to watch. Afterwards the guy appealed to the onlookers for donations and I watched in amazement as he collected probably a couple of thousand euro in change from the few hundred people who had been watching him. People were handing him notes and one guy even gave him a fifty!
It was late enough at this stage and we rushed back to the gaff to get ready for Fi's sister's party that evening. It was Fi's actual birthday but it was Maria's birthday a couple of weeks previously. So it was kind of a joint party but with more of an emphasis on Maria. After a few quick showers and a couple more beers we were on our way. We stopped off in Tesco in Stillorgan to purchase some boozy presents for the two birthday girls. Fi's parties have always been good and this one was no different. We were lucky with the weather and got to sit outside with beers and burgers courtesy of Joe Swan. Fi's cousins were all there too including Brizer who we stayed with while in Melbourne last year. We sat, ate, drank and shot the shit. Once the sun went down, we headed indoors to continue the party. At one stage myself, Ali and Fi held a bit of a conference in the upstairs toilet. I've no idea what we talked about but I just remember sitting on the floor of the jax for ages talking to them! The night wore on and at around 4am it seemed logical to crack out the guitars and have a bit of a sing song! This was a little obnoxious seeing as Fi's parents had gone to bed already and late night drunken rowdy singing is not good for those who want to sleep. Also, I had bought a bottle of cava in Tesco earlier. I suddenly remembered about it and went off to find it. I thought I had found
it and I opened it only to find it was completely corked. Then I noticed the label - I had opened a really old bottle of champagne! Luckily it was corked anyway but it could have been disastrous! I soon found the cava though and everything was alright again.
Eventually at around 5.30am myself, Ali and Wig said our goodbyes and ambled up to the N11 to try and find a taxi back to Glenageary Park. By the time we got home, the sun was very much out and Sunday had already begun. I had only one thing on my mind - bed. I awoke around 1pm feeling a bit worse for wear and remembered it was Father's Day. What better way to celebrate the day of Father's and get rid of a hangover than hit the pub? So a short while later I found myself down in the Eagle House with the folks for some afternoon pints. Later on that evening, Fi called round for some post-party analysis and a jam. We jammed out a couple of songs and then retired to the sitting room with a take-away and a funny film. A great relaxing way to finish off a very enjoyable weekend. This weekend I'm off to London (probably for the last time :) and I'm sure there'll be no end to the scandal this time either.
Now away with ye...
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