just blew in from the windy city…
She was gone for seven days and blew into the airport at 9.30 last night and it was like she was never away. Her lovely face turned blue as she talked, and talked and talked and talked. She hadn’t seen us in a week, it was going to be this way for a while!
Talk turned to school, oh how I love that word and the Home Economics pratical for her Junior Cert which was this morning. She was not a happy bunny about it at all. We changed the subject and she went back to gushing about her boyf, R and how fantabulous he is.
I wanted to be back on Bundoran. Myself and Mammy2 headed down there for four whole days of just the two of us in lovely Bundoran. A seasonal town, but a lovely place to spend a few days quality time. We drove down amid hailstones and gale force winds. Just the weather we were looking for! The place we were staying in, self catering, had an open fire and all we needed was an excuse.
Day 1- All night , hailstones rattled the windows and the wind wailed around the house. Awoke and got blown into town. We were looking for somewhere to have breakfast. Finally settled on a hotel, where they had a nice lunch menu. A bit of browsing around the shops afterwards and then some shopping for food for the house alongwith firewood. Back to the house, got the fire going and opened a nice bottle of red wine. There was no words for how relaxed we were. After a siesta in the afternoon, we decided to head ‘out on the town’. We were a bit peckish so headed to a restaurent/bar for some food. The portions were huge, I ordered a fillet of plaice, what arrived out was Moby Dick. Obviously, the local chef felt we were in need of feeding.
After struggling with the meal, Mammy2 was delighted with her portions, we decided to move further afield as ye olde locals were starting to scare me. Therein was the problem.
Finding a decent pub, I’m sure in the summer this place is hopping, but on a windy Thursday night, people were staying indoors. We tried a few places, one of them, which shall remain namless had all the potential of a great bar. Open fire, comfy seats and then your attention turns to the bar and what has to be a direct descendant of Peig Sayers behind it.
Mammy2 ordered two beers whilst I negociated the rocky terrain that is the toliets. There was no point in consulting Peig, she just kept nodding her head.
We should have noted something was amiss when the main doors to the place were closed and you had to come into it through the hotel. And the fact that she was dragging her wooden leg behind her. Arriving back at the table, Mammy2 was dubiously eyeing up her pint of ‘Carlsberg’ which looked exactly the same as my Budweiser. We think that she moved from the taps to the slop bucket in 3 minutes flat. Two sips into it, we left them and Peig and headed back to the place we had lunch in.
Day 2 - After another lazy morning in bed, we headed to Dongel Town for a visit, it being the home of Red Hugh O’Donnell and all that. It’s a lovely town and the drive there was fantastic, the atlanctic Ocean on your left as you drive out, the Blue Stacks in front of you. We did some typical touristy things, visiting the castle, bought a fridge magnet, eyed up the locals for evidence of them being direct descendants of Red Hugh.
Back home for takeout, we were too lazy to cook, and a night in front of the telly. It was cold and we had an open fire, why would we face Peig again?!
Day 3 - A costal walk, I had refrained from mentioning a walk on the beach or the cliffs for fear of incurring Mammy2’s wrath, but the day seemed nice enough and the wind not too high so we went for the walk. She enjoyed it, even if she was a bit reluctant to walk it in the first place and she did look like the poster child for the Ring2 for most of it!
Having never been inside a bookies in my life, I was determinded to put money on Forest Gunner in the Grand National, so once we got into town we headed in and placed a bet. I felt quite empowered!
Mammy2 was gasping at this stage, having done that costal walk, so we headed into the first bar we came across. I won’t name names, but I should have know what sort of place it was as I walked into it, my boots sticking to the floor every step of the way. I returned to our table, where Mammy2 was resting her elbows on two beermats.
I didn’t leave my feet flat on the floor just in case I couldn’t leave the place. We finished our drinks and left that place pretty quickly.
Heading to what was becoming our local, the hotel bar, we settled down to watch the race. its quite a different spectacle when you have money on a horse. After our horse came 5th, we decided a mini-pub crawl was in order. Considering we had been in most of them already, for pub crawl read 3 pubs, we were too scared to enter the other bars.
Walking down the street at one stage, Mammy 2 was greeted by an Oriental woman passing. The woman from the Chinese takeway the previous night, I don’t know what Mammy 2 said to her but it must have made an impression! She was already known to the locals.
We got back to Dublin around 3 o’clock yesterday, enough time to take a breath before the teenager barreled her way back into our lives, and as per, this morning was a battle getting her to school. She hated Ireland, she wanted us all to move to Holland, she hated school, she hated everything. After some negociations and a serious of standoffs, we got her up to the school and there’s been no dreaded phone call, so fingers crossed!
