This weekend was really fun. It was super nice out, sunny and like 70
degrees. My co-worker, took me to a town called Wexford, which is about an hour away, to take photos of certain things in the town. (The Messenger has a Wexford edition, so we were taking pics for that.) We met up with one of the editors, a guy named Hugh, who took us around to various places, pointing out what he wanted us to photograph. Hugh was very nice, and extremely informative about the history of Wexford. Here are some of the photos:
We stayed in Wexford for about 2 1/2 hours, then we drove down to another town, Enniscorthy so that we could hand out copies of the Messenger to try and get more ads. (They are paid for entirely by ads.) We didn't stay long because we found out that another guy who works here had already done it just a couple of days ago.
We were going to take more photos in another town, Gorey, but by the time we got there, the buildings she wanted to shoot were all in shade, so we went back to Arklow.
I had been planning on taking a nap, because were going to go out all
night, but I only had time to change into something warmer before S.B.
came and picked me up again. I got to meet her husband, Robin, and the
3 of us drove up into the Wicklow mountains to a hotel that their friend owns
for dinner/drinks. It’s really pretty up there, it actually kind of reminded me of Colorado, only the mountains aren’t as high.
We had dinner at the hotel. I had to go with something traditional, so I went with Bangers and Mash (yum!)
and washed it down with a pint of Smithwicks. It’s funny because the young people here all drink Budweiser. One of Robin’s friends (who I met later) looked at my Smithwicks and asked, “Wha’ are you drinkin’ tha’ horse-piss for?” Ha! Apparently most people around here aren’t fans of Smithwicks, and only older ‘gents drink Guinness.
Anyway, after dinner we went into the back of the bar, where there is another little
room with a pool table and jutbox. Apparently, that is one of their favorite spots, so we hungout back there, and played a few rounds of pool. Pool here is a bit different. The balls are smaller and are only yellow and red (instead of stripes and solids) and there aren’t any numbers on them, except for the 8 ball. Robin and I are about on par as far as skill goes, so it was fun playing with him. We were neck and neck for the most of it. But then I played a game with one of their friends, and he kicked my ass in about 5 minutes.. ha.
After about an hour or so of being there, we took a taxi back into town to this pub, Darcy's, where we've been going to the past few days. It's really new, so everyone loves it. The bar-tenders are really nice there. So we took a cab (everyone was past the point of being able to drive), which are all like mini-vans here, and met up with Robin's family/friends.
We stayed there forever, probably 4 hours or so. It was fun talking to everyone, but I really didn't drink much. I wasn't feeling that great I was just tired, and felt
kind of off. On the way up the mountain I felt pretty gross too, like motion sickness, so I wanted to take it kind of easy. Plus, they wanted to be out allll night, so I didn't want to get recked in the first few hours.
We left Darcy's around midnight, and stopped and got a hotdog off a street vendor on the way down to another bar/club called Chrisy's. I woke up (finally) on the way down because it was so cold. I dunno what temperature it was, but cold enough to see your breath. Christy's was much more happenin'. Apparently everyone had left Darcy's to go to Christy's. There was a band and everything. They were just a cover band, but they were pretty good. I asked Robin’s dad, who I had been talking with most of the night, if there are any traditional irish bands here, and he said not really. Which is really too bad, I guess I’ll just have to go back to the Burren to hear anything remotely traditional.
Anyway, There is also a club up above the bar called Cube. I went up there to check it out, the decor was pretty cool, like retro meets disco. (I got a few photos, but they're pretty dark) No one was there, I suppose it was kind of late by this point, but it was a bit surprising (considering how much the Irish like to prrrty) It turns out they were all at another bar across the street called Sally's.
Robin had been talking about Sally's all night, like “ooh man, we're gonna end up at Sally's…” Just dreading it, so it made me a little nervous, like, what the hell happens there to make everyone talk about Sally's in the same voice.. oh man, Sally's? So when they said around 2am that it was time for Sally's I was like, ok, here we go! (Let's do this thing!) ha. Everyone was there! The whole damn town was in this
bar. It's actually pretty big, it has like 5 main rooms, and then a smoking patio in the back. I guess everyone just dread's this place because you only end up there when your blasted. So everyone there was just fucking wasted, but they all looked like they were having a great time, just laughing, and dancing and having the time of their lives.
It was actually pretty cool, I thought. Everyone was dancing and just looked like they loved life. There was a huge range in age too, and no body cared. There were teenagers, and then there were guys in their 60's, and it wasn't weird. I think that is pretty cool. I actually spent most of the night talking with Robin's dad, because Robin and S.B. kept running off to smoke. His dad didn't smoke, and was super nice, so I chilled with him. (also I figured I'd be less likely to have to bat off drunk irish guys if I was with a dad-type, ha)
The lights came on around 2:30 or so and I was like, “oop, that means it's time to go right?” And Robin was like nah, we have another hour at least.. ha. He was right, we stayed, well not an hour, but a good 40 mins more before they started kicking people out. Right before we left, Robin introduced me to this huge guy, he was like 6.5",300lbs. I went to shake his hand and he like squeezed mine in half! It hurt so bad. You’re taught that if want to make a good impression, and give a firm hand shake, you know? Well apparently that rule doesn't apply when it comes to drunk-farmer types.
Then it's okay to give a 1/2 shake, or maybe just a wave, to be on the safe side. My hand hurt for like an hour after that, sheesh.
I ended up sleeping on their couch that night, b/c I didn't want to pay for a taxi, and they offered, so I did. We didn't go to bed until almost 5am.. ha. The next day, we got up around noon and they made breakfast. Bacon, sausage, eggs, beans and toast. It was delicious =) I went with them to go pick up the car, then they dropped me off at my place, in which I proceeded to pass out alllll day. I literally slept for 12 hours, ha! I must have really needed it.
Since then, I’ve just been working. We had to stay late on Monday because we got a last-minute rush project. I had to re-design a pizza menu, and my co-worker had to red-design a Chinese restaurant’s menu. Since we had to stay late then, today I’m taking off early. I just wanted to update my blog before I take off. I discovered this really cool abandoned graveyard just up the road from where we work, so my plan is to go back there and take some photos (because of course the day I found it was the one day I didn’t have my camera with me.) I have to take advantage of this beautiful weather we’ve been having, because it wont be long before it turns crappy and rainy out all the time.
Well, take care! I’ll try and post the photos of the graveyard soon. Until then, I'll leave you with some photos I took around Moneylands.
Cheers,
Karen
No comments:
Post a Comment