Ali in Ireland, Ali in Ireland

While I was in Ireland, after competing in Cork, I went back to Adare with Dale (my bro jo) and Mette Helen (sissy-in-law) and they showed me some of the sights. In reference to the title of this entry, for those of you who haven’t seen Ali G Innit, Ali in (Northern) Ireland is a ditty that they play as a lead in to his interviews in Ireland. We also watched Ali G whilst in Ireland so the ditty is a little fresh (maybe a little too fresh) in my mind.

We went out to dinner on Saturday night to The Blue Door - three guesses why it is named so. On Sunday, I got up at 5am next morning; cleaned Dale and MH’s flat inside and out then prepared them a complete cooked breakfast with all the trimmings and served it to Dale and MH in bed. They didn’t even thank me for it. After they were sufficiently sated, we went for a long walk around Adare, up to the train tracks, along the Maigue River to the ruins of Adare Castle then trespassed through the property of Adare Manor to catch a glimpse of a golf course and grab a bite from the posh eatery.

After lunch, we played an 18 hole round of pitch and putt. Amazingly Mette Helen won the game even though Dale and I devised a plan to get us back in the game by multiplying our last round by 3 (incidentally, it would have worked if we had multiplied it by 4). The reason it was so perplexing is not because Dale and I are any good but because MH’s swing is dreadful. She manages to bob down as she swings the club. Plus I’m surprised she didn’t use the putter off the tee because she used it for every other hit (even if she was 20m+ away from the green). Dale and I walked away from the course in shame and disbelief.

Dale and I flew back to London on Sunday night. After seemingly departing Ireland early, a wait on the Heathrow tarmac was jeopardising our chances of catching the last tube home. We jumped off the Piccadilly line at Green Park to hear the announcement that the last tube on the Jubilee Line would be departing within the next couple of minutes so we bolted (with my suitcase that I brought from Oz - thank you to whoever decided to put wheels on the bottom of luggage) and managed to get to the platform with at least 30 seconds to spare (but not much air - except for Dale’s gas - that was in abundance all weekend). We arrived safely back at Rae’s in time for a nice big sleep.