"It's not about what life brings to you, it's about what you bring to life..."
Following on from where I left off, my Irish friends fully understood the predicament I faced...Slough or Bournemouth - it's a tough choice! Lol.
Having said that it was great to go with their blessing as I knew I'd miss them greatly, but fortunately for me I was going to a wonderful apartment which was easily capable of entertaining large parties, and we also knew another mutual Irish friend who lived in nearby Winton, just on the outskirts of Bournemouth town centre. How I met this mutual friend nicely flows into the next part of my journey as I first met Maryrose whilst also experiencing my first taste of Irish hospitality.
My first visit to Ireland was for Glenn & Ruth's wedding, and we went by sea as they had quite a lot of presents and gifts to bring back to the UK.
It was quite bizarre as I actually travelled with them on the ferry across, as we shared the driving either side of the Irish Sea, I stayed with them up to the wedding, then I went off to did my own 'thing' whilst they honeymooned over there, before we then met up and travelled back together.
I'll re-visit that trip in a minute, but at this point I'd just like to say how lucky I am to be so welcomed all over southern Ireland. Without ever taking any of the hospitality on offer for granted, I feel that I can quite honestly say that I have 'surrogate' families in Limerick & County Laois, and I also know that there will always be a kind soul to offer me a bed for the night and a roof over my head in Cork and in Galway.
As well as feeling at home in Ireland, the celtic spirit seems to be in one blood...quite literally, as I had my first tattoo inked in Dublin, a celtic cross, followed by a personal oriental tat on another later visit to Galway.
All my Irish friends proclaim that I must have some Irish blood in me somewhere too, as they say that I'm too laid back to be an Englishman! I don't know about that - I just know that the Irish people generally don't take themselves too seriously, they know how to have a good time socially speaking, and they really 'enjoy the craic'.
To further emphasis the bond I share with my Irish brothers & sisters, when it came for a venue for my 40th birthday to be chosen, and a destination which could prove quite accessible to most, the obvious choice was Ireland - specifically, a lovely little village called Ring in West Cork...and a good time was had by all I can ensure you of that!
But back to my first visit and Glenn & Ruth's wedding.
Once we arrived Glenn & Ruth split up to spend some time with their respective families before their wedding, and I tagged along with Glenn staying with his family in Limerick.
My first night out was in Limerick and it truely brought home to me just how the Irish enjoy a good time.
It was fast approaching midnight as I stood in a hotel bar with Glenn & his mate Martin, and bearing in mind it was a Sunday night in what is still regarded as a religious, Catholic country I sheepishly went upto the barmaid to enquire, "What time do you stop serving tonight?".
Her reply was simply, "Well, that depends on what time you want to ho home!".
That was good enough for me!
So we proceeded to chew the fat and put the world to rights, before hailing a taxi and venturing to a club down in the docks, arriving at about 3am and leaving at god knows what time!
At this point, I just want to put English pubs and in particular English barstaff to shame - this is a generalisation, as I know plenty of good English barstaff, but thinking especially of the typical Wetherspoon bar person I'm sure you'll catch my drift.
Irish bar staff are trained as professionals, and they are not let loose on the public until they know how to serve and run a bar. I can give you two great examples of this professionalism and quality of service.
Firstly, on another occassion in the same Limerick hotel bar as mentioned above, I was part of a round of a dozen people. I went up to get the second round and I was greeted by the barman with the friendly request, "Same again, all round was it?" And we're not talking 12 pints of guinness either; there were a mixture of drinks in our round, and not only that but they brought them all over to our table when ready. Quality!
The second example was in a very busy bar in Cork on a Friday night. The pub was heaving and there were three bar staff on duty, the oldest I reckon was about 25. Yet not once did anyone have to wait to get served, everyone was always acknowledged as they approached the bar. Now, you don't get that in your local Wetherspoons do you?
The wedding itself was fantastic. Both families hadn't met that many times prior to the actual day but everyone got on like a house on fire. We practically drank the place dry, and the staff let us get our own drinks by about 3am. There was a live band playing, who encouraged others to pop onstage and jam along, and Glenn's mate Martin did just that as he's a mean harmonica player.
Funnily enough, another Irish mate of mine got wed (Fitz) and he organised a band to play live at his wedding. We had seen them performing the previous night playing a heavy rock gig in a pub in Limerick. Now they were playing a toned down set in a castle for a wedding, proving how versatile and talented they were, but the best bit was their roadie taking a break from packing up their gear afterwards, and taking an unplugged guitar and started playing an impromtu set of Bob Marley songs!
It was at Glenn & Ruth's wedding that I first met the aforementioned Maryrose, who although Irish and came from the same village as Ruth, was now living in Bournemouth - which was to be the destination of my next home...ironic or what?
Rose was a grand lass, but could be a bit feisty if you pressed the wrong buttons. And that was how we met, my mate Marty got into a bit of a debate with her and wouldn't back down, so I whisked her off to the dancefloor to relieve the tension...and we've been the best of mates ever since!
After the wedding and Glenn & Ruth went off for their honeymoon, I went off to explore some more of Ireland and took in Galway & Dublin, before journeying south to the lovely Avoca - scene of the hit TV series, Ballykissangel. I walked over the famous littel bridge and had a pint in the equally famous Fitzgeralds bar, whilst they were actually filming an episode of the TV programme. It was a grand day for sure!
So why you may ask, haven't I ever lived properly in Ireland? Well, believe me, I have thought about it many times...and still do sometimes. The problem is that I've never actually had an opportunity to move there with work or any potential job transfer. I did do some consultancy work in Northern Ireland with a payroll company in Belfast, but that was as close as I got.
The current economic climate over there doesn't help either with any job prospects - hell, they are in a worse financial state than Britain and that's quite an achievement in itself!
Because of all my lovely friends & 'family' over there, it has always been a place to visit rather than a place to call 'home'...but I will never discount it completely because you never know what the future may bring...
Nomadic Steve
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