Fields of Green

 Today the BBC web-site had interviews with Danny Care (England) and Sam Warburton (Wales) in which they ranked the Six Nations stadia. Their order was:

1.  Cardiff
2. Twickenham
3. Murrayfield
4. Paris
5. Dublin and
   
6. Rome

That is fascinating and from a players point of view they see little of the 'weekend experience' where we have often commented that the game is often the low point of the celebrations. My choice would be this:

1. Dublin
2. Rome
3. Twickenham
4. Paris
5. Murrayfield
6. Cardiff

Almost a reverse order. Interesting.

Fields of Athenry

What a great weekend to be English. The S Club  travelled to Dublin, expecting the worst and saw a pretty comprehensive victory against the side rates number 2 in the World.

Ireland never got the better of England on the pitch, but they were top drawer hosts before and after. We helped a chap out last year with a spare ticket and said he would try and help in Dublin if needbe. His name is George Mullen and his Company install the latest all weather pitches for the RFU amongst others. His son is in the Ireland squad and his wife is a cousin of farmer Pete.

So turn up at my Club said George. We did. It was the Hibernian Club on St Stephens Green. He plied us with Guinness and then guided us unexpectedly into the dining room for a full three course roast dinner with wine, all on him.
He then found out that we had two other friends without tickets, tracked down his son and returned with three for the game.

A true gent was George and hopeful we can reciprocate at Twickenham next year.

The Irish hospitality continued after the match as we were invited to a local pub near our hotel. We did bit of singing and then went into the public bar where there as a Country and Western duo on. At about midnight the guvnor with typical Irish humour said' lads this pub is like an aircraft, there is an exit there and an exit there, now feck off! An hour later we staggered out into the night.

Two smooth ferry crossings and a few hearty breakfasts made for an excellent weekend spoilt only by the bloody great fishes wriggling off the hook in Paris.
C'est la vie!

Molly Malone

We took in the quarter final games at the rugby world cup in various bars in Dublin. We had planned it months ago, so brother-in-laws David being Welsh, and I always sensed one of us might be enjoying the craic more than the rugby. That will have been me then.

So it was Guinness, watch a game, major food then watch another game with more Guinness. Sunday was brunch watch two games with Guinness, then a major steak restaurant, nightcap and bed. All in all a very full on 48 hours.

Three of the games were classic, with the other being NewZealand finding some form to seriously stuff France. The locals were a bit shell shocked as the Argues blew them away, a result I had predicted days earlier.

The bars were not as lively as I had expected, but the semi-final weekend should be a cracker. Come on the winners.

Home alone

SWMBO and her family are entering the second week of their Clampitts holiday in Egypt. Apart from some tourist tummy trouble, all seems to be going well. The kids in particular are enjoying the water park and chocolate parties.

I, in the meantime, am left fending for myself which has been a welcome reintroduction to peace and quiet. The main benefit has been the ability to get on with jobs round the house without having to worry whether an ankle biter will get hold of a chisel or fall over a power lead.

One challenge I have though is that a couple of tiles have slipped during the storms so I am waiting for the insurance go ahead to get the work done. The loss assessor said he thought the door would cost £50 labour and £1500 for scaffolding. Gone are the days when a bloke and his ladders turned up and did it. It's all 'ealth and safety now.

I am all set up with my new tablet computer now as well. I got the latest ZenPad with some vouchers the bank gave me, and it's good to be mobile again. I now have films on tap via Kodi, an X-Box simulator, and sport available via a Ace Player feed. There are a few wires across the floor at the moment but I will work out how to loose those in the next day or so. Luckily the rugby world cup is on ITV so that will be routine.

SWMBO looks like she is off to Tanzania again in November with her dental health charity and she also has a day trip to Dublin for some stand management at a dental conference. Maybe a job opportunity will come up as a result otherwise she will be secret shopping with me.

I am still trying to earn a few bob via e-bay, a couple of pictures and some riding crops from a recent auction seem to be interesting people but the box of Hudl covers I got  have no takers. You win some, you lose some.

It will be disappointing to miss the Bampton raft race this year but I suspect it has run its course as far as I am concerned. Next year I will become an onlooker with 'off the record' Dick. I look forward to meeting up with the S Club in Gloucester for the Tonga v Georgia match as our own RWC mini tour gets under way.

Looks like time for an all day breakfast......excellent!

Dublingrad

My wife and I have just returned from a long weekend in Dublin, courtesy of Irish Ferries. A couple of nights b & b in the four star Burlington Hotel, and the crossing were covered, so we just had to feed and water ourselves....neither are too much of a problem in that fair City.

We visited Wicklow, Arklow and the Wicklow mountains on Saturday, and generally chilled the rest of the time.

I need to give the City a 'heads up' though, and how much I hate that expression. The joy of visiting the City is as much about the people as it is the surroundings, particularly the serving staff who take a real pride in being Irish and doing their job well. Imagine my disappointment then that many of the bars we visited had non-Irish staff behind the bar.

Now I have never had a problem with the Aussie and Kiwi population of London who traditionally came over, worked their passage in bars and restaurants and funded the next part of their round the world trip accordingly. They were kind of British, so had an understanding of the culture of the British pub, could give the banter as much as take it, and generally speaking laughed and joked their way through their shifts, keeping the regulars happy.

The problem Dublin has is that the immigrant staff they are employing have limited English, and much less Irish, don't really understand what the Craic is all about, or the special relationship they should have with their punters. If it becomes endemic, the atmosphere of the traditional bars will be lost and the bar tender profession, so revered in the Country, will become a thing of the past.

So rant over.....and that said, we did find some cracking bars full of the Craic and people prepared to chew the fat. Kehoe's remains a favourite, as does O'Donohues in Baggot Street. Over the road is Doheny & Nesbitt which we must add to our rugby pub circuit, and O'Briens in Leeson Street was a local lively bar.

We had a very pleaseant evening in Bijou, a restaurant in Rathgar, but kitty's next to O'Donohues promised much but came up a bit short.

Three hurling contests at Croke Park made for a lively city, not withstanding the usual 'hens'.

Roll on the Six Nations!!!

"I think you've had enough old son......."

I am off to Wembley tonight for the England v Brazil game, and this, together with some incidents over the weekend, got me thinking about why football followers seem to be so much more aggressive than those of other sports.

At the family barbecue I referred to, there were a mixture of young people. Some from Liverpool had gone to school with Kieran at St Mary's, a Christian Brothers school, some who had gone to Merchant Taylors, next door . Others where at Uni (or Poly ;-)) in Liverpool and had come from other parts of the country, and some were work colleagues of Kieran from the Wirral and around. They all mixed extremely well, and people commented on how well mannered they were.

One poor girl had had a hell of a few weeks with boyfriend problems, and she got absolutely trashed. Rather than leave her to fall about the furnishings and smash the ornaments, two of her flat mates took her home, put her to bed and returned later to the party.

Sometime after that one of the St Mary's lads got some abuse from another of the boys there, and the St Mary's lads closed ranks and suggested to one of the rogues friends that it was time he helped him home, which he did. This passed off unnoticed by most people at the party.

It reminded me of my own experiences as an 'old fart' who regularly attends rugby internationals at Twickenham, in Dublin and in Paris. There are usually six of us, and we do like a drink. It is fair to say though, that in the 25 years we have been acting the fool, we have at worst made bus travel between Twickenham and Richmond noisy, and the ride out of Dublin on the Dart a joyous singing occasion. Any activity likely to provoke violence, either physical or verbal, is quickly stamped on by the group, and the offender parked in a corner and told to behave.

Why then is it not the case at football matches that there is not this same self policing? The tribal nature of the supporters seems to add an 'edge' to the whole atmosphere. It can't be associated purely with the Public school, grammar school, secondary school differential outlined yesterday, as many of the perpetrators are from good stock?

Personally I blame the lager, as we all know London Pride has no alcohol in it!!!