St Patrick's Weekend

The weekend started early as Friday was St Patricks Day and a group of us headed up to Dunfanaghy on Thursday afternoon. We arrived shortly after 6pm and after lighting the fire to warm up our bodies, we cracked open a few beers to warm the soul. We settled down to watch Uzumaki, a bizarre Japanese horror film. The plot consisted of a small town coming under a curse causing villagers to become obsessed with spirals so much so that they turned into spirals themselves or giant snails. Half WTF, half OMG and all OTT, the film collapsed under it's own inertia and was watchable insofar as you wanted it to end as much as you wanted to see what bizarro thing would happen next. I would give it 2 centipedes out of 5.

After a sweet lie-in on Friday, we spent the early afternoon getting in some shopping for the weekend before playing some poker of which I won nothing but my own money back. After grabbing a bite to eat we hit the pubs and ended up playing pool with some local who dominated the table until I took the cue and won some Belfast pride back. By then it was leaving time and we headed back to the house to continue assaulting our liver. I hit the hay around 4am.

I awoke on Saturday afternoon with little to no hangover which was a good thing because we were due back in the pub that afternoon to watch the Ireland vs England rugby match. Beforehand we went for a long walk over the huge sand-dunes just outside of Dunfanaghy and the weather was amazing. We took some sweet footage of Keith rolling a dozen times down a steep incline which I will try and host somehow. The photos will go up tonight as I haven't had a chance to download them yet. After grabbing a bite to eat, we walked the short distance to the pub watch if Ireland could win the triple crown, having been denied the 6 Nations champions earlier because Wales couldn't hold their own against the French. We were lukcy to get seats by the TV because with half an hour to go before kick-off the place was packed. There was really good craic during the match with every Ireland try cheered, every England point boo-ed and every contested tackle jeered or rallied against. It was a closely fought game and we had the match in the bag until the 70th-odd minute when England scored a try to put them ahead. The camera kept focusing on a smug-faced Dellagio until with minutes to go, Shane Horgan put the ball over the line taking Ireland to its 2nd triple crown win in 3 years. After he scored the place went freaking electric and there was a taught two minutes until the whistle blew and everyone cheered. I would have to say it was the best match I've seen in years and will be something that will be talked about until next years 6 Nations. Of course, the England side have blamed the luck of the Irish and even the BBC seems slightly biased. Poor diddums.

By Sunday we were all pretty pooped and after wiping the cobwebs from our eyes, tidied up the house and headed for home. By early evening I had my feet up watching TV and lookinb back on a great weekend. I hope you had a good one yourself and see you all tomorrow for photos and more.