Ok......so, landed in Dublin..Budget rent a car and off I am for Baltimore Co. Cork. And here I am..6 hours later and 30 some odd hours up straight..all good, I am in Ireland after all. After a good night sleep, off I am.....
Those top 2 pics are the views from my front door...not a bad way to kill time away from home. So my deal is, and I screwed this up, but all is good. I start at the Woodcock Smokery on Monday, which leaves me today (friday), sat and sun to get the lay of the area and eat some good local food, drink some good local beer (guinness, craft beer hasnt quite landed here yet) and be a tourist for a couple of days. I know, I know...I say "I screwed this up" yet it sounds pretty good. I really did come over here to work and stage at as many places as possible and hopefully on Monday it will be all work and no play..or maybe 90% work and 10% play, but anyway, I hope to be working hard and learning tons.....anyway...more of that when that comes. So today I headed into Skibbereen...an awesome little Irish town, you know the typical small town...local pharmacy, the local butcher, the candy store, hardware store, post office, mom and pop shops, cafe's, pubs, small banks, the gambling parlor, the small town grocery, the mens wear store, the womens wear store, the kind of "catch all" store for post cards and such....all those things we have lost and never to be seen again yet wish we still had. Skibbereen is that town, and bustling. People all over the place, stores busy..a thriving town. So...since I am killing time and not actually cooking food, I figure I might as well eat it and sample the local fare......This leads me to "The Elder" (and to the next couple of pictures) pub on the main drag in town....a chalkboard outside saying today's special is Irish Bacon and Cabbage......easy sell for me. In I walk...empty, except for a an old guy to the left end of the bar, and an even older guy to the right.... I figured the guy to the right may be less "chatty".....now all of you that know me know how darned "social" I am....or not (it's not my fault, or yours...I blame my genes) well this guy saw me as a new best friend. He just started chatting like I was the son he hadnt seen in 15 years and I just walked in just to see him. He started chatting my ear off....the only thing was, I couldn't understand a word this guy was saying..he was speaking half English with an Irish accent, obviously, and mixed with Irish (Gaelic)...I had no idea what he was saying, but laughed when he did and got serious when he did.....he kind of caught on after a while, but then would forget and start up again.... Well when i was finished up and was ready to settle up, I asked the bartender to buy my new friend a Guinness for me...well he told "Michael" that I bought him a beer......you would have thought that i was the "Prodigal Son" come home...this man Michael was so taken aback that he grabbed my hand to shake it, yet held it for what seemed like 3 days but was probably 6 minutes while asking me all about me....who I was, where I was from, about my family. He gave me his address, and said alot of other things that I couldnt understand..and with that I was off. But have a new friend. All of that being said.....The Irish Bacon and Cabbage was frickin' awesome, Che Danny killed it!.....the Irish flag toothpick was a bit over the top, but then again, maybe they saw that I was an "American" and thought I would dig it. Michael Hegarty is my new best friend....and i wish him the best. (and if you want to send him a note I have his address....)
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