February 21 – Up about 8, scones and fried potatoes for breakfast. A wander through town, check email and put up a few pictures on the web, and even post a blog. Home for lunch, I try the blood oranges I bought at the farmer’s market, found out I don’t like them when they are quite red, but the smoked cheese on raisin bagel is good. We want to go to the bluegrass session in Scilly, but it’s too rainy to walk. Catch a cab to the Spaniard, bartender tells us they have a trad session at 9:30, but we want the bluegrass at 5:30 and are told that is at the Bulman which is a 15 minute walk away. The rain isn’t too bad so we go for it, and of course it starts to rain harder and takes 20-25 minutes instead. It is a beautiful walk though, we will have to do it again when the weather is nice, it is a path that follows the harbor.
My jeans are soaked when we get there, so we have a pint in a corner with the fireplace. Takes a while but we finally dry out. While we are there we meet a interesting couple and begin chatting. He’s from Dublin, she’s from Limerick. We talk a lot about heritage and background and Irish genealogy. Get a few good ideas from them about our stay in Co Wiklow.
The bartender here says the session starts “half six to six” but when no one shows up by 6:30 we catch a cab back to town, trying to find some music, which there isn’t any. We ate at Muddy’s, I had the pot special which was a tuna fillet, very good, for 10 euro. Lisa had potato skins, and they asked her if she wanted chips with that, as if the potato skins wasn’t enough potatoes! Wandered down to have a pint at the Lord Kinsale, the only customers are two little old ladies drinking half pints and watching serials on TV. I found out the bartender is the Arsenal fan I was sitting next to at Oscar’s last night. We have a great chat about football. Stopped to An Seanachai, the music isn’t until Thursday so we head home. Have some smoked cheese, venison salami and crackers before we go to bed about 11.
February 22 – I think I’m in a rut, I get up about 8 again. The workers across the street at the Convent are really noisy this morning, they are gutting the insides, I have pictures from yesterday of the inside and all the timber is laying in piles in the middle of the building. They are taking it all out through the door facing our house, one piece at a time. It will be interesting to see how far they get by the time we leave here. Very sunny out so we decide to go for a walk and see things in the sun for a change. We also need to see Victoria Murphy, we haven’t met her yet and she is home from holiday. As we go into her office there is a lady there asking about renting the house and we agree to meet her back at Victoria’s in a hour to take her up to the house to show it to her. We kill a little time by walking Pier Rd and back, I gt a few pictures along the way.
We meet Sue and take her up to the house, show her around and after she leaves we have a bite for lunch, after which we resume our walking tour. Follow Long Quay road around the harbor and it’s low tide, we see litter in the mud, and I end up rescuing 3 pint glasses, two Guinness and one Kinsale Ale. Lisa wants to see about some buckwheat flour so we go to the Farmers Store on The Glen Rd, don’t have any and on the way back we stop at Dalton’s for a cappuccino and chat with a couple from Baltimore. We stop for meat at the Victullers and go home to cook supper. Went to An Seanachai at 9 to have a couple pints and listen to Liam O’, a local balladeer. Very enjoyable evening, great voice and good selection of songs – Christy Moore, Ewan McCall, Garth Brooks along with the typical “Irish Songs”. He’s done 11:15 and they close up, so we head home and to bed. And for Chief and Anita, this is the same An Seanachai where you christened the "Holy Coaster" :) Although the back room is being renovated into a nightclub so we couldn't go back there.
February 23 – I picked up some black and white yesterday, so I cook myself a Irish breakfast. Black and white, fried eggs, fried potatoes and toast with strawberry jam. The heart doc would kill me, but once in a while won’t hurt too bad. Going to head to the I-café to check on car rental rates, called on the phone and was told to “use our website – much cheaper” so we will see what we can come up with.
