from one dubliner to, well, some more…
It’s always good to be back in Belfast – the sun is shining, the sky is blue-ish (at the time of writing, at least) and my last minute venue change has certainly proved to be one for the better – yay! Timewaster Central to cartoon levels though it is (and even with my usual built-up-specially-for-the-trip tolerance on, I’m currently taking a necessary hour-long break from answering stupid texts and calls to get this finished), the Northern Irish capital remains one of my first choice cities and I will be a little sad to be dashing off tomorrow morning to get to it’s Southern counterpart in time for check-in.
I arrived at Belfast City to pouring rain and half the usual compliment of airport buses – travelling anywhere by public transport on a Sunday is generally hectic and not a little odd, and between yesterday’s route change on the train, the Saturday night-outers on the way home and the early-starters on their way to the football along with the (always) faintly panicky looking airport crowd I was eternally grateful for 1: my reserved seat, even if it was in the window corner of a table (which I have yet to find a way of preventing the automated system from giving me) and 2: my MP3 player, since attempting to concentrate on anything the Kindle had to offer in the resultant sea of noise was impossible even for someone with hearing as dreadful as mine.
Considering this last week was supposed to be something of a relaxation and refreshment exercise, the amount of time spent on trains and wandering about towns and cities where I do not live has been well over average, as the long planned outing to Newcastle to see Dara O’Briain (recommended as very funny and also pleasingly tall) rolled round – woohoo! To recap, I also have tickets for Frankie Boyle in November, the Hackney Weekend in June, Frightfest in August (fingers crossed) and not forgetting Thailand in July – any suggestions for September and October to fill the gaps will be considered. I may even catch up with Dara again somewhere along the way (not in a work context, obviously).
This particular jolly was planned long enough ago that it was stupidly assumed the weather mid-May would be, if not Mediterranean, at least reasonably pleasant, so naturally and in typical North East form it instead alternated between determinedly constant drizzle, heavy downpours and greyish dampness but without actual precipitation throughout. The conditions put something of a kibosh on the walking about but did nothing to harm the finding of a KFC, and positively aided our early arrival at the City Hall to the joys of Fosters in plastic glasses (with lime in my case as the thought of forcing it down unmasked was not one I was prepared to contemplate). Fortunately the balance was redressed in an equally waterlogged (and see pic) York on the way back with a pint of Thornbridge’s Pivni IPA at the fairly-new station tap following a blowout at the all-you-can-eat buffet up the road – this after a breakfast of builders tea and one of M&S’s newer creations (which was deservedly unwrapped with the sort of care and reverence normally reserved for expensive clothing which is to be ordered, tried on for fun and then immediately sent back); the majestic Pork Pie And Egg sandwich. Cor.
As to the present moment, and I will shortly be packing all but the necessities in preparation for a few days in Dublin as of tomorrow – there’s room for an early appointment first thing, but to all intents and purposes we’re done in Belfast for another couple of months. Back at the homestead, I will be away this weekend doing Other Stuff, but have a rare three weeks in Scarborough before the next jaunt – rainy day entertainment a speciality!
Update soon. Dara, you really should have asked me what my job was instead of the other folk…
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