Tag: dublin

A Westmeath Man (Comedy)

A wooden rowing boat moored at a stone jetty on a calm, misty lake.

My dear readers, I was given the most terrible insult the other day, that I wasn’t a proper Westmeath man. Why, you may wonder? Well, I didn’t watch the Westmeath v Wexford match on TV about two weeks ago. Apparently, if I had then, maybe I could have willed Westmeath to victory with my special powers.

We’ll forget for now that I was born in Dublin, my parents grew up in Offaly, and a grandparent from Cork. Important facts when one of those counties is in with a chance of an All-Ireland.

And this grave insult came from my friend, who is known by the moniker BobDTraitor. Only on my phone, mind you. I’m not evil. How did he get such a name? Well, ladies and gentlemen, think back to that glorious day in 2004, when Westmeath won Leinster for the first and only time. Surely, you would want to celebrate with your people, not off at some random party with Dublin people. Poor life decisions, I’d say. And treachery.

What is it about Westmeath I love so much? Is it the people? The people from Kinnegad with their funny accents, those squinting windows in Delvin, or even people from Athlone, who lack souls according to the good people of Mullingar.

This is about pride of place, I reckon. I’ll be friends with people from all over the world, even from far-off places like Nigeria, Meath, Poland, and Monaghan. We’re all humans.

So maybe it’s the great wilderness in the County, you know, out there by Castlepollard. Or what we call the Great Lakes, midlands, and Irish style.

Maybe to be a Westmeath man, you have to be just like me.

And to the Westmeath football and hurling teams – I’ll try better next time.

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Review of the Netflix Series”The House of Guinness”

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is rare that I get to review something Ireland-related, but this is one of those times. A pint of Guinness and the famous brewery are synonymous with Ireland, nearly as much as the Catholic Church, GAA, and the Irish language.

The doors to the brewery are iconic. I’m sure all native Dubliners would know their location.

This series is a work of fiction, inspired by real events. Set in the 1880s, following the lives of the grandchildren of the founder of the brewery after the death of their father. It was created by the same people as “Peaky Blinders”.

The scenes of old Georgian Dublin are quite simply mesmerizing. It is recognizable, and yet so different. Unfortunately, much of Georgian and old Viking Dublin was later demolished. It captures Ireland and Irish people well, but there are times when it’s easy to tell the pure fiction.

An example is the opening fight scene at a funeral. That would never happen – Irish people love funerals, much better to silently say poisonous mutterings. It wouldn’t make for great TV, though, except as comedy, perhaps.

Anthony Boyle delivers a standout performance as Arthur Guinness, portrayed as a cunning, intelligent, and fierce individual. He happens to be gay, a criminal offence of a grave nature at the time, which adds to the intrigue.

This is a great drama. If you have Netflix, watch it tonight. If not, get it tomorrow.

Five stars out of five from me.

My friend Katy (Part 1) (Romance)

I was feeling something I hadn’t expected. It was difficult to put a finger on exactly what it was. No, it couldn’t be. My palms were sweaty. Was I nervous? That would quite simply be ridiculous. This wasn’t a date or even anything remotely close to that. I was meeting Katy, my best friend.

Maybe, this is normal. After all, I haven’t seen her in two years since she left for Australia and what I’m feeling is just the excitement of seeing her again. It is sort of strange though, when we were teenagers she lived across the way from me. We saw each other most days. I would wait for her outside of her house for a chat after school most days. Unless it was raining or too cold, which happened often during the colder months. Disability and inclement weather do not mix very well. She would waive to me in the distance, her long, brown hair bobbling over her blue uniform when she saw that I was waiting for her.

We would talk about life, school, music and our major crushes of the day. They were good times.

Occasionally, we would go into one of our houses and play some computer games, the only problem being that we both hated to lose. Once, she even stopped talking to me for a few days! It was something that even she was able to laugh about as we aged. In fairness, she was only fourteen at the time.

That was probably when we were at our closest. Having gone to an all-boys school, she was my only female friend and definitely the only girl I didn’t feel really shy around. I was the first one that she told about her first boyfriend. Yes, I was jealous wishing that I had whatever traits it was that made him special to her. But, I fought and hid those feelings. Her friendship was too important. Then there were other boyfriends, the jealousy faded. It was just the way things would be.

We didn’t see each other as often, when college as we went to separate places. Then it was her time to listen about my first girlfriend and different sexual experiences.

Then, two years after both of us graduated she left for the other side of the world. We had promised to keep in touch and although I tried, I heard little from her.

She is now ten minutes late. She always was, in the old days I’d always be at least this late myself to make sure I wouldn’t be waiting around too long. I’ve never been at his hotel previously having driven up to the outskirts of Dublin to meet her. She chose a good spot. The vast bar is only sparsely populated and it didn’t take me long to find a table.

Then, I think I see her pulling up in a car outside.