I’m in Athlone in the Midlands about 30 kms from Ballycumber having a coffee in Maccas – no wi-fi in Ballycumber.
The christening was great. Ezri was relaxed and happy through the whole ceremony which the priest ran like a game show. He asked questions about the rituals of baptism and Australia (Sharon) and Ireland (Denis) shot answers back. If the scoreboard was lit up, it’d show a tie.
Everyone came back to the house which is huge with beds for around 20, three formal rooms with two games rooms and a hall as big as a house. Tony’s relatives are great, great talkers and great story tellers and I had my first very early morning bedtime in a long time.
We took a drive back to Newgrange, the area of Neolithic burials around 5000 years old. It’s hard to believe we were visiting a place that was built before the pyramids. We’ve taken lots of drives around Ballycumber into and over the peat bogs, past and into numerous ruins and castles, had a few Guinness in the local. Driving the country lanes is interesting with the hedges to the very edges. Sharon has loosened the door pull on her side of the car gripping it so much and she seems to think that the brake is on her side of the floor and has rubbed a patch in the carpet under her feet. It really is fun driving here.
Denis, Tony’s stepfather, is taking us today for a tour around his farm to old cottages, peat cutting in the bogs and to see some fairy forts and single hawthorn trees where the people of the underworld still live. Should be fun.