Irish Humour from Kilcrohane

Love this joke from the pub facing the church in the village of Kilcrohane, country Cork.

Bury Drill Hall

Before going to Ireland recently, I spent a week or so in my hometown:  Bury, Lancashire.  Despite Bury being a rather drab place, if you put your mind to it, you can find some rather interesting things to see there.

One such place is the Drill Hall (above and below) where I attended the Beer Festival a few times (Beer Festival is now more often held in the Met/Derby Hall) and where (I've been told that) my grandfather was the caretaker for a short while after he'd finished at TPL (Transparent Paper Mill).

Despite having lived the first 30 years of my life in Bury, and knowing the Drill Hall, I had never noticed the gargoyles before.  If I wanted to be unduly unkind here, I would claim that the one below bears an uncanny resemblance to some of the town's inhabitants:

One abiding memory from the Drill Hall is having seen my old friend Bruno (he used to be something of a 'star' in Bury) warming his hands at a small gas fire just inside the building as I was entering for a Beer Festival, and soft snowflakes were more heavily landing outside.  Yes, it was a Dickens-type scene (but from the mid-1980s), especially with the Two Tubs (an old pub) and Bury Parish church both being in the hazy distance.  Sadly, not sure if Bruno is still alive, last I heard was that he'd slipped into debilitating alcoholism, living in a hostel somewhere in Rochdale.

Midge Ure Live at Warsaw Klub Progresja 17th May 2014

Yes, the gigs are still rolling in quite nicely in Warsaw, and last night it was the turn of Midge Ure and his band to visit Warsaw Klub Progresja (now known as Progresja Music Zone up at Fort Wola):

As expected, Midge and his band did a nice eclectic mix of old Ultravox tunes and his solo stuff ('Call of the Wild'; 'If I Was'; his cover of 'No Regrets' etc.), the latter coming across a lot better than I would've expected.  Early on, it was his Visage number 'Fade To Grey' that really got the crowd going, and later on, inevitably, it was the classic Ultravox tunes ('Vienna'; 'Love's Great Adventure'; 'Hymn'; 'Dancing with Tears in My Eyes' etc.) that got people excited.

But what were my favourite tunes of the night?  Well, they would have to be 'Passing Strangers' and 'One Small Day' (toss of a coin whether this or 'Visions in Blue' is my favourite Ultravox tune).

Yes, this was a nice trip down memory lane, as I'd quite liked Ultravox in the late 1970's/early 1980s (still vaguely kind of remembering the pre-Midge Ure John Foxx stuff - 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' being the only tune I can still remember by name).

Only got a ticket for Midge Ure a couple of weeks before the gig and for 2-3 months it'd been a case of 'Should or Shouldn't I?', but, in the end, I had to go, as my late (younger) brother Nicky had liked Ultravox, and listening to the tunes last night reminded me of him.  Yes, good music can offer all kinds of catharsis.

Following the 'Little Yellow Men' to Doneen Pier

Another great walk I did on Sheep's Head Peninsula started at the Pieta below:

Didn't know exactly where we were going, but my guide Dave Dealy said that we just had to follow the 'little yellow men' and  that sounded right enough to me.

Perhaps the highlight of this day was coming across this what looks like an ancient burial mound (below): 

Also really enjoyed just being able to look into the expanse of it all:

But where was Dave Dealy taking me now?  He was moving downhill, but where were we going?

Well, admittedly, Dave didn't know himself, but we somehow ended up at a place called Doneen Pier where the Welsh had previously brought coal over to Ireland:

I found the coves around Doneen Pier quite idyllic, but Dave told me that the place was now more murkily used for drug smuggling.  And my reliably informed guide wasn't wrong:

The Magic of the Isle of Man Logo

Never been to the Isle of Man, but my late mother used to love going there with her family as a child.  With this in mind, I was strangely drawn to the Isle of Man ferry entrance and logo (below) on the river Mersey in Liverpool:

Also love how my reflection, as the 'cameraman', merges into this picture.  When this kind of thing happens, it is a kind of magic for me.

Below, on the old picture (left to right) are my (late) Gran, and aunty Ivy and late mother as children on the Isle of Man:

Loved the way that this Isle of Man symbol lead me back to a time well before I was born.

The Liver Building, Liverpool

 Many years ago back in the 1970s, I remember a sitcom called 'The Liver Birds' on British TV, which, if I remember correctly, used to always start with some shots of the 'Liver Building'.  Thus, when I went to Liverpool recently to renew my passport, it was good to see this legendary building in flesh for the first time, and it is a genuinely impressive piece of work (above).

Also like the stretch of buildings where the 'Liver Building' is set (on extreme the left below) facing the river Mersey (which as it happens always signals the upcoming end of my flights from Warsaw to Liverpool):

Walking Near the Strand on the Sheep's Head Peninsula

Yes, you can't beat it, getting away from it all with a walk along the coastline of Bantry Bay on the Sheep's Head Peninsula, near a small pebbled spot called The Strand.

Just find that a walk here offers some kind of catharsis - this being my fourth visit to Ireland, visiting Cork and Kerry three times in recent years and Connemara and Galway the week before I first moved to Poland in 1997, I'm coming to really love the place, especially the area around Bantry.

Thinking to the future, I'd love to retire to such a place, who knows, I might end up doing this.