Our busy ‘summer’ continues with a weekend away in Allihies. After a foggy start, Saturday broke into the most wonderful afternoon just in time for the start of the 99th Allihies Festival.
Running back down to the start
OMG, great craic. International running races for all ages (and all-comers) interspersed with horse racing (not for the feint-hearted), ICA Cake stand, Bouncy Castles, Candy Floss, the Works. The going was a little ‘heavy’ which bothered some of the inexperienced horses more than the foot runners – although everyone who raced got pretty evenly covered in mud.
Allihies is a lovely spot on an amazing part of Ireland and the festival (and that bit of afternoon sun) topped it off for the weekend. I think we’ll be back in for the Centenary Festival next year!
Well ladies and gentlemen, I managed to see John Spillane three times in the last five days. Fair play to me.
At the last minute we wangled a babysitter last Thursday night and made it down to the Marquee for John and Mick Flannnery. John literally rocked the house, great concert, nice to bring Mick into it too. Cheer the young fella up a bit.
Then I was putting the kids to bed (late) on Saturday night and the call came up the stairs, ‘John Spillane’s on Miriam’. And there he was in a Blaze of Glory, Another Ball Safely in the Back of the Net, doing his stuff for Miriam.
Sunday we headed West through the storms to Dzogchen Beara. The Misses as been interested in seeing the place for ages (I feel a retreat coming on soon) and they have had a ‘Free Spirit’ weekend with events, meditations and free concerts. It was a bit further out along Beara than either of us remembered but we made it without too many ‘are we there yet’s.
Wow, what a wonderful haven of a place. At perfect spot. And there in the evening was John. Fresh from Dublin and RTÉ.
Now believe it or not the kids are big fans. The girls have been since the Live at the Speigeltent DVD came with Hey Dreamer. The small fella gets off his chair to dance and sing to most of Irish Songs we learnt at School.
Another great show. So not-the-marquee. A tent on Beara with 200-odd people. Same great performance (no one getting up for more beer throughout). He even didn’t run a mile when the Mad Woman from Cork (aka my wife) came up and told him our 2 year old was a fan. Oh no, he sang a few lines of An Poc ar Buile specially for him.
So the kids got their dream to see him live, in the perfect circumstances. We got our John Spillane hit (until Christmas anyway). We drove home late (again, thank goodness for school holiday), four in the car asleep but all happy.
Thanks John. Thanks for the Songs From Your Own Imagination. Thanks Dzogchen Beara, you have our support and best wishes.
