December 2005 -
With Northern Ireland conquered it was time for the Limekiln hard stuff to make there way to Edinburgh for the holy grail of new year party's the Hogmany. With lead-foot Dalton at the helm of the rental car, the team made quick progress to Glasgow for the first stop. After seeing the sights, (Ed Note: of which there were buggar all! ).........we then continued on our journey to Edinburgh.
Once there it was time to make our way to Pyedog (James Saunders) & Kates flat. Unfortunately this one bedroom flat which was going to be a cosy fit for the 5 of us, got a whole lot cozier as accomidation was not just double booked but triple booked.........nice work Pyedog!.But hey we 'were' all friends here so the 6 of us piled into the phone box size of a lounge and set up shop.
It could have been worse i suppose as we found out from Jenny Dickie & her partner Scott who were part of the lucky group to be staying with us in Hotel De Pyedog. These 2 poor souls had just been through the day(s) from hell. Having just endured the grueling flight from NZ, they went to pick up there car which they stored at a friends place, the thing promptly blew up and they had to wait for a tow truck to for a hour or so to get taken to the scrap heap. To cap things off upon arriving at James & Kate's absolutely shattered looking for a good nights sleep they find a flat full of drunkards ready to rark it up.
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Anyway back to us...as I know you are all on the edge of your seat looking forward to what mad-cap adventure awaited us next. As is often the case the dress rehearsal is often better than the big day, as the night of the 30th proved. We hit town harder than a bouchers fist on Dunnies jaw (Ed Note: Sorry Dunny, Steve was struggling for a analogie). The team was all in great form as we pub crawled along the main stretch of bars. Sneaky D (Dalton's new nickname) was even seen making a new friend as witnesses claim to have seen him having a dance off with some fudge packer in one of the bar we visited. It was something straight out of American Pie 3 with Sneaky D playing Stiflers role to a tee. I told duChats that rainbow flag above the bar was a bad sign!!!!
After all piling drunkenly into the lounge we were left wondering whats more uncomfortable than packing 6 people in a small lounge. I knock at the door at 8am answered the question...... packing 7. Lo and behold Manu stood before us after his flights to Paris got cancelled due to snow. He then managed to change his tickets and join up with the team at the Hogmany. The numbers were gathering nicely.
After a brief bit of sight seeing it was back to the task at hand. After a few warm ups drinks at the flat it was time to join the masses at the street party to celebrate the hogamny. 200,000 converged onto the main street to see in the new year. The place sort of resembled a large carnival with a massive Ferriswheel all sorts of different rides and carnival games. Thankfully all that was missing was the carni folk with their small hands & cabbagey oddor. With the Scissor Sisters and Texas playing in the background & proabably the most impressive fireworks display I have ever seen around Edinburgh castle, it was certainly a memorable night.
The whole tour myself & Duchats had talked about when we were going to have a random run in with someone from back home. (Ed: I can't remember that convo?) Well it happened twice to me on that night. Upon coming back from the very few portaloos scattered around for the peasants, I randomly bumped into some Friends from the Brownzy. Crooksy, Hamish and Kirsty. Special mention must be made here to Crooksy who was even wearing a Brownzy Tour T-shirt on the night.......Respect!
After the street party we hit the local bars to finish off the night. After a few hours in the bars I felt (Ed: at around 2pm, if i remember correctly) the end was near so I declared the innings close for the tour. Still there was the small problem of finding my home and after getting completely lost the second random run in happened as I bumped into Beast (Kieran) & Pat from varsity days in the wee hours of the morning. What are the odds. (Ed: 200,000 to 1)
With the hoildays drawing to a conclusion all that was left was to get make the long trip back to Dublin and back to the real world. Still it was a great break and a good time was had by all.
Harbott
Ed: Ben du Chateau
1 comment:
Idea excellent, I support.
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