Our columnist talks communication difficulties on his recent holiday, compares prices in Spain and at home – amid tense fuel protests – praises Rory McIlroy’s second successive Masters win, and hails the Grand National winner
After one of the worst weekends weather-wise that I can remember, it is now a nice and sunny Monday morning as I write these words!
I have just done my (almost) daily walk round the grounds of the rugby club, but my mind is back in sunny Spain in the lovely coastal town of Cabo Roig. As I told you last week, I made the flight out of Knock by the skin of my teeth, but by midday we were landed in Alicante and before mid-afternoon I was unpacking.
The unpacking didn’t take long as I hadn’t much with me. I always think that the only essentials are my bank cards, a bit of cash, my passport, boarding pass, and my box of tablets… of which there are so many I sometimes wonder if the security people ever think I’m a drug dealer! I was of the opinion that everything else is replaceable, but it wasn’t too long before I found out that wasn’t the case…
I headed off down to the strip (not the club, just the area of pubs and restaurants), where I had the big all-day breakfast in YOLO and studied, but didn’t buy, the merchandise on sale all over the place. On every available space on the footpaths, there were jerseys, hoodies, trainers, sunglasses, jewellery, squeaky toys, and loads of other stuff. I decided I’d send a picture back home to my family WhatsApp to see if anyone wanted any of the totally genuine merchandise – a Rolex watch for €20 and ASICS runners for €20 being typical examples.
It was then that I found out my phone was dead, and no matter how I tried to charge it, nothing happened! And so I was out in Spain on my own, with no way of contacting home or being contacted from home.
I wasn’t worried though, and thought to myself I would simply ask someone if I could borrow their phone for a few moments in order to ring home… but that didn’t turn out to be as easy as I thought.
I simply couldn’t bring myself to approach anyone as they sat at the bar or at tables of the restaurants. Then I thought one of the pubs or restaurants would have a landline that I could use, but again I drew a blank as no one had one.
Eventually, Craig in O’Riordan’s gave me his phone and I was able to let people at home know that I was still alive. He also told me that there was a phone shop up in the Zenia Boulevard, and so bright and early the next morning, Saturday, I made the long walk there.
I won’t go into details, but trying to buy phones off salespeople who don’t speak English when you don’t speak Spanish is not to be recommended! When all was said and done, I had bought two phones in different shops. The first was an iPhone that turned out not to be an iPhone and was basically useless (thanks to Cathy in YOLO, I could just about take calls and get them, but nothing else worked), while the other was the old-style flip-up phone that the kids said would be great for my drug-smuggling business!
Anyway, at the end of it all, I think that doing away with all phone boxes is a mistake (or maybe some businesses could have a landline?), just like doing away with chimneys here is. The good news is that on Monday night, after my daughter Tara arrived out, all was well and I was fully back on track.
Overall, I have to say that the week out there was really lovely. The weather was fabulous and I hit the outdoor pool every day! We met up with our neighbours and friends Richard and Olivia Smyth on a couple of nights, and I was glad to run into a great Offaly man, Dermot Moore, his wife Monica, and their very well-known dog, Penny. Both Dermot and Monica have had slight health issues recently and I
was delighted to see them out and about and well on the way to full recovery.
After a week in temperatures of 25 degrees or so, it was some shock to walk down the airplane steps in Knock to the weather that greeted us on our return – but by now I’m used to it and glad to be home… I think!
Fuel prices fuel anger
As we soldier on here through the protests and the blockades, it’s timely to talk about prices in Spain.
Our driver to the airport told us that diesel was €1.20 a litre before the recent upsurge, and it is about €1.90 at the moment. It is still way cheaper than it is here, of course… and everything else seems to be as well.
A three-course evening meal in YOLO or other similar places is between 16 and 20 euro – and that’s starter, main, and dessert. Now, the price of food in the supermarkets seems to have got more expensive than a few years ago, but it’s still a lot better value than at home.
It’s a pity that it has come to this in Ireland, and it’s a shame that ordinary folk are being hugely inconvenienced and disrupted in their daily lives, but there can be no doubt that the Government, yet again, failed to have any idea as to how the people were feeling.
They say new measures have been taken to help hauliers, contractors, and other huge diesel users, but as I hear of blockades in Castlebar and loads of other parts of the country on this Monday afternoon (it takes a good while to write this, although you mightn’t think it), I think all these protests have a way to go yet.
We’ll wait and see!
The skill of the Irish
For the first time in a good few years I didn’t actually get to see the Aintree Grand National on Saturday – not for any great prior engagement, but simply because I forgot about it.
However, there was no huge surprise when I learned that Carlow’s Willie Mullins had trained the winner, I Am Maximus, or that JP McManus was the winner’s owner. Paul Townend was the winning rider, and I suppose there are hardly any three people more successful in their respective fields.
In his post-race interview, Mullins told us that any time his horse wins a big race like the Gold Cup or the Grand National, they do a parade at their local pub, The Lord Bagenal, and that the horses come into the car park where there’s an ice cream van for the kids and where people can have their photos taken with the winning horse.
He said some of his successful horses were there for up to two hours being so well mannered, but when I Am Maximus was brought there after winning the National in 2024, he “tried to bite three babies and kicked about four pensioners”. They had to load him up and bring him home after five minutes, so I am wondering how he’ll behave when they bring him back again.
I’m no expert on horses or their behaviour, but a few years ago, my daughter Tara had a very successful show jumper, but if anyone except Tara went to rub her, they could lose a finger very quick. She (the horse, not Tara) was so quick to try to bite. Even Carol, my late wife, who grew up with horses, was fair game, and she too learned very quickly to keep her distance.
So when I Am Maximus arrives, maybe leave the babies and the old folk at home when the celebrations take place, or else take refuge in the Lord Bagenal.
Also in sport, there was massive success for Ireland with Rory McIlroy winning the Masters for the second year in a row! The fact that only three iconic golfers – Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods – had done it before him shows how enormous an achievement it was.
It wasn’t quite as nerve-racking as last year, but being Rory, it wasn’t simple either. His drive at the last was so errant it could have ended up anywhere – luckily he got away with only losing one of the two shots he had in hand and held on to win by one shot.
As I’ve often said before, Ireland punches way above its weight in world sport, and Rory and Willie gave us all reason to be proud to be Irish. Well done to both, and of course to Paul Townend as well!
And finally…
You may remember that I was critical of the fact that the Connacht Junior Cup final was played on Easter Monday at 6 pm. I felt that the biggest game of the year for junior rugby clubs was disrespected by the powers that be.
When I came home on Friday, I bought copies of the Tuam Herald and the Connacht Tribune as well as picking up a copy or two of the free Roscommon People (the Herald was out too early to have a match report), and the fantastic coverage of the game on all three papers only served to prove my point.
More than two and a half thousand supporters attended the game and apparently the atmosphere was terrific. When that many people go to Galway at that hour on a bank holiday Monday, it only goes to show how important a game it was for everybody involved.
Let’s hope whoever is there next year, that the Connacht branch gives it the respect it deserves and that it is played at a sensible time!
‘Til next week,
bye for now!
