and a goose abuse
Barely. I am on the verge of not making it, but fingers crossed, as it might be the breakthrough. Earlier than the last week, when I managed to get back on track only on Monday. It’s 19:13 (7:13 PM), and my commited deadline is 20:00 (8 PM). This post should be published by that time, so let’s get to writing.
Sunday started early. As I mentioned in the previous post, Julian’s team was attempting to get through the semi-final and to the last game of this competition, facing Killybegs U12 – St Catherine’s FC. The game was starting at 10 AM so we had to leave Donegal around 9 AM for 9:30 warmup. About halfway in, while driving on N56 within the legal limit (up to 100 kmph), I saw something on the road very far from us. At first it looked like some rubbish, but it was moving unnaturally for a dead thingy poked by the wind, it must have been a living thing. As I started slowing down, still having a decent speed, I thought it blended well with the grey coloured surface of the road, so might have been something like grey heron, but they rarely land on roads (at least I’ve never seen them like that). As I started breaking and slowing more rapidly, we realised it is some type of goose. We had to grind to a halt, because it gave zero flying Fs, and only moved its lazy arse when we were face to face with her. That must have been a funny sighting for the guy that drove on the opposite side of the road. We laughed a lot, and after couple of minutes of chat Julian came up with the name for this situation and event for us to remember, and easily refer to it – goose abuse.
We arrived in Killybegs around 9:25 and easily located the pitch and found parking spot. After a moment, some Drumbar FC team mates arrived so Julian went on to warm up with them.
Match started a bit chaotic for Drumbar, and unfortunately in the first 2/3 of the first half of the match they conceded three goals. In fairness, St Catherine’s pressed hard from the start and were well prepared. At the end of first half and through the second half, Drumbar FC regrouped, gained confidence and many times heightened blood pressure for Killybegs coaches. While it was enough to stop the opponents spree, and remain at 3:0, there was not enough chances to at least catch up. The match ended without goals for Drumbar, but the boys made a huge effort for the rest of the match, and played a decent game regardless of the longer adjustment period at the beginning, which costed them loss.
As a means of appreciation for Julian’s effort, on the way back we popped into gas station and grabbed some sweets and coffee to spent that chat in the car with some consolation. It was a quality son-father time on the way to and from Killybegs. We had a lot of laugh and enjoyed every minute chatting about things to improve in the next match, which weren’t many as I observed the whole game.
After some time that we spent home, the rest of the team (my wife and her mother), got ready and we headed to Rossnowlagh. First stop was at The Bakery Shack, to grab some tea and cakes, and then we drove to the beach… literally, because in Ireland you might find it quite a standard that the cars drive onto the beaches, wherever it is possible. Sometimes it ends with a rescue mission of some local farmer and a tractor, when newbies or unaware tourists forget about tides, and car gets stuck in the sand.
It was a peak of a low tide, so not only surface was perfect and hard for the cars, but also there was plenty of space for everyone. We parked the car facing shore, so I could open the trunk and ladies sat at the open edge enjoying their tea and sweets. Julian and myself started playing a bit of football (soccer) as there was so much space that we could try pretty much everything we wanted.
Later on mother-in-law stayed with Julian close to the car, while my wife and myself we did a longer walk of just below 6 kilometres along the strand.
I am now after a long and tiring dinner – I prepared the cottage pie, quite a common dish in Britain and Ireland, which I think I manage quite well and everyone seem to agree as they ate everything that I served them. I might pop the recipe in here at some stage, but for now I’ll just finish this post, publish it, and get that weight off my shoulders. My commitment is getting back on track as I wrap up at 19:35 (7:35 PM). Stay tuned!
Blunt Force Healing 
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