Tour Guide

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Last week, after having photographed J’s beautiful wedding in Mullingar (photos coming / blog post coming – I promise) I had an extra day off. A friend of mine had his brothers in town, so I volunteered to take all 3 of them up to visit New Grange Passage Tomb in the rain. I’ve written about this place before (see link above) and am always fascinated when I take other people up here.

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My plans, however, were foiled by the typical Irish weather. It was slightly cloudly when we left, and by the time we took the hour drive up to the Boyne Valley, it was sprinkling… Just after lunch, it started raining. While we were up at the monument itself (it is open and there is NO protection from the elements) it started lashing rain. Thankful I had remembered umbrellas and my multiple raincoats, I had to laugh as Matthew popped up his umbrella and started with his rendition of “Singing in the Rain” in a Glasgow Accent.

Cancelling the idea of going to Knowth and Tara (posts behind each link here), I took the guys up to Trim Castle just in time for the rain to clear – and for me to find out that we missed the last tour of the gorgeous keep and grounds.

The good news, however, is that the guys are never deterred – and we went to the pub I knew about in Trim -where the owner promptly came forth and regailed the guys with tales of Trim, expounded about the locals that were extras in Braveheart, showed off tons of movie memorabilia in the hallway and really salvaged the day out. In the end, despite the lashing rain and getting soaked – we had a great time, and a few laughs.

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Travellin Man, that’s what I am

I’ve been falling behind in my blog posts for the Ultimate Blog Post Challenge. Not because I wanted to, but because I was gone for most of the week photographing my friend’s wedding and then travelling about the countryside taking other friends who were in town to New Grange Neolithic tomb in the pouring rain.

I’m back now, and back to work. I’m also back to regular blog posting – hopefully.

I heard on the news today that tomorrow marks 35 years since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s lead singer and several band members were killed when their plane crashed. It amazes me that it’s been so long (I’m only 36) because I have grown up listening to their music. Whether it was Sweet Home Alabama, Honest Man, Give Me 3 Steps, or Red White and Blue (love it or leave it), or Travellin’ Man when their songs come on, it’s always turned up and sung along to.

One of the things that I can say is that Southern Rock lives on in Georgia. It’s a basteon of local pride, rebellion, and somehow a certain amount of identity. It never fails to amaze me just how often you go to a concert and hear someone yell out “FREE BIRD!” in the background if you live in the South (Maybe this is just a Georgia thing? Maybe this is just a Drunk Redneck thing?). Somehow, in my mind, if there is no Rebel yell of “free bird” at a concert then it’s not truly a concert – it’s that prevalent. (Yes, even in Ireland, I have been known to yell FREE BIRD – just to make the concert players feel at home – most recently at the Tom Petty Concert…)

I guess that this leads me to the honorary playing of Free bird… and wondering if we will ever see bands of this caliber again.

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