ireland pt. 1

I just returned from my first trip to Ireland in, I think, 8 years. I missed the "celtic tiger" economic and housing boom, but heard the phrase at least once every day. I first noticed the increase in cost of living about 10 minutes after arriving in Dublin, when I ordered a pint and it was 4.50 euro, about 7 bucks! last time i was here a pint came in at just under 2 pounds (less if it was Beamish, which is my favorite anyway). I think this is due to the boom, membership in the EU and the price of fuel...but what do i know I don't live there. Everything got a lot more expensive, but I am a master of as cheap as possible. Which is what I was thinking when I booked my flight on Ryan air from Dublin to Cork, for 0 euros (only 26 euros in hidden fees!!! fuck you Ryan air). the only problem was I had booked the ticket on the 29th not the 19th, which was why I was not in Cork, rather I was in Dublin drinking a 4.50 pint. I like to think I'm fairly smart, but when it comes to booking travel or managing money I am the Titanic, the Hindenberg, Katrina, etc.

The upshot was I got to catch up with my friends Johnny and Sarah, who I had not spoken to in years. They used to have a school bus in Alaska, and throw parties on it at music festivals. Despite all the booze, I remember (in between the inexplicable forgotten parts) those as being great times full of freedom. I used to work really hard while going to school at the same time, tenaciously saving small amounts of money. Then when the Vegas heat was unbearable I would take my paltry savings rarely exceeding $500 and escape to Alaska to live the life of a born free scallawag and relish my unemployment and near total lack of expenses or plans. I would encounter the same people year after year (other scallawags), then they would bring their friends who went on to become people I would run into year after year. This was how I met all of my Irish friends, and their friends, and so on.

After the stopover in Dublin, I got the bus down to Cork City and on to Bandon, which is near where Brenda and Jeff live. They are running an organic farm there with Brenda's brother, Eugene, and living in a really cool old house which had not been lived in since the 60s. Its on their family farm which used to be a dairy farm, in fact at one point Eugene may have been the world's only vegan dairy farmer.
There was no running water or electricity, so in alot of ways it was reminiscent of the Alaska experience. In the farming operation they use a no-till system, and simply cut grass repeatedly and apply it as mulch on the beds. The spuds like this just fine and they are incredibly easy to harvest...although its a tough year for all the farmers because there hasn't really been much sun, basically no summer.

Heres a few more of my favorite pics from County Cork. The ruin is the 14th century abbey-cemetary at Timoleague, and the coastline is near Courtmacsherry. Then we were all devoured by slugs (no picture available).