Kids'n'Sport

Our life is fairly busy with trips to and from a myriad of sporting commitments, the most recent ones are represented here; Above is Imogen about to clear one of the early heights in the All Ireland Combined Events athletics. It was a good chance to check out the facilities in Dublin for Ireland's premier athletes. Bring on the renovations.

Below are the boys getting ready for their Martial arts lesson. Both thoroughly enjoying their new art and have already been awarded their first belts (Imogen is also involved and showing her stuff by impressing the Sensei with her strong high kicks...probably from all that jumping!)



Below is the line up from our club for the Waterford County Cross Country championship {featuring Niamh far left}. The bright sunshine and half soggy track are far from representative of most of the season - forget the sun and add an extra foot or so of mud, some frost and sleet! It is a great challenge and should toughen up the young runners, those that survive.....or turn them off for life!

Ireland by Road

Above is a photo looking across the River Suir from the Quays at Waterford. The girl's face you can see is about 40m high, installed for one of our festivals by an Austrian artist.
Below another shot from the car - showing the blue and white festooning that preceded Waterford's appearance in the All Ireland Hurling Final. The flags, which appeared on almost every building in the county, only get used every 40 years, the frequency with which the local team makes the final.



One of the great stereotypes of Irish life is the idea that you spend half your life trapped behind assorted tractors on narrow country lanes. In our experience this is only partly true, as the pictures below show...



You can actually be trapped behind tractors on fairly wide roads too.



We have to admire the optimism, and outright peculiarity, of some of the signage. Our local favourite is the one which states "Major Junction Ahead".The sign is reproduced here, followed by a photograph of the "Major Junction" at peak hour.



The man and his dog were running late that day.




This last snap is just around the corner from Bob's Lodge. Any morning en-route to work we can catch something similar from this angle.

Wonders of Waterford

Waterford is of course famous for its phenomenal crystal factory - now a refined shadow of its once gargantuan self, but still a great attraction for parents and children alike. One of the master etchers is seen going about his work in the reflected rainbow colours of a celtic cross. A similar design is very popular through the cemeteries of Ireland.
Niamh and Seamus fancy they might yet get their hands on one of the many championship trophies the local crytal works have been commisioned to produce.



The factory tour was well worthwhile, with the colour, heat, hazard and range of skills on show for us.



Less known, but arguably more remarkable is the 'magic road' en route to Mahon Falls. At this point, a peculiarity of global {or at least Bermuda Triangular} proportions finds you at rest in your car beside a 'raggy bush', where people have tied keepsakes or cloth of many hues to earn good fortune with the local fairies. These fairies manifest themselves by driving your vehicle backwards UPHILL while the engine is turned off. This is as true as I have a leprechaun before me. Remarkable.



This is our transiently stationary car beside the raggy bush, before some unknown force propelled us back up the hill.



Our gifted local tour guide, key to the magic of the road, Moira, is pictured above with a hoard of Frawleys and the Mahon Falls behind.
The scenery behind the mob below is the Tasmania-esque view from Mahon Falls, south to the coast. A beautiful place, made more so by the sparkling sun we experienced {and of course by the scruffy sheep dotting the mountainside with their blue painted rumps...}