Category: Galway

A Bad Week

I’ve been having a bad bloody week. One might say a bloody bad week even. I took my car to a garage for some routine maintenance, and, while it was driving just fine when I dropped it off, the engine literally started to splutter and jitter and buck just as soon as I drove it out of there, and by the time I drove it a mile down the road there was smoke pluming out of it and a good portion of the engine oil had burned off. This is the second time this has happened to me in recent years and this is the second mechanic whose door I shall never again darken. One does not mind paying for a mechanic, but when your car goes in drivable and comes out undrivable then it makes one wonder just a little bit if foul play is afoot. Of course mechanics will generally blame you or make out it’s a total coincidence, but that doesn’t really make the frustration any less….frustrating.

My car sounding like it has Covid after routine maintenance.
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Panic Buying In The Time Of Coronavirus

“Have you any tinned mackerel?” I ask the lady in Tescos who is in the process of stocking the shelves.

“I’m not sure. Oh yes, I see them here. How many do you want?”

“Two, please,” I say, and she proceeds to take two tins out of the box.

“No, I meant two boxes,” I say.

“JESUS CHRIST!” she utters in a biblical tone.
Continue reading “Panic Buying In The Time Of Coronavirus” →

Love In The Time Of Coronavirus

“I’m not going,” she says.

“Ah come on, don’t be daft,” I say, “sure it’s all hysteria. You’re more likely to die of diabetes but that doesn’t stop you eating all those chocolate bars, does it?”

“What are you trying to say?” she asks.

“Well, nothing, just that, you know, you like chocolate.”

“And so what if I like it? I know what you’re saying, you asshole.”

“I’m not saying anything. We’ve been looking forward to this gig for weeks. It’d be a shame not to go just because of some silly virus.” Continue reading “Love In The Time Of Coronavirus” →

One Day In Clifden

Standing Stones, Clifden. These are thought to date back thousands of years to the Bronze Age and may have been where druids made human sacrifices

Arriving in Clifden with a sleepy head at 11.30, the first thing I go in search of is a cup of coffee. Entering a bakery in Market Street to acquire same I am served by a pleasant young black woman and when she speaks she has as Galway an accent as anybody could ever hear. I don’t know why this surprises me, but it does, and is a sort of wow moment which makes me smile a bit.

“Where’s the loo?” I ask.

“You mean the toilet?” she replies, to which I nod. These days I feel I am increasingly speaking a different language to the youth of today.

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Losing With Style At The Connemara Marathon 2018

“Well, at least you finished,” was a sympathetic response I got from several runners when I told them I did the Connemarathon last Sunday in 5hours 20mins. Most of these people had done sub 4 hours.

To this sympathetic tone and sincere look of pity, I felt the need to defend my manhood.

“I was wearing these barefoot shoes, see,” said I, showing them my VFFs as proof, “I’m doing Limerick in two weeks in ‘normal’ shoes and expect I’ll do sub 4 hours.”

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Back in the Saddle at the Ballinasloe Marathon

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Never again, I say to myself as I spend hours upon hours ploughing through the ridiculous amount of photos I took at the Dublin marathon. It’s Thursday night before I finish going through and uploading all the photos I took and all day Friday I feel immensely fatigued and swear I shall never photograph another endurance event again. Continue reading “Back in the Saddle at the Ballinasloe Marathon” →

Out of the Shadows at the Galway Bay Marathon, 10KM, & Half-Marathon

Galway Bay Marathon Photos 2016.jpg

“JESUS CHRIST!” exclaims a passing lady after I say “good morning” to her from my carefully chosen vantage point a short while before the Galway Bay Marathon events start (Photos here). A whimsical part of me wants to say, “No, ma’am. I am not Jesus Christ. I am the COW! The Galway COW,” but, afraid that she might call the men in the white coats, or a veterinarian who may subsequently have me put to sleep for having a clear-cut case of mad cow disease, I elect to simply apologise and it turns out that she didn’t actually think my name was Jesus but the fact was, because I was sitting in the shadows beside a wall with the sun at my back, she couldn’t actually see, and was frightened by, me on account of being blinded by the bright early morning sun and startled by a voice that seemed to come out of nowhere.

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Blood, Walking, Defiance, & Shooting the Shooter at Croí’s Hearty Walk

Galway Town Crier Liam Silke.jpg

Blood profusely spurting from my face, I rush out the door to get into Eyre Square to capture participants at Croi’s 15 minute walk for World Heart Day. Having been tagged by them in a Tweet, I replied that I hoped to see them tomorrow to take some snaps of their event. They replied that it was TODAY which meant I had about 5 minutes to shave, Lynx myself up, and bound towards Eyre Square. Unfortunately, I sliced my face open in the process of my hurried shaving efforts. (Photos from the event here). Continue reading “Blood, Walking, Defiance, & Shooting the Shooter at Croí’s Hearty Walk” →

Aphrodisiac Marathon in Clarinbridge 2016

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This feels right, I think, as I make my way towards Clarinbridge’s inaugral Oyster Marathon event which consists of a 10km, a half-marathon, and a full marathon. Unlike other events I’ve photographed, joy and excitement are the only things I feel at the start of today’s efforts to capture the movement. (Photos of the event are here). Continue reading “Aphrodisiac Marathon in Clarinbridge 2016” →