| First Ireland Holiday (4) |
I must have been out there for a while, because Marco came out looking for me. I let him talk to Kelli for a while and told him I
would be back in a few minutes. When I finally went back in, he had a new beer sitting there waiting for me. I pretty much kept up
with him, beer for beer. Being totally numb was making the uncomfortable feelings easier to deal with. It wasn't really anything he
was doing wrong. It was just that he was the only person I knew, except for Con. So when he would get involved in some sports
conversation with someone or be glued to the tv watching a game, I had absolutely nothing to do. I would have to find things to look
at just to keep occupied. It wasn't like we were sitting at a table with other people, where I could have followed other conversations.
We were at the bar, so I was shit outta luck. We stayed until it was pretty late, but then had to go because we were going fishing the
next morning and had to get up early.
Waking up next to Marco was as wonderful as I thought it would be. He was already awake by the time I opened my eyes, just
laying there holding me. Eventually though, the sound of my stomach growling reminded me that we hadn't eaten dinner the night
before. Unfortunately I was too plastered at the time to realize it. But now I was sober and hungry! We went to the breakfast room
and ordered our breakfast. I don't remember what I ordered, but it ended up being the only time I ordered anything besides toast
and coffee. I think one of the things I had ordered was bacon, but it looked nothing like bacon to me, so I didn't eat it. I ended up
giving my whole meal to Marco and went over to get a container of Dannon yogurt. I recognized it and there was no way it would
taste different than in the states. So for the remainder of our time in Ireland, toast, yogart, and coffee was my breakfast.
We went back to the room and began getting all of the fishing equipment ready. Well, ok Marco got it all ready, I laid there and
watched. I had learned one thing about Marco over this past year, you don't mess with his fishing stuff! All along he told me that he
was bringing an extra rain gear outfit for me to wear while we fished. That sounded fine, until he told me that they were bright
orange. As soon as I heard that I told him no way in hell I was wearing them. Nope, not gonna happen. He kept telling me that if I
didn't wear them and got cold, that he wasn't going back to the car. I would have to sit there being cold all day. I'm really stubborn,
so I said that was just fine. Anything was better than looking like a big pumpkin! I wore jeans, a sweatshirt, and a light jacket with
a hood, I would be just fine thank you very much!
The area we were fishing in was absolutely beautiful. It was a series of large lakes, all connected and intertwined in the middle
of forest and open land. It was so quiet and so peaceful. For the first hour or so I was very content. He was teaching me how to do
everything, we talked, and had a wonderfully relaxing time. After that however, the clouds rolled in and the rain started to fall. Silly
me, I just assumed that when it started pouring down rain that we would be leaving. Oh no. Why would we leave? We were fishing!
And nothing stops the great fisherman Marco! So there we sat, for about the next 5 hours, in the freezing cold rain. He in his toasty
warm pumpkin pants and I in my soaking wet, stuck to my body clothes.
He had asked me quite a few times if I was cold, but did a good job at not saying, "I told you so!" (If it were reversed, I sure as
hell would have!) Was I cold? Omigosh, that is an understatement. I was waiting for these raindrops to turn into snow. But, there is
no way that I was giving in and admitting that I should have worn that stupid outfit. So every time he asked me if I was ok, I just
forced my teeth to stop clattering long enough to say, "yup, sure am." I knew he didn't believe me, but he was being nice and not
admitting it.
It finally stopped raining for a while, and when it did, I saw a double rainbow over the lake. It was so cool, I had never seen one
like that before. Neither one of us had caught a fish yet. I told him they were all inside their little fish houses because they would be
stupid to be out when it's raining! hahaha A short while after it stopped raining though, he moved the boat into a little cove where
we both caught a fish within 30 seconds of each other. I just sat there holding the poles as he took the fish off. These pike were some
mega ugly looking fish and there was no way I was touching them!
We stayed out for about another hour before the rain started again. He finally asked me if I was ready to go. Yes! I had a great
time with him all day, but I was ready to go! By the time we got to the car, I was soaking wet and freezing cold. My lips were purple
and my whole body was shaking. I didn't care if a car drove by or not, I stood next to the car, took off everything except for my jeans
and put on an extra sweatshirt that had been left in the car. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't wet, so I was happy.
It was about 5:00pm when we got back to the room. I got out of the wet clothes and jumped into the warm bed, pulling every
blanket over me that I could. And that is where we stayed until I woke up at about 2am. The time difference was still hard to get
used to. Right now it was really 8:00pm my time. And as tired as I had been from losing sleep, I was now wide-awake. I could have
watched tv, but I didn't want to disturb his sleep. Once again I was hungry. All I had the previous day was my toast and yogurt. We
had planned on going out for dinner last night, but had both fallen asleep. I tried waking Marco up and told him I was hungry. I
wanted to go to a drive-thru or something. He just laughed and said there was nothing like that here. And every store was closed, so
I would have to wait until morning. Damnit, Gawd Bless America's 24-hour drive-thru restaurants! I went outside to have a
cigarette and remembered that I had a bag of trail mix in my bag from the plane ride. I went in, devoured that in about 5 bites, then
climbed back into bed. I was still trying to 'accidentally' wake Marco up, but it was no use. He was out like a light. Eventually I fell
back asleep.
The following day we went shopping for a while. We spent a few hours walking through the streets, mostly window-shopping. He
had once before showed me a fishing rod that he really wanted to get. So today, I wanted to thank him for giving me such a
wonderful vacation, and bought it for him as a gift. He was so excited, and I loved doing it. We stopped off at the pub for an hour or
so then headed back to the house.
Marco said asked me where I wanted to eat that night. I really didn't care, as long as we remembered to eat this time! He said
that he wanted to take me out for a nice meal. I really didn't care where we went, and I didn't want him spending tons of money, so I
asked him how the food was in the pub. He said the food was very nice, and that I could get my crablegs there. So that's where we
went. We went back to the restaurant section and ordered our food. He ordered us both beers, but after one I decided that I couldn't
deal with beer anymore. I very rarely drink beer, just for the fact that after one, I'm toast. So I started ordering my whiskey and
lemonades. Damn they have good whiskey in Ireland!
We sat talking as we waited for our food to arrive. I love crablegs, they are probably my favorite meal, but I only have once in a
great while. So when they brought out my platter of crablegs, I just sort of looked at them, wondering what kind of funky crab live in
Ireland. These weren't crablegs, they looked like great big crabtoes. There was one big black toenail with a fat round hunk of crab
toe flesh attached to it. Where was the leg? Did they find a batch of crippled leg-less crabs? I knew that when I came here, I was
gonna have to learn to eat other things besides chicken strips and burgers, but I surely didn't expect this. I just looked at it and
laughed.Continue
would be back in a few minutes. When I finally went back in, he had a new beer sitting there waiting for me. I pretty much kept up
with him, beer for beer. Being totally numb was making the uncomfortable feelings easier to deal with. It wasn't really anything he
was doing wrong. It was just that he was the only person I knew, except for Con. So when he would get involved in some sports
conversation with someone or be glued to the tv watching a game, I had absolutely nothing to do. I would have to find things to look
at just to keep occupied. It wasn't like we were sitting at a table with other people, where I could have followed other conversations.
We were at the bar, so I was shit outta luck. We stayed until it was pretty late, but then had to go because we were going fishing the
next morning and had to get up early.
Waking up next to Marco was as wonderful as I thought it would be. He was already awake by the time I opened my eyes, just
laying there holding me. Eventually though, the sound of my stomach growling reminded me that we hadn't eaten dinner the night
before. Unfortunately I was too plastered at the time to realize it. But now I was sober and hungry! We went to the breakfast room
and ordered our breakfast. I don't remember what I ordered, but it ended up being the only time I ordered anything besides toast
and coffee. I think one of the things I had ordered was bacon, but it looked nothing like bacon to me, so I didn't eat it. I ended up
giving my whole meal to Marco and went over to get a container of Dannon yogurt. I recognized it and there was no way it would
taste different than in the states. So for the remainder of our time in Ireland, toast, yogart, and coffee was my breakfast.
We went back to the room and began getting all of the fishing equipment ready. Well, ok Marco got it all ready, I laid there and
watched. I had learned one thing about Marco over this past year, you don't mess with his fishing stuff! All along he told me that he
was bringing an extra rain gear outfit for me to wear while we fished. That sounded fine, until he told me that they were bright
orange. As soon as I heard that I told him no way in hell I was wearing them. Nope, not gonna happen. He kept telling me that if I
didn't wear them and got cold, that he wasn't going back to the car. I would have to sit there being cold all day. I'm really stubborn,
so I said that was just fine. Anything was better than looking like a big pumpkin! I wore jeans, a sweatshirt, and a light jacket with
a hood, I would be just fine thank you very much!
The area we were fishing in was absolutely beautiful. It was a series of large lakes, all connected and intertwined in the middle
of forest and open land. It was so quiet and so peaceful. For the first hour or so I was very content. He was teaching me how to do
everything, we talked, and had a wonderfully relaxing time. After that however, the clouds rolled in and the rain started to fall. Silly
me, I just assumed that when it started pouring down rain that we would be leaving. Oh no. Why would we leave? We were fishing!
And nothing stops the great fisherman Marco! So there we sat, for about the next 5 hours, in the freezing cold rain. He in his toasty
warm pumpkin pants and I in my soaking wet, stuck to my body clothes.
He had asked me quite a few times if I was cold, but did a good job at not saying, "I told you so!" (If it were reversed, I sure as
hell would have!) Was I cold? Omigosh, that is an understatement. I was waiting for these raindrops to turn into snow. But, there is
no way that I was giving in and admitting that I should have worn that stupid outfit. So every time he asked me if I was ok, I just
forced my teeth to stop clattering long enough to say, "yup, sure am." I knew he didn't believe me, but he was being nice and not
admitting it.
It finally stopped raining for a while, and when it did, I saw a double rainbow over the lake. It was so cool, I had never seen one
like that before. Neither one of us had caught a fish yet. I told him they were all inside their little fish houses because they would be
stupid to be out when it's raining! hahaha A short while after it stopped raining though, he moved the boat into a little cove where
we both caught a fish within 30 seconds of each other. I just sat there holding the poles as he took the fish off. These pike were some
mega ugly looking fish and there was no way I was touching them!
We stayed out for about another hour before the rain started again. He finally asked me if I was ready to go. Yes! I had a great
time with him all day, but I was ready to go! By the time we got to the car, I was soaking wet and freezing cold. My lips were purple
and my whole body was shaking. I didn't care if a car drove by or not, I stood next to the car, took off everything except for my jeans
and put on an extra sweatshirt that had been left in the car. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't wet, so I was happy.
It was about 5:00pm when we got back to the room. I got out of the wet clothes and jumped into the warm bed, pulling every
blanket over me that I could. And that is where we stayed until I woke up at about 2am. The time difference was still hard to get
used to. Right now it was really 8:00pm my time. And as tired as I had been from losing sleep, I was now wide-awake. I could have
watched tv, but I didn't want to disturb his sleep. Once again I was hungry. All I had the previous day was my toast and yogurt. We
had planned on going out for dinner last night, but had both fallen asleep. I tried waking Marco up and told him I was hungry. I
wanted to go to a drive-thru or something. He just laughed and said there was nothing like that here. And every store was closed, so
I would have to wait until morning. Damnit, Gawd Bless America's 24-hour drive-thru restaurants! I went outside to have a
cigarette and remembered that I had a bag of trail mix in my bag from the plane ride. I went in, devoured that in about 5 bites, then
climbed back into bed. I was still trying to 'accidentally' wake Marco up, but it was no use. He was out like a light. Eventually I fell
back asleep.
The following day we went shopping for a while. We spent a few hours walking through the streets, mostly window-shopping. He
had once before showed me a fishing rod that he really wanted to get. So today, I wanted to thank him for giving me such a
wonderful vacation, and bought it for him as a gift. He was so excited, and I loved doing it. We stopped off at the pub for an hour or
so then headed back to the house.
Marco said asked me where I wanted to eat that night. I really didn't care, as long as we remembered to eat this time! He said
that he wanted to take me out for a nice meal. I really didn't care where we went, and I didn't want him spending tons of money, so I
asked him how the food was in the pub. He said the food was very nice, and that I could get my crablegs there. So that's where we
went. We went back to the restaurant section and ordered our food. He ordered us both beers, but after one I decided that I couldn't
deal with beer anymore. I very rarely drink beer, just for the fact that after one, I'm toast. So I started ordering my whiskey and
lemonades. Damn they have good whiskey in Ireland!
We sat talking as we waited for our food to arrive. I love crablegs, they are probably my favorite meal, but I only have once in a
great while. So when they brought out my platter of crablegs, I just sort of looked at them, wondering what kind of funky crab live in
Ireland. These weren't crablegs, they looked like great big crabtoes. There was one big black toenail with a fat round hunk of crab
toe flesh attached to it. Where was the leg? Did they find a batch of crippled leg-less crabs? I knew that when I came here, I was
gonna have to learn to eat other things besides chicken strips and burgers, but I surely didn't expect this. I just looked at it and
laughed.Continue
