Ireland pt 3

Hopefully if I get my act together this will be the last entry for Ireland. Alright I believe we left off as I was going to the concert. Well this venue in the Queens University Student Union is hands down my favorite venue.

The venue is called the Speakeasy Bar, a bar on the second story of the student union and only accessible by one staircase. Walked into the room to a huge bar, average bar stage and lounge area. I was one of the first their but really surprised to see that no more than thirty people came to this show.

Everyone was just hanging out, getting a drink, and waiting for the bands to start; usual routine. I was itching to know who The Lawrence Arms where playing with because when I checked it was a mystery. Mystery's can either be good or bad; how Santa clause gets to everyone's house in one night-good mystery. Thinking about how much/kinds of information our government hides from us-terrifying.

These bands that played the show: Snitch, Leap for Leanin, Under Stars and Gutters and another band that I cant quite remember and its killing me. Anyways these are all local bands to Ireland who have been on the UK tour with Larry Arms.

All these bands where quite good, Snitch was sub par; nothing to special. Under Stars and Gutters were sweet as hell, and the others were quite satisfying as well. Then Larry Arms was up, I felt like I was six years old again going to the carnival for the first time. Ya all the rides were great but there was one that stood out above the rest. The carpet ride, anyone that has been to the missoula fair knows what im talking about. I had climbed the huge stair case and was anxiously awaiting the huge plunge.

There I was standing a foot away from the stage, from my dreams. Every song that they played was absolutely amazing. They put together such a good set, not much more that I could ask for. Well thats a lie, I would ask that the four kids standing next to me; screaming brenand's name, pointed, pulling on brendan, and other obnoious things the whole would have dissipated.

It's not that they were ruining the show, well actually a couple of times they were. If he would come close those kids would grab him and not let go, try to play his bass and cause accidents. Twice they caused brendan to smash into something, once the rail and the other the stage. The stage collision was bad, he was trying to get back up on stage when everyone was holding on to him, he had to jerk away from them, causing him to fall subject to the laws of gravity and smash at into solids at a velocity derived from the force of separation.

I felt terrible for him because he just had to give the kids a look and keep playing. However in that dramatic display of g-forces he dropped his pick which is now in my possession. There last song that they played was "Like a Record Player." One of my heart songs and one that many of my and I hold sacred. If things couldn't go any better I ended up with the set list from the show, meeting the band, getting pictures with them and hanging out for a bit.

If I were to do that trip again and would run into the same or more troubles on the next time around I would. It only cost me about $100 extra dollars to stay in Irland for another day, which in my case is an excellent trade off.

Now most of you think that this story has come to an end but its not over yet. After we finally got kicked out of the bar, I went and got some warm food to hold me over through the night. I had no place to stay and a plane that left at seven. After I finished eating it was a quarter til' 1. With no plans I headed to the bus stop, on the way to there I was stopped by a local gent named Neil. He was looking for his two lady friends in pink dresses. I had not seen them at all and felt quite bad for a while.

We talked for about a half hour about the US and all the people he knows there and visits quite often, he ended up giving me his number so that if I ever make it back to Ireland he would like to show me around the town. After impairing his search I headed off to the bus station which was closed. After asking a lot of questions I found where the bus's pick up. I waited for almost an hour and still no bus came for either airport(Dublin, Belfast International).

Well just fantastic, not much could go wrong now. I sat planning how long I can wait for the bus before I need to start walking. I knew the general direction and it would take a couple hours to get their. There is no way that I would take a cab because it would be over fifty pounds to get there and thats a huge waste of money.

Choosing to wait out the cold in hope for a bus at sat thinking; what would the immigration desk lady be thinking of me right now, possibly getting stuck in Ireland for a couple more days and the landslide of questions being thrown at me when someone said my name. It was Neil, he was getting a cab from the taxi service across the street from the bus stop.

He came over and chatted for a bit. He told me I might have a problem with going to the airport this early, Belfast has a no fly time from 2-6 and at least the city airport closes down. He offered me his house for a couple hours and then I could take a cab to the airport.

I didnt really want to go cause I would still have to pay for a cab which is a hundred times more expensive than the bus. Somehow through the arguing he must have figured that I didnt have money, he offered to pay for my cab back to the airport. Oh I left out one thing, he was looking to travel somewhere new in the US so he was glad that he met me so that he could go to Montana. Eventually he said, dont worry about me paying for things, you can just repay me by showing me around in Montana if I make it there.

Well that finally convinced me, it was cold as hell outside, no bus's had came and now I had a warm place to go for a few hours and a free ride to the airport. Neil was really nice, on the way to his house he was pointing out and telling me all about the buildings Belfast.

Back out his house he was real kind, gave me some food to eat; we sat and talked about things over beers for the next couple of hours. He told all about his life and how he worked in radio for many year and showed me footage of the radio show he did for Y2K.

It was really nice to sit and have a drink and relax for a bit before I needed to leave. Around 530 he called me a cab and we said our goodbyes. This flight was going to go smoothly, I was early to the airport, there was no delay, I had time to get breakfast and relax before the plane came.

Completely wrong, all that went well but as we were called up to board we were told the flight was delayed for around two hours because this plane was broken as well. For fuck sake, cant a kid get a break ever; I have such a long delay that I know miss my first bus back to Madrid. Easter is sucking ass this year, im gonna stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere for ever.

Finally the plane came, however I was a little hesitant to stay on the plane, right before take of the pilot announced that one of the engines wont turn on and they would have to start in manually before we left the loading dock. Great, what will happen next, will it shut off and not turn back on again in the air? Luckily that didnt happen.

We landed in Alicante(South of Spain), where I ran around lost trying to find the correct bus line to explain the them what had happened. Luckily when I got their they said that's fine, we have your name and you can just get on the next bus. Awesome, the easiest part of the whole trip. Luckily the bus arrived just on time at the transfer station that I just got the next bus into Madrid.

Now all that was left was to wait out the 8 hrs bus ride and arrive home. Finally at a quarter past midnight I arrived home, the family was all still up watching a movie. They were happy to see me and here some things about my trip. I was really tiered and went to bed because I had to get up for my first Spanish class in a couple of hours