Baile an Mhóta

Okay hello everyone I hope you are all doing well and hopefully it has stopped snowing in the states. It is fairly mild in Dublin today. On my bus ride back from Galway this morning it was mild and sunny out so I am hoping that is a good sign for spring soon. In my last entry I was on my way to Galway to meet Jude and then we were to make our way to Ballymote in Sligo. The rest of the bus ride was pretty standard but I did receive a call from Caitriona from the temp agency. She had some part time work for this week doing data entry for PRTB. I forget what the acronym for PRTB stands for but its some kind of marketing company Im guessing. Ill be working from 5pm to 8pm tonight and every night till Friday. Its not great but a start and I'm thankful for the hours. So I got to Galway and hung out at the tourist office till Judeman got off work and we made our way HOME. ( I call it home because that is what Brenda referred to it as for me and I liked the way it sounded and always kind of felt that way too) So after our 3 hour journey( it usually only takes an hour 45 but it took longer with traffic) we finally got to Ballymote. As soon as we arrived there was food on the table so we ate and ate. It was already close to 8 and Jude and I were both tired so we decided we would chill tonight and head into Sligo city tomorrow for a few scoops(pints). I also want to mention that when we got into the town of Ballymote I almost instantly knew where we were. As I had mentioned in my last blog I have certain memories and images in my memory of Ballymote. So being there almost 12 years later I was still able to notice a few things from these images. As we left town and drove closer to the Quigley's I remembered the hill from town to Auntie Kay's house. I pointed out Auntie Kay's house right away as soon as we passed it. I was very happy that I still knew where it was after all these years especially because I had so many good times there with my grandad. Right after Auntie Kay's was Colm and Paul's on the right side of the road. There house which I went into the next day was exactly as I had remembered it as well. I'll be putting soem pictures up later tonight of our night out on Saturday as well as the Ballymote countryside. Okay so Jude and I ate, we chilled and called it a night. Brenda used the term "chilled" a few times which I thought was funny but not what i expected. Also to mention before I talk about Saturday was who all was there when we arrived Friday. John and Brenda were there(for anyone who doesnt know John and Brenda Quigley are Jude's parents who live in Ballymote) as well as Sinead and Darragn. I didn't know how everyone was pronouncing Darragn's name. It sounded like they were saying"Dara" but I saw a picture he drew for Jude to welcome him home and he wrote" From, Darragn". So I am guessing they just don't pronounce the "n" and it is actually suppossed to sound like "Darren". Maybe mum, you or aunt shelia or granny could clear that up for me. Well he lives with his mum down the road from the Quigley's but spends a lot of his time at Brenda and John's while Cliona works( his mum) I didn't meet Cliona until Saturday. I was told I am a spitting image of my mumwhich I will always take as a good thing. Okay so saturday me and Jude took a drive through I forget the name of it but maybe mum or granny would notice the pictures when I post them and be able to tellme. Jude said the place but it slips my mind right now. Okay so we hung out there and then when we got back I went on the tractor with John. Jesus I sound like Im 12 again but i really dont care because I was in Ballymote living like a true irishman and i loved every second of it. Kind of off topic but I think important is Jude was asking me, "so what do wanna do, whatya wanna do," and of course just being polite i said im down for whatever or just hanging here. He was so concerned about entertaining but I was having a good time just being at teh house talking and shooting the craic. I dont think they could have realized how happy I was just to be there listening and trying to take it all in. I mean they are typical, true irish family. Laughs all time very loving and you could see even though Jude and all his sibling are older that they enjoyed being home and spending time with their family. Sounds a lot like my own family but sometimes it can be taken for granted. So we hung out the rest of the day and decided we would head into Sligo city for the craic that night. Jude's older brother David lives in Sligo City so we were to go there before have a few cans and make our way downtown. Colm had stopped over earlier in teh day and was in for a few scoops so me and Jude picked up Paul and Colm and headed to David's. Jude said they had been trying to plan a night out between all of them for the past few months but with everyone's busy schedule they couldnt find a time that worked. God works in funny ways and he just happened to make it so that the 5 of us could all be in Ballymote at the same time. So we hung out at David's for a few cans and made our way out. We went to one pub first. Had a few pints and then thought we were making teh right move by going to a club where we thought a group of girls who were at the first bar would be going. We unfortunately figured wrong and paid 8 euro to get into a club that had more bouncers then girls. So we left there pretty quicklyand went off to another pub searching for the craic. The next pub was much better so we stayed there for the night. We laughed we talked , had the craic( refer to pictures) and made our way back to David's. We all slept at David's and then made our way back to Ballymote in the morning. Sunday we did some more of the same as Saturday. Chilled watched soccer. The interchangeably use soccer and football because in the country when you say football you are most oftenly referring to gaelic football. It is really more in England and the rest of Europe that soccer is football. Okay so Sunday we were all in the house. Brenda, John, Jude, Darragn, David, Cliona, Sinead, and myself. I once again sat and enjoyed listening to them talk and shoot the craic. Before we left Jude adn I went over to his Granny's house( my grandad's sister) where Colm, Paul, Sinead, and Brenda were already. Did more of the same, chilled, chatted here and there. I tried asking her about my grandad when he was younger but like most older irish people I couldnt get a lot out of her that I didnt know already. So we had a cup of tea and then headed out. Jude's granny looks a lot like Auntie Kay.(which would make since they are sisters). So Jude and I left for Galway again. I was going to stay in Galway the night and head back to Dublin today. Which now looking at it I wish I had overslept and missed my bus because now I have to go back to Galway tomorrow at Busker Browne's. The manager of Busker Browne's called me on my way back to Dublin about setting up an interview. I misssed the call the first time and called him back but I didnt expect to get a call from any of the places where I handed out my CV in Galway. So he wanted to set up and interview but I told him I was on my way to Dublin and didnt know when I would be back. He said he it had to be by this week so I said Okay and I would call him back. So I thought it over for 10 minutes and called him back and told him I'd be in Galway tomorrow. I figured things have already been pretty wild why not make it more interesteing and see what he was offering. If you dont remember the last time I was in Galway I went there with Jude and a few of his mates and had a great time. The place was huge and I thought it would be great to work there. So now I am going to shower and head to my part time job in Dublin and then wake up early tomorrow and take the bus back to Galway for the Busker Browne interview and then take teh bus back to Dublin in time for work tomorrow night. Feck it right why not? Its an adventure. So im off I hope everyone enoys the read and any comments dont be shy. To my family and friends I love and miss you all. Thank you for the support and Ill expect more entries to come. CHEERS

Brendan