Day 6 - Thursday, January 6th, 2011

A splendidly ordinary day at work came and went, with Lady Amaia continuing her Cough Protest and gaining many new adherents, judging by the plentiful barrages of colic resounding across the office.

But the most magnificent part of the day arrived at 5.15pm, with a 7 minute walk from the office to Doolan's, Dublin city centre's greatest amphitheatre of darts. Yes, it's time for Thursday Night Darts Club 67 - the latest instalment of a near-weekly festival of competition, craic and cratefuls of ale. By the time official tournament action got under way at 6.45pm, nine athletes had gathered, each with a starving desire to win the TNDC Championship Belt. The athletes included brother Austin, who revealed to all present that his wife Joanne is with child, with delivery expected in early July. I'm going to be an uncle - yippeeeeee! I had been informed of this before Christmas, but after another successful scan earlier this week, the news is now in the public domain.

A radiant Damo and an expectant Austin

Conveniently, there is an excellent Italian restaurant beside Doolan's who kindly allow us to phone in our order and deliver the goods into us in the pub - gift! €5.95 for a delicious 10 inch pizza is highly competitive pricing too, and even their chips are bleedin' d'lish. I abstain though because the 2nd instalment of my Fire House Beef A La King awaits my arrival home!

The National Convention Centre doing its best luminous Coke Can impression

The Harp Bridge by night

Judge Dredd (left) is congratulated on winning his 3rd TNDC title by runner-up Sparky

The contest is a tight one, and ends up with Mark "The Spark" Delaney just missing out on his first title in a sudden-death shootout with Justin "Judge Dredd" Bartholomew. This also allows me to claim joint 2nd place on the night - a satisfying performance indeed. The 30 minute walk home is a pleasant one - 6 pints of Guinness obviously provides excellent insulation from the sub-zero temperature - as evidenced by today's pictures. The calories burned on the walk home are instantly replenished with Fire House Beef A La King, when is so delicious that it earns an official dispensation from the general rule that it is highly unhealthy to eat a giant feed at midnight.

Contentment : 17 / 25

Excitement :    5 / 10

Memorability : 5 / 15

Overall Score : 54% (Rank 1 out of 6)