2011 - One Day At A Time!: Day 42 - Friday, February 11th, 2011

Portents for the day ahead were highly favourable as none other than Sealey the Squealy Seal was there at the IFSC pedestrian bridge as I crossed it in the morning.It was re-crossed earlier than usual that afternoon as I made an early exit to head back to the Lighthouse to bring Al the Almera out of its street-side convalescence, and commence the trip to Blarney. Conquer, Martin and Danny were in turn picked up from their southern city central collection points, and the road trip was underway. Traffic was heavy between the Red Cow interchange and Naas but then it all sped up splendidly. Any potential travel fatigue was combatted by Martin's downloaded music and general knowledge quizzes, where your truly secured a brace of gold medals.

Three hours and twenty minutes later, we arrived at the Blarney Golf and Spa Hotel and after a speedy check-in, a beeline was made for the Clubhouse Bar for much needed victuals. Martin maintained his proud tradition of ordering the most expensive item on the menu - steak with all three possible sauces, whilst Danny unsurprisingly opted for a burger and Conquer went for salmon. I chose Thai Green Curry and requested as much spice as was humanly possible, resulting in the chef upgrading it from ultra-mild to medium. The grains of rice served with the dish were obviously from a tightly-knit community, as they refused to seperate, so a second attempt was requested, which thankfully produced more disparate cousins.

Onwards to the hotel tavern - Cormac's Bar, where all of us made the switch to Guinness, with highly pleasing results, and a three-piece combo regaled us with traditional choons. A taxi was summonsed to bring us into Blarney village and the Muskerry Arms, a fantastic pub with open fires, ancient beams, outstanding Guinness and a dartboard! Martin made his competitive darting debut and achieved his first victory, over his compatriot Danny, to lift the Swedish darts championship title, celebrating in Greek style by smashing an empty glass on the floor, highly accidentally it must be said. Local darting athletes approached the oche to offer a challenge, and were dispatched with a straight sets victory for the visitors. After much friendly post-match banter, a taxi brought us back to the hotel for a medicinal nightcap.