A couple of weeks back me and my wife, Anne, visited our mates Ray and Fran in their characterful cottage in the vicinity of Longford Town, County Longford, Republic of Ireland. Longford town is situated on the N4 National Primary Route between Dublin and Sligo.
Irish people seem to keep peculiar waking/active hours. They sleep most of the morning and about 10pm begin to entertain the possibility of going to the pub. On the Saturday evening we had a super night out in a local pub talking, drinking Guinness (a far richer, nourishing brew than the UK version) and enjoying the live music provided by a very versatile, busy singer/keyboard player.
It was cold and raining on and off for the post 11am bit of Sunday (the attentive reader will see that we were beginning to fit into the local time rhythm). Whilst huddled over R&F’s wood/coal burning oven, Ray and I did a Guardian cryptic crossword or at least about half a dozen clues of it. Ray explained the, with hindsight obvious, relative energy concentrations of various fuels ranging in order through paper, soft wood, hard wood, peat and coal. We concluded that if only we could find a few million tons of diamond and learn how to efficiently extract their stored energy, then the world’s energy problems would be solved.
If there’s anybody still reading you’re going to enjoy the next bit. On the Sunday Evening! Fran drove us to PV’s in Longford. PV’s is not only a pub, but also a restaurant, a hotel and Longford’s top live band venue:
http://www.pvslongford.com/index.htm
PV’s, like most Longford pubs, is far removed from the cramped, rural, old fashioned pub conjured up in the UK imagination. It is modern and spacious yet comfortable and very welcoming. The standard of service at the bar is top class and in addition to the ubiquitous Guinness there is a wide range of beers, lagers and wines. The live music for the evening was provided by the Celtic rock band ‘The Woodbines’. You can find out about them and hear their music on their web site:
http://thewoodbines.com/
It proved to be a brilliant night out. The Woodbines are far more than a traditional Irish band. They are all top class musicians and they enjoy experimenting with Irish, US and Scottish standards. I can certainly confirm their claim that The Woodbines:
‘Blend traditional Irish music with pop, rock, Cajun and folk songs to create a blistering live show, serving up a pulsating eclectic set’.
We enjoyed numbers from Dylan, Hendrix, Joanie Mitchell and Johny Cash. There were also lots of foot tapping Irish jigs and reels. Ray taught me how to recognize the difference between a jig and a reel; something to do with Everton and Liverpool I think. Help somebody please. High quality presentation, banter and enthusiasm were all well to the fore. Maybe I’ve done enough now to entice you into their web site where you can listen to them whilst learning more about them. Anyway, thanks again lads.
Irish people seem to keep peculiar waking/active hours. They sleep most of the morning and about 10pm begin to entertain the possibility of going to the pub. On the Saturday evening we had a super night out in a local pub talking, drinking Guinness (a far richer, nourishing brew than the UK version) and enjoying the live music provided by a very versatile, busy singer/keyboard player.
It was cold and raining on and off for the post 11am bit of Sunday (the attentive reader will see that we were beginning to fit into the local time rhythm). Whilst huddled over R&F’s wood/coal burning oven, Ray and I did a Guardian cryptic crossword or at least about half a dozen clues of it. Ray explained the, with hindsight obvious, relative energy concentrations of various fuels ranging in order through paper, soft wood, hard wood, peat and coal. We concluded that if only we could find a few million tons of diamond and learn how to efficiently extract their stored energy, then the world’s energy problems would be solved.
If there’s anybody still reading you’re going to enjoy the next bit. On the Sunday Evening! Fran drove us to PV’s in Longford. PV’s is not only a pub, but also a restaurant, a hotel and Longford’s top live band venue:
http://www.pvslongford.com/index.htm
PV’s, like most Longford pubs, is far removed from the cramped, rural, old fashioned pub conjured up in the UK imagination. It is modern and spacious yet comfortable and very welcoming. The standard of service at the bar is top class and in addition to the ubiquitous Guinness there is a wide range of beers, lagers and wines. The live music for the evening was provided by the Celtic rock band ‘The Woodbines’. You can find out about them and hear their music on their web site:
http://thewoodbines.com/
It proved to be a brilliant night out. The Woodbines are far more than a traditional Irish band. They are all top class musicians and they enjoy experimenting with Irish, US and Scottish standards. I can certainly confirm their claim that The Woodbines:
‘Blend traditional Irish music with pop, rock, Cajun and folk songs to create a blistering live show, serving up a pulsating eclectic set’.
We enjoyed numbers from Dylan, Hendrix, Joanie Mitchell and Johny Cash. There were also lots of foot tapping Irish jigs and reels. Ray taught me how to recognize the difference between a jig and a reel; something to do with Everton and Liverpool I think. Help somebody please. High quality presentation, banter and enthusiasm were all well to the fore. Maybe I’ve done enough now to entice you into their web site where you can listen to them whilst learning more about them. Anyway, thanks again lads.
Note: The top photo shows Td, Anne-K, Fran and Raymondo enjoying the Woodbines gig at PV's. The lower photo shows a scene borrowed from The Woodbines web site.
And so ends this edition of Irish Times.
