Sport is supposed to relax you and take your mind off your daily trials and tribulations. To be fair, when you actually take part in sport – like golf, in particular – it’s safe to say that it does relax you. In fact, to borrow from a TV ad, it does exactly what it says on the tin.
However, watching sport is a very different thing and for the last couple of weeks watching Connacht playing rugby should nearly have come with a health warning.
As I roared and screamed at the telly (license fully paid up), on Friday evening as the men from the west played Grenoble in the quarter-final of Europe’s Challenge Cup, I couldn’t help wondering what my heart Consultant, Mr. McNeill, would make of it all.
I always thought that too much excitement, stress and strain was bad for the old ticker, and if that really is true, then my already under-pressure heart did well to hold out, such was the range of emotions that we were put through during an incredible eighty minutes of rugby in the shadows of the French Alps.
I’m not going into a match report, as the whole world knows what happened (Connacht lost by 33-32), but there is no doubt that they are now playing the most exciting and attractive rugby of all the Irish provinces – and I only hope they can build even further. What a story it would be if they could carry on and win the Pro 12.
Back to golf and on Sunday night I watched, along with millions of others around the world, in total amazement as golf’s Mr. Cool, Jordan Spieth, had a meltdown on the twelfth hole and allowed totally unheralded English man, Danny Willett come through and take the Masters title, the 1.8 million dollar prize and the coveted green jacket.
Mind you, his brother Peter advised him to refuse the green jacket as he tweeted that green makes you look fat. As a nation we must look a bit unsightly on Paddy’s Day!
News that stung me…
Last week we had the amazing revelation from Gwyneth Paltrow, right, (I think she’s a Welsh actress – FYI Frank, she’s American!), that she allowed herself to be stung by bees (yes, bees) in order to improve her skin.
Now I don’t know how that works, or how many stings you have to get or what magic ingredient the bee sting has, but I do know that any time I got stung by either a bee or a wasp, I’d have a dirty red blotch on my face, (I always seem to get stung on the face). Maybe that’s what has made me beautiful, but, even if it did, I wouldn’t want to do it any more than I have to! Someone should tell Gwyneth it can be sore, and she should try soap and water.
Who do they think they are?
I make no secret of the fact that I have no political affiliations whatsoever and I most certainly don’t have any ties with any of the main political parties. To be honest, it is very seldom that I would be bothered at all to write about political matters. However, the behaviour of our two main parties and their leaders is now bordering on the farcical and I’m beginning to wonder who do they think they are?
Michéal Martin seems to forget that Fianna Fail brought us to the brink of bankruptcy (or else he thinks that we have forgotten it) and their partial recovery in the recent election, in which they got the second smallest number of seats in their history, does not give them the right to hold the country to ransom when it comes to forming a government.
Fine Gael, under Enda Kenny, along with their Labour friends, did a great job at making a mess out of the country for the last five years and both of them, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, should be more than delighted that they might have a chance together to right the wrongs that both parties have inflicted on the people of this nation.
If through their self-righteousness and their foolish pride, they force the country to the unnecessary expense of another election, I am warning them that I won’t vote for anyone except the poll-topping Independents. I urge them to cop on, get down off their high horses, thank God for their fantastically paid jobs, get a good (I hate the word ‘stable’ – reminds me of horses and asses) Government together, and get out there and earn their massive pay.
No show like a Joe (and Paschal) show…
Finally, for this week, you all know by now of the very high regard I have for the Hotel Newport. It is a fabulous place to go to. The manager there, Michelle Murphy, tells me that next Friday night, 15th of April, she is putting on the superb Joe Dolan Tribute Show, featuring Paschal Brennan and his five-piece band.
There is no need to tell you about the great Joe, he has thousands of fans all over the world, but Paschal is so good that if you closed your eyes you would swear that Joe himself was singing and Paschal and his band, have played to full houses in some of the biggest and best arenas in the country.
I know Newport is a few miles away, but if you want a great night’s entertainment in a lovely friendly setting, or if indeed you are heading off for a break for a night or two, you could do worse than go to Mayo and take in the Joe Dolan night. Say I sent you – and tell Michelle ‘you’re such a good-looking woman’!
Til next week, bye for now
