When you stay at home for four days and turn down a free boat cruise that also offers free alcohol, your friends are likely to think something is seriously wrong. With this in mind, Kate texted me this morning and asked if I'd like to meet her for dinner in town. As I also got texts from Liz and Leeann asking how things were, I figured I should reassure them of my mental health. So, I set off for town at around 7. I locked the door and turned towards my street to find a tiny woman at the bottom of our drive. A lovely day for a walk wasn't it? she asked. Yes, it was gorgeous, I said. The lady proceeded to ask if I was American, I surely didn't live alone? The family next door, I was informed, is quite nice, their daughter is going to University and visits often. The lady herself was one of 5 nuns that live next door, missionary nuns. There is herself, the sister who drives, the sister with bad eyesight who wears dark glasses and a dark habit, another sister who is youngish but 25 years ago had a benign tumor removed and hasn't been the same since. I don't know about the 5th one, but I told her their roses were beautiful. Then off I went to meet Kate.
We decided to try a burger place a little away from the touristy crowds. There are always signs everywhere for it and we'd both wanted to try it for awhile. Well. An hour after ordering, we get our food. The table beside us who came in AFTER us had already eaten and were paying their bill. We had ordered garlic bread as a starter, they forgot that, and then when we mentioned it, the waitress asked us if we still wanted it. Our ONE piece of bread came out with the rest of our meal. I ordered the BBQ burger and instead, got a salsa burger. What are the similarities between 'hickory smoked bbq sauce' and 'salsa'? The answer: none. It's a shame really. If the service hadn't been horrendous and they'd actually gotten our order right, it would have been a nice (if overpriced) place. But alas. It was such a nice evening, we decided we'd make a loop around the Spanish Arch to see how crowded it was and then took the back way to avoid crowds to where we usually part for our respective homes. I FINALLY discovered where Nora Barnacle's house is (not at all where I imagined; Nora Barnacle was the wife of James Joyce). There is a great film called 'Nora' starring Ewan MacGregor and if you like the costumey, literary biopics, I highly recommend it.
Now, usually, I go past Eddie Rocket's and McSwiggans on my way home and part with Kate earlier. But, as it's no difference in distance and she walks by BORN (a clothing store), I figured I'd see what they had in the window. I wasn't impressed, so we continued on towards the bridge. Coming towards us was a group of men, one of whom was sporting quite the beard.
I knew who it was instantly. No matter how bushy the beard, the cheekbones and eyes were unmistakable. It was none other than Cillian Murphy. He's in town for the Galway Arts Festival to perform in "Misterman"- a play by Enda Walsh. I'm going to see it on Wednesday and am stoked, but to see him on the street! Kate and I refused to look at each other and barely made eye contact with Cillian himself. When we passed him, Kate nudged me and I whispered, "I know, I didn't want to screw it up!" A straggler to the Murphy party heard us and said, "Don't do that!" and so we couldn't help it, we burst out laughing. Afterwards I went to the shop to pick up a few groceries, bought some very unsatisfying strawberry ice cream on sale and am now preparing to write. And that is the story of my first non-baseball related celebrity sighting and how I chose to spend my Saturday night.
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