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Published: August 28th 2006
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Proof of the score
Won't happen often, crowd was awesome Hi all,
More on the reason for this title later.
Last time I wrote I had just arrived in Manchester. Not that long ago but again so much has happened in that time.#
On Saturday I didn't make it to Old Trafford I did something even better. In the morning Yavi, Hannah and Danny's flatmate, took me into town and we walked around the old industrial area by the canals which has been turned into bars. Very nice area of town. Yavi is from Poland so found the next part of the day interesting. It was Pride Parade day in MAnchester. A gay and lesbian parade in the middle of the afternoon. Very colourful. But the best part of the day was going to the City of MAnchester Stadium to watch a football game between Manchester City and Arsenal. A foregone conclusion was what I though when i went but no, City won 1-0. I was sitting 6 rows from the front at the end where all the play was, both halves. It was also the end where the Arsenal fans were and the really loud city fans. Found myself cheering for city (sorry Dad) but they played really well, or rather Arsenal played poorly, so many shots at goal missed. Much betterbeing at the stadium that watching on tv, even though they have no big screens for replays. The singing and chanting was great. There was no booing, they just didn't make a sound, silence when Arsenal came back out. Incredibly loud with a minute ot play. Awesome experience.
Spent a quiet day on Sunday with Hannah and a friend of hers, went to a pub and watched some bands before heading to the airport.
This is where the bright side of life starts. Of course it was raining in Manchester so there were delays, not really an issue, just meant that didn't arrive in Dublin until after midnight. From there got on the bus and headed into the centre of town to where the hostel is. The announcement at the beginning of the journey said that a sign would come up at each of the stops so we knew where to get off. The driver made a stop that wasn't an actual stop to start with which confused me. Then the first stop was announced. After the second stop, (where I should have got off - no announcement though) I thought it was strange so ended up getting off the bus, two stops after where I should of. Not a problem apart from the fact, I have a suitcase (20.1 kg - not bad packing!) and it is the middle of the night and i have no idea in which direction I should be heading. So the Irish people came through for me. I asked people all the way along to point me in the right direction and eventually I got there. Discovered the irish hospitality first hand and saw the city at night - very pretty. Felt very safe. Arrived at the hostel around 2.
Today I have had a busy day sightseeing. Jumped on the Dublin tour bus where you can get on and off where ever you like. First stop Guinness factory around lunchtime, in true irish fashion had Guinness for lunch. Also saw Kilmainham Goal and went to the writers museum. Is tipping down with rain here now, luckily missed most of the rain throughout the day.
Staying in Temple BAr, central Dublin, so will go out tonight, no doubt somewhere around will have music, food and drink. In fact probably won't have to look very hard at all.
So enjoying my time by myself, just have to go with the flow really, not much more you can do. Airport security over here is crazy at the moment. Only 1 piece of hand luggage including handbag - so I just put handbag in backpack rather than having to check in backpack as well. Again nothing that can be done about it.
Heading down to Waterford tomorrow afternoon, so get another chance to walk around here in the morning. Is a nice city. Having almost a week in Waterford will give me a chance to recover a bit and catch up on sleep and hopefully some decent meals. On Contiki was surviving on a breakfast, dinner, ice cream, chocolate diet - along with lots of water. Still lost a little bit of weight, not much but am looking forward to real meals again and actually cooking some vegetables.
Anyway best go and sort myself out, will write agian soon.
Bye for now.
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