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Published: April 17th 2008
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Well it’s been a while since we gave an update and we’ve been and seen so much so I’ll break it down into a few parts which you can peruse at your leisure (or delete!!).
In December we finished our jobs on Murrin Murrin and headed off on a long awaited trip back to Ireland starting with a wee pre-Christmas trip to NZ to see the family and have a makeshift Reid Christmas. Six weeks away in total.
NZ (‘Home’) was great as usual with maximum time being spent with the two little nephews - Owen and Louie. The next generation of Reid’s is in full flow at the moment with Fei and Waz due in April, Glen and Tans due in June and Sonny and Nigel due in September. It’s shaping up for a great team for the circa 2028 cousin’s volleyball games at the beach! After a week in NZ we headed to Ireland.
Arriving into Ireland is a pretty and moving site - a bit like a patchwork with all the fields in different shades of green. As we descended into Dublin, Damien had tears well up in his eyes - it had been 3
Kilmallock Abbey
Damien played in these ruins when he was growing up years since we were ‘Home’. I rehearsed my usual Irish accented speech from previous visits: “Ahh Ireland, de home of me farder, and me farder’s, farder’s”. Damien always says: “Don’t do the Irish accent” - but it’s so addictive!
We were met at the airport by our mate (and our wedding Master of Ceremony), Con McCormack, and were driven to his home in a town called Prosperous, in County Kildare. There we met a beautifully pregnant Fiona busy in the kitchen with a full Irish breakfast. Finally after three years, Damien was eating “Irish Sausages, Bacon, Black Puddin and Soda Bread” - nothing compares anywhere else in the world.
After a few hours catch up with Fei Fei and Con, and the arrival of my brother Michael from London, Fei and Con drove us half way to Limerick where we met Damien’s Dad Pat and brother David.
The big news was that Olivia, Damien’s sister, had had a baby boy, 3 days earlier, a week or so early, so we just missed it. We were travelling about so we didn’t hear the news until we met them that day.
In Bruree, Damien’s hometown, we met up
Jake's christening
Olivia, Damien's sister, and Jake with all the family and met niece Emily for the first time, born a month after we left for NZ. Plus of course, Olivia and John’s new arrival, Jake.
Arriving back into Bruree it felt like we hadn’t been away, which was a good feeling. We headed on down to Moloney’s, one of the local pubs, where Damien first introduced me to a “real Guinness” - a glass for the ladies and a pint for the men! Breda and John Moloney own this little establishment and they still remembered my name when we walked in. It is such a cool little Irish pub with a card game in the corner and the odd sing song now and again.
We had Christmas in Bruree, and on Christmas Day we visited Damien’s old friend (and my new friend!) Nora Moriarty at her parents home in Ardpatrick. Nora showed good old Irish hospitality and poured us some Christmas cheer! An hour and 3 whiskies later we rolled my brother Mikey out of there declaring his love for Ireland!
We spent a “Prosperous New Year” in Prosperous with Fei and Con and then moved on to Dublin to our friends Ann
Day after wedding
...apparantly you also have to call your brother these days to check you aren't wearing matching clothes!! and Andreas. I had Ann’s hen party and Damien went out for a night with Andreas and lads.
Annie’s hen party was not all bunny tails and facials. Instead we hiked through the snow dusted hills near Dublin and went to a rugby game, which was then followed by dinner and a night out. An excellent day with a great bunch of girls.
During our stay we caught up with most of Damien’s old mates including Doc and his new wife Ann, Al and Mandy O’Reagan and Mike Fenton and Nora on a night out in Cork. We also had a visit from kiwi family friend Mike Seawright, over touring Ireland.
We we also in time for Jake's christening which Olivia and JOhn kindly brought forward so we could attend.
On January 26th we attended the gorgeous wedding of Ann and Andreas at Castle Durrow in County Laois. What a beautiful day that was as you will see from the photos. They both come from such musical families and performances by family and friends were threaded throughout the whole wedding including a serenade by Andreas! We were so glad to be able to attend as we
go back quite a long time with these guys and a big group of old Edinburgh buddies were in attendance.
Catching up with everyone was something we had been looking forward to for so long, and living in Ireland was something that did cross my mind while we were there, especially when Ann tried to convince me to live in Dublin by explaining we are the same shoe size, and I would have easy access to her Amelda Marcos like shoe collection! She does have a fantastic selection by the way!
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