The weather in Ireland was fabulous. This made the long drive between Dublin and Cork more enjoyable on both legs. Lisa was kind enough to fetch me from the airport, and then we made our way down to just outside Cork for the wedding rehearsal and then dinner with Una & Nick's parents and siblings. On the way, we got to travel on some EU-funded motorway which had opened literally hours before - this we know, because the directions Una had given us earlier in the day were suddenly (and chaotically) no longer valid!

The wedding itself was beautiful, as indeed was the bride! The live music provided by a stirng quartet was spot-on. The singing was delightful, the service bilingual, and the photographer most entertaining with his bad hair! You can tell which side of the lens he spends his time!! After stopping for a restorative coffee and crisps, Lisa, Conor and I sped on to Rosscarbery, to the hotel which was hosting the reception. What a lovely seaside setting! And the hotel itself is splendid.

I gave Conor a lift to his B&B. This was tucked away over a hill and overlooking a lovely bay, at the very end of a series of progressively narrower dirt tracks. To be honest, I thought we were never going to make it back to the main road - especially when we got faced down in the road by an angry mongrel. He jumped out of the way of the car at the very last minute (well I wasn't going to concede now, was I)!

Nick had German and French friends and relatives over for the weekend, adding to the international flavour (once again, I am privileged to witness a cross-border transaction which will hopefully, in the words of the groom in his speech, give rise to many "spin-off projects"). And there was plenty of interesting conversation with, among others, Conor, Father Sean, and Lisa. Well, as promised, the wedding was great craic. Lots of happy people, lots of booze, and the highlight was the a cappella singing that started in the hotel bar at 2 in the morning and finished about 5.30!

The next day was a relaxed one, shall we say. The fresh air and sunshine helped to clear people's heads. Lisa & I did the honourable thing and made full use of the hotel's leisure facilities, swimming and saunaing to our hearts' content. Then we headed off down the coast towards Baltimore and sat for some time watching the tide come in on a delightful beach with views over the bay and its islands.