Hello, Cork is great (as I've already said) and it was fantastic toi see everybody again. Two good things happened to me in addition to all the other good stuff. One was that I started playing the fiddle again after a looooong break, and I'm going to keep going at it, and the other is that I got to be a whiskey taster at the Jameson distillery, so yet again at a Eurogathering I have received a certificate to hang on my bathroom wall alongside my Mudcat PhD Certificate and my letter from Bristol City Council banning me from swimming pools for two weeks because I had cryptosporidiosis.

Thanks Letty, it was magic! It ended on a high as well as we stuffed ourselves full of rhubarb tart at Blarney. Thanks to Skipjack too - I wouldn't have got there without him and his unique style of driving.

Oh, and When I got back and asked The Boy what he would have done if I'd brought a lovely collie called Meggie back, he said he probably would have gotten over it. Damn!! Still, I suppose it wouldn't have been the most practical of pets to move to London with.