Hope the curragh race goes better than the one we witnessed/didn't witness in London about a dozen years ago.
We were on our way to the cinema one Sunday afternoon and as we drove over Hammersmith Bridge we noticed a crowd of people leaning over gazing into the Thames.
We stopped and were told that there was a curragh race planned between London/Irish and Connemara teams; so having time to spare, we hung around to watch.
Half hour after the race was to start, a voice came over the loudspeaker asking for the teams to assemble at the starting point - no response!
Twenty minutes later the exercise was repeated with the same non-result.
The voice over the speaker at regular intervals began to rise in pitch until it reached hysteria proportions and demanded;
"Would the curragh teams please come out of the pub and get on with the bloody race".
Eventually we drove off to the cinema, saw the film, and as we returned home we were just in time to witness the end of the race -Connemara won!
Jim Carroll