The Pea Coat Boys
Just before exams Mattie made the long journey over from Chicago for a long weekend. Mattie’s roommate Luke Shadley also came along, and the rest of the Shadley clan met up with us later in the week. The pea coat boys were ready to hit the town. First stop Cinema. Justice League did not disappoint. Once got our monthly dose of cinematic magic, we were ready to hit the town in full force. We went to my favorite spot, the Stags Head, and were fortunate enough to get the best seat in the house, the perch in the windowsill on the second floor. The perch is built for two, but Luke was adamant that it was an easy squeeze for three. We must have been the luckiest guys in Dublin because we were sitting next to the Trinity women’s field hockey team. It was their 50 year reunion putting them just a pinch over 70. It was a coy cat and mouse game at first, but it was clear to both parties that the chemistry was there. Sparks flew, emotions ran high, until the sexual tension became too much to bare. They told us unequivocally that Luke was the least desirable of the group, and then they made some very inappropriate and uncomfortable comments.
After the Stags Head we met up with Luke’s friend from Cincinnati who happened to be in Dublin. Andrea (Left) was living in Belfast and made the trip down to see Luke and his family for the weekend. She was the live-in nanny for the head writer of Game of Thrones, Dave Benioff, so she basically just travels around the world to all of the filming locations and hangs out with the crew. She had a lot of great stories which aren’t meant for the internet, but the gist of it was that the actors slept with everyone and everything. For those of you who may not know, Dave Benihoff is married to Amanda Peat (Saving Silverman - Judith) “Judith, RULES” . We were all interested in the thrones gossip, but all we really wanted to know was our likelihood over ever meeting Amanda. We took a self-guided bar crawl around Dublin and ended the night with some traditional Irish fajitas and margaritas.
The next morning we got up early and took the bus to Galway. We met up with Luke’s family, Fritz, Tiz, Katie and Fritz’s wife Kate? Tiz was our fearless leader and led us around Galway on a carefully manicured itinerary. We walked along the coastline and saw all that Galway had to offer. After a day of sightseeing, and the birth of Ireland’s newest fashion icons (the pea coat boys) we hit the Christmas market and worked our way down the main road stopping at every pub. The Christmas Market was lively, and as first responders we had unrestricted access to the beer tent. We did a few shirt pop’s, popped a few people up (both requested and uninvited pop ups). The first few pop ups went off without a hitch, but as soon as we started popping up unsuspecting victims they kicked us out. There’s no shortage of pubs in Galway, so getting kicked out really isn’t as bothersome as it sounds. The shirt pops and pop ups increased and escalated in a joyous but borderline dangerous manner.
Mattie, Luke, and the rest of the Shadleys were under the impression that they would never see any of these people again so the level disregard throughout the group was quite high. Ireland is one of the few places that is actually smaller than it looks, so I have had a few interesting run-ins with Galwiegans since their visit. Most notably, when we went to set up a bank account at Bank of Ireland, our account representative, Shane Murphy, is a Galway man. He’s a fan of the drink, and no stranger to the pubs of Galway. After a few months of working with him, he says, “ya know, I remember ye from last years’ Christmas market over in Galway, ye were the lads takin off your shirts and throwing strangers up into the air, o that was great craic.” – Craic (“crack”) means fun in Ireland. In any event, we had at least one fan.
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