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14th September 2007.
Oooh never again!! Now I like my sleep, therefore I am never going to a tournament in Belfast via the ferry ever again. I went to bed at around 8 on the Wednesday and had to be up 5 hours later. Ron, my coach, and Dave picked me, my blanket and my pillow up and off we went. The ferry departed from Liverpool at around 10am, so we had a fair ol’ journey ahead of us.
I don’t usually sleep in cars, but I tried my best to get some kip. As soon as it was light which was about 6 in the morning, we stopped off for a coffee. Have you ever tried drinking a massimo in the morning? (For those who don’t speak Italian or aren’t acquainted with the coffee culture that means large) docking was simple enough, with plenty of waiting around.
Some advice for anyone who ventures near Liverpool, don’t drink the tea. That has to be the foulest cuppa I’ve ever had! What followed from that point was lots of waiting and yet more waiting and well, some more waiting.
The crossing took 8 hours and when we finally got to Belfast, the Army were unloading their trucks and trailers and making a serious cock up of it. So much so that there were several holes let in the side of the ferry because of their inability to drive! Still, it gave us some entertainment to watch them.
My shoulder had been aching for the entire day, so this was an ideal opportunity to administer some treatment, or in other words torture me (see photo). After driving through the dodgy end of Belfast using the wonderful technology of Tomtom, we found the Stormont hotel and checked in only to find we didn’t have rooms!! It was the last joke after a long day. We got everything sorted eventually and Dave was shipped off to the Europa hotel after a free dinner and drinks...mmm, not that we took advantage of the situation much! I introduced Dave to the wonderful sweetness of Irish Mist (very good liqueur) and he sampled much more of it while we were in Belfast.
The day of the shoot was freezing cold due the wind chill, but the sun made an appearance for the majority of the day. I got the mickey taken out of me for wearing my blanket most of the day. The wind played havoc with everyone that day and it was quite rewarding to have beaten all but a few of the compounds in those conditions.
The Irish were excellent hosts (bar cocking up the hotel rooms) and the lunch and dinner were very yummy, so was the Guinness.. That evening it was a race to get into Belfast to find an open off licence to get my boyfriend some Irish Guinness. Yes, I know its not the same as you get in Dublin, but it was from that side of the water. I also found a Guinness mug which was cool as he is an ol’ teabag as well.
The crossing was early that day so it was another early start; thank goodness the breakfasts were big. Only in Northern Ireland do you get served whiskey with your porridge! The crossing was uneventful, but very long I played jawbreaker on Ron’s PDA and was an expert by end of the day. I tried to sleep on the way back, I don’t even remember if or when we had dinner! All I know is that we got back at 1 ready for me to get up at 5 for the Inter-counties shoot in Andover.