Waterford its a Feeling

I have a confession to make.

Much as I love Waterford, I do leave from time to time. On one such recent expedition I settled into my Aer Lingus seat (I know, I know, no recession round here) and reached for Cara magazine from the pocket in front. Imagine my delight when on page 44 I read “The word is out: Waterford is the hottest place to eat in Ireland.”  Having clearly stumbled on the work of a wise and discerning columnist I read on…

I love the Irish language, always have. I am aware however that my feelings are not shared by many of the students struggling under the yoke of compulsory learning- coercion is rarely the path to devotion. Adventure, surfing, blokarting, body boarding and a day at the beach on the other hand? It’s taken less to spark lifelong affection in the past!

Freedom Surf School in Tramore has offered its services through Irish for over three years now; as the midterm break approaches next week maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at Irish.  You can begin by taking a look at this great promo video for Freedom’s language activities. Watch the video here.

Online entry for the 2012 Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford, part of the An Post Cycle Series, is now open! The event will take place on 25th and 26th August 2012. Don’t miss this opportunity to cycle with Sean Kelly in his home county.

Once again there will be an event to suit all comers including the 10k Kelly Ten suitable for all the family, the 50k Kelly Cruise, 160k Kelly Comeragh Challenge and the all new 100k Kelly Heritage Route. The event has two new nominated charities for 2012; the Irish Kidney Association and Becky’s Beat.

Back in 1992 Dunmore East hotelier Charlie Boland had a vision of bringing golf to the picturesque County Waterford fishing village.  The premise of the very first Dunmore East Golf Classic was to bring golfers of all levels to the sunny South East to compete on some of the country’s most prestigious golf courses.

Highly acclaimed singer/songwriter Mark Geary and internationally known singer/songwriter and BAFTA award winner Ryland Teifi together with Mendocino are set to perform at The Gealach Gorm Singer / Songwriting Festival 2012  - a weekend of  live original music showcasing singer/songwriters from Ireland, Wales and The United States which will take place in the intimate atmosphere of The Gealach Gorm Theatre a 65 seater fully furnished theatre in Kill Community Centre from Feb 24th to Feb 26th.

Joe.ie is ‘The Irish men’s website’.  As the Irish men’s website it concerns itself only with ‘Man Stuff’- man entertainment, man sport, man news and man style. Man stuff includes Georgia Salpa’s eviction from Celebrity Big Brother, Profanity on Countdown and without a doubt; it includes cars, driving and rallying. Mr Oisín Collins, Joe’s chief petro head, recently took a trip to the well known Mondello Race Park- he couldn’t stop talking about it. Then he took a trip to Rally Connection- it left him speechless.

Lonely Planet, that venerable giant of the travel industry, has published the most recent edition of their Ireland edition. Like all vain creatures we got our hands on it for one reason and one reason only: to see what they had to say about us. Unlike the disenchanted souls of Letterkenny we are pleased to report that the world’s best selling travel books had nothing but praise for Waterford, a county they found wreathed in wide sandy beaches with a swashbuckling Viking past.

Dunmore East is the first village in Ireland to have a mobile phone application – otherwise called an App. Featuring information on restaurants, pubs, activities and festivals, the App is available free for iPhone and Android phones. An expanded version of the app is also in the works and this will add accommodation, transport and tides.

So New Year resolutions heh?  Over 1 week into 2012 I’m pretty disappointed to find that I am still broke, undetoxed and exhibiting a laziness that may best be described as slothlike. 2 Christmas weeks with the couch, the tin of Celebrations and the Downton Abbey boxset have taken their toll and if there’s one thing that can make a grey January morning grimmer it’s an undeniable strain on the button of your work pants- am I right?

I fully accept that I have no one to blame for this sorry state of affairs but myself. In fact there have never been more motivations to remove myself from the sofa (for one thing I ran out of Downton episodes over a week ago)