Off to London

The sun setting at nine-ish as I cross the tarmac to London.

Here we go again!

Cork's been an amazing week for me. I've been swimming in a glacial lake and in the ocean, had pints with other travelers and locals alike, partied at a flat with a Corkish band called Neon Flea Circus, and watched a game of hurling in a pub. All that and I still got a heck of a lot of work done.

In a more relaxing follow-up to Wednesday's hiking, Alan and I hit the beach in his hometown, Kinsale. The Irish weather was up to its usual unusual, flipping the switch on sun, cloud, and light rain with annoying carelessness.

We tossed the football quite a bit—the same football tossed in Tofino last summer. The beach was a little smaller this time but the water was just as cold. We braved it long enough to make several epic dives for the ball, catching it in the air just before hitting the water.

The beach in Kinsale where Alan and I made epic dives for the football in cold ocean water. We were of the few that weren't wearing wetsuits.

After a late lunch we caught the hurling match between Cork and Galway which just happen to be the only two cities I'm visiting in Ireland (for this trip, at least). My Spanish dorm mate, David and I took a while to get used to the fast-paced game.

Hurling is a lot like Lacrosse but with flat paddles on which the players balance the ball. They do this while sprinting and dodging other players and it's amazing.

They also throw in a scoring system which requires you to multiply and add every time you want to figure out who's winning. That's because they keep track of points and goals separately, the latter being worth three points. Teams score when the ball is hit between the opponent's goal posts: the defenseless area above the crossbar yields a point and the goal-tended area below gives the more valuable goal.

The game was riveting, even for some one who doesn't watch a terrible lot of sports. After falling quite far behind—to the dismay of most of the pub patrons—Cork gradually pulled their score back up enough to beat Galway by the end of the 71 minutes, but only just barely.

Alan and his girlfriend Louise being all cute with their matching hoodies.

To celebrate we headed to a beer garden to meet some of Alan's mates. He insisted that I have the chance to meet some locals since I mentioned that's been one of the difficulties of traveling and because he was glad to have met Canadians in Canada.

His friends were hilarious. I wish I could remember some of the jokes flying around but most of it was probably "you had to be there" material anyway. Some of it referenced a T.V. show called "Peep Show" of which I saw a few episodes on a prior night. I was glad to know enough of it to catch some of the jokes.

After scoring some free food and drinking to our hearts' content it was time to go. I've grown to really hate good-byes and the quiet bus ride to the airport where, once again, I'm alone. It didn't last long, though, as I've already met up with my high school friend and I'll be reuniting with some flatmates from Edinburgh. And having seen a bit of the city from the seat on the bus, I think I'm going to like London.