Leaving Westport we had decided that if wanted to get to the Flying Boat Museum and meet up with the other couple we need a reasonably direct route, and so we headed in the direction of Galway and the journey was very good apart from the quality of the roads. Potholes, and the building of, appear to be am important part of Ireland and we think the various counties have a competition to see who can build the worst possible road. The signs everywhere showing that EU money is being spent make me think that perhaps monies received are spent in the pubs and betting shops and not on the roads, but I have been known to be wrong.
Oops, wow a new motorway leads to Limerick and past Bunraty Castle and a pub that I used to visit when working there called ‘Durty Nellies’ or something like that, and on this very smoot and virtually empty motorway we speeded to Limerick and under the Shannon we had to pay a toll for the tunnel and then finally back to normal bump roads out to Foynes to see the museum, only it was closed due to renovation, damn. We were all a little fed up as the leaflet clearly stated March till October or something but it was defiantly closed.
We headed back to Limerick and the Clarion Hotel, nice on this, and then walked down town looking for good photos but as time was getting on and as we wanted to go the cinema tonight we started looking but no success but then a man in a yellow jacket who was controlling the buses and he said there was a omniplex cinema about 1.5 miles in a shopping arcade. We could take a bus or walk, but knowing that sometimes an Irish mile and half could entail 3 miles walking plus a train and bus ride and then thrity minute flight we decieded to take a bus. It was at this point where he asked the usual question, where do you come from and we said Weybridge Uk and he said well I used to live in London and my brother lives in Chertsey, it’s a small world.
The bus took a diversionary route through a bad looking area where at one point groups of teenage boys starting throwing stones and spitting at the bus, umm nice we thought.We eventually came to the complex and found the cinema and went to watch a film called PAUL which is about two British tourists in America come across an ET looking chap and help him get home. Good film and quite funny.
No walking home for us and we got a taxi and the driver told us about the sorry state of Irelands and Limericks finances in particular. We also understand that the Irish are leaving home in droves to find new opportunities elsewhere.
Sounds a bit like the Easter European and Iraqi's and Afghan's flocking to Britain
