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It's 1:23am and I'm smashed again.

It's the last night of my Ireland excursion. The neolithic tombs were the highlight of my cultural explorations. I had hoped to take in the national trust property Mount Stewart but time didn't allow (read, I was too lazy). Once again if you're in the area do visit. It is the single most impressive National Trust property I have ever seen. In Norn Iron it is the one thing I would insist on a visitor seeing apart from the Antrim Coast (Carrickarede and the Giant's Causeway).

Today I was involved in such irish traditional past times as Crazy Golf (I came second, losing to my sister)and Ten Pin Bowlng at The Sheep Bridge Inn, Newry(I came last, I blame the facilities, they're not very good).

As you may guess, I have spent the last few hours in a drinking establishment. I spent it in the company of my father and his brother. Despite earlier comments to our younger readers I can't stress enough how vital it is to do this. Several points of view were aired and the world was put to rights by people speaking guff.

The point of this waffle is to realise that your elders are a resource to be tapped when they're smashed and to use them and not to take it to heart, when you describe how you could build a dirty bomb and detonate it in a major metropolitan area for maximum effect on the back of an envelope, when they tell you to shut up and call you a loon.

Blogging on and off since January 2004.

Touring the Homeland

So, Newgrange at Bru Na Boinne. If you want to get an idea of how far back Ireland's past goes into pre-history this is the best way to do it. The three Passage Tombs in the Boyne Valley, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, of which Newgrange is the most famous, carry this off spectacularly. If you can get the chance to go and see them whenever you're in Ireland take it. You'll be kicking yourself for tears if you miss it.

This was my third bisit to the region in the last 20 years and it was impressive to see how far both the restoration and the visitor information had come. Being declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO has done it no harm at all.

This time I went to seel Knowth for the first time. Bigger and more archaeologically siginficant than Newgrange it remains less well known despite it containing one third of Western Europe's megalithic artwork. This possibly due to the damage to the entrances to it's passages caused by early christian diggings that prevents the sun lighting up the central chambers at the equinoxes unlike Newgrange where the sun still lights up the tombs at the solstices.

I found the whole experience much more enlightening this time round. Possibly due to my age, possibly due to the excellent tour guides who had all the answers to your questions readily to hand. The only thing they didn't know was the significance of some of the art work. They had many theories and were quick to point out that some of the tourist's views were just as valid. The only thing they ruled out categorically to one set of American tourists was alien involvement.

Blogging on and off since January 2004.

Let this be a lesson to our younger readers...

I've managed to get the civil service to give me a holiday. So I've taken a holiday with my folks. If you are a regular reader of my blogg you'll know that that means a time warp to the eighties to Norn Iron.

Now, we all know that Norn Iron is a hotbed of political discourse of differing political opinions where if one side says that the sky is blue the other will say that the blue thing is not the sky and is not even blue to begin with. (Please listen to Radio Four's Now Show. Really.

But that's beside the point. The object of this blogg (while I'm drunk, Huzzah) is to advise our younger readers not to get inebriated with their progenitors.

I went for a few pints (5) with my dad in the nearby pub and then came back for Sunday dinner (not Lunch) with my mum. Bad idea. Couple alcohol with Norn Iron polarised political values and you'll find that no-one can disagree sensibly and the evening will end with staggering sixty year olds and one thirty one year old determined to write up his holiday experience all unhappy with each other.

Tomorrow, Newgrange. Europe's oldest Neolithic tomb... Maybe I can leave them there..

Blogging on and off since January 2004.