Rugby World Cup Quarters

Just read Simon's comments on his blog on the RWC quarter finals yesterday, and completely concur with everything he said. An amazing pair of results. Looking forward to the semis, though, it is hard to call. Both England and France played their hearts out to get this far - France will have home advantage again, being back in Paris next weekend, but they must have given so much to beat the Partly-Greys, and knowing their tempestuous nature, you have to wonder if they can pull off another significant victory. And as for England, no-one in their right mind ever thought they would get this far - so I guess it is easy to see either team losing, and neither team winning - but someone has to! As for England, a stupendous result to "go the distance" as even if they lose to France, they will play in the third place play-off. South Africa are through against Fiji, but the remaining northern team, Scotland, have still to play their match against Argentina. After thinking there would be no northern team in the semis, there could be three? That would make for a really gob-smackingly-strange weekend of rugby. I actually favour Argentina to go all the way - and good luck to them...

Cecil Williams' Funeral

I was privileged to be able to attend Cecil (CAB) Williams' funeral at Crinken last Monday. Cecil was 90 when he married Sarah and me at Cloyne, Co Cork, on 13 March 1999. He was one time minister at Schull, West Cork, Grandpa's last parish, and Crinken church was his last parish before he retired to Portstewart, near Coleraine. It was when he and Gwen were living there that Sarah got to know them during her university years.

Sarah and I are grateful that we had the chance to meet Cecil once again in Coleraine earlier this year. Our thoughts are with his family, but as Ken Clarke said during his address at the funeral, we celebrate his life, and the fact that he has now arrived at his destination. I find people like Cecil who have been so faithful in their lives and ministry for such a long time a real inspiration.

Camping in the West of Ireland

We had a great weekend camping with some friends from Yorkshire, Phil and Helen Ratcliff and their children Luke and Bethan. They caught the ferry across, and we met them in a car park off the Galway bypass before continuing on to Roundstone. The first campsite we looked at wasn't great for tents - a rough piece of land tucked away at the back (we did see people camping there later). Anyway we carried on to another campsite around the corner which had a big sign outside saying no tents - caravans only. Phil and I spoke to the owner, and he said that notice was just to "keep the rowdies out". He clearly decided that we didn't fit into that category, and agreed to let us set up our tents at the edge of the campsite, overlooking Dog's Bay. What a fantastic location! We got the tents up before the rain started, and spent the evening hiding inside, chatting and drinking wine! The next day was a glorious sunny day which we spent on the beach - Sarah and I actually went in for a swim which was cold at first but then great! We flew kites with the kids, played cricket, built sandcastles, you get the picture! We headed into Roundstone for a bite to eat on the Saturday evening before having another lazy beachy morning on the Bank Holiday Monday and then returned to Dublin in the afternoon, leaving Phil and Helen and the children to enjoy the rest of their holiday.

A few shots of the campsite and Dog's Bay

We had a catch up evening with the Ratcliffs this week when they called in to see us one evening in our flat, as they had come up from Galway and were camping at Clondalkin. We had a meal together before taking them on a tour of south Dublin to show them Crinken church and various possibilities of where we might live - if we ever decide to buy a house!

Henry's Baptism

Sarah and I popped over to Yorkshire last weekend for Henry's baptism as we were honoured to be asked to be his godparents. Henry is the one year old son of our friends Jaish and Carolyn Mahan, who lived opposite us in North Stainley just up the road from Ripon in North Yorkshire.

We stayed with some other friends, Chris and Liz Thomson, who we have organised to go sailing with in Croatia in September - who were good enough to collect us and return us to Leeds Bradford airport. It was great to be able to catch up with people, as well as meet (briefly) the new minister at our old church, Mark Tanner, who has arrived since we've been in Dublin.

The baptism service was very well done, informal and welcoming, as well as acknowledging the special occasion for the families involved. It was all followed by a buffet lunch downstairs in the converted crypt, which for Sarah and me, meant an ideal opportunity to catch up with loads of Trinity folk - including Tom from our old CYFA youth group, who looks like he hasn't had a haircut since we left!

Henry is a real cutie - as you can see from the photos, neither he nor his mother stay still for long!

Henry with his parents and godparents - Sarah, Liz (a university friend of Jaish & Carolyn) and me...

...and with Mark Tanner

Holidays in Donegal

The week before last we had a fantastic holiday in Donegal with Mum and Dad. We stayed in Ken and Helen Clarke's house between Milford and Carrickart
(north of Letterkenny). After a long-ish drive up on the Friday afternoon through constant rain, we were fearing the worst. However, we were very well spoilt with loads of sunshine, and only a few short showers.

We explored around Donegal plenty, as I had never been, and got to Donegal Town, Killybegs, Fanad Head, Bloody Foreland, Slieve League cliffs, across Lough Swilly to Inishowen as well as paying a day trip to Londonderry.

The photo was taken on the beach at Rathmullan, and seems to rather spoil the whole idea??

We also had the privilege of celebrating Mum and Dad's 37th wedding anniversary while we were away, which we did in good style in an excellent restaurant just outside Dunfanaghy.

We met up with Graham, Angela and Megan Cooper at the Church of Ireland in Stranorlar, where a mutual friend of Dad and Graham is now the vicar. We all went out for lunch afterwards to celebrate Graham's 60th birthday.

Then it was back to Dublin, and back to work for Sarah and me, but we continued to enjoy Mum and Dad's company for a few more evenings, while they did their own thing in the day time. This seemed to involve going out with Auntie Alison, and looking at Yummy Mummies (you can work that one out for yourselves!) The last night Dad and I went out for a couple of beers in the local pub in Stillorgan for a bit of male bonding, an excellent end to a great 10 days.

Follow this link for more holiday snaps...

Now it's 11, Tiger!

At last we got to see a serious 5 set final at Wimbledon - a bit more dramatic than the straight sets victory Federer achieved over Roddick two years ago. Great match, and amazing for Federer to equal Bjorn Borg's record of 5 Wimbledon's in a row under his nose! But I was hoping Nadal would win....

I was amused to see the following ad played on BBC Wimbledon coverage yesterday.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Yesterday was Sarah's birthday, so in the evening we went out to a great restaurant n Blackrock called Dali's to celebrate. The sweet sultana, coconut and ginger crumble was the best dessert I've had in a long time.

Didn't she look fantastic?