> As previously posted, we were all set to head of the 350 miles or so
> to Kinsale on 23rd December. All was packed including the fixings for
> Christmas dinner and various nice foodstuffs that we like. At 6am on
> the morning we were due to head off himself woke up with excruciating
> pain in his back and groin and upon returning from the bathroom
> collapsed in a heap in front of me. I managed to help him into jeans
> and a t-shirt and got him to the car and promptly to the hospital
> where he collapsed again at the triage station. They gave him some
> intravenous pain relief and took x-rays and observed him for 8 hours
> before letting us go home indicating he had to drink 3 litres of
> water a day as it was probably a kidney stone and to come back
> immediately if it flared up again. We told them we were going on
> holiday that day and they advised us to cancel it. This was a bit
> awkward as my eldest had invited a girlfriend to my house for the
> holidays and we had paid (and not bothered with insurance) a
> substiantial amount of money to rent the place in Kinsale.
> Anyway we decided to sleep on it and as he felt as right as rain on
> Christmas eve we headed off to Kinsale at 7.30am arriving at 1.30pm.
> The house we had rented overlooked the harbour and was excellent. We
> pottered about Kinsale (which some Polish guys told us was called
> "English Town" and it seemed it was as we heard loads of plummy tones
> and Paul felt quite at home) After a couple of pints of the devil's
> buttermilk in the Armada we had dinner in the White House he had a
> big tureen of mussells in garlic and lemongrass with wheaten bread
> and I had fish and chips - the fish was done in a very light batter
> which was really nice much better than the vegetable soup I had which
> was absolutely tasteless to the extend that I nearly poured the
> contents of the pepper pot into it. I can't remember what else he had
> probably something like prawns.
> Christmas day was interesting - we spent most of it in Cork University
> Hospital as himself had again awakened in excruciating pain. We got
> there about 8.00am and immediately noticed a distinct difference to
> our local hospital A&E - as there is a 60 euro charge to be seen
> there weren't as many "saturday night specials" (guys with head
> wounds and face injuries from alcohol induced rough and tumble) He
> was seen very quickly by the triage nurse and then very quickly again
> by a really nice down to earth SHO immediately given pain relief,
> blood and urine tests done and a saline IV set up and xrays taken. We
> were there about 6 hours this time and they were really great
> despite being mega busy with various emergencies such as "an 85 year
> old gentleman who had collapsed at Mass" and "a 60 year old woman in
> cardiac arrest" (I know this because Paul's cubicle was beside
> reception and the ambulances coming in radioed ahead) There was also
> a lady in the cubicle opposite who needed pain relief for her cancer
> - her daughter was in an awful state but calmed down when her mum was
> made comfortable and drifted off to sleep.
> The drip and the happy pills seemed to do the trick and he was let go
> home on the understanding that on 27th he would come back for a CT
> scan. When we got back I made some tapas type stuff and prepared
> Christmas Supper which turned out to be really good. I roasted the
> parsnips in olive oil orange juice and a dollop of Glavya (sp) and I
> also roasted kerr's pink spuds which were excellent and duck for him
> and turkey for me and made glayva flavoured gravy and also did
> carrots glazed with you got it glayva - despite all the stress of the
> day it was a really nice dinner and we had some stollen afterwards.
>
> On St Stephen's day we went out to Mizen Head - beautiful beaches
> with sand like the golden skirt of a vera wang wedding gown and the
> jadest of green sea. Lunch was an unmemorable steak sandwich in the
> Black Sheep Inn in Clonakilty - but the location and the warmth of
> the people made up for it. It was a lovely day out and the views were
> breathtaking. We just stuffed ourselves later on with chocolates and
> oranges and more stollen.
> Wednesday was the day of the CT scan so we headed off to Cork again
> and he got it done - the Urologist was a really nice guy who went out
> of his way to explain stuff and gave him the results and xrays and a
> letter for his GP which in essence spelled out (to our relief as
> well) that he had a 7mm x 4mm stone in the tube leading from his
> kidney but no other damage. Our experience of the Irish health
> service was very positive.
> We went in to Cork city and had a wander around stopping at a place
> called Scotts for something to eat. I say something to eat as it was
> a bit like the school dinner queue where despite you saying you dont
> want cabbage or sprouts the old witch behind the counter dollops
> twice the normal amount on your plate. It was probably very nice but
> we left without eating any of it probably the stress factor too. (I
> left out the bit about our blazing row on the way back) but suffice
> to say wednesday was a write-off. Thursday we bought gorgeous
> crusty bread and got some really nice bacon and had sandwiches out on
> the balcony - it was 13 c and balmy. We spent the rest of the day
> pottering about Kinsale he got two new pairs of shoes in the sales
> and a got a lovely red hat which I apparently suit. We had tea in
> the Blue Haven Hotel Paul again opting for mussells which he said
> were excellent I had pate which was some of the best I have tasted it
> was done in a little pot with a quarter of an inch of clarified
> butter on top and a big plate of noodles with cashew nuts and honey
> and chilli the rest is a bit of a blur as we had rather a lot of
> alcohol during that evening. I do remember the walk back to the
> house as the rain was beating off the road and beating off us into
> the bargain when we got in it was a case of stripping off and getting
> into the shower. I forgot to mention Kinsale is quite hilly and it
> was uphill all the way to the house and despite the tail wind my pace
> was slow and the cars that passed us showed no mercy in their
> drowning of us. There was a really bad storm that night.
> Next day we headed out to Killarney and the scenery was beautiful
> quite like driving through snowdonia we got a Pizza on the way back
> which was greasy and tasteless. Still it helped to put a lining for
> the beer we quaffed later having sort of fallen into a removal
> gathering (the day before a funeral when the deceased's remains are
> removed from their home or the funeral home to the chapel via a short
> service prior to the following day's funeral) The rest of this
> evening is a bit of a blur too and we forgot to eat anything.
> We decided to treat ourselves to another 2 days but had to move out
> of the house (new guests were arriving) into a guest house in the
> Centre of Kinsale - The Old Bank - The breakfasts were excellent
> real loose tea too what tickled us most was the "pillow menu" you
> could have the pillows of your choice from a range - a nice touch but
> at 200 euros a night I feel it was a bit much even if the bed was the
> size of a football pitch and we could choose our own pillows but
> getting a place to stay at short notice isnt easy there.
>
> We spent Saturday morning at garretstown beach watching the fishermen
> line fishing for see bass (big notice up restricting them to 2 fish
> per angler and they must be more than 18 inches in length) [the fish
> not the angler] The waves were enormous and so were the couple of
> fish we seen landed. We went to the Old Head of Kinsale from which
> the views were breathtaking albeit getting to the edge was a daunting
> trip - very slippery with lots of potholes - I sniggered when a big
> strapping lad went arse over tit into a big muddy bit - at that stage
> I wasn't to know my later fate. We went back into Kinsale and with
> Paul salivating at the prospect of a big plate of langoustines with
> melted butter we made our way to Fishy Fishy the local fish cafe only
> I didn't quite make it the incline to the cafe from the road is well
> odd and it had been raining and I lost my footing and went down on
> the flat of my back knocking the wind out of my sails (and my lungs)
> and injuring my already injured ribs not to say my pride. This landed
> me in bed for most of the afternoon but I recovered enough with the
> help of the opiate based painkillers prescribed for Paul to got out
> for dinner - we had a wonderful Thai Meal the best food of the week
> everything was cooked freshly and while I dont like shellfish I could
> appreciate that Paul was in his element with his crab and prawn
> dishes and the coconut rice was amazing I had a vegetarian dish and
> it was excellent a bit like tempura vegetables in a peanut sauce but
> better. A totally unhurried and great meal.
> The weather today on the way back was awful torrential rain and high
> winds but apart from that and all the dramas we had a really good
> restful time.