And I ask you friend, what's a fella to do, 'cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue

’Well I took a stroll on the old long walk, of a day-I-ay-I-ay

I met a little girl and we stopped to talk of a fine soft day-I-ay’

I had a few days holiday in Ireland last week. After spending a day or two in Dublin and doing what you do in Dublin…go to Temple Bar, drink a pint of Guinness, meet Sir Bob Geldof in the street, act like a bit of a heathen and drink Bud Ice ‘cause you prefer it to Guinness, have a stroll down O’Connell Street and visit THE GPO, wander over the Liffey and up through Grafton Street, not meet Gabe Byrne, listen to live music in any bar you wish to choose and head home slightly worse for wear

The main purpose of the trip however was to visit Galway during their annual Arts Festival and we headed down there on the Sunday. Dublin to Galway by road is now under 2 hours and I thoroughly recommend a visit at any time of year

I had previously visited Galway with my late father and had happy memories of walking along the front out towards Salthill and my dad lying on the grass for one of his famous ‘five minute naps’ which usually lasted about an hour whilst I had to assure passers-by that he was only sleeping and not dead

“And I ask you friend, what’s a fella to do

‘Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue”

The weather in Galway was much the same as it has been in the West of Scotland all summer but the rain did not dampen the spirits of the participants or the spectators of the spectacular Festival Street Parade. We abandoned our nice cosy table in our nice warm restaurant to stand in the p…ing rain alongside what seemed like most of the inhabitants of Galway. It was well worth it. The sights and sounds and smells of the parade made everyone forget the damp weather conditions. They even had people whose jobs it was to lift up utility cables which hung across the street. This was done with giant poles (that’s long sticks not people from Poland) which allowed the taller Parade characters to pass by unscathed. I think I may apply for that job next year

We tried to grab a late drink in the wonderful Quays Pub but there were more people in there than at an Ayr United home game, and they were all a lot happier than they would have been at an Ayr United home game. . We had to make do with a beer back at the hotel. The use of the hotel swimming pool the next morning was looking less and less likely.

“And I knew right there I’d be takin’ a whirl ‘round the Salthill Prom with ……….”

The next day we took a wander through the city and visited the Cathedral. Now I am not a religious man but when you are inside buildings of this nature it does cause you to pause for a moment and wonder if you should cover your bases just in case.

One or two more drinks may have been imbibed during the course of the day and in the evening we had booked to see a play in Nun’s Island Theatre which is definitely not twinned with The Albert Hall. It probably only holds about 60-80 people and was full which produced an intimate atmosphere. We were sitting in the front row less than six feet from the stage so mobile phones were checked and rechecked to ensure there were no embarrassing moments

The play was called ‘Frank Pig Says Hello’ and was based on the novel ‘The Butcher Boy’ which I have to confess I had never heard of. It was superb and the performance of the main character who was on stage virtually the whole time was breathtaking.

“We were halfway there when the rain came down, of a day-I-ay –I ay

 And she asked me up to her flat downtown”

After the play we were obviously in need of refreshments and beat a path to Monroes where we ordered pizza from next door and listened to the live band. When the opening chords to the wonderful ‘Whisky In The Jar’ came on even I nearly made it to the dance floor. Fortunately more drink arrived and I refrained. More traditional Irish music followed and our hosts for the week , my former brother-in-law and his Irish girlfriend, showed us how it was done. I can now cross Riverdance off my list of shows that I don’t want to see that I have never seen. This footage was captured on our phones and may prove useful at a later date

“So I took her hand and I gave her a twirl and I lost my heart……..”

On our last day in Galway we still managed to fit in a lunchtime Stand-Up Show at The King’s Head before we headed back to Dublin. We took a more picturesque route heading east and passed through Athlone where the impressive River Shannon was looking resplendent

 “ When I woke up I was all alone, with a broken heart and a ticket home…………."

I have been to a few places in the world that I really love like New York, San Francisco, Paris, Sunderland and Rome but I think Galway is up there with the best of them and I hope it’s not too long before I am back there again

If by any chance my hosts read this I would like to thank them again for their hospitality. Great craic, great drink, great food, great company, great entertainment, great drink, great scenery. It was all great!

  " I’ve travelled around, I’ve been all over this world, Boys I aint seen nothin’ like a Galway Girl”

In the dock of Tiger Bay, on the road to Mandalay, from Bombay to Santa Fe, o'er the hills and far away

Young Ben and I managed to find a dry 'window' last week in the midst of a typical Scottish summer and headed off to the park.

Ben likes the park since he knows that whilst there he will encounter three of his favourite things in life. These are 1) balls 2) dogs and 3) sticks.

Of these three a ball is the only one we take with us to the park. Selecting from his vast emporium of balls we took his current ball of choice and set off. He was unhappy about not carrying the ball himself but there are some steep streets on the way to the park and I did not fancy chasing off down Ledard Road after a ball which was not going to stop until it reached Hampden and strangely I actually won that argument. He was obviously saving himself for bigger battles

Once in the park we headed for the stretch of grass which was formerly a disused bowling green and more recently a disused putting green but is currently our Camp Nou. The recent downpours have been so bad that Ikea have sold out of their self-assembly Arks and the conditions underfoot in our dear green place were soggy to say the least. Our footie kick about was more like a water polo match but nonetheless we soldiered on bravely

As we squelched off our pitch and headed up the hill in search of refreshments we encountered a lady who was out dog walking. She must have had about eight to ten dogs with her and Ben, being the polite fellow he is, had to bestow hugs and kisses to all of them. His new found canine friends seemed to appreciate his displays of affection and reciprocated with their own licks and kisses. There was free love everywhere. It reminded me a bit of Woodstock, except without the drugs and music.

One of the dogs was even called Ben which led to mass confusion when we finally headed in our different ways and Ben was being called in opposite directions. Actually he never listens to me anyway so there was not that much confusion and there was more chance of Ben the dog heeding my requests

It was at this point that the stick collecting began. As many of you will already know stick collecting is an art and sticks come in numerous shapes and sizes with countless uses. Young Ben is a quick learner but is currently going through the "Quantity rather than Quality" phase although even then he is still quite picky and does not like to have any sticks that are too similar in his collection

We had earlier used some sticks for goalposts when we were playing football (it was too wet and damp for jumpers) but those sticks had served their purpose and were left for others to use

By the time we reached the bench which I like to use as a pit-stop before the last push up the hill to The Glasshouse Young Ben had acquired an array of new sticks. There was "Pointy" who looked like the brother of those we had left behind on our football pitch. Then there was "Proddy", which was not an indication of his Glaswegian Sectarian leanings, but rather he was an excellent shape and size for using to prod things, and when I say "things" I mean Grandpas. Next was "Throwy" which is always useful to have so that any passing dog can choose to ignore it when thrown and Grandpa can do the fetching. Disturbing my five minutes of peace was "Bangy" which was used as a drumstick along with "Throwy" as Ben performed some sort of drum solo on the bench, the likes of which have not been seen since the days of Ginger Baker. Last but not least there was "Branchy" who was basically a branch and had to be dragged along the path due to his his size and awkward shape. I called him George Sewell because he was a Special Branch.
No? Ben didn't get that one either

We finally made it to The Glasshouse for our refreshments and I managed to have a well earned rest as Ben used up even more of his seemingly endless supplies of energy in the Soft Play Area

By the time we arrived home Fireman Sam was on the TV. It strikes me that for a town with a population of about 20 Ponypandy seems to have more fires in a week than California does in a year but even so we both both do enjoy Fireman Sam, although I may have nodded off during the third episode and Ben had to bring me up to speed with any plot developments I had missed

Needless to say Ben's mum was delighted with the sticks we had brought home. You can never have enough good sticks.   

I felt a rush like a rolling bolt of thunder, spinning my head around and taking my body under

My mate and I went to see Frankie Valli in concert last week at the Clyde Auditorium.

I have long since been a fan of Frankie and his unique vocal talents but I had never seen him perform live before. He did not disappoint. He was fantastic.

Frankie was born Francis Stephen Castelluccio in Newark, New Jersey in 1934, so he was alive the last time a Brit won the Men's Singles at Wimbledon (sorry Andy)

This now makes him 78 but his appearance and voice have not altered much over the years


As he came on stage to the instantly recognisable intro to 'Grease' it was evident we were in for a special evening. Hit after hit followed from the early days including 'Dawn', 'Save It For Me', 'Tell It To The Rain' and 'Working My Way Back To You'

Then a slight break in tempo as he sang one of my all-time favourite songs 'My Eyes Adored You' and we were all "carrying her books back from school over Barnegat Bridge and Bay"

Classics like 'Fallen Angel', 'Beggin' ' and 'Swearin' To God' followed and with a tip of the hat to 'Old Blue Eyes' a wonderful rendition of 'I've Got You Under My Skin' made famous by Sinatra

As if he did not have enough of his own hits he then did a selection of great 60s songs by other artists including 'Call Me', 'Spanish Harlem', 'Let It Be Me' and a medley of 'My Girl' and 'Groovin' '

The crowd were on their feet by this time and people were dancing in front of the stage as the real 'biggies' started to come out. 'Who Loves you', 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' (a song I love and which is used in my favourite movie The Deer Hunter and over the years has become my personal 'party piece') and then 'December 63 (Oh What A Night)' which brought out the best in his superb backing band and the new, young, good looking backing singers who were not the Seasons but performed admirably

Just when we thought he was running out of hits along came 'Sherry', 'Big Girls Don't Cry', 'Let's Hang On', 'Rag Doll' and the wonderful 'Walk Like A Man'. "No woman's worth crawlin' on the earth"...sound advice Frankie, sound advice

'Bye Bye Baby' was particularly popular in Glasgow as imaginary Bay City Roller tartan scarves were waved in the air

This list has been done from memory so the order of the songs is not accurate and there are almost certainly some highlights I have missed but I have to say this was the best concert I have seen in a long time, a feeling which seemed to be shared by the rest of the audience as they left

Frankie Valli and the other original members of The Four Seasons were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999,  accolades which due to the depth and quality of their output were undoubtedly deserved.

He has even had a musical made about his life and I think it is time I made the effort to go and see Jersey Boys which apparently is very good

Being a Jersey Boy, Frankie even managed to play the part of Rusty Millio in The Sopranos, although I did see him come to an unfortunate end recently on the rerun of the series on Sky Atlantic

I would just like to end this week by saying thank you to Mr Valli for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
You are indeed just too good to be true!

Sometimes the snow comes down in June, sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon, just when I thought a chance had passed....

Wow! Last night I had the privilege of watching 'boring' Spain give a sublime performance at the highest level which, in my lifetime, may only have been bettered by the wonderful Brazil team of 1970.

Unfortunately for Italy they were the opponents on both occasions. Mr Balotelli should take some lessons from his captain Buffon on how to accept defeat gracefully. 
 The outstanding goalkeeper said "Tonight, there was no contest, they were too superior - so the bitterness at losing this final is only relative."


Spain kept up their incredible record of not conceding a goal in the knockout stages of the last three major tournaments helping them to be victorious on all three occasions. Even allowing for the fact that Italy played the last half hour with only 10 men, the display from Spain was breathtaking and silenced the critics who had accused them of being boring and lacking the hunger to continue at the highest level. With the ages of many of the squad, they look as if they will still be the team to beat for some time yet.

England were knocked out at the first knockout stage. This should not come as any great surprise. I did some research and discovered that they have never won a knockout tie at the Euros on foreign soil. The other so-called 'big' teams have all fared better Germany (including West) have won 11, Spain 7, France 4, Italy 4 and Netherlands 3

Their World Cup record on foreign soil is not much better. In my lifetime they have only beaten 5 teams in knockout ties. These teams are Paraguay in 1986, Belgium and Cameroon in 1990 (both after extra time), Denmark in 2002 and Ecuador in 2006. None of these teams can actually be called giants of football. During this time they have lost knockout ties to Germany (3 times) Brazil (2) Argentina (2) Portugal and Uruguay. So basically any time they play a good team they get knocked out. During the same period the record for knockout victories of the aforementioned European 'big' teams on foreign soil at the World Cup is as follows Germany (21) Italy (12) Spain (7) France (6) and Netherlands (6)

This record would not have me rushing to put money on England to do well in Brazil in 2014

Back to the Euros and I leave you this week with my Top 10 most favourite and least favourite moments of Euro 2012

Top 10 Favourite Moments

1. Spain's briiliance in the final
2. The look on Ronaldo's face when he realised he was not going to take the 'glory' penalty against Spain
3. The points gained by my Fantasy Football team which enabled me to finish above two of my sons who had also picked teams. It seems like the old boy still knows a thing or two about football after all
4. Greece being knocked out
5. Pirlo's penalty against England
6. Poland scoring against Russia. Much, much more than just a great goal
7. Ronaldo's performance against Netherlands, credit where credit is due.
8. Balotelli's second goal against Germany. Love him or hate him, this was something special
9. Shevchenko scoring against Sweden. This seemed to bring an entire nation to life and a fitting finale for a great player
10. The Fantasy Team I picked for my mate, who knows nothing about football, won the league in his office. He may know nothing about football but he knows how to pick a good manager.

Top 10 Least Favourite Moments

1. Greece
2. Mark Lawrenson on the BBC
3. Balotelli's petulance at the end of the final against Spain
4. Netherlands thinking that a 2-1-7 formation would work against Portugal
5. Czech Republic playing like Greece against Portugal
6. Whoever thought that Jamie Carragher would give lucid and insightful comments on ITV was sadly mistaken
7. Russia's performance against Greece. It looked as if they just did not care enough
8. France going out with a whimper against Spain
9. Nicklas Bendtner being fined more for exposing sponsored underwear than other parties were fined for racism
10. The German defending against Italy in the semi-final which gave my Fantasy Team minus points for that particular game. Fortunately Spain's defence saved the day as always

Oh well, that's the end of a thoroughly entertaining tournament. I may have to resort to watching the tennis now. I cannot be serious!