The AA meeting

The guys from the Ale Appreciation society and I reconvened in Kennedy's this evening for a little chat and...erm... a few pints of stout (we appreciate ale from a distance).

The topics of conversation were, in no particular order:

- the Flightfest and the time necessary to dry a pair of soaked chinos
- the cohort of muppets who decided to invade Mulligan's on a Wednesday night (recession my fluffy arse)
- Kennedy's new (to us) refitted interior
- the impact of money on rugby
- the impact of money on pretty much everything
- the wave of petty crime that has engulfed Dublin in recent years
- the poor journalistic standards that lead gullible readers to believe that Dublin is constantly engulfed in a wave of petty crime
- the fact that none of us have suffered from petty crime in the last 20 years
- except when I got my front tooth kicked out, but that was in Drogheda
- the smartness of smartphones
- the switch from film to digital
- Pat Kenny, that gobshite on the wireless
- the Great Escape from Miami, with hurricane Jean hot on our heels
- the fact that there are now no seats to be found on the Dart, not even at night, unless you start your journey in Malahide or Greystones
- video-conferencing and its limitations
- the shameless Diageo propaganda that Arthur's Day is ("who's round is it anyway? It's mine. You won't see me dead drinking a pint on Arthur's day. Three more please Ciaran. And Scampy Fries")
- the good old days of Words Language School on Baggot Street
- the smartness of smartphones in a plane spotting context
- the black pepper corn burgers in Henry Grattan's on Baggot Street circa 1995 (and Agnes the French waitress)
- the smartness of smartphones and the ability to recall there and then, with a few caresses and tickles on a quartz tablet the sort of shite we were talking over 4 years ago

In other news, jeez, it was foggy again today