WOMAN ON THE VERGE: Living it up for a last lap of summer

With the August Bank Holiday now behind us, I’ve cranked things up a gear or 10, to make the most of what’s left of the holidays before the dreaded (or not so much) return to routine when September comes around

• I CAUGHT crabs this week. I caught 37 of them to be precise and it was the most fun I’ve had in a while. The crustacean catching competition is just one of the many great events that took place during the just wrapped-up annual Courtmacsherry summer festival, and it’s one of my favourites. Truth be told I don’t really excel at anything – sports, music, art etc – but when it comes to catching crabs I’m a dinger, I’ve got that touch, and I even have a few trophies to prove it. 

Naturally it’s not the sort of talent that you get to showcase very often, just once a year really, so I’m always super excited when it comes to the competition in Courtmacsherry. 

As it’s an under-12 event, I was there purely in a supervisory role, and if you heard me roaring and shouting at my smallie to hurry up with her cast-offs, trust me it was all in the spirit of fun – and it was great fun! It wasn’t our day unfortunately though, as the winners caught over 400 crabs which was beyond impressive. 

We’re already working on our technique and trialling different bait for next year.

• Anyway, with the August Bank Holiday weekend behind us, I’ve turned into a bit of a mad (madder?) woman. It’s now dark by 10pm and I heard a ‘back to school’ ad on the radio the other day which was quite the trigger so I’m scheduling ‘family days out’ at every possible chance. 

It’s all about making ‘magical memories’ between now and September… whether people want to or not! With that in mind, we headed off to the Aqua Dome in Tralee during the week. 

Now, some might call it the poor man’s Center Parcs, and I suppose I would, too, but on the plus side at no point did I think I was going to die on a slide, or feel the need to start saying Hail Marys out loud, which made it a win for me. And it’s an awful lot nearer than Longford, too. I could totally see why the place earned so many top TripAdvisor rankings. It’s a grand old spot, a little retro, and if you haven’t been, I’d definitely recommend it. We had a bite to eat in the Rose Hotel afterwards, and do you know what? I’m half tempted to head back down for the Rose Festival. I mean we all know I won’t, but still, it was all very nice. 

We also did Fota … again, and in the rain. It would definitely have been nicer if it hadn’t been raining. Or if I had a proper raincoat (why I still don’t have a proper raincoat remains a mystery to me) but it’s always fun to see so many different species in the one place, not to mention all the creatures (boom!). 

Staying with the animal world, I’m hoping to walk some alpacas this week, visit some caves (it’s a toss between Ailwee, Crag or Mitchelstown), play crazy golf, and there’s also a circus in town. There won’t be a child washed.

• In the middle of it all I enjoyed a little day trip to Dublin with my sis. We took the train and got all nostalgic about the days out to the capital we enjoyed with our mum and aunt, growing up. Back then what with the fancy dining car and regular opportunities to get travelling TDs or various celebrities to sign your autograph book, the Cork/Dublin train felt as glamorous as being on the Orient Express. I can confirm it no longer felt like that to me, but it’s still a convenient way to travel, and on the plus side it gave me loads of time to Google future days out! But without sounding parochial, I’m glad I live in Cork (that’d be West Cork) and not Dublin.

• So rumour has it there’s going to be some sunshine this week, which will hopefully mean at least one proper, down tools, stop what you’re doing, beach day. So far, we’ve just been grabbing random dips here and there when the weather has played ball but to be fair we’ve been making the most of it. I’ve even got the family doing time trials to make sure we don’t miss any golden opportunities. We can get from home to the beach in seven minutes flat when the clouds clear (that’s sacrificing bringing a flask admittedly); when the heavens open we can all get to the clothes line in seven seconds to spare the washing, and when it all gets too much I can get from anywhere in my house, into bed in 0.7 seconds (0.9 seconds if I want to pull the duvet over my head). Impressive or what?

• Anyway, with the return to routine only around the corner I’m going to pull out all the stops for the last lap. We might do the Waterford Greenway or try to get a cancellation for a yurt down in Beara. Would it be madness to head for Malin? Mizen would probably make more sense, to be fair. Or take a boat on the Shannon? A surf in Strandhill? Could you do Westport in a day if you headed off early enough? Or could you take the train? I’m probably overthinking things – sure we can always head back to Tralee!