Christmas, Miami, Mick & Tonia, Moving House, Stags, Vegas

Perspective. Priorities change quickly depending on your perspective. You’re $100 down and about to walk away but then you think, one more bet and you could be back level. You tell yourself that you’ll walk away when you’re level, so everything goes on the last hand, a 2 and a 5, unsuited. Trip twos later, you’re back level and you start thinking, I’ll walk away when I’m up $100. And so your perspective changes; sometimes for the worst when its 4 in the morning and you’re in Vegas, still playing poker after 10 hours drinking with the friends you haven’t seen in 8 months, but once in a while your entire perspective changes and two decades spent chasing a career goal that seemed to ignore the most important things in life fades into something much more satisfying. I’m not a believer in fate, but coincidence can result in surprising outcomes, starting with a phone call out of the blue to go work in the Cayman Islands and continuing with having well laid plans dashed at the last minute by someone else’s uncharacteristic greed. You can harbour grudges or you can get on with developing an alternative plan, or in my case, an alternative plan can gradually present itself to you over the course of 2 to 3 months, giving rise to a whole new perspective on life, relationships and your career, with so much to look forward to.
For now though, let me park that thought and tell you what we have been up to since I last wrote as 2007 came to a close.

I am on the final leg of my journey back from Vegas and I am, temporarily, a shadow of the man that left Cayman last Thursday. I flew in just after 9pm, arriving just behind the lads from home who had flown in from Dublin for Dave Ralph’s 4 day stag. I hadn’t seen any of the lads, bar Jay, since the wedding, so an opportunity for 12 of us to go on the tear for 4 days could not be missed!

We gambled and drunk in the madness and energy that is Vegas. A man died in the restroom beside us as we were drinking, but true to the spirit of the city, he was quickly removed and everything was back to normal within half an hour. I got the feeling that people died in restrooms there all the time! You can see Vegas for the glamour, wealth, good times and general grandness of everything, and you can see it for the messy, seedy, drunken dark shadow of humanity that it also is. These two sides exist side by side and its easy to fall from one to the other.

Thankfully, 12 lads from Ireland held their own and left with their lives! We went go-karting and quad biking in the desert, the latter being one of the highlights of the trip.

Motoring along in convoy up dirt tracks as we crossed over and around a mountain in the Nevada desert, tearing up the scorched earth was some serious craic! No injuries were reported, the closest we came to death being the seedy casino from “Dusk til Dawn” that we passed through on the way out that had proper needle disposal machines in the restrooms. Classy!
The first night started late with casualties dropping off throughout the night as jet lag and tiredness caught up. Friday night was spent in the MGM as we aimlessly wandered the casino floor, gambling, with no real plan. Saturday night we went out for dinner in an Italian restaurant in New York and then we split up with some lads hitting the strip whilst others hit Studio 54 night club, with more gambling until the wee hours. Sunday was spent shopping with Dave clearing out the outlet store, followed by food and drinks in Hawaiian Tropic at Planet Hollywood. I had to hit the hay early as I had to get up at 4 this morning to catch a flight, but the lads went on until after 4, with Dave winning over four grand! Not a bad end to the weekend. I am meant to be running the 5K Paddy’s Day Run at 5:30 this evening, an hour and a half after I land, but having not slept a wink last night I think I’ll be lucky to walk it with the dogs!
Getting back to where I last left off, December was a strange month. I spent the latter part of it on my own as Jill went home for Christmas, but the earlier part of it was busy as we recovered from Gail & Ross’s trip, missing them both sorely. Foxton, Kenzo, Jimmy Mac and myself did the Mezza brunch one Sunday after golf and ended up out until all hours. We drunk champagne at Luna Lounge by the pool at the Ritz and biggest news of all, Jim & Lisa got engaged! In work, we held a client event at (Ragazzi’s sister restaurant) in the Caribbean Club, which doubled as our staff Christmas party, and then on to Dec’s Christmas BBQ at his house. Jill’s work Christmas party was in Papagalloes and ended up being a great night out. I spent Christmas Eve at two parties, one in Olive’s and then on to Tim Fitz’s. Christmas morning I got up for a run on the beach, came home to make breakfast and then called home to chat with the family who were just finishing their Christmas dinner in my sister, Jennifer’s house. When Jen announced that she was pregnant again, I really missed home and would have done anything not to be in Cayman for a few hours.
The day brightened up when I went over to Kenzo and Caoire’s as they served up a huge Turkey and Ham dinner washed down with champagne, wine and beer. We then hit the road around 7 and dropped into Tim & Leonie, playing charades with their family who were over for Christmas, tucking into Leonie’s dad’s Bailey’s cocktails before falling into Fidels for the Christmas festivities. Sure enough, Stephen’s Day was a bit of a right off! Jill had been at Jean’s wedding the previous week and was happy as a pig in the proverbial to spend the next week chilling in her PJ’s at home with her mum and brother, leaving the house occasionally over Christmas for drinks and good craic with various relatives and family friends. Her chill out Christmas was much needed to help her get over the cold from hell!
December 30th, I flew into Miami to meet Mick and Tonia who had flown down from New York, where they had spent Christmas, and Jill who flew in later that night. Mick ended up getting hammered, which was great to see, as his wife tells us that he doesn’t get out that much these days! We spent a lovely few days in Miami, chilling, eating out, shopping, and catching up. For New Year’s Eve, we went down to South Beach and celebrated with champagne as the fireworks exploded above our heads. I left to return to work on New Years Day, picking the guys up the next day as Mick and Tonia would be spending the next 10 days with us. It was great to have them over; we ate out, we ate in, we chilled, we saw the sights, but above all else we got to know each other as couples, and look forward to hopefully spending time with them in Geneva some time soon.
The first big blowout night of January came midway through the month when an unplanned Friday night turned into one of the best and busiest nights had out in Aqua Beach. After two weeks of relative quiet, with the whole island seemingly off the drink after New Years, it was like a huge weight was lifted, and the island got back to normal, leaving sobriety behind!
We stayed on island for the long weekend, using the opportunity to move to our new house on Seven Mile Beach, which is in a perfect location just beside the Hyatt! The move took all day and left us wrecked, although we did manage Mezza Brunch for a gang of 16 the next day to celebrate Caoire’s birthday!
Our first weekend in the house coincided with the Stride, 10k run for charity which went along the West Bay road. It served as a nice warm up for the cross the island relay race the following week, which I also ran last year. The team consisted of myself, Gav, Linda, Tim & Laura Fitz, and one of Laura's friends who is a physio on the island. I ran the first leg again, which kicked off at East End at 6am. I managed to come in in 5th place at 27 minutes for my 4 mile leg. The team came in in 11th place, which was a fantastic achievement.
That weekend also saw the Cayman Islands Arts Festival culminating with a performance of La Boheme outdoors after sunset at Pedro's Castle, a renovated castle on the coast that used to be the seat of government in the islands 200 years ago. We met up with Tim, Leonie, Lisa and Jim for a picnic on the lawn as the sun went down, followed by an amateur performance of the opera.
February kicked off the new GAA season, with yours truly playing for the Wolfe Tones (the whites) under Tim's stewardship. We got off to a good start but the teams seem much tighter this year. Despite some lessons, I have a lot to learn!
For Valentines night we walked one minute up the beach to Hemingways at the Hyatt to have dinner, and then the next night, on Friday, we had dinner at the Ritz followed by a romantic movie (Sleepless in Seattle) shown on an outdoor cinema screen under the stars on the lawn at the back of the hotel. We snuck in some popcorn, chocolate and fizzy drinks and had a surprisingly lovely evening! Definitely something we couldnt do at home!
Saturday was Brian Herlihy's stag. We kicked off at the Triple Crown for a pint and lunch, then bailed into a taxi to bring 12 of us up to Morgan's Harbour where we were heading out for the day on a deep sea fishing trip. As we pulled out of the harbour, Micheail started to feel a little Moby Dick, as I slagged him, him being an islander after all (Aran). Sure enough, 10 mins later and my stomach started churning. Unlike the last time that we all went out fishing, this boat didnt turn its engines off. Deep Sea Fishing is not just about the location (i.e. leaving the lagoon) but is about "Trawling" up and down at high speed with about 10 lines cast. The smell of the fumes , the constant hum of the engine and the rough waves did not bode well for me, and within minutes I was getting sick off the side of the boat. For 3 more hours, the lads kept drinking while I lay down in various parts of the boat, watching the horizon. Jimmy H was in worst shape, although he held it down, and Micheail battled on, with beer in hand! I was glad to see the shore a few hours later!
After hopping off the boat, the now well oiled Brian decided to have a go at removing Conch from its shell, spotting some local conch fisherman emptying their boat. Lets just say I will think twice before ordering conch fritters again. Slugs!
We sat down for a drink in Morgans Harbour whilst waiting for the cab, and it was fairly evident that the lads were hammered. Some drinking games were entered into, and a litre of rum was polished off as a penalty for those too drunk to play along. It was 6pm!
Justin bailed early, whilst the rest of us bailed into the cab, driven by a highly strung young woman who wasnt happy about the level of drunkenness and the number of stops we asked her to make (the singing didnt help either!). We spilled out into Mango Tree by the airport, most obviously the only white people in the bar! Howard met up with us to find Paul Foxton wandering around the car park looking for a car that wasnt there, and Kenzo pretending to fight everyone. It was going to be one of those nights! All plans to end up in Tim's to polish off the 4 crates of beer we had left there were soon forgotten, and instead we headed to the Attic to play pool, and then on to the Triple Crown where we soon dispersed home for the night.
The following weekend kicked off with Jill's 29th birthday on the Friday night. We all went out for dinner in Ragazzi where Jill was able to show off her new diamond necklace (the sooner we get home and away from all these diamonds, the better!). We went on to Aqua Beach but it was a tame night as Maggie's hen was taking place the next day. The girls went off horse riding followed by drinks at Morgans Harbour and then out for cocktails and back to Maggies. Meanwhile, we started with the rugby, followed by golf, and then back to Tim's for poker. Turns out that the poker night ended up to be the better stag night, going til 5am with plenty drunk, and a lot more craic had! The first tournament was welcomingly interrupted by Murpa Durp, calling from the dark depths of North Dublin. Murph, its not the same without you buddy!
The last weekend of February, myself and Brian and Maggie did our Advanced Padi course, 2 full days diving. The first day we headed out to West Bay, where we took in two dives, one of a sunken wreck where we practiced our navigation skills, and then to a reef where we practiced our knowledge of fish and marine life and attempted to navigate with the compass. The next day was better again, diving down to 100 ft over the edge of the wall (a seemingly endless abyss of the coast of Grand Cayman) before making our way back up through tunnels to the reef. On our way back into town we radioed ahead to confirm that there were no cargo or cruise ships in town, a rare daytime occurrence, which allowed us to dive the wreck of the Balboa, a 375ft freighter that sunk in the bay of George Town during the 1932 hurricane as it tried, in vain, to shelter from the storm. Our two dive instructors informed us that they had never dove it during the day as it is nearly always off limits due to shipping traffic in the bay. We struck gold! The ship has been blown up twice over the years as they attempted to break it up and get it out of the way, so a lot of the boat is scattered but the main hull is still intact.
We finished up just after lunch and headed down to the GAA club to play two matches afterwards, winning one and losing the other.
The following weekend, the last before I headed to Vegas, proved to be a quiet one. The waves were crashing on the shore all weekend, washing sand almost down to our back door! It wasnt a weekend for lying out, but rather for walking the beach with the dogs and chilling in the house, reading the weekend papers (we get the Irish Times delivered to our door every Saturday now, which is class!) and enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing.
The weekend afterwards and I was off to Vegas. The rest, as they say, is history!