Anyone unfortunate enough to be on the daily waffle stream that is my facebook page will probably be more than aware of my current employment status. That is to say, I'm unemployed. The first day of my new-found (lack of)occupation was planned in advance by one of my closest friends and queen of motivation, Tanya, to career Zack, Elaine and myself around her home county for an adventure day of childish proportions.

My punctuality remained as flakey as ever, as waking upon the hour we were due to set off for the day had set us back an hour from the get-go. No harm done, we were on the road for 11:15 and absorbing the lush countryside of wherever the fuck she was taking us. Stopping off first at some weird and seemingly pointless stone bridge, we were lucky to discover amazing artifacts such as empty cider cans, a sodden towel and a recently discarded condom wrapper with no trace of it's contents,dammit. It wasn't really a taste of things to come, but it did indicate the romantic nature of the locals. You cheeky rascals.

We made our way to Zacks home house, met his awesome mom, guzzled down what can only be described as the finest face meltingly moorish home brew wine I'm ever likely to sample and then chowed down on some edible and delectable blue flowers, pictured below! His home is a triumph of self sustainable and ecological living. The quiet life the way every one of us should envisage it. It's easy to forget that we were not built to live out our days in the anonymous bustle of a city and therein lay the proof. Chickens, vegetables,fruit and wine, sweet! We set off again for Tanyas mothers house, where we had tea and coffee, drew maps on how to get to the caves and cared for disobedient dogs with an iron fist! I also saw a wall of beautiful photographs from Tanya's childhood years. A reminder of the beauty and nostalgia of film photography, in print and published to an ACTUAL wall and not a digital representation. Medium format and 35mm shots of times long gone but of sibling relationships firmly intact.

Next stop was the caves, and after seeking permission to cross the landowners fields we set about the exploration part of the outing! Not pictured below was the thick smell of wild garlic, I couldn't stop thinking of italian food, and smelly people. The caves themselves are amazing structures which are free to explore. I only wish I was in wellies and such so I could have joined the wading and discovering but it was tonnes of fun and out of the ordinary. If I had to give a shit explanation for how they felt to aimlessly wander around, I'd probably say it was a bit like Green Hill Zone in Sonic 1. It was awesome and a bit dangerous but generally just awesome, especially the vagina cave which birthed 3 of my friends and a job interview.

Next was a food stop in Gort. If you find yourself in the locale I suggest you avoid O'Grady's carvery bar as you would a Scientologist seeking a minute of your time. A crypt of a pub from the year zero that serves soup in bedpans and over charges without a smile. Get yourself across the road to the cafe next to the kettle of fish. I forget what it was called but the food was tasty and reasonably priced and the coffee was fresh and served large. Gort is a strange place. Even in colour it's grey and grim.

Last stop was Coole park. It's a pretty place and I highly recommend a visit if your in the west, if only to see the famous autograph tree, signed by me and Tanya. There's some other tree thing a few feet away that some folks by the name of W.B Yates, George Bernard Shaw and Douglas Hyde also scratched their upper case into, bunch of flaming vandals.

All in all, I had an outstanding start to unemployment. Few photos below if your partial!