Cruel Fate

In anticipation of my toughest final on Tuesday and Little Brother and Dad's arrival on Monday, I spent the entire weekend studying European Community Law. Of course, these two days turned out to be the first time we had over 60 degrees and sun since the last Ice Age. And we didn't get one day of it, we got two.

In fact, on Saturday afternoon one of the roommates knocked on my door and said, "the boys and I are gonna get a few beers, sit by the river and watch incredibly beautiful Irish girls walk by in miniskirts and bare shoulders if you want to join us." Or something like that.

But instead, I stayed in and read. One of the cases was about whether it was a protectionist practice for England to heavily tax wines but not beers, especially when England produces no wines; that is, are they in competition? The European Court of Justice held that lighter and cheaper varieties of wine were in competition with beer, which got me to thinking about girls in miniskirts walking by the river drinking Buckfast, Ireland's answer to Boone's Farm. Why couldn't I be reading a case about circuit breakers or something?

Anyway it's over now and of course the rain is back. But I do have a few days to hang out with Little Brother and Dad, who have a very different idea of seeing Ireland than the Cottonheads, or really, anyone else. First off, they cannot pass a pub without checking it out. Do you know what it's like to try and walk through downtown Galway and not passing a pub? So we ping-ponged down Shop Street and once we stumbled out the other end, Little Brother asked about the pubs I had mentioned on the other side of the river. So we saw some of those, too. Yikes.

Also, based on this post, they are fascinated with pub bathrooms. Every time they return from one they report it to me as though it's as important as a Red Sox score.

"This one's got stainless steel urinals and no trough, very nice and clean."

"Another trough here, and you have to take a step up to use it so it's like you're on stage. Still very clean."

The one that took the urinal cake, so to speak, however, was Murphy's. They actaully made me go in and look even though I didn't need to use it. In fact, they photographed it. I am not making this up. At Murphy's they have installed urinals against the wall, but they have not removed the old trough behind them. So, as dad points out, you get your own urinal but no penalty if you miss. Brilliant!

Well I have to hurry off now to do some errands, since Little Brother threatened to cut today's tour of the Aran Islands short, since "there's so much to see in Galway."