America, Countries, Ireland, Music, UK

Farewell Shane MacGowan, the last of the Irish Rovers

Farewell Shane MacGowan, the last of the Irish Rovers… it was an honour to pick up your empties.

Shane probably wouldn’t remember it, he wouldn’t remember much after a slake of beer or whiskey.

But I was the glass collector the night he played the Ritzy nightclub in Aberdeen.

When he was at his most energetic and would rattle into Sally MacLennane, The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn or the Old Main Drag.

Swigging a bottle of lager before launching into his song and banging it down at the end before gargling a word of acknowledgement to me as I kept them lined up.

The Pogues’ oul rogue

Party time: The Pogues

Shane MacGowan was for so many of us Fiftysomething the soundtrack of our youth, the go-to artist and band to pogo to on the Union dancefloor.

And, of course, like all of the most treasured of artists, he is transgenerational.

He will be remembered most for his anthemic Christmas song Fairytale of New York with Kirsty MacColl which broke the mould of cheesy tinsel songs.

And many will see it as poignant that he should pass over to the other side as Christmas festivities get into full swing.

But it was as the lead singer of the band which fused the most unlikely bedfellows of Irish trad music and punk for which he will go down in music history as a pioneer.

Son of the oul’ sod

Energy drink: Shane MacGowan

Of course, Shane was like me and millions, and this is where the link ends part of the great Diaspora, a son of a son (or daughter) of the sod.

Of those who had, like my Dear Old Mum and my Dad, whose own mum and his ancestors had taken the boat across to Britain.

Few because of the poor state of the economy back in the homeland could make a permanent move back to Ireland.

But they held the Irish culture, the politics, their nationalism, the song, the dance and the craic close to their hearts.

And pass it on to the new land they found themselves in which is why The Pogues became celebrated in London and across Britain.

From New York to the world

Fiesta time: The fun boys

Of course, it is poignant that Fairytale of New York should be the ultimate Pogues standard as the bond formed between Ireland and America grows stronger year by year.

And underlined by American President Joe Biden who made an emotional return to the land of his fathers last year.

The unruffled ruffian with the broken glass teeth and the gravelly voice has gone and a million jukeboxes will blast out his hits across Irish bars around the world.

Farewell Shane MacGowan, the last of the Irish Rovers.

As he joins Jimmy from Sally Maclennane ‘who took the road for heaven in the morning.’

 

 

America, Asia, Countries, Europe

I do like Mondays, Cyber Mondays

Tell you why I do like Mondays, Cyber Mondays… I wanna book the whole day now.

Because that’s the way we roll now and how we’ve been doing it for 18 years now.

Since Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation and Scott Silverman had the wheeze to put out a Shop.org release.

Entitled ‘Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year’.

It’s a fixture on the calendar now just like Black Friday.

Now where Shop.org led others have followed and because we know you can surf for yourself.

I loveholidays

Costa little: Costa Dorada

We’re honing in on one of our own go-to online travel behemoths, only the award-winning loveholidays.com.

Who revealed their plans for worldwide domination.

Through an expanded long-haul arm at a high-powered, well-lubricated travel professional lunch in Dublin.

Loveholidays kicked it all off with their Black Friday promo blending through this week until midnight on Thursday.

Holidaymakers can secure up to 30% off selected hotels.

Deal us in

Ten out of ten: Tenerife

Some of the best deals on offer include a seven-night summer 2024 break to Costa Dorada.

Starting from as little as €42 per person per night.

And a seven-night winter sun break to the Algarve for just €28 per person per night.

Meanwhile, highlights from holiday hotspots Tenerife and Lanzarote include deals from €410 and €465pp during spring.

For those looking to explore further, there are long-haul discounts including New York, Florida and Dubai.

Customers have the flexibility to secure their holiday with deposits starting from just €25pp and convenient pay-monthly plans.

Long haul of fame

Yo ho: SoHo

The Big Apple, you say… yes, the 4* Hotel Arlo, SoHo, five nights from February 23.

That’s €562pp (€112pp/pn) room only, flights departing from Dublin with Aer Lingus.

Easy Rida: Florida

The Sunshine State too?

Yes, The Avanti Resort, International Drive.

Seven nights from January 16,€520pp (€74pp/pn), room only, flights departing from Dublin with American Airlines.

Hi to Dubai: The Gulf

Or Dubai?

Loveholidays have the 5* JA The Resort – JA Beach Hotel, Jebel Ali.

That’s five nights from September 6, €831pp (€196pp/pn) €996pp B&B, with direct flights with Turkish Airlines, departing from Dublin.

 

 

America, Countries

Gettysburg… you know the address

And yes, Gettysburg… you know the address. Though probably most don’t know where it is.

The site of Abraham Lincoln’s finest hour in Pennsylvania in fact only lasted two minutes.

But it resounds 160 years on today, November 19, and will do so for 1,600 to come.

In the most deprecating manner the Union’s Commander-in-Chief opined on this day in 1863: ‘The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.’

And peers noted that the Union’s leader was worried that his tribute would be overshadowed by Edward Everett’s two-hour speech.

Let battle begin

A couple of minutes: Lincoln’s address

The good news for us is that the National Park Service, as they do across America, ‘have come to dedicate a portion of that field’ for us to pay our respects.

Gettysburg, as General George E Meade and General Robert E. Lee knew only too well, was a pivotal crossroads (aren’t they all?)

On the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania which made the battle, between July 1-3, Lee’s last excursion into the North.

Finishing touches: To Lincoln’s speech

Now where Meade and Lee had maps and compasses, these days we have GPS.

And Gettysburg lies an hour and a half north of Washington DC, two hours and ten minutes west of Philadelphia and an hour and ten to Baltimore.

Now while you can, and should, visit the battlefield and it will take three to five hours.

A day in history

On this spot: Lincoln tribute

Today it is all about Lincoln’s address.

And we are encouraged to kick off our trip through history at the home of attorney David Wills.

Where Abe stayed and perfected his speech the night before.

An annual parade of Civil War living history groups is held with the Gettysburg Address anniversary.

The fallen: From the battle

While there will be a commemoration day illumination which will feature a luminary candle on each of the 3,512 Civil War soldiers’ graves.

Light up: Memorial to the dead

Now if you can’t get to Gettysburg today the National Parks Service give us a virtual tour, complete with the full speech.

Gettysburg… you know the address. Now look up the postal address on your next trip to the east coast.

Calling culture vultures

Manassas: And a recreation

Now the Cultural Experience will give you a full day at Gettysburg in their 14-day American Civil War: Eastern Theater Tour.

And throw in Manassas (we were there), Fredericksburg and Appomattox among the highlights.

You’ll get return flights from London and will stay in 3 and 4 star hotels. See site for prices and conditions.

America, Countries, Sport

The home Rangers are on top of the baseball world

They’ll be breaking out the Shiner Bock beer down Arlington, Texas way… the home Rangers are on top of the baseball world.

And for the first time too as the Texas Rangers, who play their games in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth conurbation, at last emerged.

From the two-time winning Houston Astros‘ shadow.

To win their first world series with a romp against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

And most importantly keep the World Series in Texas.

The South Rises

Life’s a pitch: Texas Rangers

Now, those of who see Texas as a football state would be right.

With the storied Dallas Cowboys having lifted the SuperBowl five times… never mind the religion that is college football.

But there has been a geographical switch in American sport in recent years.

With Southern states challenging and bursting down the door of northern dominance in baseball and ice hockey.

The Lone State back-to-back World Series victories come after Atlanta Braves beat the Astros in another all-southern showdown.

Ice one

Puck stops here: Just get some ice

And heck when the South rises again in ice hockey when there’s never any ice in the sunny states then you know that the world is turning on its axis.

Texas’s own Dallas Stars have been recent Stanley Cup finalists while Tampa Bay Lightning have made three of the last four finals.

And Florida Panthers got to this year’s final only to be beaten by the Vegas Golden Knights, a snub to the north with Sin City being deep in the West.

Which only leaves basketball as the outlier with the San Antonio Spurs who went through their tricks for us this summer in Alamo City..

The Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks carrying the hoop dreams of the state.

The Homer Star State

Horn of plenty: So, when in Texas

All of which tour around the world of Texan sport drives home how games are central to the Texan experience.

So that when you get out there take in a game, any game.

Get down to Arlington where the home Rangers are on top of the baseball world.

Watch the rodeo or have a go yourself.

America, Asia, Caribbean, Countries, Deals, Europe

Every day’s a Tropical Sky schoolday

Now as I’ve still so much to learn I rely on the dream-makers, our holiday providers, to teach me… and I know that every day’s a Tropical Sky schoolday.

Because Tropical Sky it was who schooled me in snorkelling after earlier false starts in Barbados.

I’ve picked up a number of other attributes on the way.

Keeeeep dancin’: With Judy Murray in Portugal

Learning to play tennis like a grand slam champion from Judy Murray in Quinta da Lago on the Algarve.

Ride like Roy Rogers in the Wild West and cling onto a tub on the rapids in Colorado.

Paint like Picasso in Tobago though I kept reaching for the mixing pot to drink out of habit thinking it was rum.

Or cook like Craddock and bake like Berry anywhere between my old stomping ground of Co. Wicklow and the States.

All these skills and a few more, tobogganing, scootering, paddel (a hybrid between squash and tennis) and paddle boarding I’ve also picked up along the way.

Although I was for once tongue-tied when asked to blow my own trumpet (still to do that one) by the inimitable Marsha in Tobago.

Picture perfect: With SLM & Marsha in Tobago

When she asked our party what we were good at.

And while my colleague (and her favourite) Vic wowed her with his acumen in building his own house.

My claims of being a poet from my time at the Edinburgh Fringe didn’t impress her and she pipes up: ‘Jim, you got no skills.’

Of course I showed off me skills while seeing off Vic at the goat racing with Marsha watching. No kiddin’!

All of which came to mind while browsing through the list of activity holidays Tropical Sky have to offer in their latest mail drop.

Antigua, set and match

Holding court: Curtain Bluff Hotel

Curtain Bluff hotel, Antigua: Anyone for learning tennis, and the five-star Curtain Bluff Hotel, in verdant Antigua.

Look out for Antigua Tennis Week each Spring and Tennis Challenge Week in November.

A seven-night AI stay at Curtain Bluff Hotel, with flights from London Gatwick, arriving 20 May, is from £3,679 pps.

Curry favours in Sri Lanka

What a curry-on: Jimmy in the kitchen

Anantara Kalutara Resort, Sri Lanka: Now I’ve another of my go-to holiday providers, G Adventures, to thank for teaching me the secrets of curry making.

Not all of them mind, I could still do with Spices Cooking School at Anantara Kalutara Resort to fill in the rest.

Recipe for dis master: The Dhal

Their interactive classes see you explore the spice markets with the chef and pick out the ingredients before tucking into your meal with Prosecco.

A seven-nighter, arriving 12 June is from £1,629 pps half-board with return flights from London Heathrow.

Cookery classes can be booked for an additional cost of £124 pp.

Wild West Hero

Cowboys and eejits: Colorado

Tanque Verde Ranch, Arizona: Now forgive me if I retell the story of how I ran into a cowboy ex-Aberdeen University classmate in the baking sun on the Great Plains.

And I asked him as he taught me how to ride a horse if he missed the sub-zero temperatures of the north-east of Scotland.

Now Tropical tell us that nestled amidst the desert and mountains of Tucson is the Tanque Verde Ranch.

A six-nighter at Tanque Verde Ranch, arriving 12 June from £2,649 pps, sharing a Road Runner Sala on full board basis.

With return flights from London Heathrow with Tropical sister company www.americansky.co.uk).

Painter Lucia

Picture perfect: The artist

Anse Chastenet: In St Lucia is a long way from Joe Reilly’s art class painting apples that looked like men’s parts.

As it happens it took my Tobagonian pals to make an artist of me and show that I could paint… in this case a mill.

The Anse Chastenet is nestled within a 600-acre estate with beaches, coral reefs and views of the Pitons.

Let artist Naja Misaki Simeon take you on a group class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays or opt for private sessions for a fee.

A seven-nighter AI at Anse Chastanet, arriving 12 June, is from £2,449 pps with return flights from London Gatwick.

Atoll order

Let atoll commence: Kuramathi

Fushifaru Maldives: Now what to do when you’re caught between a coral and a hard place.

As I was in Kuramathi when swallowing water I tried to stop on the Indian Ocean floor.

Only to be scolded for killing the coral while it was cutting my feet!!

Snorkelling was my limit but if you want to extend yourself to scuba diving Best Dives at Fushifaru Maldives will show you how.

A seven-nighter AI at Fushifaru Maldives, arriving 20 May is from £3,299pps with return flights from London Heathrow.

And for my Tobagonian pal Marsha’s information.

 

America, Caribbean, Culture, Deals

Thanks a reptilian

Ever since that snake tempted Eve they’ve had the worst wrap but today is their day when we say thanks a reptilian.

And reflect that we seek out our slidey pals around the world.

How else do we explain our endless fascination with the biggest reptile of them all, the donosaur… and nothing slidey there.

Now for an extinct species Dino doesn’t half get around.

And he has adapted to our modern world, taking to the climes and surrounds of Florida and California.

Where he has been known to like petting at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando.

Dino saw it

Here Dino: Universal Studios Hollywood

While kids, and big kids alike, love to pore over their bones.

At any number of museums around the world where they are the centrepieces.

Now we all know about the Natural History Museum in New York.

With its own underground stop for those rainy days to entertain the kids and keep them dry.

Dino pals: At the Yale Peabody in New Haven

Dino, we all know looms large in the movie A Night At The Museum.

But did we know that Yale Peabody Museum inspired Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton and that New Haven in Connecticut is Dino central.

Now the big fella and his pals seem to have a habit of following us around.

Slide up: The Maldives

Where it’s reassuring to know that you can mingle with dinosaurs at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

While brunching on barbecue and Margaritas.

And Dino’s pals

Turtle peace: Barbados

Now there are millions of reptiles between Big Dino, Terry and Tessie turtle in Barbados.

And Mother Turtle and Gordon the Gecko, my own wee pal from the Maldives.

And they all deserve our respect as they form a key part in the natural cycle and are friendlier than you’d think.

So thanks a reptilian to all of you on your day of appreciation.

From lizards, snakes and chameleons through alligators, crocodiles, tortoises and turtles.

 

 

 

 

America, Countries, Cruising, Deals

The new Celebrity loves us tender

I do love me tender and know this too.., the new Celebrity loves us tender too.

And that’ll be why their floating tender has become a fixture on Celebrity Cruises.

You always get a special floaty feeling aboard a cruise ship.

Sweet suite: On board Ascent

But none so floaty as the moving Magic Carpet.

Which we discovered for ourselves when we sailed on the inaugural launch of the $1billion Edge off Florida.

Carpet fitters

Tender living care: Celebrity’s Magic Carpet

At the top of the ship it hosts the delicious Dinner on the Edge.

Down to Deck 14, the Magic Carpet becomes an extension of the main pool area.

And on Deck 5, it opens out onto an open-air dining experience.

And at the bottom on Deck 2, it becomes an extension of luxury at the Destination Gateway.

Of course, the Magic Carpet which takes you down to a disembarkation boat for day outings to the Bahamas, or wherever, is just one of its cutting-Edge features.

Heaven Ascent

Feast for the senses: Celebrity culinary

Now our friends at Celebrity never rest and are showcasing their new ship Celebrity Ascent next month.

Where we can also look forward to the Rooftop Garden, The Solarium, and Eden.

There will, of course, be plenty of ascending on Ascent with 17 decks and room for up to 3,260 guests in double occupancy.

View with a thrill: Ascent

But you will, of course, have plenty of places to recline and refuel.

With 32 distinct restaurants, bars, and lounges.

Bahamian rhapsody

Havana good time: In Miami

All good to finish that Bahamas cruise set in front of us on that inaugural Celebrity Cruise preview.

Its three-night Bahamas Getaway, starting from £540pp on November 26.

Leaving port central, Fort Lauderdale. While CC are tempting us too with a hop-on hop-off Debark Tour of Miami (ending at FLL Airport).

And that will save you walking aimlessly block to block in the wrong part of Miami.

 

 

 

 

 

America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Auld Spooky Edinburgh and scary cities

It’s monster fun for many, Halloween, and behind our genteel capital city lies a tale which is why we’re peeking into Auld Spooky Edinburgh and scary cities.

On the back of Planet Cruise’s revelation that Mary King Close in Edinburgh is the most haunted place on Earth.

Putting aside that the Scariest Place on Earth is surely the mother-in-law’s when she’s getting ready for work at Halloween.

Spooky Alley: Mary King’s Close

These are the most ghoulish gaffes as judged from Trip Advisor data.

Mary King’s Close, for those who don’t know it, lies underneath Edinburgh’s famous Royal Mile and dates back to days of plague and pestilence.

It was closed off as was the public health course of the day to keep the disease enclosed.

The poster girl for Mary King’s Close was a girl called Annie who lost her dolly.

And a paranormal scientist is said to have had their hem tugged by said Annie.

The Scares and the Stripes

Witch way? The Penitentiary

Now the spiritual world is never idle it would seem and is never busier than around Halloween.

It should come as little surprise that the Lonely Cruise list is dominated by entrants from Britain, Ireland and the US.

With the Halloween tradition believed to have come from these islands.

Before being transported to the American colonies where naturally they took it to Hallmark and Hollywood levels of commercialisation.

All white on the night: Philadelphia

It would almost be easier to find somewhere in America without carved-out pumpkins, dusty spider webs and witches.

And not even a prison is sanctuary from the spooks.

Now we’ve run the rule on the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Where even tough criminals’ legs turned to jelly.

The Shining Shivers

Here’s Johnny: Or the Stanley

Now we’re all familiar with Stephen King’s The Shining.

But did we know that The Stanley Hotel in Colorado was his inspiration.

Belfast chilled

Belfearst: Crumlin Gaol

Jails make another play at No.4 on the spooky list with Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast listed at No.4.

The basement drop cell when criminals dangled from ropes is said to be the spookiest spot.

How abite ye… are you up for the creak and the craic?

Now we’ve given you a sample here’s the full list.

And we know that Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights should be here.

But if the paranormal sends shivers up your spine here’s where you want to go.

The chill chart

Gatekeeper: The Tower of Lond

So take it awaaaaahhhaaa!

  1. Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh, Scotland
  2. Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, USA
  3. The Stanley Hotel, Colorado, USA
  4. Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  5. St Augustine Lighthouse, Florida, USA
  6. Bhangarh Fort. Pajastan, India
  7. Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, USA
  8. Myrtles Plantation, Louisiana, USA
  9. Catacombs of Paris, Paris 
  10. Tower of London, London

 

America, Countries

Lincoln’s whiskers a real chin scratcher

And it’s the type of quandary that keeps folks up at night… Lincoln’s whiskers a real chin scratcher.

Why, we ask, would a prospective US President fur up his chin and leave the rest of his face shaven?

We know the answer, of course, being the wise counsel of an 11-year-old girl.

Grace Bedell, for it was she, sent a letter to Abe (well, this was pre-Twitter (0r X) and Love Island was some way off too) advising him to whisker up.

Although she put it rather more lyrically than that… they were taught better then too it seems.

Dear Mr President 

Seat of power: With Abe in Washington DC

Grace wrote: ‘If you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you,  you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin.

‘All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband’s to vote for you and then you would be President.’

Abey days are here again: The Westfield Lincoln festival

Now politics being as much about profile then as it is now Lincoln answered the Westfield, New York State girl.

‘As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin it now?’

Hair what do you think: Cartoonists had their fun

His male ego flattered, Lincoln, though, acted upon Grace’s advice and grew out the whiskers.

Not a beard you understand but whiskers as was then defined by facial hair holding up the chin.

Briscoe bust

Taking it on the chin: Abe’s bust in the Briscoe

All of which came to our attention at the Briscoe Western Art Museum by the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas.

Where among its many artefacts it houses a bust of a clean-shaven Lincoln with the letter underneath.

And not any old bust but one sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, the principle sculptor behind the presidential faces on Mount Rushmore.

It was a thing of sophistication then and without the Amish overtones it has now.

While rough beards were considered rough, agricultural and radical and more akin to a John Brown.

As in the revolutionary who led the raid on Harper’s Ferry which was the trigger for the American Civil War.

A battle of beardies

What’s it all about: Alphie

America’s bloodiest war was for those of who have studied it and followed Ken Burns’s leading documentary series a conflict of hirsute hombres.

As worrying too is that we are not the only ones to make this link with the Smithsonian mag helping us identify the most luscious commanders in the field.

Major General Alpheus Williams may have been largely forgotten other than by Civil War enthusiasts.

But for his moustache with wings.

He was heavily engaged in the Battle of Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and joined General Sherman in his March to the Sea.

The Land of Cotton (Wool)

Bush is back: JEB

Nor was the love of a bushy beard just a battle hymn of the Republic.

Because the South wasn’t called the Land of Cotton (Wool) for nothing.

Major General JEB Brown was there at Harper’s Ferry to grab John Brown.

And he was there too during the Peninsular Campaign and Gettysburg.

Before he curled up his toes and his beard and died at the Battle of Yellow Tavern.

The long and short of it

Upside down: Schofield is bald on top, beard below

When it comes to length (and we’re sure Freud would have something to say about all of this) then Lt. General John McAllister Schofield is the hair apparent.

Schofield crippled the Confederate Army at the Battles of Franklin and Nashville and joined General Sherman’s army in North Carolina.

Before serving in the Andrew Johnson administration as Secretary of War.

As a postscript to this all, of course Ulysses Grant and Robert Lee both had conservative beards.

And Confederate leader Jefferson Davis’s face was as smooth as a baby’s behind, although much good it did him.

So that’s one of life’s great mysteries cleared up..,

Lincoln’s whiskers a real chin scratcher.

 

 

 

America, Countries, Sport

120 years of the Boston team party

Our Beantown pals never knowingly underplay themselves and why should they as this week we celebrate 120 years of the Boston team party.

In the beginning they were known as the Boston Americans which was what they called themselves in 1903 when they won the first World Series.

Against the National League winners Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 in a nine-game series.

The pride of the American League (ours, at least) Boston run through the history of the diamond game.

Give it Sox: The unmistakable brand

Taking on the Red Sox mantle in 1908 during the stewardship of John I. Taylor on account of their red stockings it has marked them out in the years since.

As has their Fenway Park ground which they moved into in 1912 and which is the oldest in baseball.

While its 37ft Green Wall is storied in baseball since the days when George ‘Babe’ Ruth kept clearing it from 310ft away in home plate in the 19teens.

The Curse of the Bambino

Homer’s odyssey: Babe Ruth

Ruth, of course, looms large in the Boston story with even non-sports fans aware of the ‘Curse of the Bambino’.

When Boston failed to add to their roll of five World Series wins after they had traded the Babe to the New York Yankees in 1920.

Ya dancer: Red Sox winning

The curse was broken in Massachusetts not by magic but by good play.

Now because we love these sporting curses and check out ‘the Curse of Billy Penn’s peak’ we bring you a Bostonian contribution.

When a “reverse curve” road sign over the Storrow Drive was graffitied to read “Reverse The Curse.

Home run: I’m The Green Monster

Officials left it in place until the Sox won in 2004 World Series.

And it was edited to read ‘Reversed Curse’ in celebration.

Fenway for fans

Fly the flag: For the Sox

The best way to immerse yourself in Boston Red Sox culture (other baseball teams are available) is a tour of Fenway Park.

Where, of course, you can see them show off their nine World Series triumphs.

Their most recent in 2018.

This year, alas, the Red Sox will not be making it ten.

As the winners will come from..

The holders, Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers, the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Philadelphia Phillies.

To the four: Boston’s teams

 

We don’t know of the Sox having brought down any curses on themselves through trading a hero.

Although Roger Clemens who we cheered on at Fenway in our summer in Boston in the Eighties only won his two World Series at those damned Yankees.

He had been at the Toronto Blue Jays but just saying.

Now even though our Red Sox won’t be there this year we’ll expect it to be referenced over this year’s games.

120 years of the Boston Team Party.

And, of course, our friends at Ireland’s national airline carrier Aer Lingus fly to Irish Boston with pre-clearance from €199.69.