horses for courses

I found myself at the Punchestown races yesterday. It's been years since I went to the races so I was looking forward to it. It calls itself the Punchestown Festival and it truly delivered in that sense. As I was pulling into the car park I passed a minibus that was waiting at a ditch. Outside the minibus were about six fifty-something auld fellas taking a piss in the hedge. In true festival style, the bloke at the very end of the line was also having a puke while he pissed. It struck me that racing festivals are to middle-aged men what Oxegen or the Electric Picnic are to the rest of us. Unlike music festivals there were no Nordies drinking cans of Harp Lager in the car park.

For those of you familiar with the Temple Bar area in Dublin you'll have noticed the Wall of Fame on the side of the building that houses The Button Factory. It seems to get a lot of attention from tourists but also gets plenty of comments from all manner of folk. As I passed it today there were two young Dublin lads clutching their guitar cases looking up at the wall. One turned to the other and said: 'Fuck U2! Rory Gallagher deserves the biggest window.' Classic.