Friday night I went to the dog races. It was an event that was organised by work, all paid for by the company, for all departments. I wasn’t too keen at first, because I told Paddy it was mean, and I am one person that is ALL for the dogs. Everyone assured me that it is fine, that the dogs really enjoy running and it is a lot of fun. After all, its free drinks all paid for by work! I said “But if any of the dogs get injured while racing, I’m sure they get put to sleep” Paddy said “Aww Jules, it’s the same thing, I mean, you could be walking a dog down the road and the dog could still break a leg” I replied “I bet they get locked up in cages as well” They were like “Nahhh they get treated really well” Okay okay count me in.
Irish greyhound racing is really popular here, and its like a family event really. The mum’s and dad’s bring their kids here for a gamble and everyone enjoys watching the dogs chase an artificial hare.
I forgot to bring my camera along with me (bummer), but here is a picture I got from Google. This was the greyhound stadium I went to. They have special packages and you can even enjoy a nice dinner and a glass of wine while watching the dogs.
Before we went to the races, we made a pitstop at a pub. Which is mandatory for Irish standards. And while we were all at the pub, I think the boys had at least 4 pints each. It was mad, I am convinced that they started drinking from a young age… before they even started crawling.
At the races, I placed two bets, I didn’t win anything, but some of the others did. Greyhound racing is different to the horses, the dogs are so fast but their tracks are shorter and it all happens so quickly. There were 11 races in total.
By the end of the last race, after a few drinks, (considering the lousy drunk I was) I was a happy camper. Everyone else I knew drank like a fish, and all the goss from work was coming out from every direction. Little Miss Frenchie (a French girl I sat next to for the first few months when I started work here) was rather drunk, and she is the type that gets Emo-drunk. Hahaha it was quite funny, she started talking about the shitburgers she’s had at work, and she was sobbing away. I was like “Whats a shitburger?” Paddy was like “You know Jules, when everything is going wrong at work, and you just had a bite of that shitburger? That’s a shitburger" Hahaha didn’t make any sense, but by that time, I’m sure he was sipping he’s 12th pint.
You would think the night would end there, but it didn’t. They wouldn’t let me go home. We all made our way to a club. I was like “A club?! You have clubbing in Ireland?!” Of course WE have clubs in Ireland. Well, sorry, I thought it was only pubs in Ireland.
It was a lot of fun at the club, called DTwo. These Irish lads were dancing like there was no tomorrow. My entire working life, I’ve never seen my workmates dance like that before, it was absolutely hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
When I finally called it a night, I hopped on a cab and headed home. I don’t know what it was, I reckon all that alcohol in me, I couldn’t remember exactly my conversation with the old Irish cab driver, but when we arrived at my apartment, I was about to pay the cab fare, which was something like 13.50 euros, he said to me “Because you are such a lovely young lady, I’ll only charge you 11 euros”. I have never had a discount on my cab fare before, ever! I said to him “Because you are such a lovely man, I’ll give you 12 euros!” That was a deal, and he gave me his phone number and he said “You give me a call the next time you need a cab!” I said “Okay you can take me to the airport when I head home to Australia!” Only in Ireland, you’ll meet lovely people from all walks of life!
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