After shouting for what felt like hours I finally managed to get Brad out of the shower so we could head off to the airport to pick up Miss. The Boat.
We were late! - but thankfully only by a few minutes.
Back home we had a coffee, chat and a sandwich and then went out.
Our first stop was at Helen & MJ's. MJ was out off clay pigeon shooting but came back just as we were leaving so at least we managed to say hi. From there we headed into Galway.
Park by the Cathedral we decided to have a walk down the path along the Corrib.
So walking away from taking that last picture we noticed a girl sat on the wall over looking the river and a man holding on to her. At first glance it looked like it was innocent playful fun between two happy lovers. Looking again it was as though he was trying to get us to walk on and ignore which instantly set alarm bells off in my head. Looking again, just to try and clarify what was going on the man finally got my full attention. He was in fact holding on to her as she was about to throw her self in!
I've got no idea how long he was there for, holding on to her, but I grabbed hold of her other arm and together we got her off the wall and on to the floor at which point she broke down into floods of tears and tried to tell us how there was no point to anything and we should have just let her do it.
We walked around towards the hotel with me on one side of her and the other gentleman on the other, not really knowing what I was going to do but knowing that I couldn't leave her there and had to get her away from the water. We set on the steps of the hotel and I gestured to Brad in sign to get the Garda. I really didn't know who else to call other than an ambulance and I wasn't going to waste their time with this.
Thankfully the other man saw some Garda in the distance and went and got them. I sat on the steps with this young girl, my arm round her, not trying to probe but just trying to be a friendly face. She sat there crying and told me to go.
"Do you want me to go?" I asked.
"I don't want to spoil your day!" she sobbed.
"Oh don't worry about me, I've got nothing to do!" I lied. I told Brad that he and Row could go on if they wanted and I'd call them when the Garda didn't need or want me anymore.
The Garda were great. Well, one of them was. The lead Garda was brilliant, the other chap was a bit useless.
"What's your name?" asked the lead Garda to which she blubbed out a reply I couldn't really understand.
"How old you?"
"15," she said.
My head was reeling! What on earth could have happened to a 15 year old girl to get her to this level. He asked her where she lived and where he parents were and for some reason (I can only think it's because she wanted to be away from them) they were nearly two hours away from Galway. The Garda explained to her that they were going to take her to the station but she wasn't in trouble, it was just so that she could get a hot drink, get warm, and maybe have a chat with the doctor. She kept blubbing that she didn't want to and that we should just let her jump into the Corrib.
I sat there with her for another five minutes or so, not trying to get her to talk as it as obvious she was in no mood to talk things out, but generally just replying to any statements she made. The patrol car arrived and selfishly the first thought that entered my head was that it meant I could now enjoy the rest of my day with Row and Brad. The Garda asked me for my details and thanked me for my help. He'd been talking to her while trying to keep strangers and by-passers away and it was damn obvious he'd had some form of counselling trainer.
I tried to call Brad to see where they'd go to but as it started ringing I could see him and Row walking towards me.
We walked off around the town, see the sites, seeing the window in Eyre Square.
While sat there Helen rang to say they were on their way to the beach so we walked back to the car to meet them. Sadly the wind was high enough to fly kites although I did try.
After the dogs had got thoroughly soaked we headed off to Silver Strand to show Row the prom and the lovely beach. The tide was in so she saw about a foot of sand and bugger all else!
We got home, I put the dinner on and we sat in the kitchen and chatted. Brad got out his home-made humus which was a tad too garlicky and ended up being just fire in a jar, so rather than eat it he put it to one side* and made some more which went down a lot better.
A quick chill out in the lounge to a bottle of wine and then it was off to The Brogue to sample the Guinness. As the driver I didn't get one but upon our return home I certainly helped with polishing off the wine.
A chat in front of the open fire and an empty bottle later it was time for bed.
I was woken this morning by Brad's devil breath. The remnants of his lava humus still hanging on his tonsils made the air coming out rather rancid so came down stairs and had a coffee.
*I decided to do this entry and upload some pictures to flickr before cleaning up. I have sat here and watched one of the cats jump on to the kitchen counter. It was quite obvious he was going for the devils spunk humus so I thought I'd leave him to it and let him learn the hard way. I wish my eyes were cameras constantly taking picture because the sight of the cats face is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long while! He fell off the counter and sat in the middle of the kitchen clawing at his tongue. He finally managed to get to the bowl of water and seemed to dunk his whole head in there. I'm still giggling about it now! Right, time to prep dinner!