The Best Of Television... Back In The Day

If you ask for my opinion television back in the day was far more entertaining than it is now. I grew up watching the best television had to offer and years upon years later these shows are still close to my heart and make me literally almost wet myself every time there's a re -run on TV or  I can't sleep and YouTube the episodes.
These programmes are classic gold and I can guarantee you that some of my readers will never have even heard of some of these shows, I'm feeling my age big time right now.
Anyway here are 9 of the best television programmes ever made.....

1. Absolutely Fabulous: 

I grew up watching this programme and constantly compared it to my mother and my godmother, yes if you watched that show you'd understand how bad that is but without a doubt one of my favourite shows that has ever graced the airwaves.
The storyline is about best friends Patsy and Eddie and they're pill popping alcoholics with the funniest antics you'll ever see raising Eddie's Daughter and that's what makes me compare these two to my mammy and my godmammy definitely not the alcohol and the pill popping - Christ talking myself into a hole here.

2. Only Fools And Horses:

Del ~Boy and Rodney will always have my heart and probably everyone reading these has seen the comedy that is Only Fools And Horses, the story of two brothers sailing their way through life with their ups and downs it's a classic and a programme I'll most definitely be showing my children, in the way far off distant future I can assure you!! Here's two serious classic scenes - Batman And Robin and  The Chandelier. 

3. Father Ted: 

Father Ted is my favourite television programme in the whole entire world and is the only thing that can literally make me wet myself laughing no matter how many times I watch it. I've the box set, I've every episode recorded on my TV I could watch Father Ted all day.
 In case you live under a rock this story is based on 3 priests living on Craggy Island and I can't even describe it in anymore detail just watch this clip. 

4. Never Mind The Buzzcocks: 

Never mind the buzzcocks was my favorite back in the day think 'A League Of Their Own' yet not as attractive and completely music originated instead of sport. It had everyone who was an anybody as guests like Pixie Lott, Amy Winehouse, Gary Barlow, Alesha Dixon, DJ Sammy, Dappy, Dermot O'Leary and so many more and it was comical.
With rounds upon rounds of music games I was hooked and it was the best show ever.

5. The Catherine Tate Show: 

She's the funniest woman on the planet and the Catherine Tate Show was the funniest programme on the tv. Catherine played different characters and did different sketches and they were gold. My personal favourite sketch was the nan and you need to watch it here, serious gold...bring it back!!

6. Steptoe And Son:
Que the music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRaiiT3ZnJw

Steptoe and Son probably sums up my childhood in television shows and if for some reason you wanted to know what my childhood was like, this was it. Picture this, Sunday afternoon curled up on the sofa with my dad watching episode upon episode of Steptoe and when the colour came into the show.. WOW!!

 The definition of my daddy and granddaddy in one program this story follows a father and son and it's made my stomach hurt with laughter so many times I couldn't even count.. a classic. 

7. Keeping Up Appearances: 

'The Bucket residents, the lady of the house speaking' and what a lady she was, it's to this day one of my favorite shows on television and admittedly I see a lot of my future self in good aul Hyacinth. An everyday working class couple with Hyacinth attempting to up her social ranking with any given opportunity embarrassing herself every week. Words cannot describe this show and with that I'll leave you with this little clip....howling!! 

8. One Foot In The Grave: 

Now this, this is an old show and flipping classic. I was in love with this show growing up and that famous catchphrase 'I don't beleive it' don't even get me started when he appeared in Father Ted ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPCB_pIiWDY I seiously couldn't beleive it my life was made. A grumpy old man who I adore so much.

9. Grumpy Old Men/Women:

And finally we finish with the funniest series ever and that's watching old people give out about things. These series made me laugh so much there's the grumps on holidays, at Christmas all the time and it's quite frankly grumpy old people giving out... classic!!

And there you have it nine of my all time favourite TV shows from the olden days, I grew up watching these kind of shows and I seriously don't believe they will ever be beaten.. CLASSICS!!

Man Crush Monday: Francis Saili

It's Monday morning and Monday mornings are unbelievably shit and there's no denying that so what can I do to brighten your Monday morning???? WELL, a seriously good Man Crush Monday and today that is the Munster God Francis Saili.
 Saili came over to Munster from New Zealand at the start of this previous season and literally became my serious man crush (literally drooling over every single insta post he has ever published) and if that's not good enough he's an unbelievable rugby player!!

Munster rugby lads generally are the best anyway with Mike Sherry, Conor Murray, Dave Foley, Peter O'Mahony, Ian Keatley the list is endless and now Francis Saili is without a doubt added to that list.
So without any more chit chat I'm just gonna drop a few pics and hope your Monday goes up from here ;)

Christ my day is better already!! 

What Makes Me Happy

I always find it hilarious how me and my friends are so different and have very little in common yet we all get along and stick like glue, I'm not kidding take me and my best friend Karen, we have nothing, and I repeat nothing in common yet we get along like a house on fire, it's the same with Crellin and Annmarie none of us have a thing in common but we all make it work and that's why I think we all work so well together.
Annmarie is the studious one, work and education comes first with her but she's also the one who likes the drink, however in a nice quite pub.
Crellin is the kind one who'll do anything she can for anyone and goes with the flow, I'm the party one who loves to go out and have fun and then there's Karen....and what can I say she's monotone.

Annmarie, Crellin, (me) and Karen.

Crellin loves spinning around, Annmarie loves golf and Karen loves nothing and we all have our own things that make us happy, alike every single person reading this post right now. As much as being with these three makes me extremely happy there are a couple of other things that make me smile and keep me going day in and day out. Here are a few things that make me happy when I'm feeling down or sad :-)

''I think it's important to find the little things in everyday life that make you happy. Paula Cole''

1(a). Dancing- 
I love going out and hitting the nightclub it's without a doubt my favourite activity and if I could head to the Foundry in Carlow every single Wednesday night I would. There's something about getting together with the crew and dancing the night away that makes me so so happy.
 1(b) . Music in the club -
The music played in practically the Foundry (in Carlow) partially, I love the proper bass dropping music and jamming out to these tunes makes me so so happy, here's a few of my fave:
Astronomia          Derp          The Wolf        Insomnia 
Zombie Nation    Body Talk     Secrets 

2. Mursher-
One of my favourite things in the whole entire world is by baby Mursher and in case you don't know who Mursher is she's my dog, a cocker spaniel and retriever mix and believe me when I say she is the most amazing dog on the planet.
 Everyone that knows me knows I'm beyond obsessed with my baby and understands why becuase she genuinely is the cutest, most stupid dog on the planet, you can't help but love her...unless it's four in the morning and she starts woofing it up, then anyone reading this is welcome to her and I'm not kidding she was up for the taking last night!!

3. Blogging- 
Obviously blogging has to go on this list as it's without a doubt my one huge form of escape, anything can be going on in the world or in your head but when you sit down to write a post everything just leaves your head and you start to type it's the best and one of the real things in life that genuinely makes me happy.

4. Ducks- 

I love ducks, when I'm feeling stressed I look up pictures of 'a pond of ducks' and I'm not joking when I say
it makes me feel a lot better, one of my favourite things to do in the world is to get some bread and head out the road to Glencomeragh (you can read about Glencomeragh here) and feed the ducks, and the hens it honestly must be the most relaxing thing on the planet, I just genuinely adore ducks..how could you not?!!

5. Kings Of Leon- 
I've loved the band Kings Of Leon for years now and do this day there's nothing I love more than chilling out with some old school KOL (read about the KOL concert here) but honestly a good kings of leon playlist and I'm good to go, not to mention when 'Sex On Fire' is played, to the floor NOW!!

6. Pay Day-
Look no one in the world can deny the fact that PayDay makes them happy, come on we're all friends here no need for secrets, payday is the best day of the week.

7. The Pre Of Going Out Day-
I have this weird thing about a going out day, if we're going out on a Saturday night my friends will get a text around 10am that morning saying 'It's Piss Day' and from there the fun begins, I just love the whole day and the stages you go through, the 'buzzing' stage to the 'I'm not going' stage to the 'I wonder will he be out' stage then there's the alcohol shopping with the girls, the prep, the pre going out music and the pre drinks a going out day is sometimes better than the actual going out thing.

8. The Gate- 
The gate is probably one of my favourite place on earth I just love it. The gate is pretty much just a gate that's up a hill in my area of town, I know what you're thinking but honestly this gate is my favourite place to be with a pair of earphones. You can look down over the town and just think about everything, I love brining Mursher up to the gate early mornings and every time I do my day just improves it's like something magical happens up there... Okay I know I'm a weirdo don't worry about it..

I swear the view is much better in person.

 9. Singing in the car with the crew-
This happens all the time, especially with me in the car becuase I literally can't sit still so there's always a few dance moves busted along with a good aul sing song and it's when you stop for a second to catch your breath and you here everyone else squealing whilst trying to hit the high note that you realise you're genuinely seriously happy and I love that.

10. The back road- 
I told you I can be a serious simple girl but one of my favourite things to do is when driving home from Clonmel to take the back road.
It takes an extra 10/15 minutes, it's so bumpy it makes you sick, it's twisty and dangerous but it's my favourite road on the planet and driving through the countryside opposed to down the main road makes me so genuinely happy..I told you it's the little things.

11. Passing the rugby ball- 
One of my favourite hobbies, I love rugby and seeming as it took me so long to actually learn how to throw a ball I want to practice it on a daily basis. Everyone can get involved, it's fun and you can have seriously amazing chats when passing a rugby ball, and as long as my future boyfriend is up for throwing the ball around the garden with me I'll be a pretty happy woman.

12. A group quiz-
The group quiz is without a doubt one of the best things on the planet, we don't have these as much as we used too but when we did they would be the most funniest, stupidest few hours of our life. It would take hours to find a suitable 'kids quiz' before the fight broke out about being on teams then who was the quiz master? surely a fight would always break out and they were some of the best nights I've ever had.

13. Stars / The Moon-
Finally the list comes to an end and with the most magical thing on the planet and that is space, I'm obsessed with Nasa and all things related to the sky but there's something about the moon that manages to put me into a trance and when I'm at my calmest it's when I'm standing outside looking at the moon and wishing on stars.
And there you have it, thirteen things that genuinely make me so so happy in life. I told you there were simple things. I hope you also have at least ten things you can turn too to make you happy when you're feeling down and if not then it's something you really need to look into :-)

The Bank Holiday In Carrick

If there's one thing I love it's a bank holiday, what isn't there to love about a Monday shut down across the country? There's no work, there's no school and the best part???....there's a Sunday night out.
 If there's one thing guaranteed to get the majority of Carrick On Suir out on the town it's a bank holiday. The disco opens, there's live music in every pub and our favourite local band 'The Raggies' are guaranteed to be in some pub across the town so trust me when I say there's no better night out in Carrick than a bank holiday..cue another post about a night out, yes it really is my favourite topic ( ;-) )
   I previously spoke reems about a Carlow night out and how amazing they are, I make no bones about it my favourite place in the world is the Carlow Foundry but thinking back to my time there a regular chat we had was 'what's the disco like in Carrick?' .. 'What's a night out there like?' and hence the inspiration for this blog post where I really will give you the ins and outs of a night out in Carrick and hitting that disco.

Before I begin I might aswell say I've actually only ever been on a night out in a couple of places, Kilkenny, Clonmel, Limerick, Carlow and Carrick but trust me when I say when Carrick is good, it's very good and last week, the May bank holiday was one of those nights.
 Like everywhere in the country nights out usually begin with the pre drinks and the pre drinks always go one of two ways and you can let yourself imagine the two ways in which they could go. We usually go between the big pre drinks or the small pre drinks and the small pre drinks usually just being the intermediate girls (and Brannigan) and from there it's to the pub.
In Carrick we have a crazy amount of pubs but it's usually to the Junction because there's always a good crowd and great craic, realistically anywhere they do 3 for 10 vodkas is the place to go.
  After an hour or two there you've basically drank too much as it is and spoken to everyone in the perimeter of the pub it's onto the DISCO!! Aka, the 'nightclub' of Carrick On Suir.
 Yep the most asked thing about a night out in Carrick is the disco, It's actually really called 'Utopia' but believe me when I say no one calls it Utopia it's the disco and that's that don't call it Utopia....that's just sad!! Please, don't call it Utopia.

On a night out here there's a few unwritten rules and one of the main ones is you simply cannot, I repeat cannot be sober going into that disco. Well I mean you can but prepare yourself for an awful night and a fairly rapid escape an hour in, the doors open at 12 and by half 12 the place usually starts filling up.
At this stage no one is every really ID'd well actually come to think of it, that's really just my group of friends meaning I think we're there a bit too much but once you're through the bouncers and successfully down the stairs it's a 50/50 chance about how the night is about to go.
 It takes a while for the place to fill up (hoping that it does) so you usually just float around chatting before forking over for a drink and trust me when I say you won't be getting 3 for 10 on vodkas here.
 When the drink is down you can finally hit the dance floor and then there's the music, look when it comes to music in a club I expect music like Astronomia and Zombie Nation well basically the Foundry's set list but the DJ in the disco is slightly more Sean Paul and Beyoncé 'Crazy In Love'... but shur look, what can you do. After a while you'll also beginning to remember the playlist but a night in Carrick is what you make it and that's the only way I can describe it.

I think and don't quote me on this that the disco ends around 2ish?? Could be half 2 I really don't know and then it's usually onto the Kebab shop before embarking on the stroll home. Usually there's a crew of us strolling home but a nightly ritual me and the girls have on a night out is to sit on the old bridge and finish off our food, it's a tradition and so God help anyone if they try take this away from us.
When we finally get home it's a sleepover, a gossip, a recap on the night before a four hour nap when it's time to attempt to get up and there you have it, a night out in Carrick On Suir.

If you want to experience the disco for yourself I'd def recommend coming down for a bank holiday, it's when you're most likely to meet the real Carrick crew!! ;)