Another sunny day in Belfast

Day two in Belfast, well three if you count Friday when I landed . Waking up in pretty rough shape after all the late night celebrations. Not really hungry but I do need to drag my ass out of bed instead of wasting the day feeling bad for myself plus it’s still quite nice out . We decided to both head to souvenir shop and see what interests us on the way . Unfortunately we paid an extra £5 to use the hop on tour bus to go to the Titanic Museum but decided not to go . We already know the end of the story 😝

We found a place called Carroll’s for souvenirs and there were a lot of things with Irish flags and when I asked why is there more Irish rather then Northern Ireland flags the young cashier told me I should probably not ask questions like that . Obviously I don’t mean to offend anyone and they understood that but told me there are a few around that won’t . I don’t need to get into politics and I don’t take sides …. I’m Canadian . Regardless I did found everything I wanted to bring home and overall it was a good shop .

We were thirsty and for some reason the streets are dead and most shops are closed . Guessing for religious reasons or something , again I don’t want to discuss religion 😝 we found a pub and Andi had a hankering for a cocktail so we walked in and they wouldn’t serve Andi because he had track pants on ???? Alright this is something I would love to discuss because someone in shorts is ok and if you are a total junkie bum who shit himself in jeans then you’re ok also but track pants is a hard no ? I’m thinking it’s some classist theory where people wearing track pants are associated with thuggery of some sort ….

Anyways we found this amazing pub called Fountain Lane which served us gladly and we stuck around inside for a bit then moved out to the patio where they were playing 80’s music and it was actually a good time sitting there enjoying a pint people watching in the sun listening to great tunes by the likes of Duran Duran and Bowie . Fantastic , everyone was in great spirits ! But I can’t overdo it because we have hockey so three pints is my limit before heading back to the room to chill before our ice time . The pub had some decent wings too but not quite up to snuff with North American standards .

We chilled for a bit then headed to the rink and took some pics around the arena and then got sent to our room . This group looks a lot more fit and overall younger . Everyone was really friendly and we were offered a pre skate beer 🍺 when we got on the ice it didn’t take long to realize this was a better standard then the other night and that is no offense to the others as we had equally as much fun both nights to be honest except my fun was cut short .

We had three goalies and that was lucky because we were doing drills and the coach was not taking it easy and we faced a lot of rubber . We then started a scrimmage after a lot of drills and I hit the bench to wait to switch sides as we were playing basically ten minute shifts so my first time to the bench and when I was heading back off the bench I hit the ice so hard face first as if I was wearing skate guards , it was embarrassing until I noticed my heel strap broke so I scurried onto bench knocked over barrier and threw my shit in disgust when I realized I had to strip down to attempt to fix this . The bloody buckle unstitched and pulled clean out so I either need to tuck the long strap in or I need to Jerry rig it somehow , at this point I realized the skate was almost done so I just cracked a beer and hit the showers …. Not exactly the way I wanted to end my stay in Belfast by landing face first on the ice and limping away ffs 🤦🏼‍♂️ whatever I think I played well when I wasn’t lying face flat on the ice …. Yeah I’m angry .

We chilled in the room for a bit with this fella named Jeff from Seattle who was a super cool dude as I’ve always said people from Seattle sound like Canadians so it was nice chatting about regular day shit . When we left the room to meet Sarah who was there again to hang out at the rink she told us Jeff is one of her Capybara team mates ! Yeah it’s a cool name isn’t it ? We then proceeded to chill in the parking lot and see Jeff’s really cheap car which is a steal of a deal in the market back home then we called a cab and hit the road with Sarah . We were told to go to Kelly’s Cellars for a pint 🍺

When we got there the atmosphere seems cool and I had a decent buzz there until I went to the bathroom . I walked in from patio and I didn’t see signs or anything so I went into a stall to have a wee and then I heard to chicken head type girls gobbing on about how there is a man pissing in the women’s toilet and they need it . I was a bit embarrassed and said sorry I’m not from here and kept pissing which I think made them angrier and when I got out there was a security lady who heard my accent and realized my error which was not heinous in any way yet these two dirty birds kept cackling on and I just turned and walked away instead of being blunt with them . When I got to the bar the guy in front of me got served and then I was told it’s last call and I missed it :( so if I didn’t go for a piss I would have had the beers .

We then headed back towards our hotel to hit another pub which again google said was open and when we arrived we were told it just closed . It’s one of those nights where we could have chased down another drink or did the sensible thing and just call it a night …. We made the sensible decision and I had the most expensive shawarma I’ve ever had …… tomorrow we head to Birmingham !