Johnnie Foxes - 29th December, 2001

(Click the thumbnails for the big picture.)

We headed up to Johnnie Foxes pub in Glencullen at around half past seven with Rowland Willis and his family. Rowland, another Guinness man, was in Ireland for a visit with his wife and two sons (from England) and his sister and her son (from America). So we were ready for a session. Foxes is reputedly the highest pub in Ireland. I'm not sure if that's geographically speaking or based on the elation you get from spending a night at one of their hoolies, but the craic was definitely mighty that night.

Miranda about to tuck into a mammoth bowl of mussels. And that was just a starter!!

The band in action. I can't remember their name, but the fiddle player was called Horse. He took offence when the guitarist congratulated him for being 75 years old. He said he was only 73...

At one point, one of the guys in our group asked me if the crowd were mostly Irish locals. I was surprised at this considering that the table next to ours seated about 20 or so Koreans. Anyway, the question was soon answered when the singer asked if there were any Irish in the house. I think about 10 hands went up and 4 of those were at our table.

The mammy proving that she's a Groupie at heart with the bass player who was from Finglas. Those pesky Northsiders always stick together.

Then it was time for the Johnny Foxes dancers. The stage was raised up on hydraulics and it was Riverdance time. These pictures certainly don't do it justice. It was a spectacle well worth seeing. I wasn't even bothered that they didn't allow smoking during the performance.

And as Christy Moore said, "then we sat down and we had a drink."

Because things are never normal, this is the Russian ambassador to Ireland, Eugueni N. Mikhailov, saying goodbye after serving his term. The band presented him with a gold disc and he bid Ireland a fond farewell. Then every glass in the house, Irish, American, English, Korean, and wherever, was raised to Russia.