Timing is Everything

The bus came to a careful stop in the town center of Macroom, County Cork, Ireland one sunny afternoon in late August.  Frank, who served as bus driver and tour guide, quickly alerted us there was a problem with “the old horse” and that he had placed a call in to the tour company to send a new bus, but it would take an hour or so for them to reach us.  He apologized over and over for the unexpected stop as we exited the bus and started off to explore this quaint little town.  

The first stop directly ahead of the bus was Macroom Castle which was built in 12th century by the O’Flynn family and later given to Admiral Sir William Penn.  The admiral’s son William lived there awhile before moving to America and founding the state of Pennsylvania.  I guess if you’re going to leave the good life behind exploring and founding a new state is pretty cool.

Splitting off from the pack I decided to explore the town on my own, peeking into store windows and just getting a vibe for the area.  I spotted the Guinness sign with familiar toucan and “Lovely day for a Guinness” tag which I paused to admire and photograph.  Apparently it was a lovely day for a Guinness for when I walked a little further I bumped into one of my bus mates who informed me that everyone was over at Dan Buckley’s Bar across the street.  We made our way to the pub in time for the first round of pints, a few orders of chips with brown sauce and delightful conversation between people that for the most part had been complete strangers a few days earlier.  

After a few pints and discovering I really like Smithwicks, our fearless leader Frank reappeared to let us know “a new horse” was awaiting us and he again apologized for this great inconvenience.  I later told Frank that it was no trouble and we all enjoyed our unexpected stop in Macroom as the difference between leaving us along the side of a road and leaving us in a town with a good pub made all the difference in the world.  Our breakdown meant we got to explore a new town (OK, we really only explored the pub) and discover some things about each other.

My first full day of being released from corporate cubicle confinement was the start of March Madness which meant instead of wondering what to do with my time at home I was able to log a few (or close to 8) hours on a barstool with my brackets in hand.  This unexpected stop in my life’s adventure has proven to be a good time to explore, spend a little extra time in pubs meeting new people and discovering some things about myself.  This stop may turn out to be another good memory.  So as the Irish say with their Guinness saluting the heavens, Sláinte!

There is balanced, imbalanced and somewhere in between you'll find Kimbalanced. 

For more information about the lovely town of Macroom visit www.macroom.ie