Niall Greaney was the son of my first cousin Greta Greaney. He was born 10th June 1987. Yesterday, 8th June 2007, I attended his funeral.
Niall died as the result of injuries he received in an horrific car accident on Wednesday morning (Jun 6th) last.
Niall was full of life. At 19 he was already a well known sportsman and musician in his community.
His funeral yesterday was one of the biggest and most poignant I have ever attended.
To Niall’s parents Greta and John and his brother Sean and sister Linda, no words can adequately express the sorrow one feels at a time like this. You have my deepest sympathies.
The Irish police force have started a road safety campaign which includes mounting wrecked cars at busy intersections with the words Drive Safe under them.
I saw the example above shortly after hearing that a 20 year old cousin of mine had been killed in a car crash yesterday morning.
We were flying to Madrid this morning.
Everything was set. Bags were packed. Ticket printed. Accommodation arranged. The lot.
My wife lived in Madrid for six years so we have friends here who we had arranged to met up with. Needless to say we were looking forward to the weekend for a long time.
We arrived at the airport just about on time (05:40). Queued up to check-in. Got to the check-in desk only to have the woman at the desk tell me I had brought an out-of-date passport for Tomás.
In my haste to get out the door quickly I had grabbed the wrong one from the drawer.
His face completely collapsed when he realised he wasn’t getting on the plane. Words cannot describe how badly I felt for him (and his mother who really needed the break since I have been away so much recently).
What made it worse was that, as I am speaking at Remix Madrid on Monday, I had to get on the plane, leaving them behind.
If the locks haven’t been changed when I get home on Tuesday, I will be amazed.
I’m sitting in the cafe of my hotel in Bilbao, sipping a cortado waiting for my lift to the airport to fly home.
The sun is shining, a refreshing breeze is blowing, I’m looking at the Nervion flowing by lazily and the ediface of Gehry’s incredible Guggenheim Museum is shimmering in the light.
I’m very far from Cork.
I think I will enjoy another coffee in this wondrous setting before I have to leave.
Enrique Luis Raftery Carnicero, my younger son, is one year old today.
Happy birthday Enrique.
I was waiting for the ferry between Passage West and Cobh this morning when I noticed a pod of dolphins in the river. I didn’t have my cameras with me (d’oh!) so I couldn’t get any decent shots.
After I boarded, the dolphins played around with our ferry before rushing off to play with the incoming ferry.
I barely caught them heading to the other ferry on my camera phone - sorry about the quality.
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