July18th. Chicago to St Louis.

Wonderful breakfast in ‘The Best Western’ Countryside and as usual we exchanged pleasantries, curious, because both Willy and myself are normally the early morning Neantherdal grunt type. Packed up the car and set off on the first leg proper, the data was fed into Betty and she directed us in her dulcet tones along I55 towards St Louis. I drove through one of the toll bridges without paying, the cash desk being off the main road, so I sailed through oblivious. I now await the outcome of my first felony in the States (probably something off my credit card). The thing about driving in the States is that everyone bowls along at 65 m.p.h. and there isn’t the lunacy we can get in Spain of people weaving, speeding and flashing their lights at you. Lane changing is seemless. The trucks are, of course, impressive, massive 18 wheelers, immaculately polished and towering above our tiny Chrysler. We arrived into St Louis and after a few wrong turns – no fault of Betty, we arrived at Pat and Robin’s house. Another fine example of how proud people are of their houses. Beautifully laid out, tastefully decorated and very comfortable. The back garden stretches up into a small wood and during the morning and the evening, deer come out and feed from small trays of corn that Pat leaves out for them. Sitting in the back porch a tiny hummingbird hovers at a container filled with some sweet liquid which ensures their daily return. Squirrels dart around and Harry, the tiny terrior and king of the jungle races after them sending them shooting up trees or into the undergrowth. It was time to go and meet Jim because we were going to another party. Jim lives in another beautiful house and as everywhere, we were given the tour, going back to my tiny attic in Malasaña won’t be easy. So we end up in ‘Mc Gurks’ so named after one of the characters in the song ‘The Irish Rover’, there are connections everywhere. Mc Gurks is one of the most impressive bars I’ve ever visited. http://www.mcgurks.com/ It started off as a small bar a few years ago and the owners have bought up adjoining property to turn this into a massive bar with a huge beer garden. Inside there are all kinds of subdivisions and smaller bars. Groups of people are eating and of course quaffing beers. There are so many staff and no-one is left unattended. I met the head barman, Johnny Mac Ateer from Donegal who has been there for 16 years and is part of the furniture. We had a special reserved area and all Jim’s family and friends started turning up, this was to be a Friday night bash ‘par exellence’. I won’t go into too many details about people but just to say that everywhere we go, the welcome is so warm and open. I found myself being dragged (willingly) from table to table to meet up with family as well as people who had visited Madrid over the years. A special word of thanks must go to Beth (?), our waitress on the night, she was outstanding and everywhere I turned there was a pint waiting. The band kicked off, a good solid Irish pub band who had them joining in and doing the occasional experimental jig. There was a minor altercation at the end of the night when some young bloods argued over the favours of a young lady, it ended on the street with St. Louis’ finest intervening – just like on the telly. I ended up on the back porch with Pat, having a nightcap smoking a cigar and putting the world to right. As you do.