Break Out The Miwadi & The Tayto Sandwiches!

The lads 3SEPT16

ost of us believe that, after a hard’s day work, hey, we deserve a goddamn treat…

Some fine food, some music, your favourite TV show, and, of course, a little tipple. Or two.

Well, imagine how it feels after 20 years of hard service with your local fire brigade.

How much of a treat would you deserve after that many hard day’s nights?

Having spoken with the great Anto Byrne earlier in the week as he prepared to hand in his Greystones Fire Brigade badge, when he invited me along to the official farewell bash down at the station, I imagined all sorts of stress-relieving shenanigans.

Visions of some major pole-dancing displays and underwear-shredding hose-downs quickly sprung to mind.

So, when Max and myself wandered down tonight, we were more than a little surprised to see not booze, banned substances and scantily-clad babes but tea, egg & mayo sandwiches and Anto’s mum and Ciaran’s mum, sensibly clad in autumn coats and matching scarves.

Sure, what was I thinking? Farewell party or not, the lads are all on duty tonight. And so it was that, with just the merest hint of gritted teeth behind their smiles as I duly informed them that I would be drinking for the lot of them later that night, the boys downed sambos and piled outside for one last photo with their long-standing colleague.

So, hats off not only to Anto Byrne, but to his brother Willie, to Ciaran Hayden, Alan Monahan, Keith Clancy, Brian Galligan, Ray Salmon and Fearghal Murphy.

And for the night that’s in it, lads, I hear if you mix undiluted Miwadi with Lemsip and crushed Rich Tea biscuits, you can get a pretty sweet kick…