A delicate start to the morning ... remembering the night before ! 🤫

I got up around 9:30 a.m. ... but most of Ballymaloe seemed to be already flying around the place packing cars and collecting bits and bobs from far corners of the school and farm! I had packed up most of my car yesterday but there seemed still be a shed load to try and fit in ... never mind the bits and bobs I needed to collect myself! 

​When I ventured down stairs the cleaners were already in ... I think someone wanted us to leave ... a little too much 😉

First order of the day was to collect my sourdough starter and "bake" some sourdough to take home to the clan ... I also stocked up on a few of the staples from the shop … that there was a chance I had actually made during my time at Ballymaloe! 😘

Philip’s Saturday Pizzas was open early to facilitate the departing students so we gathered in there for a bite and tried to ease our delicate state with a spicy pizza ... 🤭

The closer we got to 12 p.m. the more people seemed to be departing ... there was an awful lot of hugging … and more than a few tears ... The thoughts of not seeing some of these guys everyday going forward just seems a little too strange at the moment! 😢

At 12.30 p.m. the time came to depart our beloved Ballymaloe ... I said good-bye with a full but heavy heart ... I am ready to return to some semblance of my normal life but at the same time I am very sad that I won't see some of the good friends that I have made or wake up to the sounds or smells of the farm … that I won't have the chance to cook with the wonderful organic produce and the eggs ... oh dear .... the eggs … oh and the butter too! I am also sad that I won't get to throw the wonderful barbecues and experiment with more wonderful ways of cooking meat outdoors!!! 😢

I will write probably two or three more posts over the next week or two ... one on Rory’s wit... one on what I feel I got from my time at Ballymaloe and probably one on what I would recommend future students to do or what I would have done differently ...

I am now back in Dublin with my folks and will hang around here for a bit ... relaxing for a couple of days and then will try and explore my Dublin … a bit more than I have over the last 19 years! 

As this is the last daily update I would love to sign off by saying thank you for reading my waffle for the last 85 days ... I hope you've enjoyed it ... from what my net providers are telling me I have had about 18,600 page views and over 5,300 visits, from 45 different countries !!! 😱😱😱😱 That's pretty cool for something that I started so my family and friends could keep track of me and aIso for myself, so that I could look back on it in the future ...

If you've been reading this blog regularly ... could I ask you to either like todays link on the facebook page or say a quick hello in the comments section below this, here on the website! 

Thank you all again for the encouragement and lovely words of support during the last 3 months! I hope you all enjoyed reading my silly antics

Slán for now ... Gar