The Price of Rice

Running-wise this week has been pretty non-existent, but I'm not beating myself up over it. Three early-morning three-milers is the sum total of it, and I'm contemplating whether or not to go out for a long run today (Sunday). One of the joys of amateur sport is the fact that it's not compulsory. At any given time I can make a choice to run or not to run. This makes a positive choice so much more satisfactory. I can't imagine how a professional sportsman can actually enjoy what they do, because they have no choice in the matter!

I have my mother from Birmingham staying with me for a few days. Yesterday evening we had a couple of drinks on Baggott Street - the 'traditional' old bars there were mobbed with very untraditional-type Saturday night drinkers. We then strolled in the crowds over to the Grafton Street/St Stephen's Green area. On an impulse we decided to pop into a Chinese restaurant there in the middle of Dublin's touristland. Which was almost a bad move moneywise. Rice is an inevitable accompaniment to any Chinese meal and it is usually ordered as routine. But I happened to spot the prices - Fried Rice €17, Special Fried Rice €19. Forget it, I'm not a cheapskate but I'm not paying those prices, which would have virtually doubled our bill. The word outrageous was use when the no-rice order was queried.

How many people have been unwittingly ripped off there?

Down at Irishtown Stadium it's been a cold and frosty week but the young athletes kept warm yesterday with some 60m sprints, their best times being

Kevin Woods (U13B) 9.0
Orla Murray (U12G) 9.3
Alan Francis (U10B) 9.3
Christina Francis (U13G) 9.4
James Woods (U10B) 9.6
Isabel O'Leary (U11G) 9.7
Alix Hughes (U13G) 9.8
Rachel Maher (U12G) 9.8
Grainne McGuill (U12G) 10.3
Emma Eustace (U12G) 10.5
Sarah Maher (U10G) 10.6
Jemima Mulligan 10.7
Clodagh Ferry (U9G) 10.7
Hannah McDevitt (U12G) 10.9
Roisin McGuill (U10G) 11.1
Ella Thirroueiz (U9G) 11.5
Juliet Storan (U11G) 11.6
Roisin Crowe 11.9
Emma O'Leary (U8G) 12.7
Laura Ferry (U8G) 12.7