Dara Ó Briain

Dara Ó Briain is probably my favourite stand-up comedian. Well, second to Bob Newhart, of course. He tours mainly the UK, Scandinavia, and Australia, so I’d only ever seen him on YouTube. But a few years ago he was doing a North American tour, so I bought a ticket for his Toronto gig, March 30th, 2020. That’s March 30th 2020. So much for that. The show was postponed, then cancelled, then, when he finally returned to Canada, I had left for Scotland. Then this year he started back at UK venues, and when I heard there was a show mid-May in Blackburn, about 2 1/2 hours south of my new home, well, I bought a ticket and planned a 2-day road trip.

The road trip was going to take me through the Lake District, considered to be some of the most beautiful countryside in all of Great Britain (think Beatrix Potter, Wordsworth). I checked out some of the towns and villages to visit in that region and yesterday morning, with the promise of a few nice days of weather, we headed south. We left the motorway near Kendal, and started wending our way in & out, up & down, and all around beautiful lakes, spectacular hillsides, and rolling farmland.

There were a number of unusual sheep-sightings along the way (and this from someone who has lived in Orkney). The first was: as I was driving along one quiet country lane, a ewe was slamming her side against a stone wall. Just as I pulled up alongside, she succeeded in knocking over a bunch of stones, then led her twins and a couple of friends on a jail-break, out onto the road. This is a 60mph narrow country road, so I thought she was making a big mistake, but that didn’t seem to matter to her. I crept by them (getting quite the stink eye from the older sheep), and I drove on slowly, wondering what to do – I mean, I wasn’t going to stop the car in the middle of a blind curve, get out and start herding sheep on the lam. Around the next bend was a sign to a farm with a phone number on it, so I pulled over, called the number and left a very odd message on the answering machine. Here’s hoping that was enough.

Later on I saw a sheep sitting down. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but this sheep was sitting on her haunches. Not standing on all fours, or fully prone in the grass, but sitting all alone in a field with her bum on the ground, and her front legs straight (picture a full-sized dog, sitting waiting for a treat). I didn’t know they did that, so I looked it up. In all likelihood, she’s pregnant with twins. The things I learn.

The last odd sheep-sighting was a sheep bridge. The Lake District is a combination of farming and tourism, so in the nicer weather, the roads are very busy. So I guess some farmers have dealt with this by building what look like pedestrian walkways over the highways (think the pedestrian walkway between BMO Field & Ontario Place over the Lakeshore). I was sitting in stop & go traffic on the A590 as a procession of sheep casually, strolled across the highway, high overhead, on their own special bridge.

I did eventually make it to the show, which was excellent. I think Dara is hilarious, and the rest of the audience clearly felt the same, so it was a great evening. I had taken a cab from the hotel to the hall and back again, and each time the driver indicated he would prefer cash. No prob. And each time, the driver looked at the Scottish £10 note I had given him and questioned its validity. But both times they accepted my promise that it was legal tender (which it is – I just didn’t tell them they’d probably need to go to a bank branch to get it changed for ‘English’ currency, as most shops in England won’t accept Scottish notes).