I’m killing time in departures at Luqa international airport in Malta, with three and a half hours of Ryanair to come shortly. Along with all the work I’ve had to do down here, I’ve also got to enjoy some nice weather, the kind you’d normally associate back at home with late Spring. Yesterday, I even got to have lunch al fresco (Lily Allen’s description of that term never fails to raise a chuckle with me) and even though the rain did fairly hammer down last night while I was out for dinner, it still felt a whole load different from those freezing conditions I’d left behind in Dublin on Tuesday morning.

Oh well, it’s back to the tail-end of Winter then, I suppose … and Kerry in Castlebar on Sunday week. That’s one I’m not going to get to, what with it being Paddy’s weekend and all that (with de Vins gunning for All-Ireland glory on the day itself – I think I’ll be taking a few of my Vineens to Croker for that) but I suspect the Kerry match will be on TG4, either live or else transmitted a bit later in the day.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some time I need to spend with Mad Mick O’Leary’s people …