The Matchmaker Festival

Every September the little town of Lisdoonvarna, about an hour from Galway City focuses on love in a very big way. The entire town takes part in a Matchmaking Festival and people from all over the country and all over the world go there to be be matched. As you an imagine there are a lot of lonely Irish farmers who need a bit of a push to gt going and a lot of women looking for love. 

And for the last 50 years Willie Daley has been doing his best to make those matches. He's the town's matchmaker. In fact he's a third generation matchmaker and he has the book to prove it. In fact that book is about eight inches thick and is held together with a shoestring and some tape. But it works.

After paying him 20 Euro and filling out his questionnaire asking what you bring to the table and what you're looking for, he instructs participants to take a spin on the dance floor. The Matchmaker Bar is packed the entire month and he does his magic from a foyer near the bar.

"I'm always watching to see who will match with this one, or that one," he tells me. "Put one hand on this book and you'll have a grand time, put two on it and you'll fall in love in six months time! Now, what might you be looking for in a match?" he asks me. 

"Well, Willie," I say, now that I see the magic is in the dancing I think I'll be good just watching. I'm not much or a dancer myself."

So the trip to the Matchmaking Festival was a bit anti-climactic for me. It was a fun packed night and it dragged on into the early morning hours.

Now I'm a bit old for that, but I found my perfect match when I got up to my room in the hotel.

That's right, a big old bathtub. Something I've missed since I moved into the wee house here. An something that never disappoints.