free at last!

Wow... what a crazy 24 hours I've had... After writing that last post I returned with Denise and her friend Anne-Marie to the hotel where Mark was playing his gig and sat down at the tables outside and had a drink and listened to the music. The band took a break for a half hour or so and Mark came out and introduced us to a couple of his friends and they proceeded to go back to a dark back area of the deck, out of sight of any of the people outside. When Mark came back ten minutes later he was sniffling his nose a lot and had a glazed over look in his eye... like he was about to pass out or something. I knew well enough what was going on (aided by the fact that on the ride into town he had told me all about his "drug years" and how he was now clean... He also claimed to be a safe driver, so I knew he was clearly delusional). He went back inside and the band started up again. Denise and I quickly flew into action as to how we were going to avoid getting in the car with him in the state he was in. The ride into town was bad enough and we did not want to find out what the ride back would be like under the influence of a few lines of cocaine and a couple of pints of beer. We went to a taxi stand and found out it would be about 80-euro to get a taxi back to Clonakilty, where we would have to proceed to walk to the farm, about two hours by foot on very dark, very narrow country lanes. The next option, and the one that we went with, was to stay with Anne-Marie at the house where she is an au pair. I told Mark we would catch the first bus in the morning to get back, to which he dared respond "well... I suppose that's alright... it just means you'll have to work late" (such a fucking slave driver!). I said we would be ok with that and that we would see him tomorrow. We caught a bus to the area of Cork where Anne-Marie lives and a little past midnight we arrived and were welcomed in by Marie and Dominique, two of the kindest people I've met in my life. They brought us cold drinks and sat us down to talk about the situation. They were genuinely concerned with the situation and Dominique insisted that he would bring us to Clonakilty in the morning to collect our belongings and clear out of the farm. We slept in comfortable guest beds with clean white linens and real bonafide pillows... bliss... Dominique woke up early and brought us to Clonakilty, over an hour each way, bless his heart. We were delighted to find both Mark and Debbie gone... we packed up as fast as we could and bid farewell to that god-foresaken place. I let out a sigh of relief as we drove away, knowing it was the end of a strange, sometimes scary, sometimes hillarious situation that I will certainly never forget for the rest of my days.
Denise and I have decided to look for a farm together to go to next week, and in the meantime, Dominique and Maria have told us we can stay at their house as long as we need in order to get a new plan worked out. Angels, I tell you!
I sometimes feel like I'm caught up in either a dream or a movie, where I dont know what the next plot turn will be. I'm intreagued to see what happens next, and I'm quite sure it couldn't get any worse. I'm happy despite the craziness though. I'm delighted to be off the farm and on with new things. I'll let you all know what my next move will be once I know. LOVE YOU ALL!!!! mwa! (that's a kiss for each of you!)