Off on my hols early Friday so posting this today as tomorrow I'll be busy packing etc.

I'm heading to Dublin, staying at Newgrange Fri/Sat, then heading West to Achill for a week before following the coast up & round to Ballymoney and eventually Belfast.

Bad news - ferry was booked up so I'm unable to stay for the Ulster - I never heard back from the press office anyway - but on the plus side, I'll be available to marshal for all the practices on the Manx after all.

So if you see a silver Manx registered Skoda containing a short fat photographer scoffing scones like mad - scone in one hand, camera in t'other, do come & say hello and introduce yourselves.

In the meantime, if anyone asks why I've not posted for a couple of weeks, just tell them:

Boakesey's scone.....