Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Recent threads about visiting Ireland and sessions at Hughes’s reminds me of a weird thing that happened on my first visit to Ireland back in 1990. It was my first night in Dublin and I asked Noel Hill where to go for a tune and he said that Hughes’s was my best bet.
(I suppose this probably qualifies as "name-dropping," but Noel was the only person I knew in Dublin at the time... is that OK? Dow?)
Anyway, I had a few hours to kill so I decided to wander around a bit. I came across a long line on the sidewalk over by Christchurch (that I found out later was some sort of famous fish & chips place) and got in line. I took my grub into the pub next to the shop and sat at a booth that was in view of a TV airing a show of ITM I’d never heard of before called “The Pure Drop.” I ordered a pint and thought I must have died and gone to heaven.
The barman came over and told me that they don’t allow the fish & chips in the pub, but it would be ok this once. Maybe he gave me the exemption because I was a clueless foreigner, or maybe it had to do with my hairiness and grizzly bear like girth, but it doesn’t matter for this story because what was on the TV was more important.
I sat enjoying a pint with the best fish & chips of my life and watching a TV show about ITM… and at the end of the show someone named Paul McGrattan was playing “The Trip to Durrow” brilliantly on the flute with another great player named Seamus Begley on the box. The show ended with that, I finished up my meal and pint, and headed out into the Dublin night with “The Trip to Durrow” in my head as theme music.
I continued wandering and time seemed to get away when I realized I should make my way over to Hughes’s. When I arrived I walked in the door and who was there but Paul and Seamus themselves. And what tune do you think they were playing at that very moment? You guessed it – “The Trip to Durrow.” Weird!
I’d love to hear other people’s stories about anything weird that happened on a visit to Ireland. I suppose you folks living in Ireland might have weird things that happened to you too, or maybe weird things about people visiting Ireland. Whatever the case – could be interesting.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Well, on our honeymoon, we're sitting in Cruise's waiting to meet up with Matt and Shannon Heaton later over at Poet's Corner; we'd gotten into town early from Corofin and thought we'd stop in at Cruise's for a drink before seeing the Heatons, who we hadn't seen in a dog's age.
I went to get our drinks at the bar, and Pete sat by the fire near the front door. Unbeknownst to me, Matt had been playing at a session in the back room and had come out and noticed Pete by the door. "Oh, have you been there the whole time and I just didn't notice?" Matt asked Pete. They talked a bit and then Matt went to go talk to someone else before rejoining us.
I'm putting the drinks down on the table and Pete says, "hey, look who's here!" and nods in (he thinks) Matt's direction. I look across, shriek, "Oh my god, what are you doing here!" and throw my arms around a startled girl that Pete's never seen before in his life.
It was my French friend, the lovely Cecile (cecama here at TheSession), who lived in Boulder for a year, studying with Shannon Heaton while working there. She'd said something about being in Ireland later in the year, but I hadn't realized it would be at the same time we would be there.
Matt comes over, grinning, as I ask Cecile, "Where are you staying?" hoping that she'd come to stay with us in the cottage we've rented in Corofin along with Matt, Shannon, and Beth Leachman.
"Um. With you?" says Matt.
Of course she did stay with us, and we all spent an hilarious New Year's Eve celebration in a rent-an-Irish-cottage village together, along with a New Zealand rugby team and their girlfriends -- Beth later wrote a song about it, Come Day Go Day, which I treasure as a memory of our honeymoon.
Not so much weird as a huge coincidence, I suppose.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
In the Dublin airport women's room, I was washing my hands at the same time as Charlotte Rae (Mrs Garrett from 'The Facts of Life'-80's sitcom). And that's weird.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
No.1:
My mates Dave (sadly no longer with us) and Sheelagh from Yorkshire told the story some ten years ago of a trip to Clare, when one Sunday after mass in Kilrush (out-of-the-way, but charming town, Shannon estuary) they were holding a terrier race. Sheelagh told how the bets were placed with enthusiasm, there was talk of favourites and no-hopers, and bars were visited first, and eventually they lined up the terriers. There some winch device for dragging a false 'hare' up the road for the terriers to chase, a la greyhounds. The first time, the hare went far too slow, the terriers got it and demolished it a third of the way up the street. They repaired or recreated it, and got down for the second start. This time the hare went so fast that it disappeared up the street and out of sight of the terriers, who were left milling about half way up the course.
This time, said Sheelagh, they'll have to get it right. Well, they did, but about three quarters of the way through the race, some other dog belted out from the spectators, nicked the hare, and ran off, followed by main terriers! I cannot remember if she said any terriers ever crossed the winning line, but it sounds like a good excuse to have at least three Guinness at Crotty's!
No2:
More recently, two session friends from here in Kent were heading across country in their holiday car, miles from anywhere. Next village, says Rosie, I must ring Mum back in England and check she's all right. Next village arrives out of nowhere, as they do in Ireland, and there's a phone box outside the Post Office. It's midday-ish. Rosie goes in the box, and then comes straight out and says to Bob, It's a card phone, let's have some cash and I'll go in and buy a card. So she does, to the Post Office. Not a soul in sight. She gets an eerie feeling, and realises the whole place seems pretty much deserted. Then she see a man in the field out the back of the Post Office and goes to ask him if she can buy a phone card. He cracks out laughing and points up the hill to a row of caravans on the horizon, and she discovers that she's walked onto the set for filming the series 'Ballykissangel'.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Jeez Jack that was a convoluted way of getting Noel Hill's name in there, but you managed it, good on ya! I love the way you mention nonchanantly that Noel Hill told you this pub was good, even though that has absolutely nothing to do with the story. And the way you justify your namedropping by telling us that he was the only person you knew in Dublin, so that we have to infer that you probably stayed with him... definitely one of the better-put-together efforts here at thesession.org hahaha
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I beg to differ Dow, Noel Hill had something to do with the story -- that's how I knew about a good session being there. For the record, I didn't stay with Noel on that trip, I think he told me about Hughes's to get rid of me actually.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
This thread reminded me of a trip to Ireland a couple of years ago. We were staying in Fermanagh, near the Marble Arch caves with a group of cavers, and one day my fifteen year old son Elliott and I escaped for a day's fishing. The trip to the lake we wanted to fish took us through Ballyconnell, where we saw a sign advertising some sort of festival that very day. We spent the day fruitlessly thrashing the Lough to foam without raising a single fish (I think the Germans had got there first), and decided to stop off and check out the Festival on the way back. We arrived in Ballyconnell in the early evening, but all was quiet, so we stuck our heads in the first pub we came to, ordered a Guinness and asked the landlord whether we might find any music that evening. He got very animated at this and assured us we'd come to the right place, and that his pub was THE place for the music in Ballyconnell, and also how in an hour's time there was to be a performance on the trailer by his pub, for which he was providing the electricity. He said that would be followed by a Mummers play, and that there would also be some mighty music in his pub, which we must come back and listen to. He wouldn't be pressed on what this music was though, he just said it was "Everything you could want, all sorts of music..", which didn't really sound too promising.
So we went off and enjoyed an Irish/Chinese take away in the steamy environs of our car, and then headed back to the trailer. The street around it was a sea of schoolgirls (steady now..), all dressed up to the nines. They massed under umbrellas in the drizzle and the little group playing on the stage were obviously their classmates, helped out by an old man with a box. It was very pleasant, but after a while the damp started to seep through me and I felt the need of something to wash down the aftertaste of the Chinese. I dragged young Lochinvar away from the Sea Of Earthly Delights (I think all those girls actually frightened him not a little) and in to the pub. The landlord greeted us like long lost friends and insisted we go straight through to 'the other bar', where he said the music was about to start. My worries were confirmed when I saw the small stage in the corner, covered with electronic devices, but given that we had popped our heads into every other pub we could find on our way to eat, and no-one had told us of anything else, and that we couldn't stay that late anyway, not without our caving chums assuming that leviathan had dragged us into the lough (some bloody hope!). So we decided to stay. I sat Elliott down on a bench along the wall and went to get the beer. The whole bar was a sort of Republican shrine. The walls and ceilings were covered with photos of Republican heroes, memorabilia, guns, other weapons, flags (tattered and otherwise), and a bullet-pocked sign stolen from a border crossing post. I sat back down and the music arrived. It arrived in the form of a man with a guitar who sang rebel songs. These songs were augmented by the massive array of special effects the guitar was plugged into, which could add the sound of an accordion (well something like the sound of an accordion), or a rather disconcerting delayed banjo effect, and a whole range af miliataristic drum effects. We listened to this strange noise with appalled fascination, but gradually became aware that instead of the singer, WE appeared to be the main focus of attention in the room. Everytime anyone walked in they would stop and stare at us. I would nod a greeting out of politeness, and they would look a little puzzled and go and take their place at the bar. Other people at the bar and other tables kept looking at us as well. I couldn't understand it. It was not as though it was unusual for their to be strangers in the bars here, half the other bars we'd been into were full of English anglers. Then the penny dropped - we were the only males in the bar with hair longer than a couple of millimetres. Elliott had very long, thick hair which cascaded over his shoulders. We did look a little out of place. So I ignored the looks and listened to the singer. The surreality of his act was compounded by the way he introduced each song in a rather incongruous cabaret style, "And now, specially for Mike at the bar, I hope your wife is out of hospital soon Mike - and I know all the ladies love this one, it's My Little Armalite", at which the Snare drum effect and auto-banjo kicked in and he was away, to appreciative murmers from the bar. It was so bad it was actually very entertaining, in a kitsch sort of way, and we got chatting to a nice lady who's son was in Willesden, so must be virtually our next door neighbour (We live half way between Reading and Oxford!). I decided on one more pint before we left and fought my way to the now crowded bar.
As I returned, drinks in hand, I suddenly saw why they had been staring at us. On the wall, immediately above Elliott's head, was a framed tribute to the Hunger Strikers. Slap bang in the middle was a large photo of the long haired Bobby Sands, looking the spitting image of the young lad sitting below it. So striking was the resemblance that I nearly dropped my pint, and I burst out laughing. The punters in the pub must have thought they were looking at a ghost.
We stayed for a couple more songs and went out to watch the mummers play - now that WAS weird!
(I originally related this story on a thread on here about a year ago - but I reckon it's worth repeating)
Mark
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
It didn't happen to me, but it's so good I'll tell it.
My mate Stuart was working for a few days in Ireland and when he came to fly back to Manchester from Shannon Airport he had a cold coming on, and had that "I'm dying" feeling you get as the cold gets to its worst stage.
Arriving at the airport rather early, he was taken aboard the empty plane and given the seat nearest the door, through which was blowing a cold damp wind. After a few minutes he ask the stewardess if it would be alright for him to move to another seat, as the cold draught was making him very uncomfortable.
"Now don't you worry sir," came the reply "we close the door before we fly"
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
At the end of a holiday in Ring, Co Waterford, my husband and I found ourselves in the back bar of Mooney's Pub having a ceili with, Dow, Liam Clancy and some of the then fairly newly-formed Danu, including Donnchadh Gough, Annie Mooney's son. Fantastic (but not weird). Anyway, afterwards and well-lubricated, we were invited by a guy called Paeder Nugent to see the pub he ran on his farm. So, off we trundled, round back lanes, at some unearthly hour of the morning, eventually arriving at this place in the middle of nowhere. The room was tiny and the Kennedys and Our Lady (yellowed, of course) were up on the wall. Even the bottles of beer were dusty. No pumps, of course. Far too new-fangled.
Does anyone know if Nugent's Pub is still there, because I think there was some talk of it closing? I would be a pity. Now, there would be a good (and weird) place to have a tune ...
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Wouldn't it be weird if nothing weird happened while visiting Ireland?
The main event that sticks in my mind is kissing the Blarney Stone. I know, I know, such a touristy thing to do. But way more of an adventure than I expected. Back in the day, you lined up at the top of a stone tower, and this slight-of-build, five-foot tall gent in a walking cap would hoist you out over the parapet, head first and face up, arching your back to kiss the stone over the abyss. You get to watch the people ahead of you take their turns, which builds a mix of dread ("He's too small, he can't possibly hold onto the heft of her!") and confidence ("Well he managed it. Not only didn't he drop her, but he kept her bloomers from billowing all over!").
So my time comes to be lifted, but first the wee man takes a flask out of a hip pocket. A surreptitious sip, I expect. More like draining the entire flask. "C'mon now, don't be shy," he barks at me, and the whiskey fumes nearly knock me down. Then he lights a pre-rolled cigarette. It goes in his lips and next thing I know I'm hanging upside down a mile above the ground with an 80-pound man clutching my ankles. I arch out to reach the stone, and just then he changes his grip, one hand on my right ankle, the other hand replaced by his thigh, sandwiching my leg against the tower. I smack the stone and pull up--our man is nonchalantly flicking ash away from the cigarette in his 'free' hand.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
So the weird part is that the next guy was really a ghost? Kewel! I love Irish ghost stories.
Sounds scary enough all right Will, but what's scarier is that Irish adolescents shneek into the castle at night and piss on the Blarney Stone. hahahahaha
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I was just gald not to be a ghost myself.
Piss is relatively sterile. It was all those millions of lips before mine that had me wondering....
Also on that trip, I got to do a frog imitation into the microphone, with a jazz band at a night club. I even have an autographed 8x10 glossy as evidence. Otherwise I would not know that it happened--not a shred of memory of that one, thank god.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
One day I'll make it to your session in SF Jack, and then I'll be able to drop your name wherever I go. Don't worry I won't bring Tina with me! The weirdest thing that happened to me in Ireland was that I didn't kill any cows on the road. I came round a corner and skidded to a halt, swerving to avoid a herd of cattle being moved forwards by a man on a tractor - that was fairly normal for Ireland - but the weird thing was that even though I ploughed right through the herd right through to the other side, I didn't make contact with a single cow.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I was driving around the boreens in Sligo once with my pal Shane when we turned a corner only to be stopped cold by what appeared to be a gang of young hooligan cows. They looked at us as if they were saying, "And just what do you think you're doing in this neighborhood?!!!" Shane and I looked around and noticed that they had surrounded the car, and as it happened we were stopped in place where they load cows on trucks because several were up on a ramp at the height of the roof of our car and it looked as though they were about to push each other on to it. Just then a very responsible looking cow came a round and seemed to clear a path for us as if he was saying, "Alright lads, you've had your fun with these two -- now let em through."
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Jack, the best I can do is go through the family photo albums. The photo will have the name of the band on it. And I'll dutifully drop it here, when I find it.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
No, Dow, it was Shane Reynolds, if you must know, a Sligo school teacher and all around great guy. You really need to see a specialist about this obsession with name-dropping before you loose it all together you know.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Take your mind of it for a while, Dow. Why don't you go back to serenading your wooly girlfriends out in the pasture with your English-push-fiddle. hahahaha
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Push-fiddle, LOL! I got told yet again to take up the anglo by another muso last night... Actually I might have to admit defeat with my mousetrap and leave it for a while, I'm getting pissed off with it. I never have the courage to play it in sessions (I take it just so that we can use it to tune to the "A" - how silly is that?) and I'm thinking, even if I did get good enough on it to play in a session, no-one would want to hear it anyway cuz it's not the right concertina... Ah well, at least I gave it a go I guess
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Awww Dow, there there... have you ever heard of a player named Joel Bernstein? He plays harmonica and English-push-fiddle with Randal Bays on a recording called "Pigtown Fling." (He happens to be a friend of mine too, but I won't mention it because it will sound like name-dropping) His playing is excellent on that CD, and I've played in sessions with him many times. He did sit me down and try to get some of those Anglo sounding things out of me once or twice, and he bemoaned that he didn't start on the Anglo to begin with -- but I digress. The main point is that he plays ITM on the thing brilliantly. There's hope for you yet Dow, but don't let me keep you from making the very wise decision to switch to a real concertina. hahaha
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Well I won't be switching to anglo because a) I couldn't afford it, and b) I couldn't be arsed with another few years of trying to learn a new instrument and not getting anywhere. No, I think when I started out I worked hard at it cuz I was convinced that it was possible, and it probably is - I've never heard Joel Bernstein's playing, I'm sure he's very good as you say. But after a couple of years of working at it, it's becoming too much of an effort, and the people who said stuff to me at sessions are still telling me to give it up. And these aren't people on the net who've never heard an English concertina, these are people who are hearing my playing and going "nah, that's scheidt", not to mention the fact that they're really good musicians who know what they're talking about. So the it's-not-worth-it voice in my head has got to loud to ignore in the last few months, and I've decided to stick to backing. An Irish thesession.org member passing through Sydney has given me some more ideas for harmony to work on anyway, so I'm thinking I can give that a go and try and instead concentrate on getting myself out of the harmonic rut I've found myself in with my Basil-playing.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
You mean... you mean you aren't going to keep playing that English wha-cha-ma-call-it anymore? What am I going to do? Who will I tease? Is this the end of our *gulp* relationship? scuse me... I'm getting all emotional now. *sniff*
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Yeah, although I suppose you could tease me for being a quitter, and I could tease you back for being an anglobully, but it wouldn't be the same would it Anyway, Tina and I had a long talk today and we've decided to have a trial separation period. We both agree that things aren't working as they are. I explained that there's a lot of other stuff happening in my life right now, and that I need a bit of me-time. I was at a stage where it was all or nothing, and I've made my choice.
I don't know about the future of the Low Caste Frowned-upon Brotherhood. My standing-down as Chief Gobshite of the Brotherhood was a low-key affair, and not many people even realised I'd left under a cloud because I was still seemingly active on behalf of the cause, but that was all really just last-ditch political posturing.
Never mind, my Paddy O'Brien book arrived today so I can take my mind off it all by learning some new tunes.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Speaking of harmonica and concertina - I saw a guy playing both at the same time (with the harmonica in one of those neck-brace thingies) at McCarthy's, Coore, last week. He was absolutely brilliant. He played a couple of slow airs on the harmonica, accompanying himself on the concertina. I didn't catch his name (or failed to remember it - this was the one night of Willie Week of which I remember least detail, thanks to maximum Bulmers input). It was a great night. Gerry Harrington was playing, and another great fiddler guy with a luxuriant beard which he laid out neatly on the top of his fiddle. If the congas/bongos man is reading this though, here's a message for you - NO, NO, NO!
Anybody know who the harmonica/concertina man is?
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
The only guy I've ever seen doing this was an American who lived in Ireland in the late 70s. He played onstage at the Ballisodare Festival and I think his name was Rick Epping, or something similar, but this is a real test of the memory, and I admit I could be totally wrong about his name. Dow will like this - I'm sure he played an English concertina as opposed to anglo. Sorry, Jack - one of your countrymen too - .
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Rick Epping was in a band called Pumkinhead in the 70's along with Thom Moore - I can't remember the names of the two girls. He is indeed an excellent harmonica player - I've got a video somewhere of a programme called sessions of the '70s which featured them playing a few great tracks.
Believe it or not, he is now a bigwig in Hohner accordions and harmonicas!
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
The weirdest thing that hapened to me in Ireland was when we rented a cottage near Killarny. It was a bit of a walk to the pub and being autumn dark by the time we set out. As we walked along we had to pass a graveyard by a small chapel. We had just gone past when we heard a "Woooo woooo wooo" I got a bit scared and then it came again louder "wooo woooo wooo" we were a bit shakey as we started going down hill and then there coming towards us was this illuminated head gliding silently in mid air and the noise "woooo wooo woooo" How I didn't have a fatal heart attack at this moment I don't know as it got closer and closer .... then we discovered it was this old boy dressed in black on a black bicycle with a torch stuck into the front basket illuminating his face. As he passed he said "evening" and we laughed and felt much better...UNTIL 50 metres later there was the noise again right beside us and really loud "Woooo Wooooo Wooooo" We just ran the final 300metres to the pub without looking back, arrived looking white and shakey and looking in much need of guinness! We told the landlord what had happened and he said "Ah that'll be the galleen Craw" which apparently is some sort of plover that flys at hedge height and makes this noise with its wings. Needless to say we hitched a lift back home.
I would just like to emphasis that this really did take place BEFORE we went to the pub in case anyone gets the wrong idea!!!
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Nell, I'm certain that was Rick Epping you saw. He used to live in this area, and last time he was in town I met him and witnessed this phenomenon myself. His tunes tend to be on the harmonica, and he accompanies himself with the English push-fiddle. As conan says, he is a bigwig at Honer. He also has a patent on a chromatic harmonica he developed that will soon be (or maybe already has been) released. A real nice fella, and one hell of a musician too.
conan - I have a video tape of Pumpkin Head playing in the 70s on The Pure Drop. The same show featured The Bothy Band.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
This one's not weird but does indicate the long arm of coincidence. In '78 I met a Swedish fiddle player in a B&B in Galway. In summer '79 I was teaching English in Athens, and doing a bit of busking in the flea-
market there. Who should come down the street but Kjell the Swedish fiddle player! We probably played some tunes, we certainly had a meal.
Kjell was finding Greece too hot (not surprising as the Greeks were find-
ing it too hot as well), and was ready to turn round and head back north.
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Another curious experience. In spring '84 I was in Ireland with a party of archaeology students touring ancient sites round the middle of Ireland and staying in youth hostels. These places tended to be in the middle of nowhere and sometimes took some finding. Seeking out the early Christian site of Clonmacnoise, we were glad to see a signpost that indicated something like, "Clonmacnoise,10." Appreciably further down the road, another sign said something like, "Clonmacnoise, 14." (I've probably got the figures wrong). Anyway it was the right road, we got there. I was later told that the government had once started to install road signs in kilometres instead of in miles; they hadn't got very far with this, but had left the odd kilometre sign in situ: mystery explained.
Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Recent threads about visiting Ireland and sessions at Hughes’s reminds me of a weird thing that happened on my first visit to Ireland back in 1990. It was my first night in Dublin and I asked Noel Hill where to go for a tune and he said that Hughes’s was my best bet.
(I suppose this probably qualifies as "name-dropping," but Noel was the only person I knew in Dublin at the time... is that OK? Dow?)
Anyway, I had a few hours to kill so I decided to wander around a bit. I came across a long line on the sidewalk over by Christchurch (that I found out later was some sort of famous fish & chips place) and got in line. I took my grub into the pub next to the shop and sat at a booth that was in view of a TV airing a show of ITM I’d never heard of before called “The Pure Drop.” I ordered a pint and thought I must have died and gone to heaven.
The barman came over and told me that they don’t allow the fish & chips in the pub, but it would be ok this once. Maybe he gave me the exemption because I was a clueless foreigner, or maybe it had to do with my hairiness and grizzly bear like girth, but it doesn’t matter for this story because what was on the TV was more important.
I sat enjoying a pint with the best fish & chips of my life and watching a TV show about ITM… and at the end of the show someone named Paul McGrattan was playing “The Trip to Durrow” brilliantly on the flute with another great player named Seamus Begley on the box. The show ended with that, I finished up my meal and pint, and headed out into the Dublin night with “The Trip to Durrow” in my head as theme music.
I continued wandering and time seemed to get away when I realized I should make my way over to Hughes’s. When I arrived I walked in the door and who was there but Paul and Seamus themselves. And what tune do you think they were playing at that very moment? You guessed it – “The Trip to Durrow.” Weird!
I’d love to hear other people’s stories about anything weird that happened on a visit to Ireland. I suppose you folks living in Ireland might have weird things that happened to you too, or maybe weird things about people visiting Ireland. Whatever the case – could be interesting.
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Well, on our honeymoon, we're sitting in Cruise's waiting to meet up with Matt and Shannon Heaton later over at Poet's Corner; we'd gotten into town early from Corofin and thought we'd stop in at Cruise's for a drink before seeing the Heatons, who we hadn't seen in a dog's age.
I went to get our drinks at the bar, and Pete sat by the fire near the front door. Unbeknownst to me, Matt had been playing at a session in the back room and had come out and noticed Pete by the door. "Oh, have you been there the whole time and I just didn't notice?" Matt asked Pete. They talked a bit and then Matt went to go talk to someone else before rejoining us.
I'm putting the drinks down on the table and Pete says, "hey, look who's here!" and nods in (he thinks) Matt's direction. I look across, shriek, "Oh my god, what are you doing here!" and throw my arms around a startled girl that Pete's never seen before in his life.
It was my French friend, the lovely Cecile (cecama here at TheSession), who lived in Boulder for a year, studying with Shannon Heaton while working there. She'd said something about being in Ireland later in the year, but I hadn't realized it would be at the same time we would be there.
Matt comes over, grinning, as I ask Cecile, "Where are you staying?" hoping that she'd come to stay with us in the cottage we've rented in Corofin along with Matt, Shannon, and Beth Leachman.
"Um. With you?" says Matt.
Of course she did stay with us, and we all spent an hilarious New Year's Eve celebration in a rent-an-Irish-cottage village together, along with a New Zealand rugby team and their girlfriends -- Beth later wrote a song about it, Come Day Go Day, which I treasure as a memory of our honeymoon.
Not so much weird as a huge coincidence, I suppose.
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Coincidences are weird.
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
In the Dublin airport women's room, I was washing my hands at the same time as Charlotte Rae (Mrs Garrett from 'The Facts of Life'-80's sitcom). And that's weird.
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by gladys
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
No.1:
My mates Dave (sadly no longer with us) and Sheelagh from Yorkshire told the story some ten years ago of a trip to Clare, when one Sunday after mass in Kilrush (out-of-the-way, but charming town, Shannon estuary) they were holding a terrier race. Sheelagh told how the bets were placed with enthusiasm, there was talk of favourites and no-hopers, and bars were visited first, and eventually they lined up the terriers. There some winch device for dragging a false 'hare' up the road for the terriers to chase, a la greyhounds. The first time, the hare went far too slow, the terriers got it and demolished it a third of the way up the street. They repaired or recreated it, and got down for the second start. This time the hare went so fast that it disappeared up the street and out of sight of the terriers, who were left milling about half way up the course.
This time, said Sheelagh, they'll have to get it right. Well, they did, but about three quarters of the way through the race, some other dog belted out from the spectators, nicked the hare, and ran off, followed by main terriers! I cannot remember if she said any terriers ever crossed the winning line, but it sounds like a good excuse to have at least three Guinness at Crotty's!
No2:
More recently, two session friends from here in Kent were heading across country in their holiday car, miles from anywhere. Next village, says Rosie, I must ring Mum back in England and check she's all right. Next village arrives out of nowhere, as they do in Ireland, and there's a phone box outside the Post Office. It's midday-ish. Rosie goes in the box, and then comes straight out and says to Bob, It's a card phone, let's have some cash and I'll go in and buy a card. So she does, to the Post Office. Not a soul in sight. She gets an eerie feeling, and realises the whole place seems pretty much deserted. Then she see a man in the field out the back of the Post Office and goes to ask him if she can buy a phone card. He cracks out laughing and points up the hill to a row of caravans on the horizon, and she discovers that she's walked onto the set for filming the series 'Ballykissangel'.
We reckoned Mum needed to be ringing her!
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by petemay
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Jeez Jack that was a convoluted way of getting Noel Hill's name in there, but you managed it, good on ya! I love the way you mention nonchanantly that Noel Hill told you this pub was good, even though that has absolutely nothing to do with the story. And the way you justify your namedropping by telling us that he was the only person you knew in Dublin, so that we have to infer that you probably stayed with him... definitely one of the better-put-together efforts here at thesession.org hahaha
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I beg to differ Dow, Noel Hill had something to do with the story -- that's how I knew about a good session being there. For the record, I didn't stay with Noel on that trip, I think he told me about Hughes's to get rid of me actually.
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Maybe he realised one anglo player is more than enough for one building
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
This thread reminded me of a trip to Ireland a couple of years ago. We were staying in Fermanagh, near the Marble Arch caves with a group of cavers, and one day my fifteen year old son Elliott and I escaped for a day's fishing. The trip to the lake we wanted to fish took us through Ballyconnell, where we saw a sign advertising some sort of festival that very day. We spent the day fruitlessly thrashing the Lough to foam without raising a single fish (I think the Germans had got there first), and decided to stop off and check out the Festival on the way back. We arrived in Ballyconnell in the early evening, but all was quiet, so we stuck our heads in the first pub we came to, ordered a Guinness and asked the landlord whether we might find any music that evening. He got very animated at this and assured us we'd come to the right place, and that his pub was THE place for the music in Ballyconnell, and also how in an hour's time there was to be a performance on the trailer by his pub, for which he was providing the electricity. He said that would be followed by a Mummers play, and that there would also be some mighty music in his pub, which we must come back and listen to. He wouldn't be pressed on what this music was though, he just said it was "Everything you could want, all sorts of music..", which didn't really sound too promising.
So we went off and enjoyed an Irish/Chinese take away in the steamy environs of our car, and then headed back to the trailer. The street around it was a sea of schoolgirls (steady now..), all dressed up to the nines. They massed under umbrellas in the drizzle and the little group playing on the stage were obviously their classmates, helped out by an old man with a box. It was very pleasant, but after a while the damp started to seep through me and I felt the need of something to wash down the aftertaste of the Chinese. I dragged young Lochinvar away from the Sea Of Earthly Delights (I think all those girls actually frightened him not a little) and in to the pub. The landlord greeted us like long lost friends and insisted we go straight through to 'the other bar', where he said the music was about to start. My worries were confirmed when I saw the small stage in the corner, covered with electronic devices, but given that we had popped our heads into every other pub we could find on our way to eat, and no-one had told us of anything else, and that we couldn't stay that late anyway, not without our caving chums assuming that leviathan had dragged us into the lough (some bloody hope!). So we decided to stay. I sat Elliott down on a bench along the wall and went to get the beer. The whole bar was a sort of Republican shrine. The walls and ceilings were covered with photos of Republican heroes, memorabilia, guns, other weapons, flags (tattered and otherwise), and a bullet-pocked sign stolen from a border crossing post. I sat back down and the music arrived. It arrived in the form of a man with a guitar who sang rebel songs. These songs were augmented by the massive array of special effects the guitar was plugged into, which could add the sound of an accordion (well something like the sound of an accordion), or a rather disconcerting delayed banjo effect, and a whole range af miliataristic drum effects. We listened to this strange noise with appalled fascination, but gradually became aware that instead of the singer, WE appeared to be the main focus of attention in the room. Everytime anyone walked in they would stop and stare at us. I would nod a greeting out of politeness, and they would look a little puzzled and go and take their place at the bar. Other people at the bar and other tables kept looking at us as well. I couldn't understand it. It was not as though it was unusual for their to be strangers in the bars here, half the other bars we'd been into were full of English anglers. Then the penny dropped - we were the only males in the bar with hair longer than a couple of millimetres. Elliott had very long, thick hair which cascaded over his shoulders. We did look a little out of place. So I ignored the looks and listened to the singer. The surreality of his act was compounded by the way he introduced each song in a rather incongruous cabaret style, "And now, specially for Mike at the bar, I hope your wife is out of hospital soon Mike - and I know all the ladies love this one, it's My Little Armalite", at which the Snare drum effect and auto-banjo kicked in and he was away, to appreciative murmers from the bar. It was so bad it was actually very entertaining, in a kitsch sort of way, and we got chatting to a nice lady who's son was in Willesden, so must be virtually our next door neighbour (We live half way between Reading and Oxford!). I decided on one more pint before we left and fought my way to the now crowded bar.
As I returned, drinks in hand, I suddenly saw why they had been staring at us. On the wall, immediately above Elliott's head, was a framed tribute to the Hunger Strikers. Slap bang in the middle was a large photo of the long haired Bobby Sands, looking the spitting image of the young lad sitting below it. So striking was the resemblance that I nearly dropped my pint, and I burst out laughing. The punters in the pub must have thought they were looking at a ghost.
We stayed for a couple more songs and went out to watch the mummers play - now that WAS weird!
(I originally related this story on a thread on here about a year ago - but I reckon it's worth repeating)
Mark
# Posted on July 13th 2004 by Ottery
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
It didn't happen to me, but it's so good I'll tell it.
My mate Stuart was working for a few days in Ireland and when he came to fly back to Manchester from Shannon Airport he had a cold coming on, and had that "I'm dying" feeling you get as the cold gets to its worst stage.
Arriving at the airport rather early, he was taken aboard the empty plane and given the seat nearest the door, through which was blowing a cold damp wind. After a few minutes he ask the stewardess if it would be alright for him to move to another seat, as the cold draught was making him very uncomfortable.
"Now don't you worry sir," came the reply "we close the door before we fly"
Dave
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
These are great stories -- keep em coming. Be sure to drop a name now and then so as not to loose Dow's interest.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
At the end of a holiday in Ring, Co Waterford, my husband and I found ourselves in the back bar of Mooney's Pub having a ceili with, Dow, Liam Clancy and some of the then fairly newly-formed Danu, including Donnchadh Gough, Annie Mooney's son. Fantastic (but not weird). Anyway, afterwards and well-lubricated, we were invited by a guy called Paeder Nugent to see the pub he ran on his farm. So, off we trundled, round back lanes, at some unearthly hour of the morning, eventually arriving at this place in the middle of nowhere. The room was tiny and the Kennedys and Our Lady (yellowed, of course) were up on the wall. Even the bottles of beer were dusty. No pumps, of course. Far too new-fangled.
Does anyone know if Nugent's Pub is still there, because I think there was some talk of it closing? I would be a pity. Now, there would be a good (and weird) place to have a tune ...
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by west-coaster
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Good one west-coaster -- you managed to drop Dow's name.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Wouldn't it be weird if nothing weird happened while visiting Ireland?
The main event that sticks in my mind is kissing the Blarney Stone. I know, I know, such a touristy thing to do. But way more of an adventure than I expected. Back in the day, you lined up at the top of a stone tower, and this slight-of-build, five-foot tall gent in a walking cap would hoist you out over the parapet, head first and face up, arching your back to kiss the stone over the abyss. You get to watch the people ahead of you take their turns, which builds a mix of dread ("He's too small, he can't possibly hold onto the heft of her!") and confidence ("Well he managed it. Not only didn't he drop her, but he kept her bloomers from billowing all over!").
So my time comes to be lifted, but first the wee man takes a flask out of a hip pocket. A surreptitious sip, I expect. More like draining the entire flask. "C'mon now, don't be shy," he barks at me, and the whiskey fumes nearly knock me down. Then he lights a pre-rolled cigarette. It goes in his lips and next thing I know I'm hanging upside down a mile above the ground with an 80-pound man clutching my ankles. I arch out to reach the stone, and just then he changes his grip, one hand on my right ankle, the other hand replaced by his thigh, sandwiching my leg against the tower. I smack the stone and pull up--our man is nonchalantly flicking ash away from the cigarette in his 'free' hand.
The next guy in line was white as a sheet.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
So the weird part is that the next guy was really a ghost? Kewel! I love Irish ghost stories.
hahahahaha
Sounds scary enough all right Will, but what's scarier is that Irish adolescents shneek into the castle at night and piss on the Blarney Stone.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I was just gald not to be a ghost myself.
Piss is relatively sterile. It was all those millions of lips before mine that had me wondering....
Also on that trip, I got to do a frog imitation into the microphone, with a jazz band at a night club. I even have an autographed 8x10 glossy as evidence. Otherwise I would not know that it happened--not a shred of memory of that one, thank god.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Ok Will... details please... and feel free to drop any names.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
One day I'll make it to your session in SF Jack, and then I'll be able to drop your name wherever I go. Don't worry I won't bring Tina with me! The weirdest thing that happened to me in Ireland was that I didn't kill any cows on the road. I came round a corner and skidded to a halt, swerving to avoid a herd of cattle being moved forwards by a man on a tractor - that was fairly normal for Ireland - but the weird thing was that even though I ploughed right through the herd right through to the other side, I didn't make contact with a single cow.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I was driving around the boreens in Sligo once with my pal Shane when we turned a corner only to be stopped cold by what appeared to be a gang of young hooligan cows. They looked at us as if they were saying, "And just what do you think you're doing in this neighborhood?!!!" Shane and I looked around and noticed that they had surrounded the car, and as it happened we were stopped in place where they load cows on trucks because several were up on a ramp at the height of the roof of our car and it looked as though they were about to push each other on to it. Just then a very responsible looking cow came a round and seemed to clear a path for us as if he was saying, "Alright lads, you've had your fun with these two -- now let em through."
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Jack, the best I can do is go through the family photo albums. The photo will have the name of the band on it. And I'll dutifully drop it here, when I find it.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Jack, was that Shane Mitchell out of Dervish?
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
No, Dow, it was Shane Reynolds, if you must know, a Sligo school teacher and all around great guy. You really need to see a specialist about this obsession with name-dropping before you loose it all together you know.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
It's okay I'll get sick of it in a couple of days and move onto something else. Hippie-bashing might be fun for a while, I'm thinking
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Take your mind of it for a while, Dow. Why don't you go back to serenading your wooly girlfriends out in the pasture with your English-push-fiddle.
hahahaha
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Push-fiddle, LOL! I got told yet again to take up the anglo by another muso last night... Actually I might have to admit defeat with my mousetrap and leave it for a while, I'm getting pissed off with it. I never have the courage to play it in sessions (I take it just so that we can use it to tune to the "A" - how silly is that?) and I'm thinking, even if I did get good enough on it to play in a session, no-one would want to hear it anyway cuz it's not the right concertina... Ah well, at least I gave it a go I guess
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Awww Dow, there there... have you ever heard of a player named Joel Bernstein? He plays harmonica and English-push-fiddle with Randal Bays on a recording called "Pigtown Fling." (He happens to be a friend of mine too, but I won't mention it because it will sound like name-dropping) His playing is excellent on that CD, and I've played in sessions with him many times. He did sit me down and try to get some of those Anglo sounding things out of me once or twice, and he bemoaned that he didn't start on the Anglo to begin with -- but I digress. The main point is that he plays ITM on the thing brilliantly. There's hope for you yet Dow, but don't let me keep you from making the very wise decision to switch to a real concertina.
hahaha
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Well I won't be switching to anglo because a) I couldn't afford it, and b) I couldn't be arsed with another few years of trying to learn a new instrument and not getting anywhere. No, I think when I started out I worked hard at it cuz I was convinced that it was possible, and it probably is - I've never heard Joel Bernstein's playing, I'm sure he's very good as you say. But after a couple of years of working at it, it's becoming too much of an effort, and the people who said stuff to me at sessions are still telling me to give it up. And these aren't people on the net who've never heard an English concertina, these are people who are hearing my playing and going "nah, that's scheidt", not to mention the fact that they're really good musicians who know what they're talking about. So the it's-not-worth-it voice in my head has got to loud to ignore in the last few months, and I've decided to stick to backing. An Irish thesession.org member passing through Sydney has given me some more ideas for harmony to work on anyway, so I'm thinking I can give that a go and try and instead concentrate on getting myself out of the harmonic rut I've found myself in with my Basil-playing.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
You mean... you mean you aren't going to keep playing that English wha-cha-ma-call-it anymore? What am I going to do? Who will I tease? Is this the end of our *gulp* relationship? scuse me... I'm getting all emotional now. *sniff*
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Yeah, although I suppose you could tease me for being a quitter, and I could tease you back for being an anglobully, but it wouldn't be the same would it
Anyway, Tina and I had a long talk today and we've decided to have a trial separation period. We both agree that things aren't working as they are. I explained that there's a lot of other stuff happening in my life right now, and that I need a bit of me-time. I was at a stage where it was all or nothing, and I've made my choice.
I don't know about the future of the Low Caste Frowned-upon Brotherhood. My standing-down as Chief Gobshite of the Brotherhood was a low-key affair, and not many people even realised I'd left under a cloud because I was still seemingly active on behalf of the cause, but that was all really just last-ditch political posturing.
Never mind, my Paddy O'Brien book arrived today so I can take my mind off it all by learning some new tunes.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
sorry, but I thought it is time to recycle this: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/435/comments#comment5682
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by crannog
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Speaking of harmonica and concertina - I saw a guy playing both at the same time (with the harmonica in one of those neck-brace thingies) at McCarthy's, Coore, last week. He was absolutely brilliant. He played a couple of slow airs on the harmonica, accompanying himself on the concertina. I didn't catch his name (or failed to remember it - this was the one night of Willie Week of which I remember least detail, thanks to maximum Bulmers input). It was a great night. Gerry Harrington was playing, and another great fiddler guy with a luxuriant beard which he laid out neatly on the top of his fiddle. If the congas/bongos man is reading this though, here's a message for you - NO, NO, NO!
Anybody know who the harmonica/concertina man is?
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Nell
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
The only guy I've ever seen doing this was an American who lived in Ireland in the late 70s. He played onstage at the Ballisodare Festival and I think his name was Rick Epping, or something similar, but this is a real test of the memory, and I admit I could be totally wrong about his name. Dow will like this - I'm sure he played an English concertina as opposed to anglo. Sorry, Jack - one of your countrymen too -
.
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Kenny
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
The harmonica/concertina player must have been Mick Kinsella - wonderful musician, now living in Clare.
What did bongos player look like???
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by cluaintarbh
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Rick Epping was in a band called Pumkinhead in the 70's along with Thom Moore - I can't remember the names of the two girls. He is indeed an excellent harmonica player - I've got a video somewhere of a programme called sessions of the '70s which featured them playing a few great tracks.
Believe it or not, he is now a bigwig in Hohner accordions and harmonicas!
# Posted on July 14th 2004 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I'm going to maintain a tactful silence, as to the bongos player...
# Posted on July 15th 2004 by Nell
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
The weirdest thing that hapened to me in Ireland was when we rented a cottage near Killarny. It was a bit of a walk to the pub and being autumn dark by the time we set out. As we walked along we had to pass a graveyard by a small chapel. We had just gone past when we heard a "Woooo woooo wooo" I got a bit scared and then it came again louder "wooo woooo wooo" we were a bit shakey as we started going down hill and then there coming towards us was this illuminated head gliding silently in mid air and the noise "woooo wooo woooo" How I didn't have a fatal heart attack at this moment I don't know as it got closer and closer .... then we discovered it was this old boy dressed in black on a black bicycle with a torch stuck into the front basket illuminating his face. As he passed he said "evening" and we laughed and felt much better...UNTIL 50 metres later there was the noise again right beside us and really loud "Woooo Wooooo Wooooo" We just ran the final 300metres to the pub without looking back, arrived looking white and shakey and looking in much need of guinness! We told the landlord what had happened and he said "Ah that'll be the galleen Craw" which apparently is some sort of plover that flys at hedge height and makes this noise with its wings. Needless to say we hitched a lift back home.
I would just like to emphasis that this really did take place BEFORE we went to the pub in case anyone gets the wrong idea!!!
Sarah
# Posted on July 15th 2004 by Sarah the Flute
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Nell, I'm certain that was Rick Epping you saw. He used to live in this area, and last time he was in town I met him and witnessed this phenomenon myself. His tunes tend to be on the harmonica, and he accompanies himself with the English push-fiddle. As conan says, he is a bigwig at Honer. He also has a patent on a chromatic harmonica he developed that will soon be (or maybe already has been) released. A real nice fella, and one hell of a musician too.
conan - I have a video tape of Pumpkin Head playing in the 70s on The Pure Drop. The same show featured The Bothy Band.
So Dow, maybe you should take up the harmonica.
# Posted on July 15th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Just looked up Rick Epping - nope, not him!
# Posted on July 15th 2004 by Nell
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
I'm telling you it was Mick Kinsella!! Best in the business especially on slow airs
# Posted on July 15th 2004 by cluaintarbh
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Mick Kinsella it was then, I go with that theory. I'll look out for him again. Brilliant stuff.
# Posted on July 16th 2004 by Nell
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Conan, I reckon one of the two girls might have been Sandy Epping.
# Posted on July 19th 2004 by sergeant fox
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Jack, that was the same set of tracks that I saw on "Sessions of the '70s" - it was lifted straight off The Pure Drop
Helen, it was Mick Kinsella you saw, somebody else mentioned they'd seen him at that session.
Paul, I think you may be right! Kathy Moore was the other girl - Thom's wife at the time. I didn't know Rick and Sandi were married as well.
# Posted on July 19th 2004 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
This one's not weird but does indicate the long arm of coincidence. In '78 I met a Swedish fiddle player in a B&B in Galway. In summer '79 I was teaching English in Athens, and doing a bit of busking in the flea-
market there. Who should come down the street but Kjell the Swedish fiddle player! We probably played some tunes, we certainly had a meal.
Kjell was finding Greece too hot (not surprising as the Greeks were find-
ing it too hot as well), and was ready to turn round and head back north.
# Posted on July 30th 2006 by nicholas
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Another curious experience. In spring '84 I was in Ireland with a party of archaeology students touring ancient sites round the middle of Ireland and staying in youth hostels. These places tended to be in the middle of nowhere and sometimes took some finding. Seeking out the early Christian site of Clonmacnoise, we were glad to see a signpost that indicated something like, "Clonmacnoise,10." Appreciably further down the road, another sign said something like, "Clonmacnoise, 14." (I've probably got the figures wrong). Anyway it was the right road, we got there. I was later told that the government had once started to install road signs in kilometres instead of in miles; they hadn't got very far with this, but had left the odd kilometre sign in situ: mystery explained.
# Posted on July 30th 2006 by nicholas
Re: Weird things that happened to you while visiting Ireland
Ditto on the way to Blarney Castle in the late 70's.
# Posted on July 30th 2006 by Clear Drops