Things Irish

Blarney--we heard many a tall tale in Ireland and the gift of the gab runs through many it seems. Now that we're nearly on the homefront we've checked the internet and if Liam's fish whacking is a record it's only in Killybegs or Donegal as there is no listing. But somehow we're not surprised by this in the least.

Almost all the toilet bowls in Ireland are quite roundish, kinda cute...as toilet bowls go. The handles are on the right instead of the left in Canadian/US toilets. Why one side or the other, who knows?

Latches on almost every bathroom door are slide latches. It seems to be the latch style of choice.

You'll be hard pressed to find a face cloth at any B&B or guesthouse. I hate water in my face so I always use one. Luckily I brought my own.

About 80% of the places we stayed didn't have hairdryers.

Everything from toothbrushes (equiv. of $8-13) or hair mousse (equiv. of $10) is really expensive.

I've been called love or lass but no other form, besides "girls". So my friends who think chicken (never heard this one even the first time around Eng. and Scotland many years ago) must be remembering a local idiom from somewhere.

I was told that no matter where you are pretty much there would be the friendly Irish and you wouldn't be sitting alone for long or they would start buying you drinks. This friendliness was apparent in the towns but by no means universal. The resort areas and modern cities were as friendly...or as unfriendly as every big, trendy place. Kilkenny would have been the same except for the lads from the North.

Food was generally of high quality.

Every town or village goes back centuries so the streets are narrow and winding, the buildings tall and joined together as row houses. As you get farther out from the town center you encounter newer row houses, or individual dwellings. These seem to be quite large and have at least four bedrooms. That's why there are so many B&B's in Ireland.

Traffic circles and few lights. They're insane and you'll get honked at for doing it wrong but then find in the next town that it's different. Speed limits are for decoration. If you see a sign for 60 km, people will easily be going 120. The small roads are usually 60-80 km and the highways 100-120 km.

We only saw one farmer with a horse and buggy but saw some country fellows in the typical cap, jacket, baggy pants with shiny bottom, and wellies.

Ireland is green and after a few millennia of deforestation, there are border trees and groves, a few protected forests. It was the stunning thing to see flying over. However, we did see areas of reforestation. When flying over I couldn't figure out why the trees looked as if they were combed. It was because they had been planted at some point.

Ireland roads are almost all bordered by hedgerows or stone fences. There may also be trees that have been growing there for a long while that form tunnels as the branches reach above and leave space enough for car and lorries to go through. It definitely gave a different feel to the countryside.