Irish in Ireland AMA

[SrSteveOskowski]

Following on from a Dane in Denmark, I'm Irish, living in Ireland AMA

Are Derek and Thelma still in the mortal sphere?

I'm from the south-west, smurfy, but I live out of Ireland these days, though considering returning in the next year or two, depending on finances.

I think Derek Davis died a few years back, didn't he?

I remember Live at Three. Someone was always singing 'Scarlet Ribbons', a freaky song about God apparently providing hair accessories if you pray hard enough, or 'The Spinning Wheel' about some young one gaslighting her granny about how the tapping at the window is ivy, and not her boyfriend trying to get her to come down to him, so they can go 'roving'.

And the front row always looked bewildered, and as though they had been ordered into doing strange handclaps or waving.

Derek Davis died in 2015, Thelma is now a painter after her retirement in late 1990s.

@Peridot1 not old at all, my cousins their other granny and granda lived till 102 and 103 respectively, so you have plenty of time, lots of life left in you yet. As they said, they thought about "putting them down in the end" - quote from both the granny and granda in their lifetimes, not the cousins

Tanya it sounded familiar to a priest up in Donegal area

I think they showed an episode of Bosco midway through Live at Three. That was the only time I caught a glimpse of it.

Did anyone go to the Coca Cola Factory for a school tour in primary school? Somewhere in Dublin but god knows where. You got a pencil case and a can of Coke at the end. I remember the guy saying he hadn't brushed his teeth in 30 years, just rinsed his mouth out with coke before bed.

Does anyone remember Foster and Allen? esp during their leprechaun days (so early 1980s)

A link from Top of the Pops no less,

OMG that link lead me to recall a local band to me which once appeared on Wogan and TOTP, I won't link it cos it's so bad it's traumatic and might out me as its a small area.

For those in NI who else spent Friday night watching The Kelly Show, followed by Prisoner Cell Block H till TV ended? There was another programme as well I can’t remember but flicking over and back to the Late Late Show with Gaybo depending on who was on.

smurfy you were taken on a whistle stop tour of the whole of Ireland on your school trips

We went to the Lambert Puppet Theatre too. Sad to see they closed down last year.

There was that crannog place down in Wexford too. Stands out as a good one for me.

Fiddle here you can get a piece of childhood right here.

The Bosco theme is the sound of a 1980s Irish childhood! I love how desperately unsophisticated it all was. But God, Bosco was an annoying little gom, wasn't s/he?

Foster and Allen were pervy leprechauns, though -- ' A Bunch of Thyme' was about keeping your knees together, especially around lusty sailors, which was obvious even to me when I was a spectacularly naive ten-year-old:

Once she had a bunch of thyme
She thought it never would decay
Then came a lusty sailor who chanced to pass her way
He stole her bunch of thyme away

The sailor gave to her a rose
A rose that never would decay
He gave it to her to keep her reminded
Of when he stole her thyme away

Come all ye maidens young and fair
All you that are bloming in your prime
Always be ware and keep your garden fair
Let no man steal away your thyme

No, sadly not, that was over 6 glorious years, 1st class to 6th class. I forgot one, how could I? Mosney - the holiday centre "Mosney by the sea" to be sung loudly in your screechiest voice

We did get a trip in high infants which took us to the nearest town on market day, no bus involved, we all piled into 2 cars with the teachers driving so 21 students in high infants.

Secondary school trips were also interesting as well, such as sending home 4 students in the middle of the night in a taxi (from Mosney by coincidence)

and losing 2 students in Paris (physically losing) and having to leave 2 teachers to find them leaving the other 2 teachers to guide/herd the other 30 x 14-year-olds back to Ireland. Fun times but not for the teachers.

Also did a co-operation North experience which was kinda like "Friends across the Barricades" in Derry Girls the other night.

Dunno if anyone has said that if you like Derry Girls (which I do) you may like London Irish (which is the same writer Lisa McGee) it's on Channel 4

Also did a co-operation North experience which was kinda like "Friends across the Barricades" in Derry Girls the other night.

I did one of these too. The main culture shock was going from my house, which contained me plus four teenage brothers, to my exchange's house which was just her and one sister. So peaceful!

Absolute lolling at 21 5 year olds being shunted into two cars! How times have changed!

@BeGoodTanya I know, I remember a night out to see them in a pub in Clougherhead in late 1982 with my mammy and daddy.

I was just turned 7 and they won tickets on a local radio station and couldn't get a babysitter so took me with them.

I had toothache which hit me when we were waiting for the band to come on so mammy did what was needed, she got me a hot whiskey and gave it to me. I slept beside her most of the night, when I did wake up, all I could see was leprechauns before falling asleep again. It sorted toothache out until I seen a dentist,

They woke me on the way home and I was able to eat if still woozy and we had burgers and chips in the car then I slept the rest of the way.

That is an abiding memory for me as it was the last time I remember being out and Daddy being well, it was between Christmas and new year and he took ill on New years day and died 5 months later.

I’m howling at Padre Kenobi.

I think at least 50% of my school tours were to the zoo. Bunratty Castle was another one.

There was a nun in my school the image of the ancient one who died in detention in Derry Girls.

Nothing, nothing makes me so homesick as watching an episode of Room To Improve.

My secret dream is to move home and hire Dermot to build me a big glass box at the back of a suburban semi d.

I remember my mother putting 12 of us as 10-year-olds into her ford escort, there was an argument as we all wanted to lie in the back windowsill, the front passenger seat would be sitting empty in all these cases as it was dangerous to sit in the front as young.

1987/88 - coming home from a birthday party from one of the class, we were all in the back of a hi ace sitting on our schoolbags as it was by now a Friday night and we had all gone straight from school to the party

We didn't have a school uniform at all in national school as by then we were 6th class and the principal was bringing it in for the school but as we would only get one year out of it, we didn't have to wear it or get one only if we choose to. So none of us did in 6th class, the next year all the school was wearing it.

Good times but looking back some horrifically unsafe.

The main culture shock was going from my house, which contained me plus four teenage brothers, to my exchange's house which was just her and one sister. So peaceful!

Deffo, I went to a house with 15 kids under the age of 18 who lived on the edge of a town, that was a shock to me. Probably more of a shock to them when they came to me, I am one of 2, with an older brother was away at college so when she came was just me and my mammy in our house 7 miles from the nearest town and 1.5 miles from the nearest shop.

I loved going on the school trip esp to the department stores, now looking back Im sure the stores really loved to see us.

A large group of -snot ridden / money burning their pockets children aged from 6/7 up to 12/13 at most who couldn't afford most things in the chose stores. Clerys there might have been a few items, Arnotts also a chance, Brown Thomas not a hope in hell.

Getting the usual lecture before letting us go - don't leave the store, don't touch the stuff, don't knock stuff over, don't play in the lifts, don't play on the stairs. Meet back here in x amount of time, do you all have the time or will you stay with someone who has a watch (don't actually check their watch is at the right time)

According to the teacher I had in low and infants many years later who revealed to me, they used to do the tour which the parish priest would give the teachers a shopping voucher for the extra work for one of those dept stores so that's why we were all taken to them.

They needed to get something nice to reward themselves for the hell that school trips probably were.

15 kids under 18!? Bloody hell!

I think it was the tour which took us to Ulster American Folk park in Omagh and then a supermarket, that I proudly brought home a present to my mother. A 3 pack of tinned sweetcorn by Green Giant.

Did the Coca Cola tour and got the pencil case and most important can of coke but don't remember that fella.

BeGoodTanya, that Foster and Allen song is 'special'. All I'm sayin' is I don't think I'd ever be tempted to share my fragrant thyme with this pair.

We also went to watch planes take off at Dublin airport on a tour as well.

When the national school went on tour, we usually hit 3+ places during that day but if it was the zoo, we might get to Bettystown on the way back to go on the beach (but not out in the sea in case we drowned) and to the amusements. The highlight of the school year.