Unlocking Ireland - thread uimhir a seacht!

[LifeInAHamsterWheel]

A shiny new thread for us all to talk pure shite whilst we wait for lockdown to end

Sionnachrua where are you teaching! It's mad that all the coastal and island people seem to be still into Irish stuff that has died out elsewhere. I want to live where you live and I want to go to school and play cards at playtime and go on a ferry to the pub with my parents and hide from the guards! Can I throw a tantrum/?

@Therewereroses

Sionnachrua where are you teaching! It's mad that all the coastal and island people seem to be still into Irish stuff that has died out elsewhere. I want to live where you live and I want to go to school and play cards at playtime and go on a ferry to the pub with my parents and hide from the guards! Can I throw a tantrum/?

Oh, it's just Dublin! The cards was something that they latched onto for months. Before that it was massages. Kids are odd.

I'd love to live up where DH is from - sometimes - but I don't think I could do it in the depths of winter. When it's sunny it's gorgeous but there's feck all up there really. And they drive like maniacs, even off the island. You'll need better nerves than me

@Mumofthreeandalab

Does anyone living in Ireland at the moment know if in person house viewings will be allowed from tomorrow when 5km rule lifts? House hunting and virtual viewings are not great!

I haven't a notion, Mum. I would probably phone them directly and ask them what the plan is (if they know!)

@Therewereroses

Sionnachrua where are you teaching! It's mad that all the coastal and island people seem to be still into Irish stuff that has died out elsewhere. I want to live where you live and I want to go to school and play cards at playtime and go on a ferry to the pub with my parents and hide from the guards! Can I throw a tantrum/?

It is like an Irish Famous Five adventure

It was fancy papers and roller skates in my day. You were the most popular girl in class if your aunt brought you back some fancy papers from England or something - sadly I had no rich travelling relatives. I ended up with the most extensive fancy paper collection however having started with nothing. I think I might have hoodwinked them on some trades lol.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

Did anyone else here call runners or sneakers rubberdollies? Why did I call them that?!

Yes! No idea why though

I also say 'now in a minute' to mean some indeterminate time in the future, possibly never, Sionnach.

I also became very cool for a week because my mother bought me this scented rubber in a little case of it's own, a little see through box. I can still see it and smell it now. I was the envy of every girl in the class until the next week they all had one. I actually want one now. They're probably emitting radons or something so are no longer permitted. My mother never bought me anything, so I'm not sure why she bought me that.

I said something out loud once unknown to myself. It came out and I hadn't intended to say it out loud. It just came out. My boss was saying 'So, I've organised a client meeting to discuss the progress we've made up until this point and to outline that I've done x, y and z'.
Well out it came. 'You did in your hole'. Then I wondered where I could wind my neck back into. He just sort of swivelled and looked at me and laughed and said 'say that again! haha, that's funny, I did do those things!' He was used to my Mrs Bucket accent of course. I just said, oh it's just an Irish thing. He then went on to explain to me that he had in fact done all the things that he hadn't done. It was funny actually. Still my best work reference he is. Anything on my reference, have I done it? I have in me hole. I still depend on him years later.

"Stop the lights, Bunny"!.....
that brings back memories

I still say stop the lights, sometimes stop the bus! The kids say it too! Ted Hastings phrases in Line of Duty are great do you think I came up the Lagan on a bubble? my folks are from Belfast and my mum still says this!! Also don't teach your granny how to suck eggs and hold your whist are well used phrases in our family

AnnieJ1985 I feel sorry for my children. They've never known that childhood freedom. I'm sure that they have gotten up to all sorts over the years, but not when they were children as I felt that I had to watch them permanently. They had never been in pubs apart from playing music (although as sure as God's in heaven I'll find out that they were lol). They're now grown and I can't wait to be a grandmother and just be relaxed da fook. I was so stressed as a mother. Still am. Does it ever stop?

Mumofthreeandalab
One of the girls who works with me has a viewing next week. A face to face one, so they must be restarting.

I remember we all got our minerals and crisps and we sat at the back of the pub while my dad had a few drinks, good memories.

I've just walked round Trim castle and it is gorgeous there. In between, the rain, the sleet and the snow! When the sun shines, its so nice to be out and about.

My Mayo grandmother in particular would use 'Stop the lights'. It was usually meant well from what I've heard of it anyway. 'Arah stop the lights, shur she looked stunning'. Or I'd be paraded over in a Debs dress or something (lived next door to grandparents) and it was 'Oh, well, stop the lights, Marie, will ya look at ya!' And then she'd break into a fit of laughing. Oh I miss her so much.

Is there much to see/do at Trim castle? I've often passed it and wondered about it but never actually thought to go there specifically.

Have any of ye ever been to a place called Fore in Co. Westmeath I think it's in? Could be county Meath now that I think of it. It's brilliant for children as it has this thing called the 7 wonders of Fore. One of them is water that runs up a hill. There's a sort of wishing well thing there which you throw a coin into. Might be something to do with a tree, then there's a church built on a hill. We spent hours videoing this water to see whether it was flowing up hill or not. Lovely little village pub there too. Or there was many years ago.

This is it www.discoverireland.ie/westmeath/fore-abbey You could climb up the staircases of the old castle thing. I have a fear of heights so couldn't do it but the dc did with my aunt and uncle who are braver than me. Lovely setting for photos too. The children love the folklore of the 7 wonders and trying to disprove them all. It's probably the greatest load of bunkum, but honestly, some of them genuinely believe it all!

Having just read through the folklore on it, I recall being too superstitious to attempt to try to boil the water that wouldn't boil. I wasn't going to tempt fate!

Just thinking, if ye have time to spend with children and are allowed to travel again and be outdoors, it might be an interesting place to go for a day with a picnic. My dc were fascinated with the magic of all these 7 wonders. Short of a unicorn, they couldn't have been more fascinated! The only other place they really enjoyed was Bunratty folk park if any of you have ever been? It's near Shannon airport in Co. Clare I think. I'm sure that they might have enjoyed actually being in the pub with us when music was belting out, but it just wasn't done 10 or 15 years ago. I feel sad a bit that I succumbed to social pressure.

Somewhere that I didn't bring them to was Dingle for the live music and the food particularly as they love seafood. God I was such a stifled Mum! Don't be like me!

I've just texted eldest telling her that she must go to Dingle. Response was , ye when things open maybe. Well that's me told!

If you like a good castle, Trim and Bunratty are excellent, and so are the two forts in Kinsale. My dh loves castles, I like them when they are luxurious hotels.

Thanks very much Therewereroses. Some lovely ideas there. Can't wait to start getting out and about more.

Also a fan of luxury hotels!

Fore is nice, I've done it as a day trip from Dublin on the bicycle. There's a fabulous holy well there.

I haven't been to Bunratty since the school tour years.

My DM and her friends went to Bunratty for an evening over Christmas 2019. They went to the banquet evening that they have had
They really enjoyed it.
I haven't been in about 5 years- we went to Santa one Christmas, but it's a lovely spot day or night.

Thank you

Can't keep up with this thread. Just to say yes to mar dhea, plamás, flaithuilach, organising a meitheal, fancy paper and also wine brewing in the hot press! That must have been a passing craze in the late eighties!

My grandparents played cards too but sadly I never really grasped them. But I learned one card game in the Gaeltacht called Split and my sisters got my kids into it and they're obsessed! Does anyone know this game? Because we still fight over some fine points of the rules and I really don't know if I even grasped it correctly in the first place through Irish in 1992