Very Irish Things

[RocketPanda]

A thread of appreciation of things that only seem to happen in Ireland.

I was away for two weeks and a couple of days after I returned the postman knocked on my door with a big bag of packages ( they were sent from work, only two were very delayed orders). He realised I was away so instead of leaving them and risking theft or damage he stored them for me.

Anyone else any good stories?

Its not much of a link that he worked with someone that I never spoke to , is it!

I don't think she even lived in my area for long. I think she lived in my town for two years and went to my school for two years, and then moved to Dublin . I never spoke to her once.

It's not really that reasonable for him to be showing me Facebook photos of someone that I never spoke to, for twent yminutes is it !

But yeah, Irish people always insist on trying to find a link for some reason, It is the tribal mentality.

Another thing that I think is a very Irish thing, is the tribal mentality. And the insistence that you are from one place in Ireland ,even though people move around all the time.

People ask me where I am from I'm irland. I say, I'm not from anywhere in Ireland. My parents lived in Galway, Donegal and Meath when I was a child as they moved for family reasons.
As an adult I've lived in Galway, Westmeath, Dublin and cork for work.

They say "yes but where are you from!".

I actually saw an Irish woman get a bit annoyed about this the other day. I was on a yoga retreat with her. A guy asked her where she was from. She said I'm not from one place. I was born in Drogheda but I haven't lived there since I was 16

You said it's reasonable because people have to make the link. Do you not think it was a bit of a strange link to make.

He said "do you know Alice dunne*.

I said yes she went to school with me twenty years ago. She was two years ahead of me. I never once spoke to me. *.

He said "ah you know her!! I worked wih her in Dublin. And the he proceeded to show me Facebook photos of her for literally the next twenty minutes". I was sat next to him, so no escape.

I repeatedly said "I don't know her"

*I never once spoke to her

I remember when the TV only came on at 12noon or was it 6pm? And the opened with The Angelus.

Also the static adverts - black and white pen drawing (like you would see in a newspaper) with a radio style voice over. Ones I remember were:

Don’t fly your kites near electric pylons

and

Does your cattle have ringworm?

These were TV ads that came on just after The Angelus

This cracked me up - local ‘festival’ on an island near me off the west coast this summer - opening ceremony is Mass!

Then all the thrills of arm-wrestling and lady’s tug-o-war

No idea what the “novelty events” are...

And 'Clery's sale now on' with a drawing of a chic looking woman in a long 50s style coat.

Or adverts for some cure for ' sarcoptic mange mites'.
And the for the jewellers McDowells Happy Ring House. I think they sponsored a radio show as well.

There were always ads for some specific blend of milk replacement for calves. The ad had a branding iron, I think?

This is also giving me flashbacks to the RTE news in the days before outside broadcasts — a non-Dublin story would be relayed vocals-only, with a grainy photograph of a journalist standing in a phone box as the visual.

😯 I know where you're at!

My dad is from the area. I remember spending a horrific boat trip over to the island for mass as a teenager on one of our many summer trips back. And my God, the midges.

Cheno Unction - it's a queer name, but great stuff!

Cheno unction

No relation to Extreme Unction which was the name given to what is now known as the Sacrement of the Sick or Last Rites - where Catholics who are very poorlyare anointed by a priest.

Triple AAA Golden Maverick!!!
Blast from the past

@MrsMariaReynolds Mass is always involved - we used to get dragged up Croagh Patrick where the little church was opened up and Mass said. I was tasked with carrying the chalice up in my back pack. My Mum also used to go off to Louth Derg on some mad 3 day pilgrimage of no food, little sleep and no shoes - think she just did it to get away from us kids !

YES!!! Oh god, now it’s 1982 in my head. Charlie and Garret, GUBU etc.

I watched the ad on YouTube, and, tragically, I actually remembered what the three As stood for

ANTI-SCOUR
ACIDIFIED
ACCELERATED GROWTH

And your man who played the mechanic in the very early days of Fair City is in it, in cowboy costume.

Despite how cringe RTE was ....we got the Fugitive slightly before the UK stations. I was at secondary school in England and remember being quite smug about this when I came back from holiers.

I spent all summer at home and often Christmas and Easter too. The short sponsored radio shows stand out in my memory too. Especially Frankie Byrne the agony aunt .

It's still on the market @MaudGonneOutForAFag. The ads must have worked

This thread has been informative....especially seeing ‘hoor’ written down - I always thought it was the word whore in a dialect.......

Another thing was always having to have the house immaculate before 10am because of any visitors dropping in unannounced which happened daily (as no phone - people just dropped in for 10 mins when passing).

Also said “package” of biscuits rather than packet - which might refer to how they were historically sold loose - you chose how many and they were packaged up.

Also the word “Now” .... used as a sort of introduction or indication that shopkeeper / bartender / waiter was ready to serve you

Now so!
I'm an oldie so can remember people in the shop buying stuff like :
Broken biscuits
5 cigarettes - often Weights
2 eggs
An onion
A French Nougat - pronounced Nugget by everyone.

The man would jot it all down with a pencil and add it up in his head . Imagine!
Sometimes they would be out of something and we'd have to go to a different shop for that. I'd have to stand outside with the full bag. Bad form to bring it in . My nan would be morto

Yes, I saw that when I googled — they’ve backed off from the Yeehaw Western branding, though!

@Gloriously, well, ‘hoor’ is ‘whore’, but has a far wider set of connotations, not all to do with prostitution, or being a woman. A ‘cute hoor’ can be said rather admiringly of someone’s shady wheeling and dealing, for instance, rather than implying a pretty prostitute.

There was an excellent supermarket in Cabra in the 1980s that would sell one egg, one rasher, one slice of cheese - great for an underpaid junior civil servant on a Wednesday evening - spaghetti carbonara often saved the day.

There was a deeply un-excellent newsagent in a midwest market town in the 1970s that would sell two cigarettes and one match to children in school uniform - completely illegal and also common knowledge. God knows how many life-limiting, life-long addictions that was a source for.

Nugget - yes I remember that.

@DeanElderberry - yes this was a common occurrence back then in many places - all you had to do was ask for “two loose” - and were given 2 fags (already had your own lighter / matches) - big rush on after school.

I do think there are lot of things that make Ireland a particularly bad place to live in.
Nothing to do
Bad drinking culture
Poor infrastructure
Poor public transport -buses are always an hour late.

People are neve happy for you if you achieve anything or do well in life. Anytime I've achieved anything, someone has knocked me down because they are jealous.

Begrudging and nastiness.

@Mooshamoo I read your other thread slating Ireland, if you hate it so much then leave ffs.