In this (I suspect) typical Irish morning – grey, slightly wet, quite cold and decidedly windy, just waking up from a deep slumber fueled by a long drive and a pint of Kilkenny, in a warm bed in a beautiful Irish home, I am going to try to sum up my Irish experience in these words:

Shamrock –

            Eerie boglands, empty wild misty moorland, wild flowers, barren burren, high cliffs, strong strong wind, waves hammering the rocky beach, rugged mountains, beautiful valley, rounded hills, lonely, foggy and windy fishing villages, fossils and old rocks, busloads of tourists, grey sky with patches of blues, rain, rain, rain..... 

Leprechauns –

            Blarney, wit, charm, jokes, irish mothers, warm smile, easy talks, strange accents, Gaelic languange, Gaeltacht areas

Guinness –

            A pint of Guinness, Kilkenny, Smithwicks, Powers, Paddy, Jameson, Locke’s distillery. The Stag’s Head, The Brazen Head, O’ Donoghue. The fry, consisting of bacon, sausages, eggs, white puddings and black puddings. Bacon and cabbage, chowder, fish and chips, scones with yummy cream alongside a cup of tea with lots of milk....

St Patrick –

            A land of Saints and Scholars? Mary grottos, high crosses alone in the field, Bridget’s well, Cathedrals, old ruined churces with graveyard, old ruined abbey, Sunday Mass, Corpus Christi processions, old priests, wooden crosses under hawthorne tree....

History  –

            Dolmen, ring forts, high crosses, old churches, old abbey, Glendalough, Castles, monks, earls and counts, 1798 rising, General Post Office, Michael Collins, gravestones of the 5^th century side by side with ones from the 12^th century and ones from present day. A lump of history, a time machine....

Today FM –

            Funny programmes in the morning, witty jokes, comedy, news of tragedy of school kids involved in road accidents, sad nursing homes, rubbish and recycling, central heating in a cold day....

A jumble of words that sum up my Irish Experience. Such a rich experience. Will I ever be able to unravel them and tell a coherent story out of them?

Enniscorthy, 2 June 2005