Visits to Ireland - stories

[eileen from OH]

I'll start (hey, it's my bloody thread.)

We're driving throughout and discovered very quickly that while street signs may be hidden, signs to the public toilet were not. (A semi-sensible thing, I'm thinkin'). This gave rise to the husband, on more than one occasion, sayin' "Ah, we're on Toilet Street yet again.)

So they have these little space age rocket-shaped booths, which are very reminiscent of Woody Allen's Orgasmatrom. You put in 2p (trust me, every joke has been made) and the door goes "whoosh" and opens. So's I put in my coins, the door opens and in I go. It's completely paper free and totally space age. One button dispenses water, another dispenses soap, the final one sends out a blower to dry your hands.

So, anyway, I've gone in, dropped trou and thinks to meself, "Y'know, I dinna lock the door." (I acquired a brogue approximately 2 minutes after landing at Shannon.) So, crouching pantless, I give the handle a twist and it immediately went "whoosh" and opened, thereby giving the entire crowd at the bus stop a shot of the stoopid Yankee takin' a piss. They were quite amused.

Which is why I can't go back to Ireland again.

eileen from OH

[MichaelHarris]

1. Seeing

guys with machine guns on the streets was a new thing for me. The food was bland and I had to beg for Tabasco sauce but other than that the girls we're beautiful. At least I didn't get arrested like the time I went to Mexico.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I loved Ireland

I have been there twice. The first time with friends, when I was a teen-ager, riding horses on the beaches, and the second time with my family. I am afraid of heights and I will never forget my Dad on the Cliffs of Moher, with his camera, telling me to back up and back up until I finally just sat down. I just wouldn't get any closer to the edge. He was messing with my head, of course. I am half-Irish, and Ireland, IMO, is the most beautiful place in the world.:-)

[wickerwoman]

3. I studied abroad at UC Dublin my junior year.

There's a lot of great memories and 1 pretty funny one.

I still have my visa picture (I had almost shaved hair and a huge black eye and I'm glaring at the camera.) I got the black eye falling off my bike onto concrete. It swelled until I couldn't open my eye for two weeks and I still have a bump eight years later. I went to the emergency room which, over there, is labelled "Casualty"- not what I wanted to read at the time. A lovely nurse gave me a head x-ray and they never billed me. Ya gotta love that socialized medicine. Also, no one would believe that I got the black eye falling off my bike (even though I had road rash all over my face.) Everyone just assumed my boyfriend had beaten the shit out of me.

But my dorm room looked out on a hurling pitch and I can still remember waking up to a beautiful summer day with that Irish green grass and watching the lads knocking the balls around.

[Maeve]

4. Hard to pick just one story...

Our rental car's driver-side electric window went down and refused to go back up. We called the agency and they said "No problem--take it to the Galway airport and trade it in; we'll call ahead and they'll be expecting you." So off we went, only the branch didn't have a car to lend us and nobody had called ahead! "Those idjits never do call," the man laughed. "How about you take it up the road to the dealership and see if they can fix it for you? I'll call so they'll know you're coming." "You'll call ahead?" Hubby asked. The man laughed "Sure, I promise!"

Well, his directions being somewhat less than clear, it took us about three times longer to find the dealership than expected...and, no, he didn't call them! However, they got right to the car and in half no time we were back on the road with a new fuse and a working window (it failed again the last day, but with the window up and the agency didn't charge us for not filling the tank back up due to the problems we'd had, so it worked out to the best!)