{"id":5325,"date":"2022-02-15T10:56:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T17:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/?p=5325"},"modified":"2022-02-15T13:20:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T20:20:15","slug":"memories-of-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/archives\/5325","title":{"rendered":"Memories of Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My friend Max recently sent me an excerpt from his journal written when he and his wife Kate were sojourning in Ireland some years ago. Reading about Ireland as Max describes life there brought to mind the few things I remember about the four days I spent in Ireland with my parents and siblings 56 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Little did I suspect at the time that this would be my only visit to Ireland in my life, and also my only trip to Europe. It was the summer of 1966. I was sixteen and had one more year of high school to endure. My father was going to attend a psychiatric conference in Edinburgh, and spending a few days in Ireland was how our month in Europe began \u2013 my father, mother, older sister Kathy, younger brother Steve, et moi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Near Death <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our trans-Atlantic flight landed at Shannon Airport where we piled\ninto a much-too-small-for-five-people rental car, and with my father at the\nwheel we drove off in the general direction of Dublin. In a large town along\nthe way, my father turned the wrong way onto a one-way road where two lanes of\ncars fast approached us. Blessedly, this moment of terror ended without injury\nor death when the approaching cars slowed to a stop and waited for us to get\noff the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two Redheads <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came to a small village awash in sunlight with almost no one\nabout. We had somehow gotten off the main road and were lost. This was not\nunusual. My father, who thought he knew everything, often got us lost. He\nparked the car and we went in search of a place to eat. We found a small caf\u00e9,\nsparsely furnished with white walls, a few tables, and a high counter. There\nwere no menus and nothing to indicate what kind of food, if any, was sold\nthere. We were the only customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two affable redheaded men, obviously brothers, came out from the\nkitchen and we asked if they served lunch. They exchanged amused looks and said\nthey could make us some sandwiches and tea. We sat down, and after a fairly\nlong wait, they served us hard dry buns, a bit of ham, no condiments, and a pot\nof strong black tea, which was helpful in breaking down the rock-hard buns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At meal\u2019s end, the minimal bill paid, my father asked what the\ntipping rate in Ireland was, and one of the redheads replied with a twinkle in\nhis eyes, \u201cWell first you try to get out without paying, and if you can\u2019t do\nthat, leave whatever you like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Beach Boys<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several times I searched around on the car radio and on the clock radio in our hotel room in Dublin and found The Beach Boys playing simultaneously on several stations. The Irish, it seems, loved The Beach Boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dublin Hotel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our dining table in the old hotel where we stayed in Dublin was ornate\nand heavy and stood in the center of the small dining room. Our waiter for two\nsuppers was a middle-aged man with little hair, friendly yet serious, and a\nthorough professional. He prefaced each meal by chatting with us, asking a\nquestion or two and responding to our answers with, \u201cLovely,\u201d and \u201cNow isn\u2019t that\ngrand?\u201d His face was etched with deep lines and he had sad eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I noticed some people about my age at the bar drinking beer, so I asked my parents if I could have a beer. I was sixteen and had never had alcohol, though both my parents were heavy drinkers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My father inquired of our waiter, \u201cWhat is the drinking age in\nIreland?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our waiter looked around the table at each of us, pointed to my\nbrother Steve and asked, \u201cHow old is this one?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s eleven,\u201d said my mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The waiter nodded sagely and said, \u201cThat\u2019s the drinkin\u2019 age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fin<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What You Do In Ireland<\/em> piano solo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend Max recently sent me an excerpt from his journal written when he and his wife Kate were sojourning in Ireland some years ago. Reading about Ireland as Max describes life there brought to mind the few things I remember about the four days I spent in Ireland with my parents and siblings 56 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7264,7263,7265,7267,7266,4305],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5325"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5336,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5325\/revisions\/5336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}