Now that we have been in Newcastle West for nearly two weeks we feel like we are beginning to fall into the rhythm of life here. There have been a few fun discoveries along the way!
Firstly, there are two different types of Irish lilt (many regional dialects, just like anywhere else though!): the kind you (a non Irish native) can understand and the kind you can’t. We asked a kindly older gentleman at the bus stop if we were in the right place. He answered us. We think. About every fifth word sounded somewhat familiar. I think his friend saw that we were stumped as to what the first man was saying and repeated it in a manner in which we could understand. We certainly appreciate not having to admit that we were not comprehending. And I’m pretty decent at understanding people with thick accents most of the time.
Another discovery: ugly, older American cars exist here. Now, I have to confess that I did not traipse through the yard to see if this was right hand drive or left hand drive. Just the fact that it was present was enough to confound me…
We have a town heron, she/he is a gray heron. We are using the name Harriet (the property owners called her that, so it stuck). Harriet owns the stretch of river in front of our place. She will chase off any other birds that dares to enter her territory. There are oodles (technical term) of rooks (smaller than crows) and they think they should be allowed to hang out here too. Harriet disagrees. I can spend a ridiculous amount of time watching her antics.
On the US west coast Dubliner cheese is widely available, as is Kerrygold butter. I like both immensely but I always wondered, are these REALLY Irish? Do the Irish eat these, or are they just sold to Americans, at fairly high prices, so they feel like they’re getting real Irish products? I am happy to report that on both of those items they are truly sold in Irish grocery stores!
It is a common thought that Europeans don’t use ice and Americans do. I would like to point out that the other night at the pub my husband was asked if I wanted ice in my Bullmer’s cider. He, wisely, said NO! But local guy sitting near us did have ice in his. Huh. Anyway, so, ice. We are blessed with a reasonably sized fridge and freezer. I think this size is common in this area too. Do you see ice cube trays to buy at the store? No. so, what do the Irish use to make ice?
I suspect that may be enough random musings for the day, but I could go on and on (Restraint? Moi? Si)…
No matter how strange, wonderful, weird, one-eyebrow-raising we may find things here, we are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have these experiences. And I’m sure there will be many more fun bits to share as we go on 🙂