About those Irish Jokes...

We've been in Ireland for 2 days now & although there haven't been too
many I must share some 'Irish' experiences. We are driving on a road
where there is road works. Usually they have arrows pointing where
cars need to merge to the next lane to avoid hitting the work vehicles
etc. Not here... the arrow pointed into the road works - we ignored it
& went around.
Lollies... usually the flavour on the packet tells you what flavour
the lolly will be. Not here... I got some aniseed chews that had zero
flavour - like the inside of a jellybean when you have sucked the
outer layer off.
Hot & cold taps... usually the red indicates the way to turn the tap
to get hot water. Not here... In our shower you turn the tap towards
the blue circle if you want the water warmer. This fact took me a
while to work out - not good when you are already undressed in a cold
country with ice cold water running in the shower. Now I know to get
the shower temp sorted before getting undressed :) I don't think they
have problems with not having enough water.

We got to Galway & found where Claire's shop was (took photos of me
standing in front) We asked in a 2nd hand bookshop where the pharmacy
used to be - it was right next door and the lady remembered Claire.
How good is that!!

We are staying in a town called Bunratty just outside Limerick. When
we were travelling down the M8 from Belfast to Dublin the only way we
knew we had left Northern Ireland was when we saw the sign that said
'end of strip seaches'. There was no big line where I could stand with
one foot in each country :(

For dinner last night we head down to Durty Nelly's the local Bunratty
pub. They let you pour your own Guiness so of course I had to buy 1
(poured it but only drank 1/4 - not a massive fan but had to have the
experience). We also ran into a girl from Adelaide who has been
travelling alone through Europe. We asked her to join us & she was so
happy to have English conversations. Then as I was buying my Durty
Nelly's shirt there was a group of people sitting near the counter.
There was a couple from Runcorn in the group & when his American
friend (who had been drinking for a while) found out I was from
Australia, he let out a very loud... Aussie, Aussie, Aussie :) I
couldn't leave him hanging so I had to oi, oi, oi then the guy from
Runcorn joins in & we do the whole chant. How good is that!!! I got to
to Aussie, Aussie, Aussie in Ireland.

When we got back to the B&B we saw stars for the first time since
leaving Australia. Not enough to realise there would be no Southern
Cross but stars!!! Here's hoping tomoro will be fine like today. It
was very weird having not much rain at all - cloudy but mainly blue
skies all day :)

Tomorrow we are off to Limerick & Tipperary (& its not a long way to go) :)