CLONMEL On the drive from Kilkenny, I was constantly reminded of the beauty of this country. Although the weather was dreary the landscape was amazing. The countryside between Kilkenny and Clonmel gradually fills with large hills which roll past the car windows their tops barely visible through the thick clouds surrounding them. The fences have disappeared beneath the thick foliage and not one surface is immune to the determination of nature to leave it's mark. At last Clonmel appeared and we settled for a B &B down by the river which was only 20 Euros a night because it was actually a B & -- ! It was a huge rambling house built on many levels which met at awkward angles and corners. Every corner seemed to be collecting dust or piles of peeling paint. Once settled in we parked the car and headed out to meet the people of Clonmel. J had an interesting encounter with a twitching Romanian lad wearing a sports coat. He was very interested in J's phone and offered several times to swap with her. Later when we got back to the hotel we found a message from Arthur, “Would the foreign girls call if they wanted to go sightseeing.” ( at this stage we didn’t know who Arthur was). So we called anyway and he picked us up in his little, red car
We were pleasantly surprised to see it was the elderly gentleman we had run into and chatted with twice earlier that afternoon. Each time we had found him standing outside a different church watching a different funeral. He was a true Irish gentleman and seemed very happy to have new people to talk to, and believe me, if anyone had ever kissed the Blarney stone, it was this man.. Well, we saw all the sights which he felt were significant enough to share with us which were the following important landmarks...
1. A theatre that the owner was trying to sell for one million but he wasn't going to get that much, "he shouldn't be asking for such an amount of money."
2. A place where they sell cars... (we saw that twice)
3. Dunn’s Stores which are open 6 days a week. "marvelous that"
4. The new roundabout "this is really nice to see"
5. The place where “they have freezers which freeze meat.”
6. All the shops and flats owned by his ex brother in law.
7. An Indian restaurant. "I don't like Indian food much"
8. A German Supermarket.
9. The recently erected statue of an Irish tenor that he went to school with.
10. A huge garden supply place where we stopped and had a cup of tea.
11. Several other monuments to martyrs.
12. The highlight, was a visit to the cemetery where we saw his wife's' grave.
It was wonderful to see and hear what was special to Arthur and to know that he was doing it to be neighbourly to two strangers in town. We had to smile when we found out his name.. 'O'Malley'.
That night we started at Hearns Hotel and had a drink. Derek the barn man was very helpful although when J asked if he knew Denis McMenace (she really thought that was his name) he had to think a bit. Finally he realised who we were talking about and went off to call him. When D showed up we were suitably sympathetic about his poor broken wrist. I would like to tell you that is was broken in some heroic action but I can't. Anyway we caught up on all the gossip and reminisced about his time in Shanghai. When we moved on to the next place we were privileged to meet 'Uncle Dickhead' .(sorry about the language, but that's how it was) We had a great time chatting and listening to the band. As usual we were the last ones in the bar and got home lateish.
The next night, we went over to a pub where we knew there was going to be a band. It was like going back in time to the local small town bush dances in country Victoria. The band was great and people gradually filled the hall but sat around looking at the empty dance floor. We grooved away at out table causing a few raised eyebrows but many more smiles. Met up with a random truck driver just passing through and I did my best to do his jive and he tried to salsa. I think we met in the middle with a very interesting Latin/Irish style. J chatted with a local who was trying to tempt her with the use of his washer/ dryer and sausages for breakfast. Sensibly she declined. Got home about 4am and was a bit weary at breakfast. Another local sat down at the next table and greeted us with "Have a big night girls?" then promptly gave us the number of a 'mad' friend of his in Cork who would show us around.
Surrounded by snoring in our riverside B & ? I couldn't get back to sleep. I knew I had to take the car down to the car park to avoid paying parking fees so left the ladies to their duet and raced downstairs. With the car safely stowed I raced back and jumped back in to bed for another snooze. Once we were all up and ready we set off to find some breakfast. We followed D's directions to find Nimhs. "Walk down the road and when you smell apples turn right." Believe it or not, but the directions worked and we were soon eating the best breakfast yet. After breakfast we headed out and asked a local for directions out of the town. "It's a bit complicated so don't follow the signs because they get turned around." We followed them anyway and actually managed to get out quite easily.
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