Chainsaws and Living Proof that You Don’t Come to Ireland for the Weather!

 The second half of our time on Ireland’s West Coast included a little bit of hiking and a whole lot of support for the Irish economy.  So many things are much cheaper here and while I admit that I made several purchases, my sister’s carry-on bag was not going to make the cut in getting all her bargains home.Thank goodness I brought with me the mother of all suitcases, which earlier this morning took two of us to lift it into the “boot” (aka in America as  “the trunk”). I had plenty of space to pack two woolen blankets she purchased and still have room for my various new items. In our defense, the bargains were too good to walk away from.

The real fireworks took place on the last day of our West Coast adventure when the entire country of Ireland—but particularly the West Coast—was pummeled by a storm described as the worst in Irish history. The night before, during our book group—and while we still had electricity—the wind began to kick-up.  Our guests went home after listening to the news which reported that besides the severe rain, the winds would likely be measured at a Category 2 hurricane level and people were to stay home and off the roads. Schools, stores and the government would all be closed the next day. 

This was bad news because when we arrived at the house my poor sister, before even getting her coat off, was told by “her man” (in this case, the local tree trimmer) that there were four trees on the property that were in bad shape and needed to come down as soon as possible so that they didn’t fall over and damage the house. It was really bad news for my sister and me because those trees were the first things we saw when we looked out our bedroom windows. Truth be told, we were both pretty anxious about going to sleep that night and as the storm grew stronger, I laid in bed trying to come up with an exit strategy on how the hell to get out of bed quickly enough to survive a tree falling on the house.  “Stop, drop and roll” was the only thing that came to mind.

Although we lived to tell the tale, we woke up to the realities of no electricity.  While the rain and wind crashed against the windows, we experienced first-hand that a big house with high ceilings got cold very quickly. Even though this was horrible, all was not lost as there were plenty of blankets and one working fireplace to help keep us warm. The bigger problem was that there was no way to make hot COFFEE! I am not ashamed to admit that I drink about five cups a day and immediately began to worry that I would have a migraine by 11 AM with no way to remedy the problem.  Just as my temples began to pulse with pain, my sister’s other “man,” (her neighbor and family friend) came over with a huge thermos of boiling water for coffee and tea for the three of us.  I could have kissed him on the lips, I was so happy. At that moment, he was the “Man of the Year” for us all! While staying under blankets, we spent the day reading and enjoying a variety of hot drinks as those four trees outside the windows swayed wildly but remained standing throughout the storm.

We awoke to a beautifully sunny day and began to prepare to leave. Before leaving, we had learned that the husband of one of my sister’s friends had to go to work later the day before and brought his chain saw with him to cut his way out of the very rural road in which they live.  He was not the only one. The first 1/3 of the ride back to Dublin today was quite harrowing because there were so many fallen trees still on the roads.  But along the way, we saw several men, clearly not from the local DPW, cutting up the trees in front of their homes so that the roads would be passable.  Later, my sister’s friend told us that, “O yes, everyone has a chain saw around here.”  

Here is a big difference between Americans and the Irish still living in rural areas.  When a large tree fell in the middle of my street a few years ago, and blocked the road, I repeatedly…over several days..called both our town’s municipal Department of Public Works and the mayor’s office to get that tree removed ASAP. The thought of my husband or me going “rogue” with a chain saw and cutting up a tree in the middle of our road to make the street passable would be the absolute last way we would have come up with to solve this problem…and it’s not because of the small fact that we don’t own a chainsaw. Semi-harassing the folks in our local municipal building was much more up our alley. 

And so we arrived in Dublin safely, wound up helping the Irish economy a bit more, much to the chagrin of my suitcase’s zipper,  and are headed home tomorrow. What a gift to spend time with a new friend, my sister and in this beautiful country. Slainte.