Ireland's rural west bearing the brunt of the recession
Is the sun setting on Galway?
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Everywhere the mood seemed quiet, not the usual warm welcome in the City of the Tribes.
The following day it took an American to bring out that legendary Irish wit. She was a middle-aged woman on the 10:45 a.m. train from Galway to Dublin.
“I feel like I'm one of you. My ancestors came from Galway Bay,” she told some fellow passengers.
Her sweet account of her heritage got a major conversation going with a bunch of Dublin women returning from a girl’s week out in Galway.
“I bet you all come from large families,” she said.
“I'm one of 10,” said the first Dublin woman. “I'm one of seven,” said another.
“I’m one of one,” said the third to great laughter.
There is something about Americans in Ireland. They bring the Irish out of themselves. The whole way to Dublin there was laughter, craic and even ceol as one of the Dublin women gave us “Molly Malone.”
Now try and imagine a similar scene on Amtrak or the Long Island Railroad, where strangers meet in their thousands every day. Not likely.
But it took the Yank from Galway Bay to break the ice, the innocence of her declaration that she was as Irish as them and her folks came from Galway Bay.
The Galway girl and her friends made sure a long trip from Ireland's western outpost to the capital city was full of fun and craic. They are hard to beat like that, the Irish.
