On the hop-on/hop-off bus tour of Galway, the tour guide described how, after the Normans conquered the region, they quickly assimilated, and were soon more Irish than the Irish. He told us that we’d recognize the signs when we noticed ourselves staying up later and later each night, and sleeping in longer and longer each morning. Oh how right he was. By mid-week we were having supper around 8:30, then off to the pub for some music, and why not?
Galway is on Ireland’s scenic west coast, and has, hands down, the most changeable weather I’ve ever experienced. Locals refer to four seasons in a day, but I’d call it an hour. Feeling the sun beating into your face and the rain falling on your head is common, and there’s a constant lively breeze that would let you air out a room in 30 seconds flat.
Of course there’s great variation in people within any culture, but we absolutely loved the general cheerfulness and friendliness here. I’ve never met such warm and friendly people. People are helpful without being overbearing, and it’s common to meet the classic jovial Irish person with the chipper manner and infectious laugh.
We weren’t in Galway an hour before we heard about the recent hurling victory. Hurling is a traditional Irish game somewhat resembling hockey. The previous week, the Galway team had won the national championship, and the city was still buzzing with the high. At the Crane Bar on Sunday, we heard one of the musicians sing a few verses of a song a friend of his had composed about the game. A few nights later at Tig Choili’s, the composer himself was there, and recited the whole piece, with energetic commentary from the crowd. We don’t care about sports even at home, but their joy was surprisingly infectious.
And it’s not only the hurling fans feeling the buzz. The scandal of the week during our trip involved an incongruous instance of doping, that I found a lot funnier than I probably should have. Our room at the B&B overlooked the Galway Greyhound stadium where, every Friday night, greyhounds race. The breaking scandal is that Clombrien Hero, winner of the prestigious Irish Laurels race, tested positive for cocaine … three times this past summer. Outside our open window on Friday afternoon there was an intermittent, unidentifiable machine noise. I guess they were grinding up the blow for that evening’s match. Go pups go!