by Grania
Good morning, welcome to Friday. Jerry has made it safely to New Zealand and here in Ireland I am off work for the day because St Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland. Of course there were never any snakes in Ireland, so that was an excellent display of PR flim-flammery. Still, it’s an excuse to watch the parades, dance (céili), have a pint of Guinness or just not go to work; so I’ll take it. (Actually, I don’t like Guinness.)
And some more silliness:
Today is the birthday of Caroline Corr of the Irish group The Corrs so it’s a good enough reason to showcase one of their earlier hits Runaway.
It’s also the day Golda Meir became president of Israel, the referendum to end apartheid in South Africa was passed.
Over in Poland, Hili is pulling off some flim-flammery of her own, or at least trying to.
Hili: People do not realize.
A: What do they not realize?
Hili: How hard I’m working.
In Polish:
Hili: Ludzie nie zdają sobie sprawy.
Ja: Z czego?
Hili: Jak ja ciężko pracuję.
For what it’s worth, there are no snakes in New Zealand either, but I don’t recall mention of St Patrick ever being here…
cr
I believe a Maori haka chased the snakes out of the Land of the Long White Cloud.
It would be quite good if someone could chase them out of Guam…
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/36313/20170313/snake-plague-guams-invasive-snakes-are-destroying-the-ecosystem.htm
Good grief!
I isolated an interesting video about extermination efforts on Guam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n16RYUIo-LA
13 species of birds already gone!
It’s funny you should mention the snakes in Guam as I was just reading up on them yesterday because I found a brown tree snake on top of my wood pile on the front porch.
I was worried it was an eastern brown as we do get them and they are rather deadly so I was researching all about them and decided it wasn’t and eventually identified it as the tree snake.
They are supposedly very aggressive and venomous however their fangs are at the rear of their mouth and it is difficult for them to bite people.
They are a nice looking snake though (I’m quite fond of snakes which is lucky because there is usually one living in the roof like this one must be).
I hate Paddy’s Day in the US. My late, saintly Irish mother was from far West Cork. I am not about to get blinding drunk to honor her memory. But I do like a Guinness from time to time.
With West Cork ancestry, shouldn’t you be more of a Murphy’s fan?
(My wife’s ancestors came from Castletownbere.)
My mother grew up just up the road in the village of Thornhill. You look out from the house on Bantry Bay and see Bere Island. Turn around and see Hungry Hill.
I have had a Murphy’s in Castletownbere. A few places in the US have it but nowhere as many as Guinness. Heineken owns Murphy’s now.
I’ll wager y’all are related. Her people were O’Neill, Leary, Harrington, O’Dwyer, Hayes, Moriarty, and Murphy.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the two trips we made to Castletownbere.
Probably. My mother was a Spencer but the rest are O’Neill, Harrington, and Murphy. Back around 1800, around 500 people lived in Thornhill. Now they are down to two occupied houses.
My mother’s madden name was Patricia Murphy and the family was from Cork. That’s just about all I know of the ancestry. I imagined going there and asking if anyone had heard of a Patricia Murphy but decided it was a long shot. Bottoms up.
My elder brother and sister (born in London of Derry stock), about 60 years old, only having lived in Derry for 3 or so years in their extreme childhood, took a holiday recently in Donegal next door to Derry.
They asked a local down a country lane for directions. He replied, “Are you Carneys?” Bang on right. The man said that he just guessed based on what they looked like. Flabbergasting.
So, rickflick, maybe you should try wandering around Cork. Maybe they have a Mister Memory down there.
Sláinte.
Wandering around Cork sound like a pretty decent way to spend time anyway. So, yes.
Speaking of facial appearances and types, the gene research in rural areas of England (and this probably holds for much of the UK) shows there is a great deal of local genetic consistency dating back thousands of years. Not much travel it seems. With that in mind, I was going through an old family album from my fathers side and found a picture taken around 1900 of the hometown rugby team. Every one of the men looked like near twins with many features resembling my father. In particular they all had enormous eyebrows.
She has an entire brewery named after her.
But seriously, that is a very common name in Cork. That said, if there is a street name or any other information is known, it’s quite possible that someone could trace where she is from and where her relatives are. /Grania
Unfortunately, I don’t think there is any more information. I would have loved to track down and old village or house, and maybe even some relatives.
Murphy’s is better!
Today is also World Sleep Day, so well done if you managed a lie in – I slept poorly! 🙁
http://www.worldsleepday.org/
Can’t help piling/cramming this in:
Matthew Cobb’s review is out:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23331170-600-how-did-the-zebra-get-its-stripes/
A great read in its own right.
Apologies if this was in the WEIT pipeline.
“And some more silliness:”
Why is St Paddy driving on the wrong side of the road?
I think you mean, why is he driving on the right side of the road…
🙂
It’s not obvious to me that he is. His car is obviously left hand drive, but maybe it’s an American import.
More assumption eh. Maybe a European import.
Ireland doesn’t have a significant car industry. All cars there are European imports but most European manufacturers make right hand drive versions of their cars since the UK and Ireland make it worth their while.
If it was a European import, it would be most likely be right hand drive.
Technically, he was a Roman so he’s clearly driving an Italian car.
/Grania
Dear Grania,
I think I can speak for all saying thanks for holding the fort and have a great St. Pat’s!
He may have been a Roman but he’s in Ireland which, like the UK, drives on the correct side of the road.
I assure you, there were no cars on the Irish roads in the 5th century, not on the left or on the right. So I suspect that this cartoon may be a joke and not intended to be a real life depiction. /Grania
They had boats though: if St Paddy met St Brendan on his way to the New World, they should have passed each other to starboard: even the English can get that one right!
Of course he had a car: the Paddy Wagon
Half Irish here, so half a Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The Corrs video made me want to also add, if you want a double whammy of Irish rock, one of my family’s all-time favorite songs that we listen to constantly is a live performance by the Corrs with Bono guesting, When The Stars Go Blue. Available on iTunes. Don’t know if it’s on YouTube. But an amazing song.
I don’t get the thing about St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. I always heard the snakes were on a plane.
That’s only Moth Fodder snakes — and they’re only found on Mach-Fokker planes
Cheers,
b&
(And sub….)
Many moons ago I had the chance to see the corrs for a fiver before they became famous. In the local parish hall.
The brother, Jim Corr, hasn’t met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like.
Beannachtaí Lá Fhéile Phádraig daoibh go léir
https://scontent-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17098631_10154415837132467_4785488158099952097_n.jpg?oh=94dd8a763a774fb8ce360c5fc7cb5e77&oe=5966A3F6
Hehe! Yep, god love him. /Grania
Patrick was like;y a Roman and “snake” is believed to be a reference to the Druids. Neither point keeps me from enjoying that cartoon. (Part Irish, myself.)