The Luck of the Irish

I think I now know where the phrase - “The Luck of the Irish” comes from.  It’s not from leprechauns or rainbows (though any remotely souvenir-related shop is chock a block with the former and since, allegedly, it rains a lot in Ireland one imagines that the latter are fairly prevalent too).

No, the evidence of the Irish Luck stems from one place – the roads in the Republic of Ireland!

There are several types of roads in Ireland – there are the motorways, which the locals must think is the Autobahn, since the speed limit is more like a vain suggestion than a actual limit.  The only two limits on the speed of Irish drivers seem to be 1. their car and 2. their courage (the latter they seem to have in spades – or should that be shamrocks!).

But getting back to the roads, a step down from the motorway is the dual carriageway (highway without the swish on and off ramps, turning across the highway is necessary in places). A step down from these are the one lane, each direction with a bit of a paved shoulder, a step down from that is one lane each way, no shoulder.  There there is the there-is-possibly-one-lane-in-each-direction-but-no-lane-markings-so-you-take-your-chances roads, followed by the there-is-no-way-in-hell-that-this-can-fit-two-cars-I-will-cringe-here-in-the-shrubs-until-you-all-go-away roads.  Followed by something even narrower still – yes, I drove it, I know it exists.

The real marvel of these ever-diminishing widths of roads is the seemingly unrelated LACK of decreasing speed limit!  The posted limit (and bear in mind, posted means it is only a suggested limit) drop from 120Kph on the Motorway, to 110 on the dual carriageway but on the lesser roads you are allowed (but certainly I was FAR from able) to do, wait for it, 100Kph!

No offence, but the Irish must be mental!  As I approached the towns, the speed limit would “drop” to a sedate 50Kph and some times I would have had to SPEED UP to do that!

But the Irish don’t seem at all phased by the narrowness of the roads and hurtle down the roads at top speeds sending terrified tourists they encounter (virtually head on, I might add) diving (or driving) into the bushes and rock walls to avoid car collision damage and imminent death. 

So if you manage to (as someone in Bath, England so succinctly put it - “grow a pair and just do it” – or as I prefer to refer to it as – managing to find the intestinal fortitude to deal with driving in Ireland the other challenge you will need a lot of Irish Luck for is navigating.

Now I had a map and a really good navigator (she was the best and I’d take her anywhere) but still we managed to miss turns.  Invariably, we would head towards a place following signs for our destination and my navigator would say, “there should be a turn in the town” and we assumed, since there had been ample signage for our destination leading up to the town we needed to turn in, there would be an equally useful sign where we needed to turn – alas, we would assume incorrectly.

It seems that the only people who can successfully  find there way anywhere in Ireland are people who have lived there, or ones that have gotten lost getting to their destination on a previous adventure.  Apparently Ireland doesn’t really want tourists at their tourist attractions, since two of the most famous ones that we managed to have time for (the Rock of Cashel and Bru na Boinne) were signed for most of the way and then – sorry, you’re on your own.

Rules of the  road, much like the speed limits, seem to be more like suggestions than actual rules.  Or maybe I should say that the Irish interpretation of a solid white line in the middle of the road is different than what I would interpret it as.  Crossing a solid white line, in Ireland, seems more like a means to and end than a violation of any driving laws.

Having ranted on about the crazy Irish (sorry, I meant to say Lucky Irish) drivers I must also say, that though they seem rather aggressive and “overly enthusiastic” they are willing to partake in a little give and take and will often acknowledge/thank you for getting out of their way – this is done by lifting a hand off the steering wheel in a bit of a wave/hand spasm or, if passing in the same direction, a flick of the hazard lights after they speed past.

Sometimes they will even give way – this is signaled by flashing headlights at the oncoming vehicle as if to say – “I’ll wait here, you come ahead.” Something I managed to pull off a  couple of times myself – I felt so “local”.

In my opinion, to get you safely along the roads in Ireland, you need, in equal parts; courage; patience, and the luck of the Irish.  Maybe this is why Roman Catholicism is so prevalent in Ireland – it helps to firmly believe in a Higher Power to get you safely on your way – “Praise be to God”.