Jul 04 2014
‘A One and One please with plenty of Salt and Vinegar…’
Well do you know what it is…sometimes I get a little ‘Cabin Fever’ and have to get out and about. So I decided to just drive off and see where I landed. I ended up in Dunlaoghiare of all places. So out I get and rambles off down the pier with the sun beaming down on me and everyone smiling and chatting to each other. ‘Lovely day thank God’ … ‘You’d better make the most of it Misses’. And so it went on with young Mammys pushing prams and older couples sitting in the sunshine slurping on their ice cream cones. There was lots of other people strolling along on their ownsome and there’s always someone or other on their mobile phone…’No, I’m stuck in traffic as we speak’. ‘What traffic ‘? says I to meself looking around. Sure the only traffic was the little train running up and down the pier as a tourist attraction and even at that it wasn’t attracting much tourists.
Well after soaking in the warmth of the sunshine and walking the legs of meself didn’t the oul hunger come upon me. I think it was about then that I got the waft of Fish and Chips or maybe it was the vinegar. Well with the tongue hanging out and the belly empty I followed the trail to a little Chip Shop on wheels. Now I have to tell you it was nothing like Mister Cafolla’s Chipper on Fassaugh Avenue. For starters the food was served in fancy little cardboard cartons and not in real Chipper paper and I had to remind meself that this was Dunlaoghaire and not Cabra. But do you know what it is, just to sit down in that glorious Irish sunshine of 22 degrees with a One and One in my hands was ‘Chipper Heaven’. Oh and the other thing is that I asked your man for a ‘One and One’ but he hadn’t a clue what I was on about. You see, they don’t say ‘One and One’ in Dunlaoghaire…’May I have a portion of fish and chips please’ is what they say. I blame it on the EU, sure haven’t they changed everything on us. You can’t buy a gallon of petrol anymore or a foot of knicker elastic, it’s all changed now and you can’t even walk for miles and miles either.
Ah well, here’s to your eye as I sit on the ‘Promenade’ and eat my portion of fish and chips…’Ok Scottie, beam me back to Cabra West…’