The five things I heard that were beyond rude in Ireland!

Sorry to say that they came from my fellow knitters.  This was a group of twenty-five, 20 of us were knitters, the rest were either husbands or friends.  While we were knitting, they'd be off on their own exploring the delights in the town.  Most of them toured the Guiness factory in Dublin.  And that brings me to the subject matter of today's post.  All of the people on this group were educated, middle to upper class, and ages ranged from 30s to 75!!!

1.  In our very first knitting class, someone asked the instructor about circular needles.  She explained that circulars were not used in Irish Knits or by Irish Knitters.  Come to think of it I did not see any for sale at the major craft show we went to on November 2nd.  Anyway, at that point several knitters said "you know, you really should try it.  You will like it, so much better than straight needles!!!"  "I cvan't believe you've never used them!"  Come on people....leave it alone.

2.  The hotels often served full Irish Breakfasts or continental breakfasts to us.  I enjoyed it at every opportunity with the exception of the black/white pudding which I asked them to hold back.  However, even if you asked for the egg to be over easy, it always looked like the egg below.  Finally they gave up and asked for scrambled eggs..then complained that they were either too soggy or too dry.

Sorry that the porridge wasn't featured in this picture.  The crossaints came from the continental offerrings.  And can I just say that Irish bacon is to die for!!  These breakfasts were the reason I gained 5 pounds in ten days.

3.  Is the fish fresh?  Peopel!  Did you know that Ireland is an island surrounded by the ocean AND has numerous rivers and streams.  Really?  By the way, this was rainbow trout served over mashed potatoes.  And it was delish!!

4.  At every meal, regardless of what you ordered--mashed potatoes were part of the meal.  The only exception is if you ordered Pasta.  And yes, some people actually ate Pasta on this trip.  One of my new friends actually started complaining (while at the restaurant) that if these people don't figure out how to make baked potatoes I am going to scream!!!!!

5. At an Irish Lace museum where people still learn to make Irish Lace...the curator was talking about the use of the smallest hook available to make this beautiful lace as an "oought" (zero)  Immediately "Boston" corrected her that double oughts were the smallest and thus ensued a debate among three needle workers as to who was right.  EMBARRASSING.

It was nice not to be the Ugly America.  In fact I was known as the quet one!!!!

More this weekend