Back in the early eighties I was living in Blackrock in Dublin. I lived in lodgings with an elderly couple who took in lodgers probably more for the company than the money. They were living in Dublin a long time but were originally from Kilkenny and were really country people at heart. They were Jack and Molly Trait.
Once every couple of weeks and old friend of theirs from Kilkenny would come to Dublin on the train and get the bus out to visit Jack and Molly. Pat was his name and he was as old as they were, I would imagine they were somewhere close to eighty at the time.
They would sit in the dining room which was down in the basement next to the kitchen. There they would sit beside the open fire and chat for the afternoon.
During one of these visits I was having my lunch while the two lads chatted away beside me. What I heard caused me to choke on some food and brought tears to my eyes.
Pat: “Did you hear that (so and so) died recently”?
Jack: “Oh dear God, I didn’t hear. What did he die of”?
At this point, Pat was deep in thought for a moment and then looked up at Jack;
“He died of a Thursday”.
It still makes me smile thirty five years later.
Great article.
Thank you