November 16, 2001

7:10 AM

I've been burned with FPPosting before, but this story has made my Friday. Bring on the weekend!
posted by Frasermoo (8 comments total)

"It was a very refreshing occurrence," continued the source. "There are not many thieves who follow up their theft by returning the goods with an apology."

I love Ireland; been there six or seven times. What impressed me the most, though, was the first morning on my first visit. Splashed on the front page of the Irish Times was a story of how two thieves had stolen an old lady's handbag and knocked her over into the bargain. What shocked the reporter and headlined his story was that they hadn't stopped to pick her up off the pavement.

If any further proof were needed that Ireland is one lucky country, I don't know.

Frasermoo: your link reminded me of J.P.Donleavy's novels, where the Garda, drinking and general mayhem-making always loom large. Cheers.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:21 AM on November 16, 2001

Were you burned with FPPosting because your descriptions didn't really provide much, er, description?
posted by websavvy at 9:29 AM on November 16, 2001

I'm so dense today that I intepreted the first line of the story as though someone actually stole limericks. Gosh, I thought, don't they get passed down through the generations?
posted by zane9 at 10:42 AM on November 16, 2001

There once was a thief from Kennewick
Who stole the rest of this Limerick.

Cool link, funny story. Thanks!
posted by j.edwards at 10:57 AM on November 16, 2001

Irish thieves, as anyone who's seen Ordinary Decent Criminal or has read The Third Policeman will know Irish crime/law enforcement is somewhat lighthearted (except for the bloke who stole my bike all those years ago). My favourite stories from my youth were the youngster who after having sworn to the judge that he would never joyride again, stole the judge's car to get home and the pair who used the coarse Irish tactic of using a lorry to break into a bar (to steal the money I suppose and not just a few free pints) only to find a large crowd of gardai (police, plural) drinking there after hours.
By the way Miguel, glad to see we both got through to the world cup from the same group, even if you've still not that turncoat Figo playing for you. ;)
posted by Zootoon at 12:57 PM on November 16, 2001

"still not" = "still got"
just having a drink to celebrate getting there. Doesn't happen every day (the classification, not the drinking).
posted by Zootoon at 1:40 PM on November 16, 2001

Zootoon - LOL. I once watched Ireland play Portugal in Dublin and everybody there was interested in everything except the result. The funniest thing was this black Portuguese player called Kennedy. When his name came up...well you can imagine the conversation and joking it sparked off. I have never been to a friendlier venue, including my own wedding, in my whole life. We're that close, it's true. So it was very cruel to put us in the same group. Fact: it was only when Ireland got through that the whole of Portugal started celebrating too.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:57 PM on November 16, 2001

ahh the passion of the beautiful game.

Funnily enough, the only England game I can remember, is luckily, the recent 5 - 1 against Germany, because I was on the wagon for a month.
posted by Frasermoo at 5:11 AM on November 17, 2001