Your Chauffeur and guide in the West of Ireland

Our weather remains a mix of sunshine and showers but the long range forecast is for an improvement. It usually happens that way in Ireland. The sun starts to shine when the kids go back to school and maybe that will prove to be the case once again. Most of my work in the past few days has been around my own area so i have had a chance to catch up with many unfinished jobs that were on hold. The Galway Oyster Festival will be the next big event in my area and that does attract a lot of people. The Galway Bay Oyster is special and has a flavour of its own. The oyster beds are located mainly around the Clarinbridge area which is on the inner shores of the bay on the eastern side. We have very good quality mussels also and these are really popular here. Periwinkles and clams are also here in abundance and of course we have a great range of fresh fish. The mackerel season is upon us now and they can be caught very easily with a hand-line from the shores anywhere along the coast. The promenade in Salthill is a favourite place for this type of fishing and you can see many people fishing here using hand-lines and rods. Sometimes there are so many fish caught you cannot even give them away. As kids we had canoes and would always end up with too many fish. It was great fun though and ruined any interest i might have had in fresh water fishing as i found it very hard to spend all day waiting for a bite that might never come when the sea-fishing was all action. My Dad had the necessary patience for that but forgot to pass it on to me. It was special being born and reared on the shores of Galway bay and eventhough i have lived elsewhere i could never be truely contented living away from the sea. There is a freshness in the air that you just do not get anywhere else. I can remember many sweltering days spent in London dreaming of the lovely cool air on the promenade in Salthill and wishing that i could plunge into the refreshing waters of Galway bay. We swam all day long in the Summertime and i still love to get in there when i have time. When i look back at those times it seems like the sun was always shining. We did not need TV or playstations or computers and video games to entertain us and we were as brown as berries from the sun. To remain indoors was like being in detention and we were rarely under our parents feet, and they did not have to worry about us either. They were good times in so many ways. I love to reminisce with people about the old times as we travel together and find that eventhough we were born far from each other our childhood days have many similiar memories. We did not have a lot but i never remember being badly dressed or hungry in the extreme. If we were hungry it was because we were out in the fresh air getting plenty or exercise and working up an appetite. We were never handed a menu either and you ate what was put down in front of you or you stayed at the table until you did while everybody else went out to play. You would not sit there long looking at your plate knowing that all you had to do was gobble it up and join the gang outside. I still find it hard to listen to the debating you hear between parents and children today as to what has to be prepared for dinner. It makes me wonder who is running the show. I am always grateful for the way it was for us as today i am very easy to please when it comes to food and eat just about everything within reason. Snails are still off my menu, as are sheeps eyes and a couple of other unmentionable things we never came across on our menus.
Now this driver and guide had better get moving as i have things to do but i will get back as soon as i can. If you have a contribution please feel free to write. Talk to you again soon.