Tunes with Katie Foley, Foley’s Bar, Inch, Dingle, Co. Kerry
On Monday we were getting ready to go into Dingle and Katie requested that if we could there was a tour bus stopping for lunch and would we mind playing some tunes while they were waiting for their lunch to be served? The Foley’s treat us like good friends and when we can return the kindness we do. We said of course we would, so we went to the back dining room, set up and waited. As the people came in we started up some tunes with Katie playing box with us. I think the people from the bus actually thought we were Irish at first, but we let them know we were visitors just like them. They enjoyed the tunes though. We later saw some of them when we were wandering about Dingle Town and they told us how much they enjoyed our playing for them. We caught up as best we could with John and Fidelis, but they had two tour buses stopping in as well as a gathering for a local funeral, so we headed into Dingle Town and had dinner there. Tuesday we finally had a chance to spend some time with John and Fidelis. They’d had only a few hours sleep on Monday. They flew into Dublin from Mallorca and arrived in Inch sometime around 5:00am and had to hit the ground running. They were originally supposed to get back Saturday which would have been much easier, but they got through it all and finally got a good nights sleep. Through hard work they’ve made a really good life for their family. John’s family has had the pub for five generations, John being the fifth. The old cottage across the road that John is restoring belonged to the family and was the original pub in the 19th century. The paved road that cars and lorries run up and down now was a dirt track then. So much personal history. Fidelis took us for a short walk up the road yesterday and showed us a holiday home they invested in so they could rent it it to families or larger parties who want more space. All in all they’ve created a really good life for themselves and their children.
We bid goodbye to Fidelis and John on Thursday morning, hoping we’re all alive in two years to see one another again, and off to Clare!