Driving in Ireland was quite the learning experience. I had much more difficulty adjusting to the tiny roadways than driving on the left-hand side of the road. On some of the roads, especially along the Dingle penninsula, there is no shoulder and the lanes are large enough for exactly one vehicle. There is very little room for error as oncoming traffic speeds past nearly clipping the side view mirror. Well, I got used to it after the first day, mostly, I am sure Justin may have something to say about that, although the general consesus of the group was satisifaction with my driving (if only to still be alive). Towards the end I was passing traffic like a miata and cruising like a minivan...
There was one guy on the trip, we'll call him Mr. Morality, who had a bit of trouble with some of the things we did. 'Lets not go over this fence, the fence means its someones property, someone who might own a shotgun, someone who does not want us here.' Mr. Cool and Mr. Hip give a look of derision Morality's way, 'dont be a square man, even if the owner didnt want us up here he will never see us, besides, you're like a total downer.' Reluctantly Morality joins his awesome friends so as to not be viewed as lame and subsequently has a great time with little consequence.
Later, Mr. Morality wakes up after a long day of biking, 'oh I am sooooo sore, i dont think i can climb the mountain with you guys, just go on without me.' Mr. Cool, knowing Morality's reluctance to be awesome chastises, 'come on man, you will be fine after a bit of a warm up, besides, there might be hot chicks up there.' Mr. Hip joins in, 'yeah, and maybe even a McDonalds, i mean, what do monks eat anyway?' With this, Moralitly finds the courage and vigour to make it up the mountain and a wonderful time is had by all.
On our way out of town we made a wrong turn into a neighborhood garded by a suicidal dog. The first time he attacked he came out of nowwhere with a furious bark and lightning like speed. Fortunately, our inertia carried us safely away from the insane animal in time to avoid conflict. About five seconds later we came to a dead end. We had to about face and confront this terror head on. Approaching slowly we observed the dog sitting quietly by the street. I moved the car cautiously forward towards the speed bump, just as we slowed down to cross it the monster exploded into a raging collision course! I took evasive manuevers and stopped the car. Using the horn as our only defense we tried to scare the animal into submission, it seemed to work but as we started moving he attacked a second time, I was getting fed up and decided to increase power to engines and get out of there! We could hear the barking and the chasing for what seemed like forever, then suddenly, we heard a clunk towards the rear of the car and the barking stopped. I kept moving at our getaway speed to be sure we were out of danger, fearing we may have killed the beast, looking in the mirrors I saw no evidence of that. Suddenly the attack began again with a renewed vigor! Now was our chance to escape and we did, barely, only a tiny bit scarred from the suicidal dog.
