Jeanne, I haven't been to Ireland for a number of years now, but I used to spend Christmasses there with a very good friend before I was married. Her family farmed outside Dungarvan, Co Waterford, and she is now married to another local farmer - in between she travelled the world and did all sorts of things, but now she is back to her roots.
She has told me that the economy is disastrous over there - I do myself remember the boom time, when every farmer was throwing up 'villas' on every available patch of land - now many of these stand empty, either never bought, or repossessed by the banks when people have defaulted on their mortgages. When I first visited Ireland in the early 1980s, it was still a poor agricultural economy - I had never seen houses without electricity, for example, or people drying their laundry on bushes (not everyone lived like that, but it was still commonplace in the countryside.) However, there was a huge sense of family (and huge families) and most people seemed OK and happy. I think the economy just mushroomed far too fast. There were also huge EEC grants given out, Ireland being one of the early members of the Common Market, - many new roads were built, farmers were given massive subsidies. It is sad to see it all go wrong.
One of the reasons I love Light A Penny Candle so much is that it could have been about my friend & I (though it's set several decades earlier) - the London girl turning up on the Irish farm, and the subsequent lives of her and her Irish friend. It is all very true to the way of life at that time.
Rosemary
