Jimmy Keane

For those of you who have not been in a long time (or ever) you will hardly recognize the place. Motorways chris crossing the country and encircling towns, round-a-bouts within round-a-bouts WITH traffic lights (asphalt crop circles), travel times as bad (if not worse) than Chicagoland, drive thru fast food places, 24 hour shops, broadband everywhere...

But with all the changes, there are still not too many places where you’d see an ass & cart following a line of BMW’s and Mercedes in the traffic circle dance of the morning and upon my return to Limerick city a horse & buggy mixed in with the lorries (semi’s)! A wonderful sight!

The smiling face that greets you at the shop, restaurant, hotel is more likely to be Polish, Eastern European, African etc.,. than Irish. The language stew is a blast -- imagine a native Polish speaker with slightly broken English exclaiming an East Clare induced “Janie Mac” or “Ya knoooow wat I mean like”?

Makes me feel like I never left Chicago...