You don’t know the minute.
Yesterday started bittersweet in this Donegal home.
In the early morning darkness, the taxi turned up to take the Big Fella and his bean chéile to the bus.
They were heading back across the Pond.
All I wanted to know was that they landed safely.
The night before, we chatted about his entirely realistic plans to return to the island to rear his own family.
So it was no American Wake.
By the end of the day, though, my thoughts were with the good people in An Craoslach, a spot I know very well indeed.
Readers who are au ait with this corner of the island will get the title.
It has been a long time since the Guardian’s man Lawrence Donegan wrote for the wonderfully unique Tír Conaill Tribune.
His book on his stay in Dún na nGall is a heart-warming delight.
Like any outsider, the Scot carried out a common sense inventory of his new surroundings.
He also had the skill to write beautifully about what he discovered.
I took over his column when he left, and it was the most fun I ever had in print in those pre-internet days.
It was a treat providing a commentary on the place where my brood was growing.
We also did a fair bit of holding local power to account.
The proprietor editor, John McAteer, could have cut it at any national title you care to mention, but leaving his Donegal corner didn’t appeal to him.
It was apparent to this blow-in from the get-go that Meitheal was more than a folk memory here.
In Donegal, you’re rarely on your own to face any hardship.
The best compliment in this corner of the island is:
Sure, I’d have him for a neighbour!
Cut off by Partition, disconnected from the rail network and hemmed in by a hostile frontier, the folk of North Donegal had generations of relying on themselves.
The media folk who have travelled up from Dublin to report on this tragedy have been struck by the unconditional kindness of local people.
There are no unaccounted-for persons, according to Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty.
The death toll is ten.
There are broken hearts here in Dún na nGall today.
Dear reader, hug your loved ones and let them know how you feel about them because you really don’t know the minute.
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Spent many happy summer breaks in Creeslough with relatives and many good nights in The Corncutters. Thoughts and prayers for Creeslough.
Really makes you think, indeed Phil. Very well put.
Truly saddening, thoughts and prayers with them all.
Absolutely tragic. I go to the Burtonport/Dungloe area. What makes the area are the people. The most welcoming in the world. I’ll remember the people of Cresslough in my prayers.
RIP
Horrible tragedy. Wishing strength to all affected 🙁
A truly awful tragedy. I can’t begin to imagine the heartache many will be feeling today. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
Aye we only have a lend of them, some way too short, like these poor souls
Terrible tragedy.
My mother was from Donegal and it must be hot wired into them as she left as a teenager to go to London but she was well known for feeding anybody who came to the house, including her granddaughter and a bunch of her friends for school lunches for 5 years. Her “sweetie drawer” was loved by the children but the bane of my visiting sisters who were subject to Canadian dental fees. In frustration one of them quipped. “Eat up your sweets and you’ll get your dinner”. It was not well received by the target but became part of the family folklore.
I just always assumed they were the nicest people on Earth.
Thoughts and prayers to all