Re: Tension
Originally Posted by
Floydy
->
On here often, but we've covered that
Not so much tension, but sometimes you can feel an 'atmosphere' as soon as you walk into a place, especially in a pub. You somehow sense that something ugly is about to happen.
lol Floydy, your post reminded me of when the family made their annual pilgrimage to Rathkeale, Co. Limerick to visit my Irish dad's huge family in the mid 70's
We had travelled over in a Minibus, just family. There were 14 of us in a 16-seater bus, Adults, teenagers, and small children.
After we had spent a week there, (Rathkeale was renowned for being an IRA stronghold town since 1922) we headed over to my Irish mother's part of the Island to Co Kerry to visit her side of the family..
Just after leaving Rathkeale, one of the children decided they wanted the toilet, You know what it's like, once one child wants to go, so do the others, so, although we were travelling down country roads and lanes because it was a quicker and nicer scenic route, we spotted a pub in the middle of nowhere (shop counter at the front, bar at the back). I think the person serving had a bit of a shock when a hoard of English speaking men, women and children poured in and started to buy loads of stuff from her. She had a face like a wet kipper until she started talking to Mum and Dad, and found out where they hailed f from.
Then the children again, decided that they wanted to sit down in the bar at the back for their glasses of lemonade and orange drinks that they simply could not do without. So we all traipsed over to open the door to the bar. Inside were about a dozen men sitting around two tables, they had been chatting away because we could hear them from the shop front. But the moment we walked in, the room went completely and utterly silent. Not a word was spoken, all these men could hear were English voices chattering away amongst ourselves. One could have cut the atmosphere with a knife it was so quiet. It was really uncomfortable. (and very scary)
Thankfully, once again, Mum and Dad broke the ice and started chatting, and these men soon found that they were Irish and where they were from,a couple of the men even knew some of Dad's brothers from Rathkeale as they were in the same professions greyhound and horse training, they told them that we were on holiday to see family and seemed to relax a little. But my brothers, girlfriends and I could see that some of the men were still watching us with suspicion, and obvious dislike at hearing the English accent being spoken in what was obviously their inner sanctum.
I was so glad to leave to be honest, especially as I was at that time, on leave from the forces!! gulp!
I have never known tension like it when we entered that building. We spent the next half hour after leaving, just talking about it.