I am currently sitting in my garden, well on my drive to be precise, because the paddock, whilst strimmed from shoulder high grass, is now covered in strimmed grass from said shoulder high grass, and our back courtyard looks like this….

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We are currently on our third cup of tea considering, and moving forward with uncovering what appear to be lovely old paving stones which are currently covered (although some work has been done) with weeds.

We have bought a ton of topsoil and our plans were to completely grass the courtyard, but now, after uncovering said stones it may well not be completely covered, they’re just too pretty.

The reason for the delay is that it is currently 30 degrees in our courtyard and counting, 35 yesterday! We thought we had escaped the really hot weather but clearly global warming is taking its toll. But I digress…

This post is about good old ‘ner do wells.’ And boy when we decided to move to Ireland did we encounter them in their droves. For ease of ref I am going to call them the NDW’s. The conversations go like this….

NDW: “ Where are you moving to?”

Us: “Ireland”

NDW: “What are you moving there for?” There’s nothing in Ireland.”

Like there was fucking shit-loads going on in France!

Us: “Have you been to Ireland?”

NDW: “No”

There is nothing to say! But you may find this a recurring theme.

NDW: “You don’t want to move to Ireland, after Brexit you won’t be able come back to France.”

Us: “Good!”

NDW: “You don’t want to move to Ireland, there’s no work in Ireland.”

Like there’s fucking shit loads in France!

RD: “Have you looked into work in Ireland then?”

NDW: “No.’

RD: “So how do you know?”

I have to say here that a few days before we were leaving RD had this conversation with one of the money grabbing back-stabbers that sadly were the norm amongst the English. We were leaving, the NDW touched a nerve with my easy going husband, who pointed out to him the lack of work in France, and how people stabbed each other in the back, to which the NDW totally agreed with RD about the backstabbers. RD then took the opportunity to say what had been building up for years, he pointed out that the NDW WAS one of the backstabbers and told him to “F**k Off you *c**t. Now normally I would tell RD to try and not become involved in the negativity, but d’ya know what, on that occasion he was right, and boy did RD actually feel better. Sometimes it needs to be said.

So moving on to the title of this blog, it brings me to the catchphrase that was said by so many ner do wells: “It always rains in Ireland.”

There were many, including when we were packing up in the winter and a NDW said “get used to this weather, it’s all you’ll get in ireland.”😳

But the classic has to be from an old client, a very blunt and even abrasive person, who always had an opinion on everything whether they knew what they were talking about or not. The conversation, that took place a year before we left, went like this…

Me: “We’re thinking of leaving France.”

NDW: “Why? You won’t get better than France. So you’re going back to the UK then.” This was said like a ‘fait accompli’.

Me: “ No, we’re thinking of going to Ireland.”

NDW: “ Ooh you don’t want to there, love, it always rains in Ireland.”

Me: “Have you been to Ireland?”

NDW: “No.”

!!!!???😳😳😳

I get it, I get that people are too afraid to look at their own lives and admit they’re not happy. God knows didn’t we lie to ourselves for long enough? But we never dissed others plans, which is exactly what the ‘ner do wells’ of this world do. Try to unnerve others so they stay in the same boat as them and make them feel better.

‘Don’t swim to the shore the sharks might get you, stay in the boat and die with me instead. Then I can feel better.’

Do you get the picture?

So for all those reading this that may see themselves in the pictures I have painted (all similarities are purely coincidental) I have a job, and it’s currently 24 degrees here in Ireland and set fair for the rest of the week, with not a drop of rain in sight.

Thank Life I didn’t listen to them!

Rosie