Leather Suits

The ectasy of Irish motoring and spelling mistooks…


Was driving to Galway last Friday… between Kilcock and Enfield, saw a sign outside out a house advertising ‘Leather Suits’.
‘Leather suits? Who the fuck wears leather suits?’ I thought.
Who stops and buys clothes at houses on the N6 anyway? Was I driving to into some midlands kinkiness? Would I get a free coffee enema when I stopped for petrol in Kinnegad? Would that rest-stop place in Athlone have a sex shop & auto factor combo, sandwiched between Dominoes Pizza and MacDonalds? Was JG Ballard involved?
Of course, about 2km later, I copped on… what they meant was ‘leather suites… as in furniture.
Reminds me of when, some years ago, I was on a bus from Wexford to Waterford, which had stopped to pick up passengers in New Ross. By the quayside was a burly bearded trawlerman, in wellington, a thick woolly geansaí and the kind of hat my da calls an ‘egg boiler’.
In front of him was a box of fish, and a blackboard which read:
‘HERNES 3 for £2’
The bus pulled away. I hadn’t gotten a look at these strange fish, so I couldn’t determine what they were. But Hernes? I’ve done plenty of angling on Ireland’s south east coast, and I’d never ever landed a herne.
Typically, the bus was about half way to Waterford when it clicked…. herrings

daev
Chief Bottle Washer at Blather
Writer, photographer, environmental campaigner and "known troublemaker" Dave Walsh is the founder of Blather.net, described both as "possibly the most arrogant and depraved website to be found either side of the majestic Shannon River", and "the nicest website circulating in Ireland". Half Irishman, half-bicycle. He lives in southern Irish city of Barcelona.