by H. H. "Hub" Brown

 Several years ago I had a chance to go to Ireland. Our grandson, Ron Raczkowski and his wife had tickets for the final game of the rugby season between Ireland and England. I boarded a plane at Broome County Airport and went to Pittsburgh, changed planes, and headed for Durham Chapel Hill. Was met there by our son-in-law, Ray Raczkowski, and our daughter Norma. They had been staying at Ron's place for they had a trip planned. We stayed there that night and the next day and in the evening boarded a plane for London. We arrived there some time in the forenoon. I don't remember the time, for I hadn't adjusted my watch yet.

 Ron and his wife would be going to the game, so Norma and Ray, and Ron's daughter, Taylor, who had been my seatmate on the way over, and were going to get on a double-decker bus and tour the city of Dublin. One thing I forgot to mention, when we got off the plane they had planned to rent a car and see the high spots of London, but first Ron, who spends quite a lot of time in Ireland and England, took us to a place which was called the Captain's Club, I think, where they had all kinds of snacks and drinks. After we had all had a drink and something to eat, the next thing everyone seemed to think about was a place to stretch out There were lots of big, comfortable chairs and sofas there and as we knew we had snoozed up our time to see London and it was time to get on the plane for Dublin. 

 As soon as we got in the air headed for Dublin, it seemed as though when we got back in the air, the flight attendants came out in full force, taking orders for drinks to sustain us until we reached Dublin. Ron rented a van large enough to hold us and our luggage. Ron must have driven quite a lot over there for he seemed to take to driving on the left side of the road as though he had always done that.

 All this talk of flying and being in foreign lands makes one wonder what kind of people these men lived among for two years or more while they were learning to fly those big planes. How can they maintain that terrible hatred of people from all over the world and plan to bring the U. S. to her knees on September 11. One thing I'm sure of, all those people who thought they would like to be President, none of them would take the job if it were offered to them now.

 When Ron and his wife went to the big game the rest of us got on a double-decker  bus to see a big part of Dublin. One thing for sure, many of the streets in that old city were not designed for modern day traffic. Some times, sitting on the upper deck, we were sure that the bus driver would be unable to clear the cars parked along the street but we never saw an accident. One thing I noticed the people there are not afraid to walk. And when the walkers get through with their gun, they spit it out wherever they happen to be. Some alleys, too narrow for cars, paved with red brick, would be almost covered with round white spots that had once been wads of gum. More later.