Get used to close shaves with strong Irish women
MIGHTY women do well in this country town, what with a blonde bombshell butcher a few doors down from the retail-cum-barber run by a sassy shopkeeper.
Plenty of men are happy to allow her to run a blade along their throats, despite the “Grow your own dope — plant a man” sign on prominent display on the wall, where a recent addition claims that “behind every great woman is herself ”.
Well may it be true, though the feisty female in question has a beloved ball and chain. For Irishmen can also be fairly mighty.
That seems to be the case with local man, David Coughlan, who finished joint second in a strongman competition this year.
Then again, David would be the first to acknowledge that his real strength is his “No.1 supporter”, wife Suzanne. Especially when the beautiful, but ballsy, businesswoman encourages David to go on the pull — of massive trucks, that is. For David’s idea of a good time is attaching a truck to himself via a rope and pulling it along (as you do).
David regularly competes in the Hook Strongman Challenge in Wexford, where he enjoys tossing kegs in the air. Maybe there’s something in that county’s seawater that also gives their women an edge — for how else would you explain the enigma of one of its natives called Sarah, who used to run a weekly fishmongering business from the back of a van in a car park in this country town?
The petite and pretty female found a canine kindred spirit in my senior citizen spaniel, whose dogged determination to reach her knew no bounds, once he got a whiff of her watery wares.
His spaniel stubbornness meant he would strain on his harness, despite my best efforts to stop him, expending enough phenomenal pooch power in the process to light up the country for a month.
Fortunately, it was not a case of Beauty and the Beast, so much as a tale of true love between mutt and monger. For Sarah kept this spaniel keen by feeding him delectable scraps of fish, perhaps mesmerised by the speed at which he gobbled it.
Sadly, it’s a year tomorrow since my Deputy Dawg departed this world. And if it’s true that there are no accidents, maybe it’s more than a coincidence that Sarah moved on around the same time.
So I was glad to see the fish van back in business in recent months. It is now run by Sarah’s brother, who tells me that his sister is “flying it” in college. But what he said next confirmed what I’ve long suspected about a soft heart being a sure sign of strength.
Because it turns out that not only is Sarah super sweet and smart — she is also sensationally strong. For this tiny tree hugger, who lamented the loss of so many ancient oaks during the storms a couple of years ago, could probably uproot a few herself if she put her mind to it, given she came third in a strongwoman competition in New Ross earlier this year.
Because long gone are the days of lovely girls who smile and simper. Time to say hello to the strong and siren types.