Millions of reasons village life is turned upside down
BY lunchtime yesterday, the small north county Dublin village of The Naul was suffering from a case of severe Lotto fatigue.
“I suppose we’ll get goldplated cutlery today,” said one member of the gangs of luminously dressed cyclists thronging the village cafe, sitting down to strong coffee and a scone.
Then she hopped up again to go and buy a lottery ticket across the road in the now-celebrated Daybreak store.
“Did you never hear that lightning doesn’t strike twice,” her male companion chimed as she went through the door. “It’s just a self-imposed tax,” he said, turning in my direction, “and I don’t believe in those kinds of taxes.”
Across in the shop itself, the “lightning doesn’t strike” mantra wasn’t getting much traction.
“You never know,” said the man behind the counter. The shop, the only one in the village, has been doing a brisk trade in lottery tickets since a local syndicate of family members won €175,475,380 on the EuroMillions last Wednesday.
Selling the ticket has its own reward and the owner, Les Reilly, has already been presented with a cheque for €25,000 as a bonus.
In the days after the win became public, hunting Lotto winners reached a climax, but locals quickly copped on and saying nothing with a pleasant smile has become the stock-in-trade reply of those walking the village’s single street.
The Naul is one of those pretty villages that turn up unexpectedly among the narrow twisting roads that criss-cross the lush undulating farmland in this part of the Dublin/ Meath border. The thatched Seamus Ennis Arts Centre and Cafe, a disused oldstyle telephone box, two green pumps stamped with Balrothery District Council, Killian’s pub and the adjacent oddly gabled house, give it a quaint ambience.
“Ah, it’s been great for the village,” said one local. “There’s been people coming and going all week and we’ve been on the television.”
Did he know the winners? “Sure I do, but I wouldn’t know their names.”
What is known publicly is that there are nine family members, well-known people in that part of the country, who will share in the good fortune.
Townlands around The Naul, Garristown, Duleek and other parts are mentioned. According to the National Lottery, the extended family are “considering their options” at the moment.
The feeling is that they will “go public” on Friday, with the event carefully managed by the National Lottery in the hope that the publicity will die down, the families involved can enjoy their new-found wealth and The Naul can return to the quiet backwater it was before it was thrust into the limelight.
“I worked in the shop for 20 years when we owned it,” said the elegant Gabrielle Brady, passing along the street.
“Personally I wouldn’t like to win that amount of money, but good luck to them,” she adds.
“We had the old shop and Les used to work for us. We sold it during the boom and it was knocked down and rebuilt. He’s a lovely chap and I’m delighted for him.”
She then speaks movingly about her only daughter and her friend who both fought cancer and died tragically young, bringing heartache to their families and the village in recent years. It’s a sobering conversation amid all the euphoria.
Everybody is thrilled at the good fortune of those who have won but it is tempered with the knowledge, even if we continually forget it, that some things in life are more important than money.
‘Did you never hear that lightning doesn’t strike twice’