Ireland Books: Round Ireland with a Fridge

I was really enjoying this book a few weeks ago, when I ran into an unusual hurdle. When I reached the second photo section and tried to continue reading on the other side, I lost all track of the story. Dick Tracy that I am, I quickly found the cause, the pages after the photo section picked up about 40 pages after where they had left off. Someone drinking on the job at the publishing house I suppose. Regardless, I was enjoying the read enough to get back to Borders and order up a replacement copy.

The premise of the book is an interesting one, as it all springs from a drunken bet. Tony Hawks (a British comic, not the skateboarder), told some friends at a party of having once seen a man hitchhiking in Ireland with a full size refrigerator. He got a skeptical reply, offered a drunken boast, and the next day woke up with a hangover and a signed note by which he had accepted a bet of 100 pounds that he could not hitchhike around the entire Emerald Isle with a fridge in tow. His route was flexible, with the only condition being that he visit a specific coastal island at the norther and southern ends of the country.

The book is a fun read. Tony comes off as a friendly and likable guy, the sort you’d enjoy having a few pints with in an Irish pub, quizzing him on exactly why it was he was traveling around Ireland with a fridge. And the locals welcomed him with generosity and admiration for his undertaking such a fine, pointless excursion.

We won’t be taking a fridge with us on our trip. But Tony’s travel tales were entertaining, and it’s hard not to respect someone who follows through on even their most outrageous drunken bets.