Letter: Irish mist

Irish mist

Sir: Has Jack O'Sullivan gone soft in the head? Perhaps he has allowed too much to seep into his brain if can write such rubbish as, "In Ireland, people discuss rain as others savour wine. They dwell on the subtle differences in its quality..." ( Tuesday Book, 23 June ). Oh, they do all right! One of my erstwhile neighbours in southwest Donegal daydreams still about blowing one of the local mountains, Sliabh Liag, to smithereens "because it draws down all that blasted rain and mist".

O'Sullivan blathers on: "I never walk down a grim London street during a miserable downpour without recalling the delight of being gently soaked in Celtic mist." Here "Celtic" means "Irish", so eat your hearts out Scotland, Wales, Brittany: your mist is just not good enough! There are no grim streets in Ireland, of course, because they are obscured by ...

To spare us from this kind of dribbling in the future, send the bold Jack somewhere in the west of Ireland for a couple of weeks (without a car); the delights of Celtic mistery will soon evaporate.

SEAN MAC NIALLUIS

London W9