Irish Hospitality

Since my apartment in Ireland is unacceptable to my wife (it is small and falling apart), I've been hunting for a place for us to stay when she comes over in a couple of weeks. I had found a place up in Navan that seemed pretty decent, but the people who were renting it out seemed a little dodgy. So I went up to Navan to get everything straightened out.

I have spent a couple of weekends looking and finally settled on the place earlier this week. I called up one of the ladies that was renting the place (two sisters rent it out) and I agreed on 750 Euro for the month that we'll be staying there. As I was confirming the price and the dates via email, I got a text that it was actually 800 Euro for the month. Dodgy. I didn't see the text until after I'd sent off the email, so I waited to see what the response was be email.

This morning I got an email back from them confirming the 800 Euro and a different address than the one that I saw. Dodgy. So I called them back and she laughed when she realized that she gave the wrong address (her address, not the rental address, which happens to be on the same street). Then I asked about the 800 Euro and it was explained to me that this was the price that I was presented when I saw the place two weeks ago. It could be, but I don't remember. Under the guise of going up to pay the deposit, I decided that I wanted to go up and meet these people, because I wasn't sure that I trusted them. If it still felt dodgy after meeting them, I would have left without paying the deposit.

After meeting the two sisters for half an hour, I decided to pay the deposit. Half an hour later, I was invited over to their other house for tea. Two other sisters joined us there and the hospitality was wonderful. Very nice ladies. It turns out that their family owned all the property that the subdivision was built on, so they have a couple of houses in the subdivision. One of them owns a golf course and offered up a free round of golf. They even offered to lend us their SatNav while we were renting from them. Good people, great hospitality!