Country folk who wave at cars & other endearing customs

Rabidlamb · 12-03-2013 10:18AM #1

It's going to be a sad day once this dies out.
Always male, late 60's+, normally wears a woolen jumper under a tweed jacket even in 30 degrees, often wears a hat . . . . Just the gentle waive of the arm when you drive past, something quaint about it.

Won't be around for much longer so someone really needs to go out & record it for posterity.
Sounds like a campaign for the Ray Darcy show he being the moral compass of our time.
I f*ckin' hate Ray Darcy, you have no idea.

IvyTheTerrible · 12-03-2013 10:25AM

Rabidlamb wrote: »

It's going to be a sad day once this dies out.
Always male, late 60's+, normally wears a woolen jumper under a tweed jacket even in 30 degrees, often wears a hat . . . . Just the gentle waive of the arm when you drive past, something quaint about it.

Won't be around for much longer so someone really needs to go out & record it for posterity.
Sounds like a campaign for the Ray Darcy show he being the moral compass of our time.
I f*ckin' hate Ray Darcy, you have no idea.

Don't believe your story about yer man in the wooly jumper, when has it ever been 30 degrees in Ireland! :P

.Henry Sellers. · 12-03-2013 10:25AM

I love the country wave, get it from all ages. The best ones are the really sly wave where the hand only barely waves at you, kind of like waving without waving, you can't teach that.

Banjo String · 12-03-2013 10:27AM

Its not dying out in certain estates in certain Towns, and in certain areas of inner-city Dublin OP.

The attire has changed slightly to track suits and pyjamas, and its not so much a wave anymore either, more a one (middle) or a two finger salute given. Sometimes followed by a coke can tossed in the general direction in your particular mode of transport.

topper75 · 12-03-2013 10:31AM

How're ye now.

travis1976 · 12-03-2013 10:33AM

I love the wave. I sometimes find myself on the road, repping or delivering etc, and love to get a small wave or nod as I pass by on a small country road.

kraggy · 12-03-2013 10:37AM

Still happens in Galway. Young and old alike.

All kinds of attire.

Arms, fingers, head.

krudler · 12-03-2013 10:42AM

ah the one finger off the steering wheel salute, still happens in rural and coastal areas

FloatingVoter · 12-03-2013 10:42AM

Its more common in the country because of the narrower side roads. Often one car has to veer in towards the ditch to let the other pass. Common courtesy amidst the potholes.

Plazaman · 12-03-2013 10:42AM

It's the one finger wave from the steering wheel you have to be on the lookout for or otherwise you'd be accused of being un-neighbourly if you didn't acknowledge it. My response is usually a small nod.

One finger and small nod at 50kph in each direction, you have to have good eyesight to drive with us here in the country.

Merkin · 12-03-2013 10:45AM

Ah the memories. I used to be in a house share years ago with an out-and-out turnip munching culchie from the Midlands. She was a young woman in her late 20s and although we lived in Sandymount I think she thought it was still Ballygobackwards. Every single person she met in Sandymount village she'd say "Well!"........

Scarlet for her

ado100 · 12-03-2013 10:45AM

I always loved the drive from Dublin to Clifden (before the motorway). As soon as you cross the Shannon you'd start lifting the index finger off the steering wheel to acknowledge the oncoming car. By the time you get to Galway you'd be employing another three fingers at least, and sure by the time you'd passed Oughterard you might as well stop the car and roll down the window for a chat!

mashedbanana · 12-03-2013 10:46AM

.Henry Sellers. wrote: »

I love the country wave, get it from all ages. The best ones are the really sly wave where the hand only barely waves at you, kind of like waving without waving, you can't teach that.

Ha! Thats called the '' I'll salute you, but only barely.... JUST incase you don't salute back' LOL

aidoh · 12-03-2013 10:48AM

Plazaman wrote: »

the one finger wave from the steering wheel

I find it amazing that you can always spot the one finger wave, even from huge distances, and must respond with a greeting display of your own.

mashedbanana · 12-03-2013 10:52AM

Plazaman wrote: »

It's the one finger wave from the steering wheel you have to be on the lookout for or otherwise you'd be accused of being un-neighbourly if you didn't acknowledge it. My response is usually a small nod.

One finger and small nod at 50kph in each direction, you have to have good eyesight to drive with us here in the country.

Same as myself, nod of the head and one finger salute. Alot of the old timers, are as cute as foxes though, they leave it till the last second just they pass you, they do the one finger thing. Very frustrating, cos then I feel rude if I don't get a chance to salute back on time.

qwerty93 · 12-03-2013 11:01AM

Anyone driving a tractor is also just dying for a wave , especially young lads!

wuzziwig · 12-03-2013 11:01AM

What about when you are driving down a narrow road that has a line of grass growing down the middle. You meet a car and someone has to reverse to the nearest gap so there is a few seconds of a standoff where you are thinking to yourself "You'll crack before me mate". Then they give you a big beamer of a smile and reverse while waving animatedly all the while. When they wedge themselves into the gap they continue to wave manically while you edge around them while saluting their kindly gesture.

Driving in the country is a special treat indeed.

bgrizzley · 12-03-2013 11:01AM

or the huge wave if you actually know the person in the other car...
http://rv-roadtrips.thefuntimesguide.com/images/blogs/jim-waving-to-a-passing-rv-driver.jpg

... or if its someone you are actually friends with
http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2x3777544/racecar_driver_giving_thumbs_up_42-19047614.jpg

or the "thanks for the cracking shag last night" wave...
http://modernthrill.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/auto-insurance-good-driver.jpg

If eskimos have 40 words for snow. irish people have 40 kinds of driving salutes...

The Road Runner · 12-03-2013 11:40AM

It's gas. I live about 40 miles outside the city and once the evenings get longer this becomes real apparent driving home each evening. As someone mentioned above there are different levels, as I reach my nearest town it's the ol index finger rising off the steering wheel, then further off the beating track closer to home it comes with a simultaneous head tilting back with mouth opening slightly. Once i'm within spitting distance of my house the car slows down preempting the other car stopping for a chat. This is the trickiest one to master. You don't want to be looking needy slowing to a stop only for some blow through to boot past and equally you don't want to snub someone looking for a slow and stop chat. Being a city boy and not being a native it has taken me years to hone my skills and develop my own style of greeting but i'm getting there .

anncoates · 12-03-2013 12:04PM

.Henry Sellers. wrote: »

I love the country wave, get it from all ages. The best ones are the really sly wave where the hand only barely waves at you, kind of like waving without waving, you can't teach that.

I echo the approval for the variant where the hand stays on the steering wheel and the index finger is cheerfully lifted in greeting.

Still see it a lot in clare.

getz · 12-03-2013 12:26PM

waving ?and there is me thinking they are throwing things at my english numberplate,

AnonoBoy · 12-03-2013 12:37PM

An almost imperceptible raise of the eyebrow can be spotted by country folk from a distance of up to 250 metres away.

So y'know if you're kinda twitchy like me then you can't blank anyone in the country even if you're trying to.

rainbowdrop · 12-03-2013 12:41PM

Merkin wrote: »

Ah the memories. I used to be in a house share years ago with an out-and-out turnip munching culchie from the Midlands. She was a young woman in her late 20s and although we lived in Sandymount I think she thought it was still Ballygobackwards. Every single person she met in Sandymount village she'd say "Well!"........

Scarlet for her

Any time I go to Dublin, I have to stop myself from saluting the drivers stopped on red at traffic lights when Im crossing the road.

Scarlet for myself:o

Seedy Arling · 12-03-2013 12:45PM

Lighting fires on the side of the road for weddings passing by or for when a winning team is doing a tour of the parish.

TheLastMohican · 12-03-2013 12:53PM

qwerty93 wrote: »

Anyone driving a tractor is also just dying for a wave , especially young lads!

I can also empathise with the other thing they are dying for ....... a ride! At least I was in those years

. The gentle vibration of an old Massey Ferguson with humongous tyre thread heading for the Creamery each morning.

Around here, everyone salutes everyone. Just a raised finger on the steering wheel will suffice. Or the head out the window and "How're you Horse?" is a term of endearment.

crockholm · 12-03-2013 12:55PM

It can also be a bit strange in that it's like a hierarchy, the driver eyeballs the pedestrian and raises an index finger,while the pedestrian lowers their gaze to the ground,and makes a gesture of pointing skyward.

The Irish version of the samurai and the tradesman,or the lord and the serf.

Still great,mind.

mud · 12-03-2013 12:55PM

There's a special wave around here called the 'silage wave'.

It was started by young fellas on the big tractors, it involves taking your right hand right off the wheel and placing the back of that hand flat against the glass of the windscreen until the oncoming car has passed.

It was then picked up by car drivers so now mostly what you see coming at you is the back of a hand and not much else.

getz · 12-03-2013 12:58PM

Seedy Arling wrote: »

Lighting fires on the side of the road for weddings passing by or for when a winning team is doing a tour of the parish.

gravestones in memory of people by the side of the road, and getting them mixed up with the sign posts,like miles from dublin 144,bejesus he lived to a good old age

seven_eleven · 12-03-2013 12:59PM

I very rarely see this happen at all. Only in really far off places, like the middle of nowhere co Galway.

Angron · 12-03-2013 01:05PM

I'm out in the country, and I nearly always wave at the cars on the back roads when I'm walking.

It'd be a bit odd to start waving at every car you pass in a town or city.

Agricola · 12-03-2013 01:17PM

Weird how it's even ingrained into yourself too, not just something you react to from others. When Im driving around home, I'll just unthinkingly wave at people I don't even know, walkers more so than drivers. But once I pass some magically invisible threshold (possibly the next parish) everyone just becomes an obstacle to be navigated around!

Country folk who wave at cars & other endearing customs

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