Round Ireland with a Fridge QUOTES

1 " Stella explained that when he had arrived, because of his English accent, she had assumed that he was me, and had asked where his fridge was. She didn't tell me what his reply was, and we can only hazard a guess, but I was impressed that he had been prepared to stay the night. It is surely a brave man who goes ahead and checks into an establishment where the first question is 'Where's your fridge?'. Especially if, as he had done, you had arrived by motorcycle. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

2 " One guy, seeing that I was hungry, insisted on buying me a huge lunch and when I thanked him for his kindness, he simply said, 'Pass it on.' I liked this selfless concept - repay me by rewarding someone else entirely with a generous dollop of goodwill. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

3 " I was beginning to understand how the Irish mentality worked. The more foolish, illogical or surreal one's actions were perceived t be (and mine surely fell into one of these categories), the wider the arms of hospitality were opened in salutation. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

4 " The behaviour of the English people I had run into was making it very difficult to nail down a theory that the reason my trip so far had been such a bizarre success, was that Irish people were crazy. One Englishman had spent a morning on the telephone trying to organise a helicopter to take me out to an island, when a boat was leaving only a few yards away, and here was another, making a two-hour round trip for no reason other than to lend a helping hand. Two of the more eccentric pieces of behaviour hadn't been performed by the Irish, but by my fellow countrymen. However, both Andy and Tony had embraced wholeheartedly a love of the Irish way of living life. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

5 " What followed was a great treat for me. This was Irish traditional music as I had hoped to see and hear it, spontaneous and from the heart, and not produced for the sake of the tourist industry. As I sat there with my pint in my hand, enjoying the jigs and the reels, I watched the joy in the player’s faces and in those around them who tapped their feet and applauded enthusiastically. Music the joybringer. No question of being paid, or any requirement to perform for a certain amount of time. Just play for as long as it makes you feel good. This was self expression, not performance. Someone would begin playing a tune and the fellow musicians would listen to it once through, hear how it went and join in when they felt comfortable, until, on its last run through, it was being played with gusto by the entire ensemble. This process provided each piece with the dynamic of a natural crescendo which could almost have been orchestrated. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

6 " There are two words I don't want to find myself uttering as an old man, and they are "If Only. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

7 " I was in a hurry, because packing is something which you always do at the last minute. Anyone who packs two days before departure should seek counseling. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

8 " I was born into the wrong generation. How I would have loved to have been a dashing young man in the 1930s and 1940s when dance bands and orchestras played at dancehalls, and you could hold your partner close and whisper sweet nothings as you waltzed into her heart. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

9 " I'm against the death penalty. I believe that it is a mistake to show that killing people is wrong by killing people. However I'm not against the random killing of people who snore. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

10 " Terrific idea. Two days of advice on how to cope with married life from a body of people who have never been married, and don't indulge in any sexual activity. (Now don't scoff - it's true, they don't.) "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

11 " Taking coffee in a tea-room always brings me a certain amount of extra pleasure in that I feel I'm beating the system. It's like having spaghetti in a pizza house, chicken in a steakhouse, or having a neck massage in a Bangkok massage parlor. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

12 " Heavy lifting is good for the soul but bad for the back, and tends to interfere with lolling about. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

13 " My gameplan is not to have a gameplan. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

14 " One of the more tiring aspects of hitchhiking is a need to be sociable and make conversation with whoever is driving you. It would be considered poor form to accept a ride, hop into the passenger seat and then simply to crash out until you reached your destination. How I longed to do just that, but instead I chatted merrily away, energy ebbing from me with each sentence, until Chris dropped me at the address of the lady who had offered me free B&B.
One of the more tiring aspect of accepting an offer of free accommodation is a need to be sociable and make conversation with whoever had offered it to you. It would be considered poor form to turn up, dumb your bags, crawl into your bedroom and order an early morning alarm call. How I longed to do just that, but instead I chatted merrily away to Marjorie, energy ebbing from me with each sentence, until the tea was drunk, the cake was eaten and I finally plucked up the courage to mention just how exhausted I was. I apologised and said that I simply had to grab a couple of hours sleep, and Marjorie understandingly showed me to my room. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

15 " He came across from the pond, the young man and his fridge travelling over land and sea searching for a meaning and purpose in their lives. We speak of Tony Hawks, the Fridge Man. Tony Hawks who came to live amongst us for all but a short while, a Messiah of sorts. We felt ourselves not worthy to touch the hem of his fridge, but then we realised that he was but an ordinary man, his fridge but a little fridge, the son of a bigger fridge--the Big Fridge--the huge, gigantic Fridge in the Sky. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

16 " It had been done, the fridge had surfed, and what is more I had photographic evidence, provided I didn’t screw up with the film again. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

17 " If the fridge did sink, it would also be a considerable inconvenience to bathers who would have to learn the exact position of the wrecked fridge or risk the
agony of their toes ramming into its rusting metal shell. In the future, it might even appear on naval charts of these waters, novitiate navigators baffled by the small white cuboid marked as a hazard just off the shore. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

18 " If the fridge did sink, it would also be a considerable inconvenience to bathers who would have to learn the exact position of the wrecked fridge or risk the agony of their toes ramming into its rusting metal shell. In the future, it might even appear on naval charts of these waters, novitiate navigators baffled by the small white cuboid marked as a hazard just off the shore. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

19 " Have you played tennis on that tennis court?’ I asked.
‘Oh, don’t talk to me about tennis,’ he complained, ‘my kids have been dying to
have a game ever since we got here, but they can’t’
‘Why not?’
‘There aren’t any tennis balls on the island.’
‘You’re joking.’
‘I’m not. Not one. The shop’s run out and the guy who was supposed to bring some out from the mainland forgot’

Island life encapsulated. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge

20 " Running twenty-six miles is no fun.

I think it was possibly an American who came up with the adage 'if it ain't hurting, it ain't working'. It would be nice to think that shortly after he uttered those words someone smacked him in the mouth by way of demonstrating how well it was working for him. "

― Tony Hawks , Round Ireland with a Fridge