Chapters 15 and 16

The probation period was finally over, 2001 was there and the Monagan's working life was thriving. Monagan's wife even got a job at the Cork Opera House. (picture above)

A few days after New Year's Eve the whole family went to Dublin on a visit. Seeing the city full of skycrapers, cranes and modern buldings,pubs with flashy customers etc, Monagan contemplated once again about the fact that old Ireland was all but gone.

It was replaced by a "new Ireland" were the economy was burgeoning and the Irish changing, slowly but surely, their ways so as to adapt to this "different Ireland". Monagan asked himslef if the fattening wallets were killing the Irish identity? Well, lawlessness fell on fruitful ground as well as projects which are alien to the countryside, so in some ways the old Ireland was vanishing.

Still, I think, that if the younger generation is taught about a country's past, the memories will live on.

p.s. another vocabulary quiz for you:

1.steep
a)expensive
b)high
c)shaky

2.unflappable
a)introvert
b)calm
c)unscrupulous

3.mandatory
a)advisable
b)immediate
c)compulsory