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Paddy Moyles was one out of this world. He was a very ordinary person, who could turn his hand to anything that was needed. If you needed any help, you always went to Paddy. He was generous and helpful, and a character in himself.
You didn’t need TV when you had characters like Paddy. He was one of the greatest liars I have ever met. But he was so practical, he could construction anything. We would invite him up here just for the entertainment.
He was a bachelor, and once he had a bellyful, he used to sit in front of the fire. Mum would get sick of him, because she knew he was telling all lies. When he was in the middle of a terrific line, Mum would ask “How are the chooks laying Paddy ?”
When he left, we would go crook at Mum for interrupting, but she would say, “They were all lies !”, even though we were lapping them up.
He made things out of anything.
Paddy had a horse called Nugget and they'd yoke him up and (Paddy) would be blind drunk at the bottom of the cart. We used to watch and if Nugget wasn't up in the paddock...... course he had to come home and milk his cows and everything. Many a time I'd go down there and Nugget would be still standing there at the gate with the cart and Paddy would be blind drunk, asleep and I had to get him out first and get him up inside, somehow or other and take old Nugget out. But that horse would take him from the National Hotel to his home and Paddy wouldn't draw a rein. That horse took him home every time. It was marvellous.
You were always getting something off him or wanting him for something. Now we never had a buggy horse and poor old Nugget when he went down into Coleraine there in the spring cart, there was some bugger there wanting wood. Well they'd go right up there to Mount Koroit while Paddy's in grogging and playing cards and get a load of wood and come home and by that time Paddy's ready to come home; sometime in the evening. Well, your father would go down on a Sunday morning round about seven o'clock and get old Nugget, bring him up and he'd take us to Mass.
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Audio : Ballie talking about Paddy |
He had an old fella there - Norman McCrae. And when Dan went down. Paddy was there having his breakfast. And Paddy said "Old Norman's in there, he died last night" And Dan said "Where is he"? "He's in the back room". He said "I had to get the police and everything and the police said, "Well, do you want the corpse removed?" and Paddy said "No, way" he said. "It's not the dead men I'm frightened of, it's these live buggers" he said "that I'm always frightened about". So poor old Norm was laying there on the bed and Dan went in and had a look and sure enough - the poor old fella he’d only just bought himself a new pair of boots. He was trying the boots on, then just collapsed and died.
BRIAN ON NUGGET (PADDY'S HORSE)