The Irish live up to their reputation for friendliness and humor even as the global banking system prepares to deal with their wounded, debt burdened economy.

The magicians of debt had a spectacular run here apparently. We're staying in a slick, modern hotel in what was modest little Cork which shows every sign of having been worked over by the specialists in fast, expensive tomorrow.

In Dublin street after street in lined with "to let" signs which is Irish for we own this and don't need it, will someone else pay for it this month?

There apparently aren't a lot of takers. We never made it to the immense new developments east of the city where the real estate people and bankers built entire new communities which are apparently worth about half of what was paid for them, often less.

The Irish, however, are still full of humor, smiles and warmth. I suspect they've been victims of enough history to take the long view.

The resumption of immigration clearly pains them. Several people told us, with a clear sense of pain, that over ten thousand people a week are taking to the seas. The country drew immigrants for over a decade during the boom, reversing centuries of loss.

Four hundred thousand people joined the four million still living here. Over the centuries millions have left this Island.

We had a grand time on the train to Cork. We spent our journey surrounded by a gregarious crowd of football fans who decided to play a grand game of "what we can we get the Americans to believe."

We were treated to bagpipe music and given advice on how to get the Irish medical plan for pensioners to pay for six pints of beer a week after you retire.

A lot of the discussion had to do with the intolerably high price of Viagra. The world supply of the stuff is made near Cork and the locals have a hard time accepting the ten Euro a pill tariff. I suspect the subject was chosen because of its potential for embarrassment. They seemed to delight in asking my wife and I what the cost was to get the stuff in America.

I believe we made a good impression when my son and I were able to belt out The Rising of the Green, a song of the Irish Revolution, which the locals joined in. Of course "rising" brought us back to Viagra, which meant more discussion calculated to see who could embarrass who.

Occasionally the discussion would touch on their dire economic situation, but never for long. Citizens of two countries toying with national default would rather make jokes.

I have no idea how much of what we heard on the train was true, but we had a lot of fun. At least we didn't dwell on the people who show up with plans, build fast and cheap and leave entire nations in the hole.

As the 110 mile per hour train rolled towards Cork, the leader of the group, brightly clad in the red and white of the Cork foodball team put away his pipes and looked out through the window at the rolling green hills.

He said they had the most wonderful land and the best weather in the world, which must means that he really likes rain and gray skies.

He looked out over the green farm fields of Cork as the church spires of the town came in view and said "look at the land, at least we will not starve."

Ireland has been through worse. Their brief brush with wealth seems to embarrass them.

It didn't last and it didn't count for much compared to the things which matter most to them, their land, its people and good talk. They're not going to give those up.

(William Hamilton (www.wjhamilton.com) is an attorney who lives in I'On Village. You can read and comment on this column and other opinions found in the Moultrie News at www.moultrienews.com.)