Although the elderly Joe speaks wistfully of"the winds of change", it's clear those winds and the alleged "luck" oftheIrish both bypassed his bitter wife long ago.
Mr Braine says that many ofthe French workers in Dublin who were laid off as a result oftheIrish economic crisis are trying their luck in London rather than heading straight home.
They would later be replaced by successive waves of plucky immigrants ready to try their luck on the track -- from theIrish to Latin American riders today.
In 1998, for instance, Brian Friel wrote an adaptation of "Uncle Vanya" in which Anton Chekhov's quintessentially Russian tale of impoverished aristocrats at bay is translated into a subtly Irish-accented version of English in which "Well, I wish you all the best ofluck!"