'They said they'd never seen orange hair in Sierra Leone'
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You've probably all seen by now the picture of an Irish guy on holiday in Sierra Leone - chatting to some locals on the beach, wearing O'Neill's shorts, a flat cap and a farmer's tan and looking like The Most Irish Person On Holiday Ever.
In case you haven't, here it is. It is a thing of joy.
The picture was posted online at the weekend and has gone viral on social media and image-sharing sites, primarily because the lad in it looks so Irish it actually hurts.
And people have been having a bit of craic with it, as people will do.
"The picture was taken last year as part of a school trip to Sierra Leone," said the man at the centre of it all, 19-year-old Martin 'Murt' Kehoe from Enniscorthy in Co Wexford.
"Our school - St Mary's CBS in Enniscorthy has been twinned with the Queen of the Holy Rosary School (QRS) in Bo, the second city of Sierra Leone, since 2007.
"Last year 10 students and six teachers were picked for a 10-day trip to go over and see for themselves the progress that had been made over there.
"It's a great programme and it was a great opportunity so I was delighted to go over," said Murt, who's now finished school and working in the family construction business.
Although the country was devastated by civil war between 1991 and 2002, today Sierra Leone is regarded as a safe and progressive nation that is very welcoming to visitors, which Murt certainly found to be the case.
"Jays I seen no wars anyway," he said. "And the people were the most accommodating I've ever experienced.
"I thought it'd be like something out of a Trócaire ad but actually the city was normal enough - we did visit some river villages where the poverty was awful but overall it wasn't like I expected it to be at all."
As for his now-famous encounter on the beach, Murt said the picture was taken in Freetown on the last day of their trip, and posted to Facebook last week by one of the lads who was there.
"I think they were trying to sell me leather wallets first of all," he said of the Freetown locals with whom he is deep in conversation.
"But after that we were just chatting away - they said they'd never seen anyone with orange hair in Sierra Leone."
We're presuming O'Neills shorts and flat caps aren't a common sight either…
"I only had the shirt off because it was the last day," Murt said. "We were walking down the beach going to get some food and I thought 'Jays I'm here 10 days and I'm not even sunburnt', I'd better try and get a tan."
As for the furore that has blown up around the picture, Murt's taking it all in his stride.
"Part of me finds it amusing," he says of the attention, having just wrapped up an interview with a local radio station.
"You just have to roll with it I suppose."
