https://sheepsheadfood.com/2013/09/21/pulling-up-stones/

‘Do you know Tom Cronin’s cousin. He’s a good enough man but he can be difficult to put your finger on. There are plenty that will tell you they haven’t quite got him. A lot of the worry is about him drinking nothing but water and tea. Feck he came in here once and asked if he could have a glass of water, out of the tap, with ice and lemon. He’s happy enough to pay for it and says that it tastes better than anything else. Tastes of nothing for most men but there you have it. So you see nothing to put your finger on.’

‘But despite all that water he can work a good digger. You saw him take up the ground by your Cottage when we were looking for the hole in your pipe. Well he can take that digger most places and dig a hole as good as that without really turning his mind to it. Well digging a good hole is all well enough but a man needs to be able to do more than that.’

‘Tom Cronin’s cousin is lucky with that because he’s found a use for his digger above digging holes. He can take it up to the hills up back here and use it to dig for stones. He likes to do it at night. he takes it up there on the back of a trailer and sets up some torches and pulls away at the ground and its stones until he has a pice big enough to put to one side. When he has enough he brings them back down here to wash off the soil in the sea and what he is left with with is a new piece of stone to stand in somebody’s lawn’