Speckled Town Days

Thursday, July 12, 2007

The Bandstand

The East Pier, Dun Laoghaire, on a late summer's evening

Friday, June 01, 2007

Installation art in Ballybrack

For a limited period there is an installation at the Church Road-Killiney Avenue junction.

The rusting road roller, symbol of a modern Ireland obsessed with roads and cars, is slowly being absorbed by the natural untamed growth of weeds signifying the ancient Irish elements of fertility and death.

Limited edition prints signed by the artist are available on request.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Evening sun in Dun Laoghaire

Sunday, April 01, 2007

High Ham Days

Back in Somerset from 19th to 23rd March, I took pictures one evening to refresh my memory.

The hydrants were painted every year on our road.

The Victorian school was demolished in the '80s to make way for an excellent new place

The 'phone box still remains from the days when I used it

The village church is originally Norman.

The soft stone doesn't weather well.

On the few occasions I was at church, I used to sit and stare at this sculpture - I think it's Jesus!

Looking eastwards - the rood screen is 500 years old

The east window

Looking westwards

The roll of those who fell 1914-1918

I used to think this was an old master!

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Ballybrack twilight, 3rd March 2007

Mobile interruptions

There seems nowhere that one can go without the mobile phone cutting on, causing complete obliviousness to even having a camera a short distance away.

Irish Lights Boat

I loved seeing Granuaile when we lived in the North; her Tricolour flying at the stern being a reminder of a community and a country beyond ours, and her presence a reminder that our island was surrounded by seaways that went far beyond our horizons.

Monday, February 26, 2007

In fading memory

The Wilde family memorial at Mount Jerome is close to the entrance to the crematorium chapel. The front panel commemorates Sir William Wilde, the side panel his wife Jane.

The second child is "Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, Poet, Wit and Dramatist." The lettering is fading.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Dun Laoghaire, 3rd February

Saint Brigid's Day on 1st February marked the beginning of spring. Dun Laoghaire East Pier yesterday felt like summer.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Alpbach

We left Ireland for sunny Austria last week.

We thought the friend who told us that the plane flew down a valley to land at Innsbruck airport was joking

The valley was occupied not only by the airport, but also by a lot of buildings

The view from our balcony offered the prospect of a week of good skiiing

When I was a kid a view like this was only available on a muesli box

The Celtic monks revangelized this area of Europe in the Dark ages - the church is dedicated to St Oswald, a Northumbrian saint.

The heavy grey clouds promised snow that never came

Christmas decorations remain in place until Candlemas - Saint Oswald's crib had some unlikely inclusions.

The ornateness of the early-18th Century church was enough to give a low church Protestant like myself palpitations!

Saint Oswald's shone out on the skyline at night

Spring was in the air by the time we were leaving - unfortunately for the resort, winter had hardly arrived

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Joyce Centenary Memorial at Sandycove

The fascinating thing about the memorial stone is that the inscription underneath the quotation from Ulysses, giving details of the stone's unfurling, is in upper case letters and takes more space than the words from Joyce.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Santa train

On the DART from Pearse, we passed a steam locomotive pulling a train for a Christmas special.

I read recently of the state of Irish railways in the last days of steam - even Lansdowne Road station was down to two two trains stopping there each day. Places that are busy now, like Sydney Parade, were closed completely in 1960.

Nostalgia is a great thing - as long as it remains in the past.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Tom Kettle

I paid my respects to Tom Kettle as I passed him in Saint Stephen's Green yesterday.

The poppy wreath laid on 30th September is still there.

Perhaps at some date in the future there will be a fuller acknowledgement on the memorial of the complexity of Tom Kettle and his times.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

If you live on a very expensive middle class road and drink fruit juice in preference to fizzy stuff, why would you stuff your litter into a niche in a wall?