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Driving in Dublin 1976

https://youtu.be/pWUferyKCww

In researching the ‘Diceman’ I was reminded that he used to perform in The Dandelion Market. I also discovered the YouTube clip above, of ‘Driving in Dublin in 1976’ which I thought you might enjoy.

I recall that once I had crossed ‘O’Connell Street I had my sights set on some bohemian bargains from The Dandelion Market. That is once I had dodged being accosted by the ‘Crucifix lady’ on O’Connell Street.

http://adeleleahy.ie/marion-curran-aka-the-crucifix-lady/

 

As I am a Northsider I would usually head to Saint Stephen’s green via Liffey Street, the Ha ‘penny Bridge and Merchant’s arch. Definitely the most interesting and scenic route.

Occasionally I might stop off at the very funky Indian fashion shop called ‘Asha’. One of my favorite items of clothing was a long black cotton skirt that I bought that had miniature tiny mirrors sewn into the hem. It also had tiny little bells on the waist drawstring. I was obviously a burgeoning hippy way back then.

The Dandelion market was famed for its vintage clothing, funky furniture, art and second-hand records. Everyone felt that they were a card-carrying member of the Dublin ‘cool brigade’ just by shopping there. Apparently, it was also the venue for one of U2’s first gigs. Who knew?

Sadly, it closed in 1981 after 11 years. I suppose the best description would have been that it was very similar to Portobello Market in London. Sadly, nowadays there is nothing quite like it.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

Marion Curran, aka The Crucifix Lady was another of my favorite childhood memories. Whilst crossing O’Connell Street in the 1980’s pedestrians were met by this tall, attractive white-haired lady. Whilst brandishing a large crucifix and reciting passages from the bible she put the fear of God in us all.

Apparently, she would wollop random courting couples with one of her prayer books as they walked past.  One of my friends used to love winding her up by saying ‘Show us your cross’, where she would run towards her being very cross indeed whilst brandishing said cross.

Catholicism was alive and well in Ireland in those days. Every house had a ‘front room’ and the ‘good delf’ that were solely reserved for any visiting clergy.      Priests and nuns were treated like the pope himself.

Such was the efficacy of the church for imbuing the fear of God in us all. I was told that ‘The crucifix lady’ was one of God’s female apostles and I believed this.  Like many young girls I harbored a notion of becoming a nun myself but after a few years of divilment and mischief this was soon cast aside.

Going to Mass and confession was a weekly occurrence.  I can recall wracking my little brain for things to say to the priest once I got into the box to tell my sins. The irony was that in not being able to remember any sins and making new ones up that I was committing another sin. A true case of damned if I did and damned if I didn’t.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

 

https://youtu.be/aL3pJ0UtvgU

In researching Irish memorabilia last week, I had a wonderful trip down memory lane. Sidebar, I wonder if Harley Street in London could be renamed ‘Mammary Lane’ for its numerous breast reconstruction clinics?

Anyhoo, I digress. Thomas McGinty, aka ‘The Diceman’ was a famous street performer that I recall from my many trips to Dublin City center as a teenager.  He took his name ‘The Diceman’ from one of his first jobs where he was promoting a games shop with the same name. His other costumes included the ‘Mona Lisa’, ‘a clown, ’Dracula’, a light bulb and a teapot.

He was tall, handsome and of fine stature which were the perfect characteristics for his most famous ‘living statue’ street performance. In Ireland, there was nobody performing this type of street art at the time. Perhaps there were in other parts of Europe but he was a first for Ireland.

His ethereal yet imposing presence always gathered a crowd. If you were lucky when throwing some money into his hat on the ground, he would give you one of his exaggerated trademark winks. I remember being both terrified and in awe of him.

He became iconic as a character and also as a gay icon. The Late Late Show interviewed him on a few occasions. He was born in Scotland of Irish parentage and lived most of his life in Ireland. Acting and theatre became his passions in later life as he became better known.

Sadly, he died in 1995 at age 42 from complications due to AIDS. He has a very special place in the hearts and memories of people growing up in Dublin in the 80s. He was a trailblazer, one of a kind. Somebody who dared to be different and as such will forever live on in our hearts and minds.

Stay Fab

All the best

Adele

I came across these old Irish photos of memories from the 70’s and 80’s. It’s hard to believe that we only moved to the Euro currency in 2002. Looking at this photo of the old coins brings me back to my trips to the local shop where I could buy ‘Fruit salad’ sweets for a half a penny each.

I still recall the consternation on the shopkeeper’s face as she would leer at a group of kids who would spend 5 minutes each ordering a large array of halfpenny sweets. Everything from rhubarb and custard, to milky teeth, sherbets, fizzy space ships and fruit salad. Behind her acerbic smile I could tell that she was thinking ‘What has my feckin life come to? Serving these snotty nosed kids half penny sweets for 20 minutes’.

The Aer Lingus cabin crew staff were the real super models of our day. Long before super models actually existed. They were all impossibly glamorous and everyone envied their grace and style.

Of course, in those days Airline travel was quite a luxury. My father worked for Aer Lingus and as a family we got to travel quite a bit.  I remember being in the cock pit on a few occasions as we often flew stand by.

In the 70’s and 80’s we traveled to Nigeria, Malta, Spain, Holland and the UK.    We lived in Nigeria for 6 months when I was 7 years old and I have the most incredible memories of this time which I will share with you in another blog.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

Happy World sleep day.    I hope that you have slept your head off and have awoken from the most glorious dream.  Where you have been banished from the ‘Land of St. Patrick’s Day Hangovers’ and are now resident in ‘Easter Bunny Land’.  Where fwuffy wabbitts – with lisps- bounce around eager for you to sample their vast array of chocolate eggs.

The best thing about this wondrous land is that no matter how many chocolate eggs you eat your body shape will never alter. Nobody cares what anyone looks like in Easter Bunny Land as the Easter Egg Hunt is a daily event where the golden egg is much sought after.    Promises of a fairy-tale kingdom are rewarded to the finder of this golden egg.    However, the attention span of the wabbitts in ‘Easter Bunny Land’ to their quest for finding the egg is somewhat limited as they are ‘at it like rabbits’, all day long.

I didn’t imbibe on Paddy’s Day. But I did eat a suspicious mushroom in a field earlier on today? This may explain the rambling.   I am off to bed to have some serious bunny rabbit dreams. Just need to sample an Easter egg first as a quality assurance exercise.

That’s all for now

Chocs away

Stay fab

Adele

 

 

The song that is 22 verses long-Kodaline and Bernard ‘O Shea

https://youtu.be/tcTcxJyiaU0

I just had to share this clip. Maybe it will put a smile on the face of anyone nursing a sore head following yesterday’s celebrations. Mister St. Patrick has a lot to answer for.

Little did he know all those years ago when he was banishing snakes from Ireland that he would be the patron Saint of the gargle (Irish slang for booze). He single handedly pioneered a legacy for centuries where millions would wake up the day after his national day with woeful hangovers.  I kinda wish he would have had a go at the rats whilst he was at it. They are just as deadly as snakes.

I forgot how this tickled me.   Kodaline are one of Ireland’s greatest bands. They hail from Swords and have played in Malahide castle. Which is not far from me. And they were awesome.    Bernard ‘O Shea is such an amazing comedian. I think my favorite part of the clip is watching the band members trying to keep a straight face.

Anytime I now hear a ‘Diddly eye’ Irish song I now think of this female battery-operated phallus version.  I was never even a fan of ‘Diddly eye’ music.    But at least I can listen to it now with a wry smile whilst wriggling my snake like hips.   Whilst simultaneously enjoying the delusion that I have snake like hips.

 

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

https://youtu.be/Hy2AYdBtzBo

Growing up Irish Part 2

Whenever we were up to no good and unable to think of a white lie on the spot to account for our whereabouts the following phrase was often uttered

‘Don’t be gallivanting and chancing your arm or I’ll be giving out yards’.

‘Gallivanting’ means ‘off feckin around’ which basically means ‘up to no good’.

‘Chancing your arm’ means being ‘feckless’ or trying to pull the wool over somebodies’ eyes’ and’ giving out yards’ means telling someone off.

I was often told in the morning in winter to ‘Wear a vest or you will get your end of cold’. Swiftly followed by ‘turn off those feckin Blackpool illuminations (lights)’, and possibly another ‘Do ya think I ‘m made of money’.

As for ‘the immersion’. Every child of the 70’s and 80’s was haunted by screams of ‘Who left the feckin immersion on?     I’ll brain ya’. ‘Brain ya’ meaning ‘I’ll burst ya’, meaning ‘You are in serious trouble now’.  In fairness our vernacular does take a bit of getting used to.

I wasn’t the tidiest child. Then again, I wonder how many children are? ‘Tidy your room. It’s a kip’ was a thrice weekly command where the word ‘kip’ means ‘a dive’, which means ‘a very untidy room indeed’.

Living in Dublin some of my favorite dinners were ‘Colcannon’ which was potatoes, butter and curly kale. If it was a fancy ‘Colcannon’ there would have been some bacon in it. ‘Coddle’ which was another potato-based meal had boiled onions, celery, parsley, sausages and rashers. It was divine. Even though it sounds woeful. Trust me on this one.

‘Come here to me are you only after havin your dinner? This would be said, possibly by a neighbor enquiring as to whether I had eaten my dinner.  And if I could cut their grass as they would have put extra into my Trocaire box.  Oh, and do their feckin ironing as well.

 

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

 

In preparation for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow Twitter is lighting up with ‘#GrowingupIrish’.  I began to think of the memories and phrases that I recall whilst growing up in the 70’s and 80’s in Ireland as one of five siblings.

Easter time for me will forever be associated with filling my Trocaire box for the little black babies. It was a competition in my school class to see who could fill it the most.  Certain pupils would come back after Easter holidays with not one but two Trocaire boxes filled to the brim.

It used to break my heart as it took all I had to barely fill mine.  I would have been fumbling and foosterin (fidgeting) whilst bringing it up to my teacher with my head lowered in shame as it was usually just about half full.   I recall having to hire myself out for errands in order to get people to put extra into it.      Ironing and grass cutting were my preferred chores.

‘Me aul sa go sha ‘was an often used and affectionate saying that I often heard. It kinda of means ‘my love’. When the phone was being used too much, we would often hear either one of our parents’ bellow from the dining room ‘Get off the phone do ya think I’m made of money?’

‘I’ll be up to 90’ was a great term used by many Mammies in consternation to denote how busy they were. It is possibly one of my favorite phrases

 

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

Last week I had occasion to call someone on their birthday to give them my well wishes. She mentioned that someone had adopted a donkey from a donkey sanctuary for her birthday. This is where the funds will be deployed to care for a donkey somewhere with the guarantee that my friend will receive paperwork twice a year informing her of the welfare of said donkey. Well, she has always said that she wanted a bigger ass…. Be careful what you wish for.

She wasn’t overly enamored by the gift. Having in the past failed to voice her passion and concern for the plight of the donkey. We shared a certain degree of cynicism around these ‘Adopt a …………… (Insert any animal here, normally lions, and leopards) Whilst it is an ingenious strategy for gathering much needed funds for the plight of these animals.  It is not always met with much fervor.

We got a bit carried away with our mirth.  I suggested adopting a South Australian cricket.  My friend added that maybe pigeons and alpacas need adoption.  From there we went onto ferrets, dragons and goats.  Whereupon further research it transpired that these animals (fictitious or not) are actually available for adoption.

What next? Adopt a Unicorn? A reindeer? A leprechaun? Begorrah and bejaysus what is the world coming to? I’m off to adopt a spider, a fly and a butterfly.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

I have the pleasure of sea swimming with two fabulous sea warriors, ’Dot’ and ‘Sandie’. Our WhatsApp swimming group ‘Sweet peas’ has been named by Sandie. Hence the above pun ’Give peas a chance’ from the John Lennon song ‘Give Peace a chance’.

Dot is a stalwart; it is her second-year swimming. She knows almost everyone down at Low Rock.  (WPA- Woeful pun alert) .  Dot is the rock star. We are merely groupies.

Myself and Sandie have been winter sea swimming virgins and we are glad to say that we have just swam our first winter in the sea.  Were it not for Sandie introducing me to Dot I would not have the fabulous memories that I have since last summer.

It seems that half of Ireland is swimming in the sea. There is feck all else to do in lockdown.   The ‘Surf war ‘continues.     I wrote a blog some time ago to discuss the ongoing ‘Surf war Dry Robe’ debate.

http://adeleleahy.ie/surf-war/

Once we finish our swim and get dressed, we sit in our chairs and drink our tea. You’d swear it was something much stronger with the carryon of us. We are swaddled in our swimming robes and the craic and a giggleathon invariably ensues.

Being by the sea is such a soul nourishing exercise. Occasionally Buzz and Finn join us. Today we had ringside seats at the CSW, aka ‘Canine Sand Wrestling’ Olympic event. The two pooches were giving it some welly as they pounced and wrestled one another into the sand.

I cannot begin to say how much being by the sea, in the sea and having Dot and Sandie to share laughs with post splash means to me. It is true what they say,’ The best things in life are free’. Sea, wonderful friends and Buzz and Finn. What more could a gal wish for?

 

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele