Blog Archives - Reading the Signs

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Another Victim

16/1/2015

I was very disappointed to read of the closure and liquidation of the Roman House. For my generation, it was always there.

But no longer.

It wasn’t a shop that one attended every week but I suspect that many of my years would have been a customer for a Holy Communion Book; Mass Cards; Memorial Cards; or, little bits of jewellery.

Maybe it is the change in the importance of religious practice; maybe it is a factor of online competition; maybe it was a factor of not replacing the reducing demand with new product; or, maybe there are many other reasons for the failure of this company.

If in Cork, do walk down North Main Street and see if you can picture a bustling trading street – to do so, you may need to have the power of ‘Back to the Future’.

Shop Local - Please

15/1/2015

January 2015

February 2014

I have in the past few months decided, whenever possible, to buy whatever I need in the City Centre.

The extent of closures is scary and gives the picture of a future of charity shops and the characterless Opera Lane – a thoroughfare that could be anywhere in the world.

O’Callaghan’s did benefit from our custom after Christmas at the expense of the suburban electrical retailers.

Last Saturday, I was disappointed to see that the lovely soup and sandwiches of Buttercup Café are now in the past. Their tasty breakfast is not to be repeated. My infrequent custom was not enough to keep it trading.

Unless we support city traders, who will be next…..

Fair Bowls to Johnny Bugler

14/1/2015

A while back, I blathered on about the new decoration of Singer’s Corner.

Recently, I spotted a new plaque as to the installation.

Well done to all.

What is it?

13/1/2015

Grotto update

12/1/2015

I need to find time to update the Grotto sections of the website – to add the photographs that I have come across in the past few months and also to update the listings.

Thanks to Eoin at 53 degrees for allowing me to add to his map. When you see the locations like that there are quite a number around.

These two, each in the gables of adjoining houses, were spotted in Lisdoonvarna over the Christmas holidays. There is a similar type in Clarecastle but I have yet to see such a location for a grotto outside County Clare.

Grotto Map

The Real Thing

11/1/2015

Marlboro Street, Cork

No Such Thing as Bad Publicity - Chapter 22

Lovely Hopper

11/1/2015

Maylor Street, Cork

Recently I spotted this downpipe hopper on Brown Thomas’ building on Maylor – yet another throwback to the former Cash & Co or Cash’s.

In Conflict with Local Authority

9/1/2015

It appears that only the Local Authority signs insist on using 2 r’s in the spelling of ‘Corofin’ / ‘Corrofin’.

I am with the one R group – for what it is worth.

The brain is now clicking through other towns and villages that have disputed spelling – expect more on this as there may be trips to Lahinch/Lehinch or Carrigtohill/Carrigtwohill.

Touching Stone

8/1/2015

Does this not call out to be touched and stroked?

When I came across this in McHugh Park, Claremorris, that is exactly what I did. Even in a photograph, I can almost feel it.

Maybe it is just me……

Can a Plastic Bag be Antique?

7/1/2015

It will always be The Munster Arcade in my mind.

Just as Egan’s are next door.

Penneys have occupied the building for very many years. My recollection is my younger brother and I shopping, on our own, in the Munster Arcade for Christmas gifts with our limited resources. That must be 35 – 40 years ago.

This image came back today when I spotted this plastic bag in a house.

I suppose it provides some supporting evidence to the argument that plastic takes very many years to break down.

P.S. Evening Echo confirms that my range was correct – nearly 37 years ago.

Siopa Éadaí

6/1/2015

Oliver Plunkett Street

Finbarr Cahill Menswear

It was only last month that I spotted this sign.

For someone who has an interest in signs; an interest in Irish; and, who regularly walks around the city centre, I was surprised that I hadn’t spotted before.

I haven’t been in the shop for very many years. It has got me thinking though that their use of Irish will be rewarded with my custom in the future.

Galway Art

5/1/2015

Just a selection of the street art that I spotted on my visits to Galway.

Not as good as Limerick from what I have seen but better than Cork.

Brian O’Rourke is leaving

4/1/2015

St. Anne's Church, Shandon

Brian O’Rourke is leaving.

He is going to Portlaoise & Ballyfin. Today is his last service at St. Anne’s Church in Shandon. He will be missed by me, our eight year old and by Nelly, so we plan to attend the service this morning at 10.30.

The first time I heard Rev. Brian O’Rourke, he was really the side show. A few years back, we went to the Jazz Service that is celebrated on the Sunday of the Jazz Festival – we went for the Jazz, not the religion.

As I have rabbited-on before, I have been agnostic for many years. I have passed through the anti-organised religion phase.

I have explained my, very irregular, attendance at St Anne’s as giving up an hour for some contemplative time. Of this approx. 20 minutes is of religious readings and ceremony, which is probably the main reason for many to attend but not me.

There is about twenty minutes of songs which do start to balance the scales in my enjoyment of the hour.

The final twenty minutes are the sermon. Sometimes this is a repeat of the content of the readings and so disrupts the balance of my scales. This I relate to the Classroom-style where the message is repeated and repeated – similar to what I heard for years growing up and generally hear when attending religious services.

Dry Cleaning One’s Vegetables

3/1/2015

Mill Road, Ennis

I suspect that no customer has brought a turnip in to be cleaned – yet.

Sometimes I wonder if some spelling errors are deliberate to provoke debate. I wonder what the reaction might be if I went in and advised of the spelling.

I have not yet been brave enough to try this.

suede noun originally kidskin, but now any soft leather, where the flesh side is rubbed or brushed so that it has a velvety finish.
ETYMOLOGY: 19c: from French gants de Suède gloves from Sweden.

Chambers Dictionary

Swede noun a citizen or inhabitant of, or person born in, Sweden, a kingdom in N Europe.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c: from Dutch or Low German.

swede noun 1 an annual or biennial plant, widely cultivated in cool temperate regions for its edible root. 2 the swollen edible root of this plant, which has orange-yellow or whitish flesh and a purple, yellow or white skin, and can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable.
ETYMOLOGY: 19c: from Swede; the plant was introduced to Scotland from Sweden in the late 18c, and was originally known as the Swedish turnip.

Chambers Dictionary

Hiding Behind The Banks

2/1/2015

Rourke's Cross, Cork - Limerick Road

Would it not be more honest to state ‘No Cheques Accepted’

As the Cheque Guarantee Scheme and the associated Bankers cards stopped in three years ago, it would appear that no one will be able to fulfil the condition required to allow payment by cheque.

Maybe they are very concerned as to offending…….