‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ introduced Motor Neurone Disease to my consciousness. It may have been heard previously. Lou Gehrig disease does not sound as bad but that is only semantics.

My sister, younger by two years, has a better memory than me in some regards as she can remember me waking her up while our parents and siblings slept and insisting that we get ready for school. As my younger brother is two
years younger and did nor partake in this, it puts my sister at a maximum of six and me at eight.

We got dressed and headed off to school only to discover that the school gates were still closed and we waited for them to open .If decades later, my parents may have been under investigation.

St. Patrick’s Boys National School was my centre of learning. In my class there were two boys called Jimmy Sullivan. As we progressed, based upon their educational excellences, they were differentiated as Irish Jimmy and Maths  Jimmy.

Irish Jimmy went on to take over his father, Tommy’s, barber business on Coburg St., and did the needful on my scalp more than once or twice.  I took the photographs some months ago in preparation of the day when the building would be sold and the expectation that whatever may be on the shopfront, that it would always be a reminder of Jimmy to me.

I still remember Jimmy’s happiness with being able to attend the Munster v All Blacks match at the new Thomond Park with his son. Back then before any diagnosis, and with my child much younger, it brought home to me the joy of joint experiences with one’s child.

 A few years later, Jimmy was diagnosed with MND.

With news of the passing of Colm Murray today, I am reminded of Jimmy and that we are only here once, so we best  make the most of it.

In '1886 the first municipal housing scheme, named Madden’s
Buildings, was begun'
The Story of Cork – Sean Beecher  (1971)

'The Bull & Drover - Kevin Holland
Madden's Buildings were constructed here in 1886. This area had been open ground before then and was the location of a cattle market which supplied the local butchering trade. Meat processed in Blackpool was not destined for Cork city but also the stores of the transatlantic ships that docked at Cork and Cobh'

I do like the artwork on the wall - all the more so for the imparting of knowledge.

Interesting that the first municipal buildings, despite their small floor area and very tight yard space that they have survived even after many other municipal buildings, built seventy and eighty years after have since been knocked.

Recently we travelled from Cork to Derrynane. The journey took well over 2 hours by car.

 When I spotted the sign for the butter road, I wondered as to how long the journey would have taken back then to the Butter Market.

My recent trip to the Dingle peninsula involved quite a number of stops
and so took quite a bit longer than planned. On the same trip west that I
spotted the Padraig O’Keeffe plaque, I also stopped when I came across the plaque at Dromagh school between Mallow and Dromtariffe.

 Patrick Vaughan, and indeed Bill Cody, were both new names to me.

 Something new learnt today.

Sometimes, I think that this blog is having some effect on me – not just looking out for signs, but also reading and interpreting signs.

Most would have seen a sign similar to the above at some bar or restaurant and taken the message at face value. I used to be like that.

 When I came across the sign recently, my thoughts were that the sign probably needed some small print:
     When does one qualify as a customer?
                 Upon entering the bar with the intention to buy a drink? But what if I don’t order after using toilet,
                 Upon ordering? – so I can call a drink and then use facilities, or
                 Only upon payment

     How long does one remain a customer?                 
                 If I was in the pub last night, could I use the toilet today?                 
                 What about last month? Last year

    Do I need to purchase something? If I ask for a glass of tap water, do I qualify as a customer?
 
Maybe there is a need for an asterisk and a note that terms and conditions apply. Or maybe just not read too much into signs……

And I almost completed without reference to the missing apostrophe,,,,,,,,,,,,

While in Kerry last week, I enjoyed a lovely long walk along the beach at the Maharees along Brandon Bay – reported to be the longest in  Ireland.

 At Gowlane, I spotted the commemorative plaque. Some web searches indicated that the stone was erected to commemorate kite-surfer, Fintan Hoare, who died while surfing off Banna.

The fact that it did not include a surname did give it a sense of being more personal.

The location of the stone is definitely such as to tempt one to sit and reflect while taking in the view. It did what it was intended to do.

When travelling to the Dingle peninsula recently, I came across this
plaque at a crossroad. Not being very knowledgeable regarding Irish music and musicians, Padraig O’Keeffe was a new name to me.

 Strange to see recorded on the Comhaltas  website as to the influence of his mother on his girlfriend.

 From searching the web, if I had travelled through Castleisland in October, I may have heard of Padraig O’Keeffe before now.

Growing up, one of my duties was to put the refuse bin out every Tuesday night for collection and to bring the bin in on my way home from school the next day.

Back then, life appeared much simpler. 
 
One bin. Collected every week. Not too difficult to remember.

Now one needs to remember whether it is the refuse or recycling that has to be put out. We declined a glass bin and so only have two to choose from.

With no side access to the back of the house, I had been contemplating constructing an enclosure at the front to hide the two wheelie bins that are rather prominent. When I arrived home a few weeks ago, I was so glad that I had not had the enclosure built.

 A new baby bin for food waste had arrived.

 Countryclean could arrange for the manufacture of one wheelie bin divided into three/four sections. Their collection truck could also be subdivided and when a bin was emptied, the waste would go into the appropriate
section. This would probably result in greater collection costs as the truck would get full sooner than at present.

 However, it would mean that each household would only have to accommodate one bin. We can accommodate the bins to the front of the house but there must be very many terraced houses without front gardens who are using up a very large proportion of their rear open space with three/four bins.

 I suspect that if the bins were still collected by the local authority, the local councillors would ensure that any objections were at least considered. With the privatised service, we might well have a fifth or sixth bin in the coming years.

Recently when on a trip to Gougane Barra, we stopped in Ballingeary and learnt something about famine pots from the Ballingeary Historical Society.

Jasmine Kilmaier McBride died on 21 July, 2010.

I have previously commented on commemorative seats. I am really a fan of the idea.

A commemorative item that is also useful will result in the person being thought of even more frequently that a simple plaque.

The colours of the sign do also bring a smile.

This is on Devonshire St. on the side gate to Ross Motor Cycles.

 It is around the corner from the Camden Palace so maybe they have started a Wall Art craze in the area.

It does look appropriate for a motorbike outlet. 

How many times have you been stopped in your thoughts when you learn of someone’s occupation and you are immediately thinking that ‘I never knew that there was such a job'.

 I remember five years ago or so going to look at some used but quality furniture in a large farmbuilding close to Dublin. I was surprised to see lots of old food boxes, children’s toys, and old household furniture. These were regularly leased out to film and TV companies for inclusion in film sets.

When I told a friend of such a job that I had never heard of, he mentioned an even better one that his relative had of finding the best location for scenes for films. In advance of the film, he would visit many locations to determine most appropriate for the various scenes.

 Recently, a van pulled up beside me in traffic with the above branding on its side. An even more specialist occupation to that in Co. Dublin but one that I never knew existed.

I suppose this supports the contention that for every one hundred people, there are one hundred opinions.

 Even Mary Lou McDonald, one of the loudest opponents to the property tax, paid the tax.

 Some people obviously consider it stupid to pay a tax set by the legislators.

 Others might think it stupid to use the word ‘your’ when one should use ‘you’re’ as a shortening of ‘you are’.

 More might think it stupid not to have expressed the message as:

                                                                   YOU’RE STUPID

                if you pay the Property Tax. Learn how the Troika is scamming you.

 Some may argue that the ‘Troika’ is plural and so should be ‘the Troika are’ but I don’t.

I was brought back in time when recently reading the current edition of
the Archive magazine where there is an article on the pirate radio stations that existed in Cork in the early 1980’s. That prompted a web search for nostalgia reasons that threw up a discussion on Radio Waves Forum

 The Archive article reflected the period of my late teenage years and Soutchcoast was my station of choice. Even now, I can recall it was where I first heard of Five Hand Reel and ‘The Man from God Knows Where’ which was played on the early morning show. I still have the album on vinyl – if only I had a working record player set up.
At around 12.30, there was a listener’s favourite 5 section.  I remember making and remaking my own list which kept changing. I did submit a favourite five. It was played as requested one Friday when I had returned  from college. I definitely recall that Joe Walsh’s ‘Life’s Been Good’ made the final cut and that there was a track from Dexy’s Midnight Runners.  After that, I am struggling. There was probably a Jackson Browne and a Pink Floyd from The Wall.