Reading the Signs
  • Blog
  • Cork
    • Cork City >
      • Derelict Cork
      • Cork City Plaques >
        • Arts & Artists
        • Buildings with Dates >
          • Individual Buildings or Houses >
            • 1847 Blarney St School
            • 1854 Greenmount School
            • 1856 Kyrl's St
            • 1856 Ladyswell Brewery
            • 1860 Cornmarket Arch
            • 1860 Richmond Cottage
            • 1860 Roman St
            • 1864 Butter Market House
            • 1865 Waterworks Chimney
            • 1870 Maryville
            • 1870 St. Paul's Avenue
            • 1871 North Presentation
            • 1874 Courthouse Chambers
            • 1878 Distillery Chimney
            • 1881 Neptune House
            • 1883 Reardens
            • 1888 Waterworks
            • 1889 St. Luke's N.S.
            • 1890 Kennedy Quay
            • 1892 Cork Baptist Church
            • 1894 Jamesville
            • 1895 Courthouse
            • 1896 Dun Desmond
            • 1897 Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital
            • 1900 Lough Hall
            • 1902 Fitzgerald's Park
            • 1913 St. Joseph's N.S.
            • 1914 64 St. Patrick's St
            • 1925 1 Libertas Villas
            • 1926 Capwell P.O.
            • 1928 Castlegreine
            • 1928 College Stream House
            • 1958 Churchfield B.N.S.
            • 1968 Scouthut
            • 1971 Library
            • 1994 McHugh House
          • Developments & Multiple Buildings >
            • 1719 Skiddy's Almhouses
            • 1761 Tuckey St
            • 1766 Millerd Street
            • 1767 James St
            • 1782 Farrens St
            • 1785 Grenville Place
            • 1832 Montenotte Road
            • 1833 Rotunda Buildings
            • 1833 York Terrace
            • 1836 Millfield Cottages
            • 1836 Rockspring Terrace
            • 1837 St. Luke's Place
            • 1853 Eglinton Place
            • 1865 Langford Terrace
            • 1878 College View Terrace
            • 1880 Bellevue Terrace
            • 1880 Bloomfield Terrace
            • 1882 Friar St
            • 1882 St James's Place
            • 1883 Monarea Terrace
            • 1883 Walsh's Square
            • 1886 Madden's Buildings
            • 1889 Marina Villas
            • 1894 Wynneville
            • 1895 St. John's Terrace
            • 1896 Balmoral Terrace
            • 1897 Ophelia Terrace
            • 1898 Centenary Crescent
            • 1898 Tramore Villas
            • 1900 Corporation Buildings
            • 1903 O'Connor Ville
            • 1905 St. Vincent's Terrace
            • 1907 Millview Cottages
            • 1907 Rock View Terrace
            • 1908 Arthur Villas
            • 1915 Morton Villas
            • 1932 Ardfoyle Terrace
            • 1932 Elmgrove
            • 1934 St Joseph's
            • 1940 St Vincent's View
            • 1982 Ardfert
            • 1983 St. John's Square
            • 1994 Red Abbey Court
            • 1999 Adelaide Court
            • 2004 Alexandra Court
        • Cork City Commemorative Plaques
        • Fenian Plaques >
          • Plaques
      • Cork City Timeline
      • Eucharistic Tiles - Cork
      • Cork Wheelguards
      • Grottos in Cork City
      • War of Independence - People >
        • Terence MacSwiney
    • Co. Cork >
      • Grottos in Co Cork
      • Clonakilty Jungle City >
        • Barrister Bill
        • Children's Green Dream
        • Cloich na Coillte Tiger
        • Crocakilty
        • Dufair
        • Horny Bill
        • Make Us Safe (Lucy)
        • Old Mill Car Park
        • 8/9 Pearse St
        • 26/27 Pearse St
        • Precious Tears
        • Taidghín Tiger
        • Tara
        • Wolfe Tone Street Roundabout
  • Not Cork
    • Clare - Ennis YHS Tiles
    • Clare - Co. Clare YHS Tiles
    • Clare - Ennis Grottos
    • Clare - Grottos
    • Kerry - Civil War Memorials
    • Kerry - Grottos
    • Limerick - Civil War Memorials
    • Co. Limerick - YHS Tiles
    • Limerick - YHS Tiles
  • Not Munster
    • Dublin YHS Tiles
    • Co. Galway YHS Tiles
    • Galway City YHS Tiles
    • Co. Mayo YHS Tiles
    • Athlone YHS Tiles
  • Groupings
    • Famine Memorials
    • Irish Words
    • Old Ads
    • Post Boxes
    • Roadside Memorials
    • Ghostsigns
    • Street Art
    • People
  • Contact
Search the site

MIXED MESSAGES.

Using signs, advertisements and messages as the inspiration for observation and comment - enlightened and otherwise

BLOG

The Puck Poets

16/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
There have been a few blogs hereabouts with some public poetry in  Galway.

Recently, I spotted a lot of poetry plaques close to the statue of King Puck in Killorglin.

I think I do prefer the Galway style of the poems located in different locations, somewhere we they can surprise and improve the day. I thought Killorglin was a bit of an overload.

“Come perch upon the barrel’s edge
And slug the porter down,
We’ll swap tales of the tinker men,
With women lean and brown,
Who sing the roads when old King Puck
Reigns in Killorglin town.”



Sigerson Clifford 1955



Picture
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

Diving into Smooth Waters

15/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last Thursday, travelling to Kerry for the last few days of the family holidays, I heard on the radio of the republication of the books of Walter Macken online and on demand.

This reminded me of the extract and the plaque that I had seen in Galway.

It also tempted me to seek out my first Walter Macken book to read – did I miss the winking diamonds of the dying sun when growing up.

Picture
Picture
“The jutting quays were a hive of activity. Already some of the boats were away and were swinging widely into the current of the river. The sun was heading for the Aran Islands and somebody had touched a pink brush to the clouds on the horizon. The bulk of the town on the other side of the river was alive with the winking diamonds of the dying sun on the window panes, and the cold grey stone of the buildings was mellowed and more beautiful. Even the towering bulk of the artificial manure factory looked blackly beautiful in the rays of the setting sun. The seagull’s feathers seemed to be magically touched with the exotic plumage of the tropics, and the daring terns were white blurs diving into the smooth waters”

Walter Macken (1915 – 1967) – ‘Rain on the Wind’

Picture
Picture
Picture
EDIT 2014.08.16

I did wonder at the time as to the concept of smooth waves. If I had only read it properly...

It did prompt me to buy the book and only when reading the paragraph in the book did I spot the error of my ways - now corrected

0 Comments

Customer Care

14/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
On Monday, the 11th August, the radio advised that it was the tenth anniversary of the first secure online transaction - "Ten Summoner's Tales" by Sting.

I was reminded of this sticker on the Post Office in Clondrohid that I came across only ten days previously.

It was in 1996 that the Cork Examiner was last printed – changing its name to The Examiner and then the Irish Examiner. Prior to that they had moved to telephone sales and placing one’s ad online was probably available about then also.

Just like the anecdote of the local telephone exchange operator knowing the business of all in the locality, it could be argued that a local agent for advertisements in the newspaper would similarly be made aware of one’s business.

But I think that is a small cost to bear for personal interaction, for the joy of speaking directly with someone who is trying to help you with your transaction. The help was genuine which I have never experienced online.

The norm of online sales and automated telephone systems is not doing a lot to promote the art and joy of conversation.

I suppose this might be considered an odd observation on an online blog. Maybe it is my romance with and attraction for a past age.


0 Comments

Gathering Day

13/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Sunday was Gathering Day.

I did not know this until last Sunday when travelling back from the Dingle peninsula and passing through Killorglin and I stopped at the statue by the bridge.

Neither did I know that 12th August was Scattering Day.

I know now.

Picture
“Kings may come and Kings may go,
But King Puck goes on forever.”

Read More
0 Comments

Dangers of Rebranding - Chapter 7

12/8/2014

0 Comments

 
I have spent the last fifteen minutes or so trying to find a definition of the word ‘congen’. The world of the internet and my dictionary tells me that it does not exist.

They are very definitely wrong as it very much existed when I was small.

I was probably only 5 or so when my Grandad set up an account for me in Cork Savings Bank. As well as the account book which was held by an adult, I received, what was always called in our house, a ‘congen’ box.

It was a piggy bank of sorts – but secure. It was about the size of a paperback book. It was metal but covered in a leather or leather-type material. It had a lock. My memory is that only the bank had a key as we always brought the ‘congen box’ to the bank for it to be opened and transferred into the account – always with Grandad.

No other adult brought us to empty the boxes at the bank. Just likes the trip that each grandchild got to Dublin Zoo alone with Grandad; just like the train trip to the matches at Lansdowne Road; just like he was the only person to bring bon-bons, the walk to the bank was a ritual with Grandad alone – an individual ritual I think also with his other grandchildren.

I was in Bandon yesterday and step by step I was brought back from:
  • Permanent TSB, which is the present name, which incorporated the previous
  • Trustee Saving Bank which in turn arose for the merger of
  • ‘Dublin Savings Bank’ and ‘Cork and Limerick Savings Bank’, the latter which previously traded independently as
  • ‘Limerick Savings Bank’ and ‘Cork Savings Bank’ – the bank that had ‘congen boxes’, even if the rest of the world denies the existence of the word.
Picture
Limerick City Crest
Picture
Bandon, Co. Cork still showing traits of the 'Cork and Limerick Savings Bank'
Picture
Cork Coat of Arms
EDIT 2014.08.12

With thanks to MMC, who put me in the direction of the Dictionary of Cork Slang. My spelling was incorrect but the Conjun-Box did exist.
0 Comments

I am Kerry

11/8/2014

0 Comments

 
A few weeks ago, we went for a spin in Kerry. In Caherciveen, I was introduced to the name Sigerson Clifford and the poem ‘I am Kerry’ so I thought that I would share the new knowledge here.

Picture
Picture
Picture
I am Kerry


I am Kerry like my mother before me,
And my mother's mother and her man.
Now I sit on an office stool remembering,
And the memory of them like a fan
Soothes the embers into flame.
I am Kerry and proud of my name.

My heart is looped around the rutted hills,
That shoulder the stars out of the sky,
And about the wasp-yellow fields,
And the strands where kelp-streamers lie;
Where, soft as lovers' Gaelic, the rain falls,
Sweeping into silver the lacy mountain walls.

My grandfather tended the turf fire,
And, leaning backward into legend,spoke,
Of doings old before quills inked history.
I saw dark heroes fighting in the smoke,
Diarmuid dead inside his Iveragh cave,
And Deirdrie caoining[keening] upon Naoise's grave.

I see the wise face now with its hundred wrinkles,
And every wrinkle held a thousand tales,
Of Finn and Oscar and Conawn Maol,
And sea-proud Niall whose conquering sails,
Raiding France for slaves and wine,
Brought Patrick to mind Milchu's swine.

I should have put a noose about the throat of time,
And choked the passing of the hob-nailed years,
And stayed young always, shouting in the hills,
Where life held only fairy fears,
When I was young my feet were bare,
But I drove cattle to the fair.

'Twas thus I lived, skin to skin with the earth,
Elbowed by the hills, drenched by the billows,
Watching the wild geese making black wedges,
By Skelligs far west and Annascaul of the willows.
Their voices came on every little wind,
Whispering across the half-door of the mind,
For always I am Kerry...

Sigerson Clifford


Read More
0 Comments

Crusher

10/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I did mention that there was likely to be a few blogs on sporting memorials – even since then, I have noted some more.

Last week, I was introduced to Steve ‘Crusher’ Casey in Sneem – one of the Strongest Family on Earth.

I have added ‘The Legendary Casey Brothers’ to my list of books to look for.

Other than the titles and victories, it is not a bad epitaph that Joe Louis declined a fight.

Maybe it is the mental image of early morning rowers emerging from the haze on a lake but there is something magnetic in the grace of rowing – so much opposite what one imagines of wrestling. So it is a bit surprising that a World Champion Wrestler has me thinking of early morning rowing.

I can almost see in a film the rowing competitions in Newport with the many spectators. I remember twenty or more years ago watching Cork Regatta down the Marina and being told of the huge crowds that would have attended many years previously. I have a vague recollection that the main prize is the Leander Trophy and if there is any risk of any club winning the cup three times in a row, that the Leander Club in London will send over a squad to try to prevent such a happening.

A while back, reading Andy Ripley’s biography, Ripley’s World, I was almost tempted to try rowing for the freedom of gliding over water – an attraction that wrestling never posed. Neither have been tried  - to date.

Picture
“In 1983, the Casey family organised a family reunion in Sneem. While all seven brothers were alive at the time, only five were able to make the trip. Then in their 70s, the brothers climbed once again into the same four-oar boat they used to win the championships in 1930, '31 and '32. Although they had not rowed together in 50 years, the same unity and natural grace remained undimmed with the passing of time. “
Irish Independent
Picture
“Both parents worked for the Vanderbilt family at their summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, during their younger days. Mike Casey oversaw the employment and operation of the extensive fleet of racing sculls maintained by the millionaire family, particularly during the Newport Regatta each summer.

``I told Mr Vanderbilt if he'd pay passage for a gang of oarsmen from Sneem to come over, we'd beat all around us,'' Mike once recalled. Cornelius Venderbilt duly obliged and The Hibernians, as they were christened, won every event they entered for three years”
Irish Independent
Picture
0 Comments

Still Wondering Why.........

9/8/2014

0 Comments

 



It is not just at the Cliffs of Moher.

Last week, by Caitin’s at Kells on the Ring of Kerry, I spotted another location of structures  or sculptures or maybe just mounds.

I still do not know why….

Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Forge

8/8/2014

1 Comment

 
MAYBE it is the attraction to the flame.

In the years before PassiveHouse design began its elimination from the Irish house, the open fire was great. The way it cast shadows around the room. It provided both sound and vision which was often better than that offered by the television. For those who remember the days of electricity strikes, the blackouts were almost awaited as it increased the enjoyment and appreciation of the fire.

Which of us has not jumped over a little outside fire or passed our finger through a candle flame?

MAYBE it is the admiration of a trade.

I remember at the Cork Summer Show last year watching a blacksmith get a horseshoe ready – the heat from the fire; the gloves; the tongs for holding the metal; the strength in the arms. They were all new to this city boy.

I think that I prefer the use of the word ‘craft’ to ‘trade’ for the skill – it definitely captures the expertise and end product much better.

MAYBE it is a factor of my liking for thing past.

An admiration for a time when things were sourced locally. An appreciation for the individual bespoke piece when we now have a limited range of choice.

OR MAYBE, it is just that I have seen reference to the Blacksmith and his forge in a number of different places on my travels recently that prompted this blog to follow the one from Gort.

My fire is extinct,
And my forge is decayed,
By the side of the bench
My old vice it is laid.  

My anvil and hammer
Lie gathering dust,
My powerful bellows,
have lost all their thrust  

My coal is now spent
My irons all gone,
My last nail’s been driven,
And my day’s work done.




1 Comment

Goodbye Pavilion

7/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture



On Monday 21st July, I was driving back from Kerry and heard on the radio that the Pavilion in Cork had closed down with immediate effect.



Just when one might be thinking that the economy has turned; that liquidations and closures had gone from the news headlines; and that there might be a stop to the decline, one gets rudely awakened.



The next day, the proof of the closure was there for all to see.

Picture
Picture
0 Comments

World War 1: What did they die for?

6/8/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture

Read More
1 Comment

Knotweed, Knotweed Everywhere

5/8/2014

0 Comments

 
A few weeks back, I read an article in the Sunday Times magazine regarding Japanese Knotweed which told of house sales falling through because of the existence of the weed – even in adjoining properties. I had previously seen scary photographs of the weed growing up through concrete floor in a house and through tarmac driveways.

Once I spent a day on my knees repeatedly cutting knotweed stem; putting stem in bag; and finally injecting syringe of undiluted RoundUp into the hollow base of the stem. Ever since, I have been aware of knotweed and have definitely seen it more frequently that has been recorded.

Last week, I drove most of the Ring of Kerry. I would suggest that it rivalled Crocosmia as the most common plant that I saw. The sign in Valentia Island was definitely untrue with the weed less than 100m away.

I saw the sign outlining details of eradication treatment in Killarney. Based upon the prevalence along the widened stretch of road above Kells Bay and many other new roads, and the fact that less that 0.1 gram of the weed is enough for it to grow in a new location, it might be appropriate to consider whether new roads and hedgecutting are actually spreading the weed if control measures are not adopted beforehand.

If you do spot some and have a smart phone with a camera and GPS, you could do worse than report it.

In Cork, the road from Dunkettle to Glounthaune; the road between Innishannon and Bandon; around the Revenue Commissioners on Assumption Road; and, the walk from North Mall to the Mardyke will provide large quantity of samples should you wish to view – but don’t do what the Philip Seibold did and bring it home……
Picture
Picture
Knightstown,Valentia Island
“It is the building sector that feels the financial impacts of knotweed the most with removal costs from development sites being very expensive. One 30mx30m site in Wales cost developers an extra £52,785 to deal with the removal of knotweed. The worst case scenario for a 1m2 patch of knotweed on a development site has been estimated to be up to £54,000”
CABI
Picture
Killarney
0 Comments

Sept 28 - Shouting From The Mountain

4/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

Plucky Pedestrian

3/8/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture
Yet another village visited recently – Rathbarry.

Rob Heffernan is not the only champion walker. Dan O’Leary had that honour many years previously and probably earned a lot more relatively.

A very interesting life and story has been learnt of through the web.

Picture
3 Comments

Half Baked Marketing

2/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
When Micko forwarded this photo to me, I was reminded of the difference between ‘Irish Smoked Salmon’ and ‘Smoked Irish Salmon’.

Using the same logic, it would appear that Supervalu in Merchant’s Quay are trying their best to promote food poisoning………
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Author

    From Cork.

    Old enough to have more sense - theoretically at least.

    SUBSCRIBE

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture
    Unless otherwise specifically stated, all photographs and text are the property of www.readingthesigns.weebly.com - such work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence


    Tweets by @SignsTheReading

    Archives

    March 2022
    November 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Picture
    WRITE A LETTER

    Categories

    All
    Accuracy
    Arts
    Books
    Branding
    Cavan
    Cemeteries
    Clare
    Commemorate
    Cork
    Dated
    Donegal
    Dublin
    Economy
    England
    Fermanagh
    Gaeilge
    Galway
    Ghostsigns
    Graffiti
    Grammar
    Help
    Heritage
    Holland
    Humour
    Kerry
    Kildare
    Laois
    Leitrim
    Limerick
    London
    Longford
    Marketing
    Mayo
    Me
    Northern Ireland
    Offaly
    Old Ads
    Old Shops
    Other Blogs
    Plaque
    Politics
    Public
    Punctuation
    Religion
    Riddle
    Roscommon
    Scotland
    Sculpture
    Sligo
    Spelling
    Sport
    Stickers
    Street Art
    Submission
    Tipperary
    Tweets
    Waterford
    Westmeath
    Wild Atlantic Way

    Blogs I Read & Links

    Thought & Comment

    Head Rambles

    For the Fainthearted

    Bock The Robber

    Póló


    Rogha Gabriel

    Patrick Comerford

    Sentence First

    Felicity Hayes-McCoy

    140 characters is usually enough

    Johnny Fallon

    Sunny Spells
    
    That’s How The Light Gets In

    See That

    Tea and a Peach


    Buildings & Things Past

    Built Dublin

    Come Here To Me

    Holy Well


    vox hiberionacum

    Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland

    Liminal Entwinings

    53degrees

    Ciara Meehan

    The Irish Aesthete

    Líníocht


    Ireland in History Day By Day

    Archiseek

    Buildings of Ireland

    Irish War Memorials


    ReYndr

    Abandoned Ireland

    The Standing Stone

    Time Travel Ireland

    Stair na hÉireann

    Myles Dungan

    Archaeouplands

    Wide & Convenient Streets

    The Irish Story

    Enda O’Flaherty



    Cork

    Archive Magazine


    Our City, Our Town

    West Cork History

    Cork’s War of Independence

    Cork Historical Records


    Rebel Cork’s Fighting Story

    40 Shades of Life in Cork

    
    Roaringwater Journal





    Picture
    Picture
    Best Newcomer Blog
Proudly powered by Weebly