I have been had again
I have been memed yet again.
Normally I would go into a rant and tell yiz all to feck off, but this particular millstone has been handed to me by Sinéad, so I’ll be nice for once.
Usual rules apply…
Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about you in a blog post.
Tag six people in your post.
Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the taggee know your entry is up.
My problem now is that I have done this one so many times before that I have run out of interesting things to say. So I’m going to vary the theme a bit and do six memories of childhood.
My earliest memory is of sitting in my pram at the age of 18 months. I had a blue Dinky lorry that I dropped out of the pram, and I cried. I still have that lorry, though it’s a bit battered now. On another occasion, I remember my mother talking to a shopkeeper, and I wondered why they were making those strange sounds to each other. Was this my first appreciation of language?
From the age of five, I used to walk to school every day. It was about a mile and a half. A girl from nearby used to collect me and walk with me. She was about nine or ten, and I thought she was terribly old.
I was a member of Rathmines library, and used to cycle there every couple of weeks. My favourite authors were Arthur Ransome and Monica Edwards. I once arrived home and found I had lost all the books off the carrier of my bike. I was gutted. They all were returned safely.
My favourite shop was Geary’s on St Stephens Green at the top of Grafton Street. They sold bikes on the ground floor, but upstairs was a haven of Airfix models and Hornby train sets.
My favourite pastime was to cycle down to the quays and watch the men unloading coal off the ships and loading Guinness onto other ships. Maybe that’s what started me on the rocky road?
My favourite journey was one we did most years – to get the mail-boat to Holyhead in Wales [it was either on the Hibernia on the Canberra – there were only the two ships], and then the mail-train to London. That involved a long stop at Crewe while they loaded and unloaded the mail. I used to love watching the steam engines shunting in the yards there. We also passed by the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, where the station name took up most of the length of the platform.
So that’s it. Boring, huh?
Instead of passing this on, why don’t we try an experiment? I’m tired of telling you boring things about myself, so why don’t you ask me what you want to know? The chances of my answering are slim, but you never know?
And then nip over to Eolaí’s site and buy a painting. He is selling them at ridiculous prices and they are selling fast, so you’d want to be quick!
Not boring in the least. In fact it cheered me up.
Thank you, Thrifty. It depressed me. I’m getting old!
Thank you very much mister. I want to know if you prefer dark hairs or grey hairs in your beard (as opposed to in your soup)?
I remember Gearyâs on St Stephens Green. Think I was buying Air-Fix for the Brothers.
I looked at Eolai’s site this morning, but didn’t have time to do anything and came home to find one of the ones I had my eye on had gone – but I did get a nice bird table.
The standing stones look interesting, but would perhaps not be the best choice for a Rectory hallway.
Eolaà – My pleasure. I will wait to see if I get any more questions first, before answering. Looks like no one is interested!
Grannymar – The best shop in town. Climbing those steps was like climbing the stairs to heaven – especially if I had 2/6 in my sweaty hand!
Ian – I did wonder about the Standing Stones and an appropriate place to hang it. I don’t think a Rectory hallway would work?
I got one of these tag things recently and didn’t do it, i meant to but forgot, what will happen to me now?
Roy – That is a question I can answer straight away…. Unless you have stated a dislike to the things [and therefore absolved yourself], you will either have to snog Mary Harney, or burn forever in hell. Take your pick.
You sound like a kindred spirit, Grandad. By the way, I looked up Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on Wikipedia (congrats on the spelling by the way, picked it right up) and not only is there a rather large article on the village itself but an embedded audio player that plays the correct pronunciation of the name. The guy doing the pronouncing sounds authentic but you’d have to judge for yourself.
I have no idea how old I was but I was still in a crib. It felt like the whole world was downstairs and I had awakend from a nap. I climbed out of my crib and made my way to the stairs. Here is where I did the backward down-climb that all toddlers do when navigating a staircase. After making my way to the first floor I toddled around checking everyone out. I was in the living room when I spied my grandfathers glass of beer. I have no doubt it was Ballentine Ale. I made my way towards it and picked it up and toddled off with it. At this point I could say that my next memory was waking up with two beautiful babes beside me in bed but I’d be lieing. For fucks sake I was about 3 years old. I do remember my Aunt Theresa taking the glass of beer from me in the kitchen and all the grownups laughing about me walking around with a glass of beer. I was placated with a glass Welsch’s grape juice.
We used to have an amazing model shop. Also atop a bicycle shop coincidentally. DrummerBoy and I would spend hours marvelling at fully functional toy railways and replica planes. Sadly it was burned down last year and they never rebuilt. I loved the smell of airfix glue and brand new bicycles.
i joined rathmines library just the other day and was utterly charmed with how nice the lady at the desk was and how nervous she seemed to be when she was showing me around. i used to use the ballyfermot one all the time as a kid, being back there made me feel like i was 6 again.
no danger of my books falling off my carrier though, as some swine stole my bike.
Kirk M – Try saying it when you are drunk! The trick is to get someone else to pronounce it, and when he/she has finished, reply “that’s easy for you to say” !!
Brianf – On the pints at three? Fair play! I know I was 18 months because I described my mothers housecoat to her years later, and she told me she had thrown it out just after we moved house [from next door!]. I was 18 months old when we moved.
Baino – Sniffing glue and rubber. An unbeatable combination……
Rosie – I haven’t been in that library since. I’d say it has changed a bit since the 50s? It used to be Adults on the ground floor, and Children upstairs.