www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYmOVMphqE
Just back from a month in El Palo, Málaga. Dublin's in my blood...Howth in particular. But this El Palo month was the first time ever I didn't feel homesick. Usually the 1st week is pure "I want to go home" Tend to chill out for the next 2 weeks and actually enjoy 'being on holiday' Week 4 and I'm like a kid with "when are we going home?" in my head every day.
Howth, though I live 10 minutes away by train, is my spiritual home; if such a thing exists. It's a working port and also a traditional 'day at the seaside' venue for generations of Northside Dubliners. You can see these every day; Summertime week-ends especially. And you can smell the history of both the trawlermen and revellers if you close your eyes. And it's breathtaking.
I grew up in Finglas West; a North Dublin working class area, and each Sunday in Summer the Tenants Association ran buses to seaside locations around Dublin. Lunches would be packed and the Association would organise huge kettles of boiling water for tea-making. Claremont Beach in Howth was one of the favourite locations for these trips and it was then my love affair with Howth began.
The 3 pics were taken on different dates, during the evening or close to evening. The one on the left was taken from the back of Howth, close to the summit. There used to be a tram, the Hill of Howth Tram, that ran from the village right around the peninsula. I never travelled on it since the transport authorities, in one of the most egregious acts of vandalism perpetrated by the Irish State, decided to not only close it, but rip up the tracks in 1959. Some of original trams can be seen in Transport museums and there have been various proposals to reinstate it but, as of now, it hasn't happened. There is a 'rare as hen's teeth' bus service that follows the route of the tram service but, even as a tourist attraction, the reinstatement of a tram would be wonderful.
The other two are Howth Harbour. I could have added hundreds more but it would have been a monstrous file. If you know Howth I hope you feel that they do it justice.
Tags: Black and White B/W Howth Ireland
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El Palo, Málaga
Tags: Black and White people street playa El Palo Málaga
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0qDBYiOBrc
It couldn't be - could it? We're sitting at Narval seafront restaurant when I see her and her, I don't know what to call him...assistant, maybe?: They'd paraded along the seafront, past restaurants packed with people eating and chatting, over the curved bridge and towards us at Narval and continued past us to sashay towards other restaurants crammed with people. The old Nikon D3000 was in the bag beside me so dropped cutlery and grabbed it. Ensaladilla Rusa and aubergines with honey flying everywhere but this was a shot too good to miss. Took about 10 and this is the last of them. By then she'd seen me with camera very obviously pointing at her and smiled at me. She apparently didn't mind me snapping her and seemed, in fact, to be enjoying it. So...could it be 'esa chica' or some Spanish 'celebrity' I've never heard of. Maybe she's simply a slightly eccentric lady with enough money to afford an 'assistant' If anybody reading this knows who she is, I'd love to know.
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There seems to be an awful lot of people wearing these ugly 'jackets' rambling the streets these days. I'm not sure what they get from wearing them. Maybe there's a certain sense of authority conferred on the wearer that allows a higher self-esteem. Who knows?
Only the other day I was reading in Donegal Daily about a Councillor McClafferty, Cathaoirleach (Chairman) of Glenties Council, who was calling on the council to contact the relevant authorities (whoever they are) to demand that it be made mandatory for late-night joggers, dog walkers or people just out for a stroll (probably to get away from whatever madness is going on at home) to wear hiviz and carry a strong torch.
Poor Cllr. McClafferty recounted the story of a night, when driving home on the N56, he got the fright of his life when he came across a person who was visible only from the light from his phone, lying in a ditch beside the road. "All I could see in front of me was a glimmer of light and then there was no light, so I stopped the car and got out, he recalled. The councillor was at pains to point out his innocence in relation to this unfortunate individual lying in a ditch "Now I didn’t touch them, there was a good distance between us, but nonetheless, he lost his footing and he tripped and fell" Sounds dodgy to me but I'll say no more. These council lads are well up on the libel laws of Ireland.
What did occur to me though was that Councillor McC and his type would be serving their communities better by providing adequate street lighting, particularly in rural areas where you're likely to come across folks who've consumed copious amounts of alcohol or, increasingly, Peruvian Marching Powder speeding ahead while reading their Whatsapp messages. Why should it fall to the citizen to pay out money buying highviz garments and strong torches in order to remain safe when engaged in innocent and harmless nocturnal activity? It's what we pay our taxes for.
Tags: Highviz nocturnal safety Donaghmede & Donegal Ireland
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