DUBLIN IN THE RARE OUL' TIMES
BY GEORGE HUMPHRIES
|
Supermarkets were not open, a few shops opened for a hour or two in the morning and then everything closed up again. The pubs didn’t open until 12.30, closed at 2.00, opened at 4.00, closed at 10.00. Sunday was regarded as a day of rest. In my childhood it was a special day. We always got a fry-up for breakfast then off to Mass. Sunday dinner was usually a roast and a boil, roast beef or lamb and a bit of corned beef or pig’s leg. After dinner it was off to the Ritz where there was always two pictures shown in those days. Televisions were only coming in, few people had a motor car and life was much simpler. People made their own entertainment. Very often, after the pubs closed a carry out was brought to someone’s house for a hooley which sometimes went on to the early hours. Anything that remained from the dinner was put on the frying pan and this was bubble and squeak and maybe a few pig’s feet or a few ribs were devoured, washed down with a few bottles of stout. Some great singers did their party pieces on these occasions and others would be dying the next morning. This was all part of the weekend. Nowadays Sundays are just like any other day. John Clarke’s public house on Irishtown Road was a great local for a past generation. There were some wonderful characters and there was always something happening. My own father, along with the late Kathleen O’Reilly, often organised outings from Clarke’s. A bus was laid on. Most of the crowd would not have had a car so this was a great way to get to see places outside Dublin. Everyone who wanted to go on the outing would have to pay ten shillings and they often went to Wicklow and sometimes up as far as Drogheda. All the women would make sandwiches. No fast food in those days!My father told me years ago about the time they were passing the Sugar Loaf. The late Noel Mahon told a woman on the bus “There is the Sugar Loaf,” and she asked: “Is that where they get the sugar from?” He was left speechless. Willie Lattimore was, and still is, a great character. He is one of a lot of brothers who are neighbours of mine. I remember he used to get a crowd of us and would ask each to pick a letter from the alphabet, then he would ask questions like name a country, capital city, town, fruit, fish, and vegetable beginning with that letter. The list would go on until whoever he was asking could not think of an answer. Once, when they were in the Lansdowne Bar, Jintox Doyle was on the letter Y. He was asked to name a fish beginning with Y. His reply was rapid– “Whitning”. They all got a good laugh at his witty answer and I believe the quizmaster gave it to him. On some outings Willie would get a stick of chalk and everyone getting on the bus gave half a crown and got a number. Then he would write the numbers on the front wheel of the driver’s side of the bus. When they arrived at their destination whoever had the number nearest the ground won the kitty. People don’t do this kind of thing anymore but the memories of those simple days are still etched in the minds of those who took part in those wonderful, happy times. Above: The Clarke’s pub gang in the 1960s. |
Back to the Front Page