Where is it? No.2

This could be an easy one - if you visit my website every day.

I'll probably post the answer in a comment sometime.



Full marks to Dave (see his comment below) for getting that one right. It's the Naughton Institute in Pearse St., part of the TCD complex.

It is one of the pictures that comes up once a month on my website.

To see all the quiz items click on the "Where?" tag below.

La Reine de la Manche

"The Queen of the Channel", Jersey, Channel Islands, occupies a unique space. It is French but not French; it is British but not part of the UK; it is not in the EU but sort of of it; it is a tax haven sheltering under the relative respectability of a British Crown Dependency just off the coast of France.


In 1961, when I went there for summer work, it was a beautiful place, a sort of tourist paradise, advertised as a taste of France without the language problem. It was, and is still, more or less self-governing while formally the responsibility of the British Crown.



It is the only part of the "British Isles" to have been occupied by the Third Reich and the legacy of the occupation is still there to this day. Mind you, it did have some delusions of grandeur as illustrated by the limmo above, carrying the then current heads of state or government of the WWII allies: McMillan, JFK, de Gaulle and Kruschev.


The big tourist festival, akin to the St. Patrick's day parade for the Irish, was the "Battle of Flowers" where magnificent floats, completely covered in flowers, took part in a parade along the prom at St. Helier, the capital. When it was over the flowers were torn off the floats and pegged at one's opponents, whence the "battle".


All very idyllic, you might think. But revelations in recent times have shown this magic island in an entirely different light. Horrendous physical and sexual abuse of children, principally in institutions, has come to light. This was perpetrated by those in positions of power and has been systematically covered up by the Jersey administration for years.

When Senator Stuart Syvret, the Health Minister in the period 2005-2007, started poking the embers in response to complaints from victims, he was summarily sacked and has since been the object of villification and illegal harassment. The chief of police, who had come from the mainland, was also summarily sacked ("suspended") when he supported the efforts of his deputy to carry out the police enquiry into the abuse in a professional manner and free from political interference.

Ex-Senator Syvret is now working his way through the local courts en route to the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. The, now retired, former Deputy Police Chief has provided him with an affidavit which is well worth reading in full. Stuart has reproduced it on his blog.

Says it all. Unfortunately.

Update: subsequent post.

Sign of the Times

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has taken down this sign in Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, because it is non-standard. The same sign is being used by Fáilte Ireland (the tourist board) to market the country and the area.

Is it any wonder we are in the mess we're in.

Fintan O'Toole has pointed out the lack of joined up thinking among our authorities and also the lack of respect for local involvement and preferences in our system of governance.

Clearly, what was required here was the capacity for the authorities to exercise discretion when applying national norms to allow them to respect local culture.

But this is a Catch 22 dilemma in clientist Ireland. On the basis of past experience, such discretion would be used by the authorities to wreck the country. We have already seen the number of local authority planning decisions which have had to be overruled by the national planning authority, particularly in the West of Ireland.

Ballyvaughan is a beautiful place, with its own pace and serenity. It is a place to stop in and not just to speed through.

What price a motorway? Oh, I forgot, we can't afford it. Shame!

Lending Library

What is a library?

It's a place where you get books out on loan and where you can consult a lot of general reference works. It is also a reading room where you can sit and read their books or even bring your own.

At least that's how it used to be.



Today your local library is so much more. Quite apart from automating book loans by (almost) replacing friendly and efficient staff with intelligent machines (see above), the library has become a much wider community facility and focal point.


This is a current view inside my local library, the second busiest in the city of Dublin. You can see the desk, which still does a brisk business despite the intelligent machines at the door. You can also see one of the exhibitions which turn up regularly throughout the year. This particular one displays some of the really excellent photography of members of the Sutton Camera Club. Other exhibitions cover the work of local artists and aspects of local history, and there are yet other, more general, Dublin based exhibitions which travel around the city's libraries.


The study space is a new feature. This gives students a chance to study uninterrupted in a quiet environment away from home. The library provides free Wifi to all its clients. There is another space in a secluded corner which hosts language classes and conversation groups. The children's spacious area is also requisitioned on some evenings for illustrated talks on a wide range of subjects. These are very popular and well attended.


And if you don't have access to the internet at home, for one reason or another, the local library is your only man. You can book hourly slots on one of the four open computers. This not only allows you to access the internet generally, but you also have free access to a number of databases which would cost you at home, such as the Irish Times digital archive and the Irish Newspaper Archive which covers the Independent and Freeman's Journal at national level and is steadily increasing its coverage of the provincial papers.


The children's area has been reorganised from the old days when the emphasis was simply on taking out books. As you can see from the photo above, the emphasis is now on space, allowing plenty of room for both reading and joint project work.


There are even outdoor facilities. This chess/draughts bench sits in the middle of the front lawn and provides good healthy open air brain stimulation to players of all ages.


Not to forget the clothes (charity) and bottle (recycling) banks.

I was mulling over this post, and had raised it with my local librarian when, coincidentally, the Irish Independent carried an article on how to save money by using your library. It's well worth a read.

I intended the post to draw people's attention to the significantly enhanced role of the local library in today's world, not only to provoke its use but to sound a warning note. Library services are provided free at the point of use but they incur a significant resource cost and can be a tempting target for public expenditure cutbacks or charges.

A greater appreciation of this wonderful service and its universal availability will hopefully encourage people to defend it agains such depredations.


By the way, the library carpark is most definitely not a place to park your car while you go to the gym, do your shopping or raid the hole in the wall across the road. The car parking is to facilitate the public using all the other facilities provided by the library.

Update: Raheny Library celebrated its 40th anniversary on 5/12/2012.

Thought for Bloomsday

Photo taken from a passing DART north of Connolly Station, Dublin.

Moving

It doesn't really soften the blow for the staff but it may soften the general public's perception of what is going on.

Remember "downsizing", so much more sanitised than "laying off" or "making redundant".

Well Xtravision have come up with another one. They are closing their Raheny branch, but the sign simply says they are "moving".

Ah yes, but they are "moving" to two other outlets that are already there. So it's still bye bye staff.

There should really be a prize for the guys who think up, or apply, these new innocuous sounding verbs to what are really gruesome happenings.

Where is it? No.1

I thought I'd engage in a bit of divarsion and, from time to time, post a photo of something that struck me in my travels and ask my readers to guess where it is.

The purpose of the exercise is really to encourage people to look around them as they walk, bus, tram or train around the place. Drivers and cyclists should keep their eyes strictly on the road ahead.

I had never noticed the above premises before, though it could have been there since Turkey applied to join the EU in 1987. It was certainly not there when Turkey got associate membership in 1963.

See an earlier view from Google Streetview.

If you've run out of patience and just want the answer hover the cursor here.

To see all the quiz items click on the "Where?" tag below.

Clip clop

In 1884 there were 793 blacksmiths (excluding farriers) in Dublin alone.

The Medlar branch of the family boasted its share of this profession but in modern times the smithy is alas no more. Probably a mere corner of an apartment block, or of a car park, or of a super highway, or just an old ruin gone to seed.

Well, the good news for blacksmiths, not to mention farriers, is that they may be back. The recession/armageddon will reduce us all to a single horsepower, at most, and the lucky horseshoe will be back in fashion in spades.

The illustration above imagines an ancient Irish clamper, but may yet be a sign of things to come. It is from the same collection of postcards I introduced here last year.

On Guard

People go to great lengths to protect their stock of booze. This guy is standing guard over the Guinness mortuary chapel in All Saints' Church in Raheny. As far as I can see, he is the only gargoyle on the outside of the church.

As well as the remains of Lord and Lady Ardilaun the chapel contains a special can of Guinness (below) commemorating that brewery's 250th anniversary at James's Gate in 2009.



The dragon above has been on guard for nearly a century and a quarter, but the piece of Sharia law below has just been introduced into the Supervalu off-licence in Raheny.




It would need to be a very very Good Friday!