Leaving their mark ...

Since I retired my vision has improved enormously. I don't mean my eyes are working better, quite the reverse. But I am now using them differently. When I was working in the centre of Dublin city I saw nothing as I flitted between meetings, totally preoccupied with the inside of my head. Now I stroll the streets and see everything. And there are some amazing things to see.

I have already drawn attention to the beautiful roundels, commemorating Gullivers Travels, on a new public housing complex in the vicinity of St. Patrick's cathedral.

Well, I was walking up Gardiner Street early yesterday morning when my eye caught a similar looking plaque at the top of the Custom Hall apartment development. However this one was not immortalising any fictional or literary character. The plaques atop this complex immortalise the developers (Cosgrave Bros.) and the architects (Ambrose Kelly).

My initial reaction was that these plaques now look like gravestones, highlighting the current plight of the property developers whose more recent acquisitions have turned to dust and who look like saddling the taxpayer with a huge debt via the banks and their bailout by Government.

However, when I got back home I checked out the development and it appears that it was this project which kicked off the regeneration of Gardiner Street. Dubliners will remember that this street had turned into an appalling slum prior to the regeneration.

McDonald and Sheridan describe this area in their recent book on The Builders:

Custom Hall, in Gardiner Street on the north side of Dublin, is a humdrum piece of neoclassical pastiche, with five-storey blocks of smallish flats standing on stilts above basement car parking; but it took a lot of courage to build in Gardiner Street in the early 1990s. The junction with Sean McDermott Street was known as "Handbag Corner" because of the dexterity of local thieves in snatching bags from cars while women drivers were stopped at the traffic lights. Custom Hall pioneered the regeneration of Gardiner Street, changing the image of the area.

The Cosgraves' next effort was just across the road. The building which was once my grand uncle's pawn shop was demolished and became part of Gandon Hall with further Custom House resonances. My personal connection with Gardiner Street goes back to my teaching innings in the Central Model School which backs onto this street.

So, while these early regeneration projects undoubtedly made some contribution to the centre city, the enduring function of these plaques may well be as gravestones given the parlous state to which the nation has been brought by the combination of politicians, bankers and developers.

An Irish Apollo

I observed this sign in the sky recently on the Northside. Perhaps someone took the hint in my previous post and has catapulted a few bankers/developers into outer space. From what I read they have been shaping up for a trip anyway. I was going to say it would be more worrying if it had been the Cabinet but that might equally solve a few problems.

Unfortunately it will more likely prove to have been just a test launch. If the North Koreans can do it so can we.

Journey into Space

This large gantry was recently observed outside Government Buildings and the Department of Finance in Dublin.

There has been much speculation as to what is going on. Some are of the opinion that it is to launch an escape rocket to carry the Government to the relative safety of the Van Allen Belt. Others speculate that it has already launched the Tánaiste into deep space to prevent her from goofing the country into bankruptcy. Yet others insist that it is in fact the initial stage of a guillotine, to be used for the public beheading of Bankers and eFFn FFers, for the edification and entertainment of the masses over the Easter weekend .

No doubt the truth is more banal.

Happy Easter anyway.

Hung out to dry

Readers of this blog will be familiar with my preoccupation with the upside-down flying of flags. A particular favourite is the EU flag, which most people do not realise can actually be flown in this manner - we are not talking stars of David here, after all.

I pointed out that the flag was being flown upside-down at the French Embassy in Dublin on the day of then EU President Sarkozy's visit in July 2008.

Two months later I noticed the same thing at the Hungarian embassy in Dublin (picture above). I did inform them by email and intercom but when I passed the way again a further two months later nothing had been done about it (picture below). In fact the flags at this embassy looked as though they were never lowered since they were first raised.

It was only after the full extent of the Hungarian Financial crisis became known that it struck me this might have actually been a cry for help. So I forgive them, I think.

However, if that had been the case you'd have thought the Hungarians would have flown their own flag upside-down, an option not available to the French.

The subtleties of all this are giving me a headache.


Update 13 Dec 2009

I passed the way again on Sunday and it was impossible to tell how the Euro flag was hanging. It was just plain twisted. But I suspect, on the basis of their previous reactions (see comments below) that the Hungarians had given up on me.



Protocol was being fully observed, however, a little further down the street at the Fitzwilliam Guest house, next door to where I was born (the yellow door). Here was a purely private entity flying the Euro flag correctly. What are we to learn from this?



Update 2 Jan 2010

I passed the way again today and, lo and behold, the flag was the right way up. I don't know whether this signals the end of the hostage crisis or whether Budapest has been persuaded to issue a right-way-up flag, or whether my many bell ringings and representations have finally borne fruit.

In any event, it portends a good New Year 2010.

Congratulations to the Embassy on finally toeing the protocol line.



THE END