Monday, July 25, 2011

Art is not a crime ?


The above is clearly an unexceptionable statement. Only repressive régimes make art a crime. Do they not?

But when the rest of the backlane, between St. Laurence's Rd. and the Styles Rd., is peppered with the likes of the shite below, it would make you wonder.



Where is it? No.4



Solution

Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (VBVM) at the corner of Philipsburgh Avenue and Fairview Strand.


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



Thursday, July 21, 2011

Junk it


I have had my fill of junk mail. Literally.

Unfortuntately Divine Intervention was not forthcoming in response to my enraged ejaculations in the direction of the Good Lord. Probably because he knows I know he's not there.

So back to earthly remedies.

I have written to some of the people who have stuffed my letterbox, including the post office. They have all taken the line that they are under contract to distribute such mail (the post office) or just a plain "eff off" (any of the very few others who bothered to reply).

The citizen's advice bureau advises you to contact the IDMA but this will only get you off lists for mail which is specifically addressed to your residence. You are still left with the fliers which I suspect are the main problem for most people.

Various remedies have been suggested. One that I liked, and which reminded me of a long past Private Eye campaign against W H Smith who refused to handle their publication, was to collect all your junk mail, assemble it in small parcels and post them all, without any stamp, to the mailer of your choice. Clearly this would only have an effect if adopted by a sufficiently wide segment of the offended population.

An alternative, suggested by the cartoon below, is to put the paper to your own constructive use.

Source

I remember making "papier maché" in school which could be used like plaster for making masks, boxes or whatever. You normally used paste and newsprint to do this but it might just be possible to come up with some fluid which, when mixed with the glossy junkmail, would produce the same effect.

Perhaps we might see junkmail banks springing up to facilitate those who don't want to go to all this trouble in the home. On reflection, maybe that's already there, after a fashion, in our current domestic recycling bins.

Anyway, for those of my readers whose blood pressure has reached an all time high since starting to read this post, I would like to end on a calm and civilised note.

I recently got a flier from a local motoring school. Needless to say there was an email address to facilitate booking your place.

So I mailed the offender in the following terms.

I have a notice on my letterbox requesting no junk mail.

I have just received your flier in triplicate.

I would like an explanation from you of how this happened and what instructions you give your flier distributors.

I would appreciate a reply before taking this matter up on my blog.


Much to my surprise I got the following prompt reply

I have now terminated my contract with the distribution company. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.


There's hope for us all yet.

And the civilised and concerned citizen involved is

Karl Nolan
Clontarf Driving Academy
086-3087756



Sunday, July 17, 2011

Daw Fe Ddaw Yr Awr

That Hug

We are approaching the tenth anniversary of the breaking of a significan glass ceiling in the cultural life of Welsh Wales.

For the first time ever, the Eisteddfod Chair, Y Gadair, was won by a woman at the Denbigh Eisteddfod in 2001. It was an electric occasion.

For its sheer impact, this occasion was on a par with the posthumous award of the Chair, at the Birkenhead Eisteddfod in 1917, to Hedd Wyn who had just died on the Western Front in WWI days before.

Since 2001, only one other woman has won the chair, Hilma Ll. Edwards, in 2008.

So all eyes will be on Wrexham for 16:30 on Friday 5 August. Will it be another woman on this occasion? Will the Chair be withheld for want of an entry of sufficiently high standard, as was the case as recently as 2009?

I'll leave you on a lighter note from 2001. The Englyn competition boasted an ironic entry in the light of what happened with the Chair. "Bunny" on the theme of "Red Herring" bemoaned the lack of a female archdruid. Chair Bards are normally preferred for this office, though we have even had a Prose Medal winner as Archdruid in recent times after the qualifications were widened to include this category.

Two female Chair Bards must surely increase the chances of a female Archdruid in the near future.

Mererid Hopwood with the Archdruid, 2001



Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Living History


Is it a sign of advancing age when I find myself with connections to three out of four people photographed at the launch of the history of National Library of Ireland Society? This is a recurring experience.

I worked with Felix in the Departments of Finance and Economic Planning and Development and our paths have recently begun crossing again in the areas of local and family history. I also worked with Ian in both the above Departments though our paths have not (yet) started criscrossing in recent times.

Maurice is a different kettle of fish. I first met him at an essay competition run by the Irish Independent and moderated by the then editor Hector Legge. He won, I lost. He then turned up as my tutor in UCD and duly signed my chit to get Paul Blanshard's book The Irish and Catholic Power off the reserved shelf where is was isolated lest it contaminate the innocent students of the day. Thank you Maurice. I reread the book in more recent times and it is even much better than I remember.

For the record, the guys are (L-R) Felix M Larkin, Vice President of the Society, Maurice Manning who launched the history, Dónall Ó Luanaigh who wrote it, and Ian d'Alton, Treasurer.

Reviews of Friends of the National Library: in Irish Times Irish Catholic


Monday, July 04, 2011

Where is it? No.3


Congratulations to Felix M Larkin who has correctly identified the figure as that of Blessed Francis Taylor outside the Pro-Cathedral in Marlborough St., Dublin.



Update

The lady in the picture is Blessed Margaret Ball, grandmother in law of Francis Taylor, who has a church dedicated to her on Dublin's Northside.

Felix, in a comment below, wonders if we will ever have a Blessed Lord Mayor again. Well, we came very close with Bertie, who, fortunately, fell at the last fence.

A beautifully evocative shot below from the Irish Times of yore.


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