Wednesday 15 February 2017

A virtual tour of Walshes pub


Walsh's pub in Stoneybatter (or "Walshes" with an "e" if, like me, you go by the spelling on its splendid stained glass) is a frequent setting in the "Moss Reid" series. The following virtual tour from Google Maps gives a good idea of its interior layout; pity it can't give a flavour of one of the best pints of Guinness in Dublin...

Wednesday 8 February 2017

The Floozie in the Jacuzzi (not)


Dublin humour can be playful, cynical, surreal and full of wicked wordplay. It's a bit like the kid at the back of the class who's asked to use the word "bewitches" in a sentence.

"Ah you go on ahead," he replies, "I'll be wid yez in a minute."

Dublin wit is also embodied in the nicknames of its statutes and monuments, particularly the more "modren" additions to our postcolonial streetscape. And one nickname stands head and shoulders above the rest: "The Floozie in the Jacuzzi".

Thursday 26 January 2017

Dalymount - end of an era


This new video is a fitting tribute to the end of an era at Dalymount Park in Phibsborough, down the road from Stoneybatter on Dublin's northside. It has a fair few drone shots...

Damn Fine Print

Damn Fine Print was set up in 2011 as Dublin's first "community easy access screen print studio".

Thursday 6 October 2016

Goodbye O'Devaney Gardens


It's known in the trade as a "wet demolition". Despite the fire hoses the dust is everywhere, thick layers of it on the nearby cars and trucks. Hydraulic excavators pull and claw, peck and pummel away, surrounded by piles of rubble. They're pulling down the flats at last.

Wednesday 17 August 2016

Worldwide Discount Airfares, Arbour Hill


Ghost signs are a recurring motif in Ghost Flight, such as this one - an abandoned shopfront at 58A Arbour Hill in Stoneybatter. The book only mentioned it in passing, but it deserves far better, because since the start of the recession the building has become, well, a sort of lovable local landmark.