GAA Championships: Experience the Unforgettable

One of my fondest memories as a young child was being brought to Croke Park for an All-Ireland final in 1964 by my grandfather PJ O'Loughlin. As his eldest grandson, many of my cousins have often asked me about him (he died in 1965) - but I have very few memories of him now. I have often told the story of my Croke Park experience with him of not remembering the journey to Dublin from Carnew, who was playing, whether it was hurling or football, who won, or what the score was. But I did remember him buying me an ice-cream after the match. Indeed this story was published in the Personal Histories section of the History Ireland website: "My Grandfather, Croke Park, Ice Cream, and Gay Byrne".

The GAA's new ad "Experience the Unforgettable" captures this feeling very well and brought back memories of my grandfather and my own unforgettable experience. It seems that I am not the only one who has shared experiences like this. Enjoy the ad!

 

Source: Video above is a link from YouTube.

Jury Service

A few weeks ago I was called for jury service at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Parkgate Street. It was the fifth time I had ever been called, but this was one I could not get out of. The first time I was a student and just did not show up. The second time I was still a student and claimed exemption. The third time I met an acquaintance from Carnew on the doors of the courts, he was a solicitor and happened to be in court that day - he got me off. The fourth time was while I was a lecturer and was for during term time - so I was again exempt. 

Image source: The Journal.

I was told to be available for two weeks. This turned out to be one week, which was shorter again as Good Friday fell on that week. I estimated that there was over 130 people called to the jury waiting area in the courts on the first day. We waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually names were called for one jury and after about two hours those that were not called out were told to go home. The same happened on the second and third days. On the fourth day after about half an hour we were told there would be no trials and that we were free to go. So I was not called - phew!

The only thing that made me think that the week was not a complete waste of time was the fact that I could have been fined for not showing up. With only three juries being selected during the week - most of us had to sit and wait until allowed to go. While I was able to leave quickly at the end, almost everyone else that was there queued up to get letters to give to employers to cover their absence from work (and get paid). I'm sure it was on everyone's mind that an awful lot of work days were lost for practically nothing.

The good news for me is that there won't be a sixth time, as I will be 65 later in the year and entitled to exemption. I'm quite happy (and selfish) to leave this shitty job to someone else. I hated being in the Courts building, I hated having my photo deliberately taken by a press photographer outside the main entrance, and I hated the waste of time. 

Branding irons

I have completed my first oak table of the year. A lot of elbow grease, sanding, levelling, and polishing went into this. I'm quite please with this, it is my first produced with almost perfect levelling. A new feature is some branding - literally with branding irons! My Dad gave me his O-L iron sheep marker - it was almost certainly made in Rickerby's Forge in Croneyhorn outside Carnew, Co Wicklow, for my grandfather PJ O'Loughlin. Most likely this was during the 1930s or 1940s. His farm was in Tomacork, also outside Carnew. The iron would have been dipped in paint so that the O-L mark would be visible to identify O'Loughlin sheep after they would have be sheared. It was most unlikely to have been used as a hot branding iron. A smaller and more modern branding iron was given to me by my daughters last Christmas. It has my initials at the bottom and crossed axes at the top!

I put both of them into the fire and marked the bottom of the table - I think it is kinda cool, and I have decided that this is my logo from now on.

The table is quite small, about 50cms in diameter. The wood is from Ballingate and was taken from a tree felled by my bother Joe. This is one of a set of four taken from the same section of the tree and will soon be on its way to a new owner in Belfast who has just bought her first house. 

Short Trip to Madrid

Last week Roma and I travelled to Madrid in Spain for a few days. Neither of us had ever been to this city before, even though we have been to Spain many times. We spent four nights, which was just about right, close to the city centre. Lots of walking, art, wine, and tapas just about sums up our trip.

The Royal Palace was our first stop. It is one of the biggest in Europe and only a fraction of it is on view to the public. We don't have anything like this in Ireland. While it is a magnificent building, it shows off the riches of the Spanish Royalty. It is richly decorated and must have cost millions to build. No doubt there were many people at the time that thought the money could have been used to build something else, like hospitals or schools. Nevertheless it is worth a visit - at this this time of year the queue to get in was very short.

The Royal Palace.

We went to The Prado museum where there are loads of paintings by famous people such as Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, and Goya. The painting we most wanted to see was The Third of May 1808 by Goya, but there were lots of other brilliant pieces of work to be seen. One thing about touring the Prado is that the audio guide is very user unfriendly.

We also went to the Queen Sofia Museum of modern art. Here the most famous painting is Guernica by Picasso.  I had no idea it was so big, and thanks to the (better than Prado) audio guide I got a great explanation of what the painting was about and how it was put together. I just stood and stared in awe at magnificence. 

Guernica by Picasso.

An interesting museum for me was Legends of Football. It was mostly about Spanish and world football. There's a virtual tour of the major football grounds in the world, but the best parts were seeing jerseys worn by famous football stars. Maradona's jersey from the 1986 World Cup final was there, as were jerseys worn by George Best, Cristiano Ronaldo, Johann Cruyff, and our own Ray Houghton (from the 1-1 draw with The Netherlands in the 1990 World Cup). I had a great chat with the museum manager who gave me a personal tour around part of the museum. I don't think I have ever met anyone as passionate about football as him!

I paid €16 for this. Eejit!

But the best thing about Madrid is the food and wine. We had done a Walking Tour on our first evening and been to fantastic tapas bars like La Casa del Abuelo, which we went back to on our last night. Tapas is an exciting and delicious way to see a city - I feel as though I ate and drank my way around the narrow streets of central Madrid. I even developed a taste for vermouth in the Antón Martín Market (which was just across the road from our hotel)!

Enjoying tapas at the wonderful La Casa del Abuelo.

Madrid is definitely a city worth visiting. Everyone was so friendly and it is a very clean city centre. The metro is fantastic and easy to use, and there is so little traffic on the streets. Madrid does not have an Eiffel Tour, Colosseum, or Statue of Liberty, but it does have loads of character and culture to satisfy any visitor.

PS
I'm mindful that this is my first post in over two months. Since I started this blog I have not let this happen before. January and February have been quiet months this year for me, and I have not had much to blog about.