AIMSIR
Bhí cuma báistigh air, “It looked like rain” as they say but we remained fortunate. Bróna reminded us that the last days of March and the first days of April are known in Irish folklore as “Laethanta na Bó Riabhaí – the days of the brindled cow”. Perhaps “brindled” was meant to convey mixed weather, as a brindled cow might be brown with streaks of white and/ or grey.
On the other hand, an old English folk saying has it that “March comes in roaring like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” The first written record of that saying is thought to have been in Thomas Fuller’s 1732 compendium, Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British.
DAOINE
Bróna, Daniel and Diarmuid were the team this Saturday, the week with all the threes” — 393.
Finglas was high as a current location among the signers.
We often have a fair bit of Gaeilge at our stall and apart from Bróna’s observation on the end days of March, there were some greetings, thanks etc all in Irish. But near the end of our shift, a man and his 5-year-old son stopped by us, both Irish speakers. He was born and raised in Kansas, USA but learned a bit of Irish with the intention of coming to live in Ireland, which he did 12 years ago. He and his wife, also an Irish-speaker, intend to raise their family Irish-speaking. So Diarmuid was enlisted to explain some of the history in Irish and the boy had some intelligent questions. The father signed the petition for himself and, at his son’s request, for him too and then it was “slán” all round.
One of the street stall people showed us the gold sovereign ring in her family, dated 1916, a belonging of her grandfather who fought in the GPO. Another person supporting the campaign believes his relative, Vol. McCormack, was killed in the Moore Street area. A very friendly couple from Liverpool signed the petition. Yet another man, who will be doing history tours came to pick our brains for awhile. And after we had cleared up, a history tour guide came along Henry Place leading a very large group of youths.
UPDATES
The situation is unchanged from last week: An Bord Pleanála has yet to give its verdict on the appeals and submissions against DCC’s granting two demolition Planning Permissions to the Hammerson speculator. DCC is still deliberating on the third Hammerson application.
The O’Rahilly Parade signpost, for which we have been pressing Dublin City Council for four years, promised to us for three, finally only erected a few weeks ago – has been missing for a couple of weeks now. Is the Council going to replace it?
We are available for history tours of the area for a charge to boost the funds of the campaign group.
