Dublin

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Alice Peters-Burns
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years ago
Years ago, in the 80s and early 90s when Dublin still had moderate house prices and very few companies, never mind multi-national ones, I spent some time there on and off. At the time there would be a lot of poor people around. The sight of all the kids begging would break your heart.
This must have been the time when people were being moved out of the inner city and into places without any infrastructure which were then hit by a very sudden and very large heroin wave. Oh yes, there were dark sides and they are still there. I still find the Dubs refreshingly and astonishingly open and light-hearted though.
Once, at home, in Aachen, the Dubliners were playing at some folk festival and they had picked up some guy called Brian, Brian with the rat.
I keep running into him - well have not seen him in many years now. Met him again in, wait now, 1987, St Stephens Green and he went busking in Grafton Street on a three string guitar, accompanied by an English guy Jeremiah. They could not get into any pub. In 1990, I heard from a housemate in Dublin that Brian had kept a pony in a flat in Summerhill. Later he returned to Aachen, hang around, busked. I talked to him for a bit and then he hit the headlines by sending a skull to the mayor with a note stating that life ends like that. The mayor took it as a threat and off Brian was sent .
Saw him again in 1997 or so, a shadow of his former self at Pearse Station.
What am I trying to say? Dublin was a place where even if you had a very rich and well-connected family, you could become a down-and-out. He is or probably even was a very funny and intelligent man and I wonder what became of him and many others for that respect that I met on assorted journeys.
I think that some of the very Irish genius and spirit has disappeared with the Tiger but I am not sure...does anyone fear the same?
- 16 Feb 2006, 4:00 pm
Alice Peters-Burns wrote: > Years ago, in the 80s and early 90s when Dublin still had moderate > house prices and very few companies, never mind multi-national ones, > I spent some time there on and off. At the time there would be a lot > of poor people around. The sight of all the kids begging would break > your heart. > This must have been the time when people were being moved out of the > inner city and into places without any infrastructure which were then > hit by a very sudden and very large heroin wave. Oh yes, there were > dark sides and they are still there. I still find the Dubs > refreshingly and astonishingly open and light-hearted though. > Once, at home, in Aachen, the Dubliners were playing at some folk > festival and they had picked up some guy called Brian, Brian with the > rat. > I keep running into him - well have not seen him in many years now. > Met him again in, wait now, 1987, St Stephens Green and he went > busking in Grafton Street on a three string guitar, accompanied by an > English guy Jeremiah. They could not get into any pub. In 1990, I > heard from a housemate in Dublin that Brian had kept a pony in a flat > in Summerhill. Later he returned to Aachen, hang around, busked. I > talked to him for a bit and then he hit the headlines by sending a > skull to the mayor with a note stating that life ends like that. The > mayor took it as a threat and off Brian was sent . > Saw him again in 1997 or so, a shadow of his former self at Pearse > Station. > What am I trying to say? Dublin was a place where even if you had a > very rich and well-connected family, you could become a down-and-out. > He is or probably even was a very funny and intelligent man and I > wonder what became of him and many others for that respect that I met > on assorted journeys. > I think that some of the very Irish genius and spirit has disappeared > with the Tiger but I am not sure...does anyone fear the same?

Dublin

years ago