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  • Tommy

    Looking back on my childhood I had plenty of friends. I mean there was always someone around to play with. I might ramble round to Arbour Hill, have a game of something with the Maguires the Guinnings, maybe Gerry Hayes [later to be a member of The Cadets Showband] I might pop over to Paul Street for a game of handball or head down to Hendrick Street to Robbie and of course there was Joe and Christy in King Street who I regard as my two dearest friends, sadly both now left the building. However I'd have to say Tommy was my first ever friend. He lived in the same tenement building as meself and we played together since I cant remember, he was always there in my memory. With Tommy I learned to play Ponner, Dawn, Poker, for buttons, I hasten to add. I remember Tommy cleaned me out, I had a whinge, he gave me back some of me buttons and we resumed playing only for him to clean me out again and again give some back to me. We went to the park for chestnuts, to fish for pinkeens, we went to the pictures. I remember we were in The Broadway watching Gene Autry being chased by indians who were shooting at him. Me heart was in me mouth in case they killed Gene. ''Dont worry'' Tommy reassured me, ''they wont kill Gene'' As if. Another time Tommy tied an iron bar to a rope attached to a hook and was happily swinging it back and forth, dodging it as it came towards him. This was in the oul yard attached to our tenement. Well one time Tommy didn't move quick enough and took the iron bar in the face. His mother sent me for a plaster and she patched him up herself. He was feft with a little scar that he would have to this day. Tommy was very thin, his nickname was feather though I have no recollection of ever calling him by that name. When I ws about twelve or thirteen we fell out. Now like all pals we had of fights and go off in a huff. An hour later I'd answer a knock on the door, it was Tommy. ''Are ye coming out?'' I cant remember what our last row was about, something childish, no doubt. A bit of shouting and pushing began, our mothers were watching us and called out to us to behave. I turned and walked away. I didn't realise it at the time but I was walking away from a childhood friendship. We never hung out together again, never sat in the broadway or Feeno together again, no card games, no pinkeen fishing, it was all over, that part of our lives, that friendship. I had started to hang out in Hendrick Street and I must say I renaged Tommy, didn't want to make up with him and looking back, he didn't knock on my door like he used to, ''are ye coming out?'' Living in the same tenement we often bumped into eachother, we would say ''howya'', no chat, no ''how's it going''. We moved to Finglas sometime after that. The mother called into Paul Street to visit a family we had been friends with and she met Tommy. he gave her a hug, told her she was getting younger looking, made her day. Dont think he mentioned me. Tommy moved to Ballyfermot the following year, then to England. He already had some family over there, the parents went over too. Tommy never came back, no one to come back to I guess. Sadly his brothr John who had gone to England a few years earlier, died over there. He would have been very young, twenty something. No idea what he died of. I often think of him. His mother was a lovely woman, always good for a loan of a few bob when my ma was short[which was pretty much all the time as I remember] One time Tommy was cruel to me about borrowing from his ma. ''Dont knock on my door looking for money again'' he told me in front of another pal. I forgive ya Tommy, kids could be cruel to eachother, I was no exception. When I think back I have many happy memories of our friendship. Like the time I made me confirmation, I brought Tommy to Woolworths and treated him to a ice cream cone, think I took him to the pictures as well. I got a wallet, think it was an old one belonging to my big brother. Tommy cut some pictures out of a film magazine and gave them to me ''for yer wallet''. One of the pics was of Scott Brady. These are the times I like to look back on the most. We cannot change the past, if we could I wouldn't have walked out of our friendship that fateful day, many moons ago.

    Comment


    • Great stuff Paudge , BTW what part of Finglas did you move to ?

      Comment


      • Fantastic podge, Lovely memories, and very well written..the friendship with Tommy was clearly very important at the time...but i think it perhaps ended in a normal way..and if it hadnt been for the bit of a spiff youd have both gone separate ways anyways..


        Keep the stories coming....Very enjoyable..

        Comment


        • Originally posted by bojangles View Post
          Great stuff Paudge , BTW what part of Finglas did you move to ?
          Hi Bojangles, we moved to Cappagh Drive, up in the west.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Mykidsmom View Post
            Fantastic podge, Lovely memories, and very well written..the friendship with Tommy was clearly very important at the time...but i think it perhaps ended in a normal way..and if it hadnt been for the bit of a spiff youd have both gone separate ways anyways..


            Keep the stories coming....Very enjoyable..
            Thank you for your nice comments MKM. Yes childhood friendships usually run out somewhere along the way but it would have been nice if ours had lasted a little longer, could have, should have.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by paudge View Post
              Thank you for your nice comments MKM. Yes childhood friendships usually run out somewhere along the way but it would have been nice if ours had lasted a little longer, could have, should have.
              Nice one Paudge ......could visualize as reading your story .

              Comment


              • great readin there paudge, the best since we had Patrick Kavanagh [user name] on another forum ,.ie I think, he came from greek st flats and moved to ballyfermot , one of his first posts he walked from O'Connell bridge to parkgate st gates of the park. he was describing every street, lane , old shops, local identities , I honestly thought he had taken a trip back to Dublin, and I said that in a post to reply, naw he said I was just remembering the old times. he certainly lived up to his user name.....enjoyed your posts as well paudge.
                in god i trust...everyone else cash only.

                Comment


                • A Motley Crew

                  Anyone ever hear Of La Belle? She lived in Queen St. To this day I couldn't tell you her real name, everybody referred to her as La Belle. No disrespect but she wasn't the beauty her name implied, somebody had a sense of humour putting that tag on her. Oklahoma lived in Queen Street too before moving to Cabra. He continued to come down to Smithfield to see his buddies, me own da being one of them. Oklahoma wore a cowboy style hat, believe he got the name when the James Cagney film ''The Oklahoma Kid'' came out in the late 30s. He had a son, Jimmy. Jimmy had a nice singing voice. I remember the oul club, St Colmcilles, put on a Christmas show and Jimmy gave us a lovely rendidion of Kevin Barry. Me oul pal Joe got on the show as well. Me? I never made it past the auditions. ''We'll get back to you'' No word yet but I'll keep ya posted. Speaking of singers, we had two lads in our class who were good singers. If Fitzy was in a good mood he'd let us put our books away and have a chat 10 or 15 minutes before knocking off tme. ''Give us a song'' he'd say and Mixie would break into ''Heartbreak Hotel'' Christy Mac would give us a Bing Crosby number. I cant remember what song he would sing.I only remember va va voom, something like that.Christy Mac was a lovely kid.Tall, gangly, always in good form. I didn't realise it back then but I think he not only wanted to sound like Bing, he tried to be like him as well. I mean he wanted to adopt the screen image that Bing had in films like ''Going My Way'' Mr nice guy, always ready to help out anybody in trouble.- When a priest from the parish dropped in for a visit Fitzy would get the lads to sing for him, depending on which priest dropped in. If it was that grumpy Fr Moran, forget it. Groucho Marx couldn't put a smile on that sour face. None of us kids were angels. We were mostly a rough and ready lot, some more than others. Bit of rough house, trickacting. I was as good as any of them. However there were a couple of lads who were bully's. If not fully fledged bully's,they were doing their best to join that club. Danny was another former resident of Queen St who moved to Cabra but continued to attend our school ''The Cardboard College'' I remember him punching another kid in the nose right in the classroom because the kid said something Danny didn't like. Amazingly, Fitzy let him away with it. After we left school I'd see Danny around, here and there. I remember meeting him in The Bamba book shop on Caple St. He informed me he would shortly be heading off to begin training to become a Christian Brother. I wished him all the best. He went and came back, never became a brother. Dont know the full story. My guess is The Christian Brothers had enough bullies among their ranks at that time, enough said. The other would be bully was Nicko from Paul St. Nicko contracted polio as a child, wore a brace on his leg. Nicko had little balance, one push and he would fall over but that didn't stop Nicko from acting the hard chaw. He'd push you around, slap you in the face and you couldn't hit him back, if you did, you had half the kids in Paul St on your case. You couldn't hit a kid with a handicap and Nicko knew this and played on it. I met him years later when we both worked in Unidare. Lets just say he was an ok guy by then. Other colourful names I remember from those days were Gypsy O'Brien, Dollar O'Brien, Chinky Boy Brady. There were two Dollars, father and son. Dollar senior's mother was The Gypsey O'Brien, told fortunes. Her daughter Betty married Paddy, a good pal of me da's. They lived in Benburb St, later Paul St. One of their sons was Wacker. I have a vague memory of talking to Wacker when I was very young. Wacker was ''backward'' thats the only way I can put it. His mind was years younger than his body. When he was about 19 Wacker got involved in a bank robbery, a man was shot and wounded. I believe there were three guys involved, I only know of two, Wacker and Cagney. I'm calling him Cagney because I remember being told he looked like Cagney, either that, or Cagney was his idol. They were caught and got long sentences. Cagney got 12 years, served 8, heard he died of a heart attack at 48 years of age. Wacker got 8, was moved to Dundrum Asylum where he died. In his childish mind he did nothing wrong. It was all just an adventure, a game even, like cowboys and indians. Now the game was over and he was locked up, why? He fretted the days away, fretted his life away. Have to mention Duck egg, brother of me oul pal Christy. I remember Christy's wedding, Duck egg sang Be Bop A Loola, he sang it in more keys than a jailer has. Christy's young bride complained to me, ''he sang off key'' For crying out loud Duck egg talked off key. If yer looking down Duck egg forgive me, I had to get that one in. Sadly Duck egg [Tommy] died about 18 months ago in Spain where he was living, massive heart attack. I can still hear him murdering Be Bop A Loola like I can still hear Mixie singing Heartbreak Hotel, Christy Mac throwing Bing Crosby in the mix. They are all embedded in me brain, all the voices, all the faces, be with me for the rest of me days. A motley crew for sure.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by paudge View Post
                    Anyone ever hear Of La Belle? She lived in Queen St. To this day I couldn't tell you her real name, everybody referred to her as La Belle. No disrespect but she wasn't the beauty her name implied, somebody had a sense of humour putting that tag on her. Oklahoma lived in Queen Street too before moving to Cabra. He continued to come down to Smithfield to see his buddies, me own da being one of them. Oklahoma wore a cowboy style hat, believe he got the name when the James Cagney film ''The Oklahoma Kid'' came out in the late 30s. He had a son, Jimmy. Jimmy had a nice singing voice. I remember the oul club, St Colmcilles, put on a Christmas show and Jimmy gave us a lovely rendidion of Kevin Barry. Me oul pal Joe got on the show as well. Me? I never made it past the auditions. ''We'll get back to you'' No word yet but I'll keep ya posted. Speaking of singers, we had two lads in our class who were good singers. If Fitzy was in a good mood he'd let us put our books away and have a chat 10 or 15 minutes before knocking off tme. ''Give us a song'' he'd say and Mixie would break into ''Heartbreak Hotel'' Christy Mac would give us a Bing Crosby number. I cant remember what song he would sing.I only remember va va voom, something like that.Christy Mac was a lovely kid.Tall, gangly, always in good form. I didn't realise it back then but I think he not only wanted to sound like Bing, he tried to be like him as well. I mean he wanted to adopt the screen image that Bing had in films like ''Going My Way'' Mr nice guy, always ready to help out anybody in trouble.- When a priest from the parish dropped in for a visit Fitzy would get the lads to sing for him, depending on which priest dropped in. If it was that grumpy Fr Moran, forget it. Groucho Marx couldn't put a smile on that sour face. None of us kids were angels. We were mostly a rough and ready lot, some more than others. Bit of rough house, trickacting. I was as good as any of them. However there were a couple of lads who were bully's. If not fully fledged bully's,they were doing their best to join that club. Danny was another former resident of Queen St who moved to Cabra but continued to attend our school ''The Cardboard College'' I remember him punching another kid in the nose right in the classroom because the kid said something Danny didn't like. Amazingly, Fitzy let him away with it. After we left school I'd see Danny around, here and there. I remember meeting him in The Bamba book shop on Caple St. He informed me he would shortly be heading off to begin training to become a Christian Brother. I wished him all the best. He went and came back, never became a brother. Dont know the full story. My guess is The Christian Brothers had enough bullies among their ranks at that time, enough said. The other would be bully was Nicko from Paul St. Nicko contracted polio as a child, wore a brace on his leg. Nicko had little balance, one push and he would fall over but that didn't stop Nicko from acting the hard chaw. He'd push you around, slap you in the face and you couldn't hit him back, if you did, you had half the kids in Paul St on your case. You couldn't hit a kid with a handicap and Nicko knew this and played on it. I met him years later when we both worked in Unidare. Lets just say he was an ok guy by then. Other colourful names I remember from those days were Gypsy O'Brien, Dollar O'Brien, Chinky Boy Brady. There were two Dollars, father and son. Dollar senior's mother was The Gypsey O'Brien, told fortunes. Her daughter Betty married Paddy, a good pal of me da's. They lived in Benburb St, later Paul St. One of their sons was Wacker. I have a vague memory of talking to Wacker when I was very young. Wacker was ''backward'' thats the only way I can put it. His mind was years younger than his body. When he was about 19 Wacker got involved in a bank robbery, a man was shot and wounded. I believe there were three guys involved, I only know of two, Wacker and Cagney. I'm calling him Cagney because I remember being told he looked like Cagney, either that, or Cagney was his idol. They were caught and got long sentences. Cagney got 12 years, served 8, heard he died of a heart attack at 48 years of age. Wacker got 8, was moved to Dundrum Asylum where he died. In his childish mind he did nothing wrong. It was all just an adventure, a game even, like cowboys and indians. Now the game was over and he was locked up, why? He fretted the days away, fretted his life away. Have to mention Duck egg, brother of me oul pal Christy. I remember Christy's wedding, Duck egg sang Be Bop A Loola, he sang it in more keys than a jailer has. Christy's young bride complained to me, ''he sang off key'' For crying out loud Duck egg talked off key. If yer looking down Duck egg forgive me, I had to get that one in. Sadly Duck egg [Tommy] died about 18 months ago in Spain where he was living, massive heart attack. I can still hear him murdering Be Bop A Loola like I can still hear Mixie singing Heartbreak Hotel, Christy Mac throwing Bing Crosby in the mix. They are all embedded in me brain, all the voices, all the faces, be with me for the rest of me days. A motley crew for sure.
                    Great story paudge......Keep them coming....
                    Here Rex!!!...Here Rex!!!.....Wuff!!!....... Wuff!!!

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by paudge View Post
                      Anyone ever hear Of La Belle? She lived in Queen St. To this day I couldn't tell you her real name, everybody referred to her as La Belle. No disrespect but she wasn't the beauty her name implied, somebody had a sense of humour putting that tag on her. Oklahoma lived in Queen Street too before moving to Cabra. He continued to come down to Smithfield to see his buddies, me own da being one of them. Oklahoma wore a cowboy style hat, believe he got the name when the James Cagney film ''The Oklahoma Kid'' came out in the late 30s. He had a son, Jimmy. Jimmy had a nice singing voice. I remember the oul club, St Colmcilles, put on a Christmas show and Jimmy gave us a lovely rendidion of Kevin Barry. Me oul pal Joe got on the show as well. Me? I never made it past the auditions. ''We'll get back to you'' No word yet but I'll keep ya posted. Speaking of singers, we had two lads in our class who were good singers. If Fitzy was in a good mood he'd let us put our books away and have a chat 10 or 15 minutes before knocking off tme. ''Give us a song'' he'd say and Mixie would break into ''Heartbreak Hotel'' Christy Mac would give us a Bing Crosby number. I cant remember what song he would sing.I only remember va va voom, something like that.Christy Mac was a lovely kid.Tall, gangly, always in good form. I didn't realise it back then but I think he not only wanted to sound like Bing, he tried to be like him as well. I mean he wanted to adopt the screen image that Bing had in films like ''Going My Way'' Mr nice guy, always ready to help out anybody in trouble.- When a priest from the parish dropped in for a visit Fitzy would get the lads to sing for him, depending on which priest dropped in. If it was that grumpy Fr Moran, forget it. Groucho Marx couldn't put a smile on that sour face. None of us kids were angels. We were mostly a rough and ready lot, some more than others. Bit of rough house, trickacting. I was as good as any of them. However there were a couple of lads who were bully's. If not fully fledged bully's,they were doing their best to join that club. Danny was another former resident of Queen St who moved to Cabra but continued to attend our school ''The Cardboard College'' I remember him punching another kid in the nose right in the classroom because the kid said something Danny didn't like. Amazingly, Fitzy let him away with it. After we left school I'd see Danny around, here and there. I remember meeting him in The Bamba book shop on Caple St. He informed me he would shortly be heading off to begin training to become a Christian Brother. I wished him all the best. He went and came back, never became a brother. Dont know the full story. My guess is The Christian Brothers had enough bullies among their ranks at that time, enough said. The other would be bully was Nicko from Paul St. Nicko contracted polio as a child, wore a brace on his leg. Nicko had little balance, one push and he would fall over but that didn't stop Nicko from acting the hard chaw. He'd push you around, slap you in the face and you couldn't hit him back, if you did, you had half the kids in Paul St on your case. You couldn't hit a kid with a handicap and Nicko knew this and played on it. I met him years later when we both worked in Unidare. Lets just say he was an ok guy by then. Other colourful names I remember from those days were Gypsy O'Brien, Dollar O'Brien, Chinky Boy Brady. There were two Dollars, father and son. Dollar senior's mother was The Gypsey O'Brien, told fortunes. Her daughter Betty married Paddy, a good pal of me da's. They lived in Benburb St, later Paul St. One of their sons was Wacker. I have a vague memory of talking to Wacker when I was very young. Wacker was ''backward'' thats the only way I can put it. His mind was years younger than his body. When he was about 19 Wacker got involved in a bank robbery, a man was shot and wounded. I believe there were three guys involved, I only know of two, Wacker and Cagney. I'm calling him Cagney because I remember being told he looked like Cagney, either that, or Cagney was his idol. They were caught and got long sentences. Cagney got 12 years, served 8, heard he died of a heart attack at 48 years of age. Wacker got 8, was moved to Dundrum Asylum where he died. In his childish mind he did nothing wrong. It was all just an adventure, a game even, like cowboys and indians. Now the game was over and he was locked up, why? He fretted the days away, fretted his life away. Have to mention Duck egg, brother of me oul pal Christy. I remember Christy's wedding, Duck egg sang Be Bop A Loola, he sang it in more keys than a jailer has. Christy's young bride complained to me, ''he sang off key'' For crying out loud Duck egg talked off key. If yer looking down Duck egg forgive me, I had to get that one in. Sadly Duck egg [Tommy] died about 18 months ago in Spain where he was living, massive heart attack. I can still hear him murdering Be Bop A Loola like I can still hear Mixie singing Heartbreak Hotel, Christy Mac throwing Bing Crosby in the mix. They are all embedded in me brain, all the voices, all the faces, be with me for the rest of me days. A motley crew for sure.
                      good one paudge,
                      you mentioned you worked in unidare, I had a mate worked there, don`t know if its your time or after, like meself he`d be 69 this year, mick martin is his name, he went on to the post office after unidare.
                      in god i trust...everyone else cash only.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by cosmo View Post
                        good one paudge,
                        you mentioned you worked in unidare, I had a mate worked there, don`t know if its your time or after, like meself he`d be 69 this year, mick martin is his name, he went on to the post office after unidare.
                        Hi Cosmo, the name doesn't ring a bell with me. I was there in the 60s, heating section.

                        Comment


                        • Do you remember Dessie Carmichael

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by paudge View Post
                            Hi Cosmo, the name doesn't ring a bell with me. I was there in the 60s, heating section.

                            I remember taking Australian sand from the Docks to Unidare....1967 it was as I was home for four months when my dad died....
                            Here Rex!!!...Here Rex!!!.....Wuff!!!....... Wuff!!!

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by rasher View Post
                              Do you remember Dessie Carmichael
                              Yes I remember Dessie, Northern Ireland chap.

                              Comment


                              • Great knack for writing a story Paudge.... well written and very poignant....more more more !
                                We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

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