The Dubliner Magazine

Dubliners Dublin: Skerries

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH the extremely chilly Minina Skerries, an archipelago located in the Kara Sea off the northwestern shores of Siberia. Winters there are long and bitter, and the islands typically become fused to the mainland as one icy whole for ten months of the year. The more temperate one we’re dealing with here is a picturesque and historic seaside town on the east coast of Dublin, within easy reach of the city.

HISTORY The name Skerries (Na Sceirí) comes from the Norse word for a group of small coastal islands. Saint Patrick, when expelled from Wicklow by the pagan natives, was said to have sailed to his titular island located just off the coast of Skerries. Allegedly some natives stole the great man’s goat. The angry saint confronted the perpetrators and cast a spell on them, causing them to bleat; to this day Skerries natives are commonly referred to as ‘goats’. Incidentally, Saint Patrick did later forgive the Skerries people and lifted the spell on the promise that they would welcome strangers and not steal in future.

PROPERTY This outlying suburb has been subject to rapid but, refreshingly, rather thoughtful expansion in recent years. Barnageeragh Cove in the popular Kelly’s Bay development was launched last year and promises stunning sea views starting from around €215,000. The Maltings, located next to Skerries Mills, offers four-beds for under €500,000. A Treasury Holdings plan involving a hotel, two golf courses, 43 houses, a tennis academy and stables at a 437-acre site spanning Milverton Demesne and Home Farm is – you’ve guessed it – on hold.

Best Christmas House Ever...

 ... on Bath Avenue

Was it the singing rocking electro-Santas? Or the deers marked John and Edward?  Or the pipes collecting money for Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross? Or simply the gigantic winter wonderland visible from space spread across every inch of the modest garden?

Whatever it was... BEST CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS EVER.

 

 

Happy Christmas!

The little shops that could no.6 - Rory’s Fishing Tackle

Gridlocked between the restaurants, bars and hotels of Temple Bar, Rory’s Fishing Tackle feels like a remnant from a bygone era. Established in 1959, not much about the store has changed – including Rory himself, who opened it all those years ago. “This shop is the exact same as when we opened 50 years ago,” he tells us, proudly. “Back then, there was only retail on this street. It’s all upmarket now. All restaurants and pubs, it’s completely changed.

 “We’re here so long now that old customers’ grandchildren are coming in,” adds Rory. But while the shop retains its old-fashioned charm, he’s no slouch when it comes to keeping up with the latest in fishing technology. “When we started there were only about 20 or 30 different rods to cover everything. Now you would have 20 rods for each species. There’s no end to it.”

Jesus, meet the Ewoks...

Tim Burton got it wrong. In his whimsical The Nightmare Before Christmas, the idiosyncratic one envisaged Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, tiring of Hallowe’en and hijacking Christmas instead. It’s now apparent that the reverse has occurred. The commercial behemoth that once confined itself to the final month of the year is working its way back through the calendar by stealth, absorbing all in its wake.

Christmas hit the Dundrum Town Centre on November 5th this year. Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ blasted over the PA in defiance of the unseasonal date. A small, bewildered child who remembered recently returning to school was prompted by a prematurely jovial Marty Whelan to switch on the festive lights. Bah! Humbug! Anyone who indulges in untimely merriment should, in the words of Ebenezer Scrooge, “be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.” Is there a single unadulterated nook or cranny left in this entire city where the true spirit of Christmas still resides?

Potty Mouths...

... aboard Irish train toilets

Has Paul Gogarty taken to criticising the Irish public transport system from the inside?

Dart eVader

Hopping the turnstile just got a little easier

Electronic turnstiles at Pearse, Connolly and Tara, black-shirted jack-booted SWAT teams patrolling the carriages and a widespread fear-mongering poster campaign: the DART is finally cracking down on fare evaders.

Except for some stations, obviously.

Back from Hollywood

Fair City's Barbara Cleary set to return to Ireland for a major film

According to the Hedald this week, it seems yer one from Off The Rails (AKA Caroline Morahan)  is about to return to our shores from the rolling Hollywod hills in order to star in an Irish 'blockbuster'.

Whether or not an Irish blockbuster (who doesn't work on a building site) is even an actual possibility, it came as something of news to some of us that Ms. Morahan had even begun a silver screen thespian career (I said thespian John, relax).

That's a new one on me, as the man who found a mole on his bum said.

It was an even bigger surprise to learn that she 'd relocated to the US of Anything in order to make it big in the moving pictures. Morahan is undoubtedly some perfect TV presenting talent - able to swap tawdry quips with priapic polystyrene puppets as easily as she can swap slimming tips with a Cabra housewife - but the big screen? In Lalaland? Really?

So, in the spirit of scientific research, we decided to give her a screen test, to confirm her cinematic credentials.

Perfect Christmas Present!

Hey - this Friday Maser & Bodytonic launch a new series of one night basement galleries in The Twisted Pepper, first up features the work of very talented Dundalk graffiti artists Kube & Omin. Full details below.

 Maser & Bodytonic Present:
 "Fresh on Every Surface"
 feat. the work of Dundalk based graffiti artists KUBE & OMIN

 Friday 11 Dec in The Twisted Pepper Basement - One Night Only
 6-10pm Free In. All work is for sale.

Louis Walsh Tackles Tubridy

A Late Late Challenge from Louis

In show business you shouldn't work with children or animals or X-Factor contestants it seems - particularly if you're the Late Late Show's new saviour Ryan Tubridy.

"You gave [John and Edward] a hard time on the Late Late," Louis Walsh has told him, "and their mother was watching, Susannah was watching and she wasn't happy.

"They're really nice kids when you get to know them, but they were edited in the show to look like they were not nice."

Considering Ryan cavorted, gamboled and romped in the Late Late playroom as much as the other two hyperactive children, it's a comment that might be a little bit wrongheaded.

We'd just like to know how Pat "The heavy thick board of roughly 2 to 4 inches thick and 8 inches wide" Kenny might have dealt with the situation.

Probably by calling them Nedward, poking at their hair critically and finally shouting at them to keep quiet and stay in the corner like good boys.

See for yourself below: