In Reply to: Re: golden memories posted by spiceloft on August 20, 2008 at 16:05:47:

....cara......i became interested in the verse of eliot......quite a few years ago....when i was in solitary confinement.....and yet in that disassociation...in that isolation i felt no depravation for my mind was alive in the mosaic of memories etched and carved never to be erased....i thoroughly endorse eliot's statement ....a few stanzas earlier in that writing...he wrote.....the moment of the rose and the moment of the yew tree...are of equal duration...a people without a history is not redeemed from time ...for history is a pattern of timeless moments.....tonight as i looked from my balcony i gazed over a very tranquil lake ontario....my view extends with binoculars to niagara on the lake.....there on the lake ablaze in romantic hue.....big boats small boats floated like butterflies on the gentle lake their lights twinkling like stars...... the golden red sky....warming my soul....i began to allow the recorder of my mind drift once again back to those days of yore....once upon a good time ...as eliot once said.....in that stae of regression ...."i felt like a patient etherized on a table.....i drifted back again to the ..."town i love so well..."and the road that gave me lifes encyclopedia....mc hale road....earlier in my trip down memory lane .....i recalled some of the families that lived on the road....i started with joe mcginn in number1...when he moved out ...john cowman and family moved in....colgans were in number2....tom who worked at maryland...his wife and family paddy miceal, tommy jnr[tot], angela and imelda....both girls worked at the county cinema in the evenings with margo coghlin, and patsy fallon [joans sister]....next door was the ainsworth family...mr ainsworth worked in the bacon factory....there was gussie, his brother jimmy ?, carmel a beauty...none to dispute,...later when i lived in england .....londons shepherds bush....goldhawk road i met them all ....i remember a party in the "bush" in mickey waters house....carmel was there....along with several of the waters ...vinny...eamon, ...we had a mighty night....in fact mickey waters is godfather to one of my sons....back to the road....chas. guthrie lived in number 4....i remember his first wife very well "baby" cunningham....sadly she died far too young....but chas then married bridgie ludden....i was a good friend of pat and bernie ludden so i knew bridgie quite well and liked her.....then i got to jack cassidies in 16....clarkes lived in number 17,then there was the lydons, the dunnes....dessy, dick donal, patsy,muriel.and now we arrrived at the fergus home.....paddy....frank....and another brother that died ....his name leaves me but he was the 7th.son ....and had a cure...i met frank in toronto about 1968....he brought a soccer team from new york to toronto....now we got to charlie guthrie....better known as cock guthrie....i think birdie roache ....aka.mrs donoghue...sgt.terry....my old friend.....we drank many a pint in brady's [the cavan house] bundoran....mrs aird lived next to them and then the walshe's.....mcgreals...were next....tom....the postman.....i have a rather funny story of my exploits as a temporary postman....way back then just before i ran off to london....i think roaches were next...or if not paul holmes the factory boiler man then johnny mcnicholas....peter omalley, ainsworth's patsy omalley....there was a family called oreilly.....he worked in the goods depot at the station....he died suddenly one night,....now the families names begin to fade....but jim oconners was at the end...of the first section....i will not attempt to claim i can remember every original family...and their house number..but here are names that us old stock will know.....the halligans....mr/mrs jim hughes and their daughter whio went to work in radio eireann in dublin...the basquills..mike guthrie....the waters....the coghlans....the fallons....the deasys....the flynns.....the rainsford family,...the freyne family....nana cresham....pansy's mother...cagneys mother....and young billy pansys son ...a great footballer in his day....and he went to new york....i have a very funny story of billy cresham ...scals moylett ....mickey garvey and myself but these stories are for another golden memory segment....the creshams.....the bloxhams.the holians....pinky prendergast....the bennetts ...the redmonds...the ruannes....christy chresham and family.....frank guthrie and family ....frank was married to my first cousin molly ...nee callaghan...daughter of the legendary dan...have i got stories of dan ...who was married to my fathers sister....peter horkan henny farrell....the scrineys....the gavins.....pete mcdonnell and family....mrs cosgrave....the munnelly family....the mcgintys....i have a million stories of paddy...lawhie....the fairs .....the whittakers....or the twidlers...as martha ruannes mother used to call themm...tom and annie scott, john rehan and bea....kitty cresham....my godmother...the hughes's...nurse byrne...the kilcourses...the mee's....the scullys.....joady and myself have had rather hillarious encouters....both in castlebar and the goldhawk pub in shepherds bush....and devenport road shepherds bush....the feeneys....john was in my class....the oboyles.....the reynolds family.....peter coyle and family....my very good friend george bartley.....who was married to my cousin bridie.....nee callaghan....my tales , my experiences with geirge are gems....but they too are for another day.....of course there are a million stories of life on mchale road ...and castlebar.....each one is a patch in the tapestry of my life....which i will share with you on golden memories....to qoute rafftery.....mise rafftery an file....lan docais is graid...le suili gan solas....but for me i do and had my eyes opened ....and the recorder of my mind will bring you down a long and winding road.....i must share with you when pop duffy developed that old derelict site that was on the corner of station road.....and how peggy became the hottest ticket of our day...sin deire mo sceal anoct.......slan....agus tog go bog e