When I was about eight years old my aunt Margaret, home on holiday from
Omeath
John McCullagh
Throwing out the baby?
My brother P J was notorious for his obsession for unscrewing things.
One particular day when I offered to take the baby out for a stroll in his pram, I suddenly learned how lethal P J’s tinkering could be. It was not until the pram was angled off the horizontal, literally when I took it off the footpath’s kerb in order to cross the road that I discovered what he had been up to!
Old Woman of the Roads
O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped-up sods upon the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!
To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph
Speckled with white and blue and brown!
Nan Rice
Nan Rice’s pub is still there in
As well as a pub and a farm, Nan Rice kept a local dairy. It was said she could afford it for she was famously tight-fisted.
Put the flag out
My father with his foibles was not always ‘great’ with the local retailers. This made it awkward during the war and after when rationing persisted for many years, for one had to be ‘in the know’ to be sold contraband or ‘under the counter’ items.
Light a penny candle
My mother was a huge believer in the efficacy of prayer. Often in the local
At one of these times she asked my brother John if he would do this for her. Candles were then one penny each. She had no change only a shilling. He was instructed to call at Ross’s shop and ask Nellie for change.
Home Alone Kid
My parents lived in a small two-up/two-down terrace house in Peter’s Place. It was not as it is today – mostly refurbished and surrounded by desirable residential properties. Then there was no bathroom and water was supplied by means of a water tap in the back yard. The terrace though did then back on to houses of the local ‘gentry’ which had huge back gardens. My aunts always referred to my mother’s house as the ‘Neuk’.
School Days Over
I enjoyed growing up in the 50’s. The music was terrific: we had live bands at our dances and traditional Irish Ceidhle Bands at the ceidhles. I must have picked up some Irish along the way as I went on scholarship to the Gaeltacht College in Rannafast in County Donegal
Time to leave school
Each year we had a school Retreat. For three days we had nothing but religion and prayer. The whole time we were sworn to total silence, even after we went home. There were great efforts made by our brothers to force us to talk but most of us persisted nevertheless.