1. Rita from the Roma keeping order in the chipper
One glance from Rita would sober you right up.
2. Roma versus Lingi’s versus Coppolas chips
3. The bus to the Bloomfield Disco on a Saturday night
And the sticky carpets and the “no runners”.
4. Dodging teachers at the Rugby Club disco
“Will yeh shift me friend?”.
5. The Lions Club disco
Slow dancing and shifting. Niall Horan was a regular.
6. Diving at Lough Owel when the weather got good
Hoping on the bike and straight to the lake for a dip.
7. And learning to drive at Lough Ennell
8. Millie the Maxol legend welcoming every woman with “HOW’S ME AUL FLOWER?”
9. Goin’ Fencin’
The Final Fence (or just ‘The Fence’), though generally remembered as a ‘bit of a kip’ was the place to be every weekend and every St Stephen’s night. It’s recently reopened and is now serving swanky cocktails.
10. The (recently returned) red and white of Callan’s
11. The queues for taxis outside Danny Byrne’s
12. Gigs in The Stables
You could catch Damien Rice there almost every weekend if you were lucky.
13. Freewheeling down the Quinnsworth ramp in a trolley
14. A shift behind the bandstand
15. Or down the canal line
16. You went to Loreto or the CBS or the Tech
17. And called the Loreto girls ‘blue bottle virgins’
18. And probably witnessed a scrap at the Green Bridge
Where the school buses converged.
19. When there was just the one roundabout at Dominick Street
And then ALL the roundabouts descended on the town; the scourge of learner drivers.
20.Texas getting the first escalator in the town
The glamour!
22. Buying X Works and Nirvana tshirts in Our Way
Thanks to Ruth Murphy, Mary Kate Murphy, Claire Brennan, Áine Daly, Alice Kelly and Deirdre Ball and Sinead Whelan for their contributions
