The 70's and 80's in Ireland

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

There was a documentary on TV3 some years ago about Irish kids television - still have it on the DVD recorder. Pretty sure it has Fortycoats clips so I imagine some of it is intact.

Here is the RTE Guide announcing the start of it - January 1983. The character of Fortycoats first appeared in Wanderly Wagon in 1979 but wasn't played by Fran Dempsey - instead it was Bill Golding (who previously played Rory). I found that annoying at the time - and still do.

I remember the very first episode, Sofar and Slightly discover Fortycoats frozen like a statue by the witch in the opening scene.

L1011 wrote: »

Although their thrilling unique product position at the time was that they were £1 cheaper than Aer Lingus to London. :pac:

Served Irish regional airports (all of them, pretty much) to Luton as well as a handful of Dublin->UK routes with a mix of brand new ATRs and antique everything else by the late 80s.

Don't forget the Jetfoil. From North Wall Quay to Liverpool in about three hours. It didnt last too long as it was not suitable for the Irish Sea.

Edgware wrote: »

Don't forget the Jetfoil. From North Wall Quay to Liverpool in about three hours. It didnt last too long as it was not suitable for the Irish Sea.

Didn't Martin "The General" Cahill also own a pub in North Wall called The Jetfoil back in the 80's? From what I read it had a very dodgy reputation and was raided by the Gardaí on several occasions.

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

Didn't Martin "The General" Cahill also own a pub in North Wall called The Jetfoil back in the 80's? From what I read it had a very dodgy reputation and was raided by the Gardaí on several occasions.

Not sure if it was Cahill that owned it but the fellow I think owned it was gunned down subsequently and died. A great lad for the Irish matches

Edgware wrote: »

Correct. I remember going to matches in Manchester via the old Liverpool ferry. Leave North Wall around 10p.m. Friday and land in Liverpool around 6.00 a.m.

Eh, how is 3 hours "not much faster" than 8 hours?

the beer revolu wrote: »

Eh, how is 3 hours "not much faster" than 8 hours?

It might have taken around 3 hours from Dublin to Douglas in the Isle of Man when I went there on holiday in 1989

cgcsb wrote: »

The ferry to Holyhead now is 2h15. Why was it longer back then? were the boats heavier or something??

I remember B&I ferries - they were rough as hell, think they definitely took longer as when Sealink / Stena Line came in it was the new high speed version.

cgcsb wrote: »

The ferry to Holyhead now is 2h15. Why was it longer back then? were the boats heavier or something??

the 2hr15 is on the catamaran. the regular ferry is 3hr30

I lived in Ballyfermot from mid 70's to the 90's. Mad mad times. As another poster said, only one or two in the estate with phones, neighbours would knock in to use the phone and the ones who had phones left a bowl to put coins in by the phone. A group of neighbours would go on the bus to Newry and take a list of items from everyone who needed stuff. We had no central heating. Coats were put over the bed in winter time. Bath once a week with washes every other day.

Sent out to play for the day, off you go, don't want to see you till tea time. Playing in the fields up the road, near the train tracks, catching tadpoles, picking up crap from the ground that you shouldn't, playing chicken with the trains, getting into all sorts of mischief but harmless mainly. Yes I realise playing chicken with a train doesn't sound harmless but we were off the tracks long before it got close, it was just our way of allaying boredom before the internet I suppose.

There were horses kept by a guy who had a house at the end of the road, he basically owned land and kept horses, you could wake up to them grazing from your grass some days. Stolen cars in the 80's were the norm on the road. Heroin dealers moved in next door to our house in the 80's. Police raided our house by accident, I was in bed delirious with measles when policemen burst in. My Mother was having a hernia. They realised their mistake and left. Rats were a feature in the walls and roofs as the houses were flat roofed houses with cladding that the rats could climb under. Hearing them scratching and scraping at night was a regular occurence. Our next door neighbour tried to shoot one, one day with his shotgun, in the snow, and he missed and hit the cable for all the block's TV....we had no TV for a week.

The entire road were taken to Kilmainham court for evading paying the TV licence, and it was like a grand day out as they all took the bus together, the judge threw every case out and they all went to the pub on the way home. We had a fruit and veg man who came in a van, a sweet man who walked around with a board on a wheel barrow selling sweets, kids would come running out of everywhere. We had a "rag" woman, and she looked like something out of Mad Max, I was terrified of her. She was a rag and bone lady with a saloon car, she'd take old clothes and give us a small plastic toy, a marble, something like that. We had men who called to the door to collect money (debt collectors, they were just the "rent man" as far as we knew as kids) everyone got loans and paid back to lenders, everything was paid on the never never but it was always paid back, my Mother was a fantastic budget keeper. She always paid her debts. God bless her when I think about everything she had to do to keep it together. Would I go back there? Not a hope. Do I have rose tinted glasses about it all? No I hated it, it was awful. But there was definitely a pulling together of people in that community, the decent ones, they all stuck by each other in hard times. That was a nice feeling. some neighbours were nuts and drug addicted and crazy, others would walk over hot coals for you. I remember going in to eat with the neighbours kids, it was just normal, if you were playing with their kids they would drag you in for tea!!

Just a reflection of living through the 70's and 80's as I remember it.

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

This post reeks of coddle, burning heroin on an old spoon, and Sil Fox. You should give Roddy Doyle a shout and see if he’d be up for collaborating.

Dunno if you're slagging me or complimenting me, but it is what it is!! It was that kind of upbringing for sure. My Mam was so strong I don't think I would have done it. I'd have run off!! Her coddle was also amazing

Babooshka wrote: »

Dunno if you're slagging me or complimenting me, but it is what it is!! It was that kind of upbringing for sure. My Mam was so strong I don't think I would have done it. I'd have run off!! Her coddle was also amazing

It was a mixture of both! You have a good way with words, and that Dublin propensity for being nostalgic about the ‘rare auld times’.

Babooshka wrote: »

I lived in Ballyfermot from mid 70's to the 90's. Mad mad times. As another poster said, only one or two in the estate with phones, neighbours would knock in to use the phone and the ones who had phones left a bowl to put coins in by the phone. A group of neighbours would go on the bus to Newry and take a list of items from everyone who needed stuff. We had no central heating. Coats were put over the bed in winter time. Bath once a week with washes every other day.

Sent out to play for the day, off you go, don't want to see you till tea time. Playing in the fields up the road, near the train tracks, catching tadpoles, picking up crap from the ground that you shouldn't, playing chicken with the trains, getting into all sorts of mischief but harmless mainly. Yes I realise playing chicken with a train doesn't sound harmless but we were off the tracks long before it got close, it was just our way of allaying boredom before the internet I suppose.

There were horses kept by a guy who had a house at the end of the road, he basically owned land and kept horses, you could wake up to them grazing from your grass some days. Stolen cars in the 80's were the norm on the road. Heroin dealers moved in next door to our house in the 80's. Police raided our house by accident, I was in bed delirious with measles when policemen burst in. My Mother was having a hernia. They realised their mistake and left. Rats were a feature in the walls and roofs as the houses were flat roofed houses with cladding that the rats could climb under. Hearing them scratching and scraping at night was a regular occurence. Our next door neighbour tried to shoot one, one day with his shotgun, in the snow, and he missed and hit the cable for all the block's TV....we had no TV for a week.

The entire road were taken to Kilmainham court for evading paying the TV licence, and it was like a grand day out as they all took the bus together, the judge threw every case out and they all went to the pub on the way home. We had a fruit and veg man who came in a van, a sweet man who walked around with a board on a wheel barrow selling sweets, kids would come running out of everywhere. We had a "rag" woman, and she looked like something out of Mad Max, I was terrified of her. She was a rag and bone lady with a saloon car, she'd take old clothes and give us a small plastic toy, a marble, something like that. We had men who called to the door to collect money (debt collectors, they were just the "rent man" as far as we knew as kids) everyone got loans and paid back to lenders, everything was paid on the never never but it was always paid back, my Mother was a fantastic budget keeper. She always paid her debts. God bless her when I think about everything she had to do to keep it together. Would I go back there? Not a hope. Do I have rose tinted glasses about it all? No I hated it, it was awful. But there was definitely a pulling together of people in that community, the decent ones, they all stuck by each other in hard times. That was a nice feeling. some neighbours were nuts and drug addicted and crazy, others would walk over hot coals for you. I remember going in to eat with the neighbours kids, it was just normal, if you were playing with their kids they would drag you in for tea!!

Just a reflection of living through the 70's and 80's as I remember it.

Why did your neighbour try to shoot you?

Hangdogroad wrote: »

Why did your neighbour try to shoot you?

He was aiming for the rat who got them all “done” for evading the tv license.