Oct 16 2009
How often did the Mammy drag you over to Thomas Street or Meath Street in search of a bargain? Into the clothes market for your Communion suit or a secondhand pair of shoes that you had to stuff the toes with newspaper to make them fit. ‘Sure you’ll grow into them’ was the usual retort from the Ma’. Or the other comment was about the poor starving children out in Africa who had no shoes. She never mentioned about herself and the Da’ never having shoes as young children or the hard times she was having trying to feed her brood. The Libertys was always a great place for bargains no matter what age you were there was always something to suit your fancy, anything from a needle to an anchor as they say. There was the shop in Meath Street that sold the loose butter, the butcher that sold dripping’ and the ould fella on the corner selling loose cigarettes. It was like one big family with everyone knowing everyone elses business. And of course the Ma’ knew all the dealers and the best ones to go to for a real bargain. Frawleys was always packed with customers trying on skirts, trousers and shoes. And don’t forget of course the oil clothe for the kitchen table. I remember the chemist shop in Thomas Street that sold the liquid DDT the Ma’ put in our hair to kill the fleas. Saint Catherine’s bakery was a great place to get the pillow case filled with crusty bread and sometimes stale bread. Now its all supermarkets with foreign foods whose names we can’t pronounce, New Age ozone friendly farmers’ markets and don’t forget to disinfect your hands in case of swine flu. Sure wouldn’t the Ma’ and Da’ laugh at us and they brought up in the tenements of Dublin City where they had no runnng water or indoor toilets. Times have certainly changed!