Cabra History.Com

A neighbour of ours used to bring an accordion home with him from his job in Walton’s in North Frederick Street. He used to work there repairing pianos but he couldn’t play a note. Most every Friday he’d cycle up our road with the accordion strapped to his back. Then first thing on Saturday morning he’d head off out into the back garden and into his old tool shed with the accordion under his arm. Suddenly the whole neighbourhood would erupt with beautiful Ceili music played on the accordion.

Now I have to say that not a body made one complaint about his music. In fact everyone seemed to enjoy it so much that some of the kids around would be hopping up and down their own gardens  doing their own versions of Irish Dancing. And so it went until one Sunday there was an excursion arranged to take people from the area up to Rush in County Dublin for the day. You know, a day at the seaside for the Misses and the kids. Now later on that evening everyone gathered outside the local Chipper for their dinner of fish and chips. All the kids got a half bag of chips each.

So about an hour before the bus was due to leave for Cabra West and home, most of the adults slipped into the pub for a drink to wash down the salt and vinegar off the fish and chips. Well the next thing is, an accordion appears out of nowhere and the neighbour was asked to play it. He seemed to become all embarrassed and shy about it and some of the neighbours were putting in their request for the ‘Kerry Polka’ and the ‘Saint Anne’s Reel’.

Well the poor oul fella didn’t where to look with all the attention. So he stood up on the little stage in front of the microphone. And the next thing is ‘Testing, one two, one two. Can you’se hear me down the back’? A great big roar came up from the audience. ‘Well I have a confession to make, so sit up and listen. I don’t play the accordion. I sit in the shed every Saturday and play an old Irish record on me gramophone. I only bring the accordion in with me for the laugh’. And with that he burst out laughing. Everyone went silent in disbelief. Then his wife stood up and said ‘Would you ever sit down, you big bloody eejit. You’re after makin’ a show of me’. With that everyone burst out laughing as she grabbed her husband by the scruff of the neck and dragged him out to the bus…