Mixed Week / Return to Moore Street
Manchester United had a week of mixed fortunes. On Saturday I sank to a deep deep depression after watching an impassioned Manchester United suffer their first defeat of this season at home to Blackburn Rovers. The tactiical brain behind the team, whether it be the stubborn old Scottish Ferguson or the bewildering Portugese assistant Carlos Quirez, sent out the, by now familiar, 4-5-1 formation as the crowd chanted 4-4-2 almost straight from the off. After going 1-0 down at half time I looked disconsolately around the living room looking for random pieces of furniture to take my frustrations out on. The minimilast interior design concept, pioneered by my girlfriend, in my house was obviously chosen with afternoons like this in mind.
After a seemingly better start to a second half that saw the reds pull it back to one a piece and look actually interested in the game, I saw a flickering light, somewhere in a distant tunnell. Paul Scholes in the United makeshift midfield blew out the candle with 10 minutes to go as he suicidally gave away the ball on the edge of his own penalty box. 2-1. Chelsea beat Villa and Arsenal only manage a draw with West Ham. We slide further behind the Blues in The Premiership race. There's talk all over the Sports Pages that the Premiership is over after 2 months!
Champions League week on Tuesday and Wednesday and a win at home against Portugese Champions Benfica, albeit a very very lucky one. We again surrendered a lead at half time making it 1-1 after 50 minutes. Only Ruud Van Nistelrooy's golden touch in European Competition saved our blushes at home against a weak Benfica. However, even if we are going through a rocky patch, Chelsea, were, for the first time looking vulnerable against an improving Liverpool side who forced a nil all. Painfull to watch, but effective. It will be interesting to see how Sunday's encounter of these two teams go in The Premiership where Liverpool's form has been nightmareish....
On a lighter note, I've neglected this blog for the past few days because I had been temporarily relocated to Dublin City Centre. I was working in an office just off Moore Street. Moore Street is a place I haven't been around since 1995 when I rented an apartment there. The summer of 1995 is legendary in Irish folklore, simply because it WAS a summer. We had sunshine and virtually no rain. Moore Street was traditionally the Irish market street, with fruit, fish, vegetable and catering size tinfoil stalls all manned by 50+ year old Irish women who have been working the same stalls for decades, and who everybody knew by name. There was Imelda selling fish on Wednesdays and Fridays, Missus Connolly's legendary cabbage and potato stall, Joan with her endless boxes of tinfoil and many more too numerous to mention. There was a chatter and buzz about the place and as recent as 1995, no real need for a supermarket.
Yesterday, the difference was incredible. Only a handful of the old guard remained whilst the shop fronts are gawdily adorned with mobile phones and cheap electronics, the character of the old market street has disappeared, the street is Moore Street, but virtually in name only. The population has become a lot more ethnic with Asian and African communities evolving eclipsing the traditional 'old' Dublin Market, which isn't a bad thing, and since less and less people from Dublin are ensconsed in the market tradition since the country prostituted itself to American Computer multinationals, it was inevitable that the shift towards convenience shopping and the 'supermarket culture' would become more and more prominent. It's just disappointing that not more of an effort was done to arrest the death of a street that literally fed myself and Marie for the best summer I can remember.
After a seemingly better start to a second half that saw the reds pull it back to one a piece and look actually interested in the game, I saw a flickering light, somewhere in a distant tunnell. Paul Scholes in the United makeshift midfield blew out the candle with 10 minutes to go as he suicidally gave away the ball on the edge of his own penalty box. 2-1. Chelsea beat Villa and Arsenal only manage a draw with West Ham. We slide further behind the Blues in The Premiership race. There's talk all over the Sports Pages that the Premiership is over after 2 months!
Champions League week on Tuesday and Wednesday and a win at home against Portugese Champions Benfica, albeit a very very lucky one. We again surrendered a lead at half time making it 1-1 after 50 minutes. Only Ruud Van Nistelrooy's golden touch in European Competition saved our blushes at home against a weak Benfica. However, even if we are going through a rocky patch, Chelsea, were, for the first time looking vulnerable against an improving Liverpool side who forced a nil all. Painfull to watch, but effective. It will be interesting to see how Sunday's encounter of these two teams go in The Premiership where Liverpool's form has been nightmareish....
On a lighter note, I've neglected this blog for the past few days because I had been temporarily relocated to Dublin City Centre. I was working in an office just off Moore Street. Moore Street is a place I haven't been around since 1995 when I rented an apartment there. The summer of 1995 is legendary in Irish folklore, simply because it WAS a summer. We had sunshine and virtually no rain. Moore Street was traditionally the Irish market street, with fruit, fish, vegetable and catering size tinfoil stalls all manned by 50+ year old Irish women who have been working the same stalls for decades, and who everybody knew by name. There was Imelda selling fish on Wednesdays and Fridays, Missus Connolly's legendary cabbage and potato stall, Joan with her endless boxes of tinfoil and many more too numerous to mention. There was a chatter and buzz about the place and as recent as 1995, no real need for a supermarket.
Yesterday, the difference was incredible. Only a handful of the old guard remained whilst the shop fronts are gawdily adorned with mobile phones and cheap electronics, the character of the old market street has disappeared, the street is Moore Street, but virtually in name only. The population has become a lot more ethnic with Asian and African communities evolving eclipsing the traditional 'old' Dublin Market, which isn't a bad thing, and since less and less people from Dublin are ensconsed in the market tradition since the country prostituted itself to American Computer multinationals, it was inevitable that the shift towards convenience shopping and the 'supermarket culture' would become more and more prominent. It's just disappointing that not more of an effort was done to arrest the death of a street that literally fed myself and Marie for the best summer I can remember.
posted by Derek Keogh | 11:34 AM
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