EXCELLENT STREET IMAGES

IS THERE REALLY A LEAHY MEANY BENT PARK NEARBY?

May 2, 2023 by infomatique

ST COLUMBANUS’ ROAD

Before exploring the area today I checked Google Maps and there was a pin indicating the location of Leahy Meany Bent Park. I suspect that someone has played a joke.

A few years ago I got off the tram at Windy Arbour and walked along St Columbanus’ Road which I never visited before and then I came across what could be described as a linear park on the banks of a small stream and I could not decide if I was in Dundrum, Clonskeagh or Milltown. Why Clonskeagh? Because Our Lady’s National School had a sign showing its address as Clonskeagh.

I asked two people who I met on my journey and one said Dundrum and the other said Milltown [the property for sale advertisements appear to agree]. Later a friend told me that legally it is in Rathmines Great which came as a surprise but according to my friend Rathmines Great is in the Electoral Division of Dundrum, in Civil Parish of Taney, in the Barony of Rathdown, in the County of Dublin.

ANOTHER MORRIS 1000 ZV 65842 ON BIRD AVENUE

May 2, 2023 by infomatique

PHOTOGRAPHED 2 MAY 2023

In 2020 I photographed a Morris 1000 at this location but it was a different colour and also had a different number plate (65-D-120018).

The Morris Minor is an economy car produced by British marque Morris Motors between 1948 and 1971. It made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948.

Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 million were manufactured in three series: the Series MM (1948 to 1953), the Series II (1952 to 1956), and the 1000 series (1956 to 1971).

Initially available as a two-door saloon and tourer (convertible), the range was expanded to include a four-door saloon from September 1950. An estate car with a wooden frame (the Traveller) from October 1953 and panel van and pick-up truck variants from May 1953. It was the first British car to sell over a million units, and is considered a classic example of automotive design, as well as typifying “Englishness”.

Although Morris launched a new model with a similar name and a similar market positioning, the Morris Mini in 1959, the Minor remained in production for more than a decade after that, and in early 2020, its 23-year production run was counted as the twenty-eighth most long-lived single generation car in history by Autocar magazine, who called it: “… a primary way Britain got back on the road after the Second World War.”

STRAND ROAD AND SANDYMOUNT STRAND

May 1, 2023 by infomatique

BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 1 MAY 2023

Sandymount Strand is a large strand on the east coast of Ireland, adjacent to the village and suburb of Sandymount in Dublin. It is part of South Bull – a major component of the south side of Dublin Bay, and part of the Dublin Bay Biosphere Reserve. South Bull is a mirror to the North Bull sandbank, which grew into North Bull Island.

Sandymount Strand is a popular place for locals to take a walk. People, and in the past – there is no longer public vehicular access – cars, have been occasionally trapped by the incoming tide. A large inlet of water that remains even at low tide is known locally as “Cockle Lake”.

Residents of Sandymount are calling for an independently led taskforce to manage a number of major projects planned along the Strand Road over the coming years. They are currently facing 12 months of disruption due to Irish Water replacing a century-old 3km water pipeline in the area.

Late last year Sandymount residents were threatening legal action against Dublin City Council for allowing “dangerous and damaging” noise levels on the coastal Strand Road.

The road is the loudest in the city according to the council’s own monitoring equipment and has breached levels which “threaten health” under the council’s noise policy.

The road that runs along Dublin Bay has been the focus of a long-running dispute over the council’s plans to install a cycle path, which would require a one-way traffic system on the road.

In March of 2023 Eirgrid announced that options for the installation of 50km of underground electricity cables across Dublin were likely to cause traffic disruption for up to five years.

The Powering Up Dublin project will require a “considerable amount of roadworks”, EirGrid has said, and will have the widest impact on the south of the city with disruption in Sandymount almost inevitable.

THE BICYCLE YARD AT RYDER’S ROW IS GONE

April 30, 2023 by infomatique

IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE SITE IS BING REDEVELOPED AS A PUBLIC SPACE

Capel Street is unusual for a city-centre shopping street because most of the businesses are independent, often run by the owners and that makes a huge difference and I hope that the essence of the area will be maintained going forward.

The Ryder’s Row end of Capel Street to the north has been very ugly and unattractive for as long as I have lived in the area and the bicycle yard just made the area even worse. Recently the bicycle lot was demolished and it would appear that it is being developed as a public space.

LUKE KELLY’S HEAD AT GUILD STREET

April 30, 2023 by infomatique

THIS IS A FAVOURITE OF MINE

The Statue of Luke Kelly is a large marble sculpted head of Irish folk singer Luke Kelly, with metal wire for hair. The statue is located at the north end of Linear Park, near the junction of Sheriff Street Upper and Guild Street, Dublin 1.

The statue, designed by Vera Klute, was unveiled along with another statue of Luke Kelly on South King Street on 30 January 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.

It was unveiled to mark the 35th anniversary of the death of Kelly on 30 January 1984, after calls to memorialise the singer in his hometown and specifically near where Luke Kelly grew-up on Sheriff Street.

The statue has been vandalised numerous times since it was commissioned. In July 2020, the 7th incident of defacement resulted in a 40-year-old man being charged with vandalism. These repeat incidents have raised questions regarding the statue’s location and accessibility, which have included suggestions to relocate it to a more public area. As far as I am concerned it is best that it remains where it is.

The statue was designed by Vera Klute and is circa 220 cm x 170 cm x 170 cm excluding the stone base. Treated marble was used for the formation of the head while treated metal wire was used to form the hair and beard. The hair is attached through the use of a metal mesh wig while the moustache is made of individual pieces of wire which were drilled into the face of the statue.

An initial model with hair was made in smaller near life sized form. A secondary larger statue was then created from plaster but without hair. This second statue was then used for 3D scanning to create the final larger sized version replicated in marble via a 5-axis cnc milling machine in Italy.

The appearance is based on a distinctive pose of Luke Kelly with his eyes closed while performing and is said to be taken from a still from his performance of Scorn Not His Simplicity on a show hosted by Jim McCann in 1974 called ‘McCann Man’.