'Ma! He sold me fer a few cigarettes!'

Pen1987

Anyone ever read this book? Its about growing up in poverty in Dublin in the 50's, absolutely unbelievable the things people went through back then. Its only 60 years ago but the changes are unreal compared to the Dublin of today.

So other than asking just about opinions on the book, Im asking, whats different about Dublin today and Dublin from your childhood? In the book she talks about the tenements (the buildin's) and going to the convents to get food, and having no money etc, Nelsons pillar. Do people still do this type of thing? Did you or people you knew ever have to do things to get along in life that arent available to working classes now?

Its all written from the perspective of a seven year old so it takes a while to cop what shes taking about... eg she talks about seeing this army truck and jumping on the back for a lift to school on a day nobody else turned up and how the teacher didnt hit her because she arrived, I only realised that she was refering to the time of the general strikes in the late fifties where there was no buses after I watched Reeling in the years there yesterday.

Rashers

Yes the Dublin she describes is very accurate. I lived (and survived) that Dublin too.

I could speak of things no one would believe, except for those who lived them too.

One 'for instance'... women (mainly) standing in all weathers at the door of a certain Dublin college (Nth city). Handing in a clean pillow case and then the door closed in their faces. Later the pillow cases were handed back out containing the leavings of the meals those inside had enjoyed.

Pen1987

Scarey stuff. My grandad grew up in the tenements around Sherriff Street (I think there anyway) and he was telling me about it. Madness, he said he spent days throwing lumps of sod at Christy Brown, must of been a right gurrier. I wonder how bad it is for the unluckiest children of the city now compared to back then...

Its amazing how she thought herself to read and basically raised a family of 3 at age 7..

WindSock

Why were they handing in pillow cases rasher? Was it for food?

arybvtcw0eolkf

WindSock wrote: »

Why were they handing in pillow cases rasher? Was it for food?

The priests used them on the uglier looking alterboys on Clonliffe Rd me thinks

Rashers

WindSock wrote: »

Why were they handing in pillow cases rasher? Was it for food?

Yes for food -- which was the leavings from the plates of those who had dined inside. Those women (you'd rarely see a man) began to arrive at the door of the college at the time they knew dinner was about starting. They would form an orderly line, hardly speaking to each other, possibly because of a feeling of shame, the door would open a crack and a hand came out for the pillow cases. Everyone knew their own and no one would try to grab the biggest one when they were handed back out.

The same pillow cases would be brought to a local bakery and partly filled (sometimes actually filled if there was a decent person filling them) with a shilling's worth of 'Fancy'.

This 'fancy' consisted of cakes that couldn't be sold perhaps because they hadn't baked properly, been partially burned, or were misshapen. Plus loaves of bread that couldn't be sold for the same reason... or bread that had gone a bit stale. I remember being told that the burned bread was in fact brown bread. As a kid you don't know differently. And as a kid you didn't care what shape the cakes were.

Then of course there was the priest's door. They managed to make you feel like a beggar before giving you either nothing and slamming the door in your face. Or maybe one would give you a shilling, or perhaps a ticket for food in the local dinner house. But before being given one of those tickets you were queried about what you had to eat already and if the priest considered that you'd had enough to eat... maybe a plate of porridge that morning..... then either you didn't get the ticket or he asked for money for it.

Yeah, they were the 'good old days' alright.

WindSock

Sorry, when I read your first post, I thought you meant leavings of a different kind