The River Liffey - your stories

LiffeyCrew · 09-06-2004 11:03PM #1

Hi there,

We are looking for your contributions.

We need:
Your stories - whether you are a fisherman, canoeist, walker, or just live close by. How has the river played a part in your life?
Do you know any ghost stories or folklore related to the Liffey?
Poetry - have you written any poetry inspired by the Liffey?
Your photography - are you a keen photographer who works near the liffey? and would like to have some of your works posted to our website.

The 'time in the slime': remember the millenium clock... what did you think of it?

I am one of 5 students working on a "River Liffey" themed multimedia project.

our plan is to create a website to post stories to.
In the meantime you could post any stories you may have here.
or
email them to us at liffeycrew@hotmail.com

Looking forward to hearing from you.
-Gordon

Asok · 09-06-2004 11:43PM

I pushed a homeless person into the liffey once....they didnt re surface.

alleepally · 10-06-2004 12:02AM

on the flipside to the bizarre poster before me (how can that be even considered remotely funny). There was the homeless guy who got a person of the year award some years back. He saved someone who was drowning in the Liffey. Just mentioning it in case you mised it but also to counter the previous poster.

billy the squid · 10-06-2004 03:55AM

I remember getting of the train and leaving heuston station only to be almost paralized by the stink of the poloution out of the liffey.

I was in dublin for the fist time in about 7 years last week and noticed the river is a whole lot cleaner than it used to be.

I still have some of the postcards from the millennium clock. Back 32,000,000 seconds before the year 2000.

Oriel · 10-06-2004 04:15AM

I once counted 49 plastic bottles between O'Connell Bridge and the Ha'penny bridge...
I can get you photographs if you want. I'm a keen photographer.

I really am...

Seeing a cat being thrown in there was the bes....worst though. That just just...erm...sick...

Kobie · 10-06-2004 08:37AM

I recall some canoeists having a race in the liffey a few years back & half of them having to go to hospital afterwards - one of them to intensive care.

I don't think Dubs have too high a regard for the river running through our city.

BuffyBot · 10-06-2004 09:13AM

Didn't a Bus Eireann coach fall into it a year or two ago?

Kobie · 10-06-2004 09:18AM

So basically everybody's memories of the Liffey revolve around somebody or something falling into it

Civilian_Target · 10-06-2004 09:18AM

No, I think it was a big truck. Went straight through the quay wall. I remember laughing at the photo in the paper, and then feeling bad whem I thought the driver could have drowned (but I don't think he did).

Kobie · 10-06-2004 09:23AM

No difiniitely a Bus Eireann bus - I remember somebody sent around a screen shot from the Irish Times web site where they showed a picture of the bus herad first into the Liffey with an ad for Bus Eireann along the top banner. Now that's advertising you just can't pay for!!

Actaully, was this the one were the homeless guy helped get the driver out?

Evil Phil · 10-06-2004 09:25AM

Originally posted by BuffyBot
Didn't a Bus Eireann coach fall into it a year or two ago?

Yes it was a Bus Eireann coach and the driver was rescued by a homeless man, who I believe won an award/medal for his bravery. Was this the person already mentioned? I don't know but it may be.

po0k · 10-06-2004 09:52AM

Originally posted by alleepally
on the flipside to the bizarre poster before me (how can that be even considered remotely funny)......

I laughed

Seinfeld · 10-06-2004 09:57AM

HELPFUL VOMMENTS ONLY PLEASE, NO HOMO EROTIC FANTASIES

Originally posted by Asok
I pushed a homeless person into the liffey once....they didnt re surface.

Asok · 10-06-2004 10:34AM

It wasnt a joke.

K2 · 10-06-2004 10:36AM

I once helped the guards pull a body out of the river. It was 1986 i think, and I was still doing a lot of canoeing at the time. The poor ould dear had been in care (am I allowed to say she was mad?) but disappeared one day. Anyhow she was missing about a month and at the time was a big tree was down on the wrens nest weir and the body ended up lodged there. I can still remember the smell, what a sad way to go..

Actually, in 1994 I found a body in Dalky quarry, I had stopped canoeing and was into climbing, he had jumped (or so the inquest said). I won't describe the remains but I knew he was dead just by looking at him, your head just doesn't go around that far.

Seinfeld · 10-06-2004 10:41AM

Was that the dude who jumped over near Jameson Ten?

Krusty_Clown · 10-06-2004 11:33AM

There were two American tourists taking some video footage of city scenery on O'Connell Bridge, when a dead horse floated by (in the Liffey, that is)..
It was on the news, in the papers.. Do a search for it in the Irish Times, you'll probably find it.. Happened about 4/5 years ago..

I've also heard stories about a number of people picking up infections from doing a tri-athlon, which included a swin in the Liffey..

In fact, searching the web-based Irish Times is probably your best bet. Have a look
here.

You don't need a subscription to search, but you may need one to view the returned hits..
Articles include:
Irish Times Article - Body taken from Liffey
Irish Times Article - Liffey Litter
Irish Times Article - Bus driver saves woman from Liffey
Irish Times Article - 71-year-old tourist saves drowning woman in Liffey
Irish Times Article - Body of man recovered from Liffey
Irish Times Article - Accused jumped into Liffey to escape gardai
Irish Times Article - Body of missing teenager taken from Liffey
Irish Times Article - Vandalised crane in the Liffey leads to gridlock
Irish Times Article - Liffey's red hue leaves council baffled
and many many more..

JazzyJ · 10-06-2004 11:36AM

It was a Bus Eireann bus first, then a little later when they'd fixed the wall a truck smashed through the exact same place - just outside Tara St. Station. Bizarre.

beer enigma · 10-06-2004 12:25PM

D'you remember that girl last year who was riding her new moped along the keys & clipped the kerb - went straight over the handlebars & over the liffey wall -how bad luck was that !!

She was alright, landed flat on her back on the mud as the tide was out....

Dr. Loon · 10-06-2004 12:29PM

Originally posted by K2
I once helped the guards pull a body out of the river.

Actually, in 1994 I found a body in Dalky quarry,

I think you're a murderer.

entropi · 10-06-2004 12:30PM

Originally posted by Civilian_Target
No, I think it was a big truck. Went straight through the quay wall. I remember laughing at the photo in the paper, and then feeling bad whem I thought the driver could have drowned (but I don't think he did).

Yes, you are right about this, but it was more like 5 years ago... happened just down from where i live and seen it happen as i live facing the liffey.

Articulated truck it was .. good thing the tide was in or bye bye driver imo.

zoro · 10-06-2004 12:38PM

*shameless plug*
www.openwaterraces.ie

I like the liffey - I swam in it a few years ago! :eek:

It's the pinnacle of the Open Water Races season, and it's one hell of a day

K2 · 10-06-2004 12:50PM

Originally posted by Dr. Loon
I think you're a murderer.

Nah, just lucky:D . I have a mate who came across the body of a dead climber in Scotland a few years back. In his wisdom he decided the poor soul who have no further use for his climbing gear and proceed to strip the body of it, at least I gave the bodies back with all their personal effects!

Fabritzo · 10-06-2004 01:09PM

A truck went through the wall and fell in, it took them what seemed like a year to rebuild the wall. Then Johnny Bus Eireann driver came along and drove through the newly rebuilt wall again.

robbie1876 · 10-06-2004 01:27PM

A good few years ago I was with a band that were going to do a gig on a pontoon in the middle of the Liffey near O'Connell bridge. It was a promotional thing for Cadbury's, if I remember right.

We were setting up our equipment on the pontoon which was moored in Dublin docks, and was going to be towed up the river and anchored in place.

However, the drummer slipped while he was setting up and half fell into the river before someone caught him. His snare stand fell into the river and was lost. He threw a big tantrum and wouldn't play.

So we took down all the gear and went home...

Emmo · 10-06-2004 01:48PM

The millenium clock is still in there isnt it?

Emmo

BlitzKrieg · 10-06-2004 06:55PM

i remember there being a sign on one of the bridges which lists all the diseases you can catch if you swam in the liffey...Think it continued for another 3 bridges

(jk)

LiffeyCrew · 10-06-2004 07:34PM

does anyone remeber the ferry service you could use on the liffey?

It stopped in 1984. Maybe some of you were on it. I think it ran between the custom house and the point theatre...

pork99 · 20-06-2004 01:06PM

There were a couple of summers in the mid-1980s when the Liffey in central Dublin was swarming with fish. You could stand on any bridge or quayside and watch these huge shoals of biggish fish swimming around. Anyone else remember this?

Flashling · 20-06-2004 01:16PM

One time, when I was 6, my pet rock, Flakes, fell into the sea in galway. The next year I saw something alot like Flakes in the Liffey. My Mom had to hold me back. I miss that rock.....

Only Human · 20-06-2004 02:19PM

I heard if you fall in that you have to swim to the side and wait for a decontamination team to come clean you up before you can do anything else!

How come we didnt get a 40 foot statue of michael jackson floating down the liffey

The River Liffey - your stories

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