« MAY DAY! MAY DAY! | Main | AHHHHRRRRrrrrhhhhhhhhh! »
June 05, 2005
A COLUMN: In which Liam is early, late and moved
Monday 10th May – Sarsfield Clubhouse 9pm
Standing in a GAA car park as darkness is falling, I’m quite concerned. You see, out of curiosity I have decided to attend the first meeting of Cllr. Fiona O’Loughlin’s Rail Action Committee, only I’m twenty minutes early. This freak act of nature (me being early for anything) has been the sole result of that theatre mogul extraordinaire – Paddy Melia kindly offering me a lift to Sarsfield where the meeting is being held. After a hazardous car journey involving lot’s off swerving and shouting “Get outta the way!” Paddy dropped me off in the car park. For one horrific moment I thought I might have accidentally been dropped at Moorefield Clubhouse. They’re all the same to me, you see.
After hanging around the front entrance for a while I could make out a figure hobbling towards me. It was none other than Cllr. Fiona O’Loughlin accompanied by a crutch. “Good evening,” she said. “Good evening, indeed,” I replied. Inside the scene was this: Fiona, me and Colm Feeney sitting around a banquet size table. The plan was originally to sit inconspicuously in the background and observe but it was looking more and more likely that I was going to have to be an active participant in this commuting discussion with the Fianna Fáil duo. Sensing this, Fiona turned to me and asked “Are you here as a commuter or as a commuting columnist?” With the utmost of honesty I replied, “Ah, I think it’s a bit of both.”
One by one, more and more commuters turned up until there were around twenty people in total. The meeting itself, consisted of much joking at Iarnród Éireann’s expense. It was decided not to start demanding too much from Irish Rail as it “dilutes the whole process” as one commuter put it. Cllr. Seamie Finn said that “stopping all trains in Newbridge for two minutes would solve all train problems.” This is very much a valid point as to every commuter’s bafflement, an unreal amount of trains stop in Kildare Station as opposed to Newbridge even though Newbridge has a higher percentage of commuters using the service.
Everyone agreed that the Monday morning service was particularly bad. To my amusement, one commuter (who shall remain nameless) quipped that this was a direct result of train drivers going out for a drink on Sunday nights and arriving late in for work the following morning! It was announced to the people present at the meeting that Iarnród Éireann were currently investigating the possibility of introducing what are known as “crush trains”. These “crush trains” are basically carriages with very few seats, the point being to squash as many commuters onto the carriage as possible, Tokyo Metro style. Does Irish Rail really think commuters would be happy with such a ridiculous form of transport?
Wednesday 12th May
Every morning is always the same. I’m awaken by the noise of the alarm clock. I turn the infernal thing off and doze back to sleep for another half hour. When I regain consciousness I have to have toast, tea and cornflakes otherwise my whole ritual of eating breakfast is messed up. The 30 minutes extra I spent in bed have now effectively thrown my routine 30 minutes off course. This happens every morning. As a direct impact of this, every single day I am, without fail, late to the train station. On this particular day, I got to the entrance only to see a blasted member of Station staff standing there which means I’ve missed the Arrow. And, as per usual, when I got to the door he said “Sorry, bud. The 8.45am Arrow’s gone.” I frowned and then uttered [insert your own vile un-publishable swear word here]. “But,” he said upon hearing the unrepeatable, “the 8.20am is running late.” Fantastic news, to be sure. Not only was the 8.20am running late, it was running so late that the 8.45am had some how managed to pass it out! The Gods are smiling on me. And they’ve a sense of humour.
Later that day, got an invite from Peter Hussey to go and watch Kildare Youth Theatre’s final running of ‘Boat Memory’ before they bring it down to Cork for the Shell Festival. As always, the KYT cast delivered a great performance, in particular Aoife Whelan as ‘Hannah Bridges’, Vincent O’Reilly as the eminent phrenologist ‘Professor Donovan’ and Gillian Lynch, Neil Connolly and Des Phillips as the three Tierra del Fuegian aboriginal Indians. And believe me that ain’t easy to say. Tierra del Fuegian aboriginal Indians and phrenologist in the same sentence, I mean. Whew.
Thursday 13th May
Today was my last day in college. It’s a strange feeling to finally finish something that has been my daily routine for the past two years. Early morning train. Then two buses out to Rathmines. Classes in radio, politics and writing. Lunch in TOAST where I had a chicken baguette so often, the waitress always asked did I want ‘the usual’. But sitting on the train home on this infinitely sunny day, I’m thinking about all the people I’ve met at college. My friends – the writers and journalists to be. And how we’ve all been thrust out into the world. How it seems so odd to think we should all simply become an occupation. This is, of course, what I imagine we’ll fight against in the effort to Be Not Nobody. These people represent the last two years of my life in a way that no diploma or degree could ever capture. And as I sit staring out into the beautiful landscapes flashing by, it’s sad to think the Arrow is headed away from them. As if it were headed in a totally new direction which is both exhilarating and distressing at the same time. Ultimately though, change is inevitable. To which end, this week’s column is dedicated to my friends, for providing me with the College Years chapter of my Autobiography. I thank you.
Trains, Buses & Automobiles by Liam Geraghty appears every week in the Kildare Nationalist (page 6)
Posted by LiamG at June 5, 2005 09:11 PM