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June 05, 2005

A Hive of Scum and Villany

Ah Newbridge. What a city. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother going to Dublin at all. Then I remember. Don’t get me wrong. Its not that Newbridge isn’t pleasant, it just lacks a certain pizzazz you get the second you set foot in Hueston Station. The hurried walk down to the bus. The jostling to get onboard. The Spire. The buskers. The annoying charity people who only want “one minute” of your time but fail to mention half of your wallet. Although in the last few weeks I’ve noticed charity workers hovering outside Penney’s waiting to pounce. In Dublin you can just try and blend in with the crowd or simply cross the street while in Newbridge there’s rarely a “crowd” to blend in with and crossing the street isn’t as easy. Newbridge traffic is internationally acclaimed as being some of the finest traffic you’ll ever hope to get stuck in and that includes Rome. Some people grumble about the traffic lights causing the problem and there’s no denying that they frequently disrupt traffic flow by stopping it. Although that’s a good thing for Newbridge pedestrians. The traffic lights outside Eddie’s and the Riverbank always stop the traffic as soon as you press the button, which is disconcerting when you’re the only one who wants to cross the road. It means the whole line of cars is brought to a halt just so you can cross. And the drivers are all burning holes through you with their eyes. It would be much easier to cross if two or three people needed to go as well. That way bringing Newbridge to a halt wouldn’t seem so bad.

The other great thing about Newbridge is its design. Front street. Back street. Simple. No avenues or boulevards. Just straightforward parallel lines. Newbridge takes after New York in that respect. Unlike Dublin which on a street map looks like ravioli. I’d say Newbridge is akin to two sherbet lines for a sugar junkie. Then there’s the shops. Although I don’t feel our little town is blessed in that department. Sure we have all sorts of big named DIY warehouses and a giant yellow M but do they sell anything we really want? Take books for instance. Newbridge ain’t a town for buying books. We are a town, however for cafés. It would appear coffee culture is important for the citizens of Newbridge who define themselves by what coffee they drink. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. God I hate coffee. Hot Chocolate or tea are the only ways to go. But some may say other towns have all these things and more. Naas has the Isohels. Kildare has Ray D’arcy. Athy has Jack L. But what of Newbridge? What’d we got? I’ll tell you what we got! We’ve got spunk.

Trains, Buses & Automobiles by Liam Geraghty appears every week in the Kildare Nationalist (page 6)

Posted by LiamG at June 5, 2005 10:21 PM