Marking Time

The Rossport Five are honourable men, full of integrity. Shell, the Government and Mayo County Council also have honourable people working within their ranks. Now is the time for their voices to be heard. Justice and the law demand it.

The Mayo News

Spectacle Bridge, Lisdoonvarna

A short distance to the west of the town is the Spectacle Bridge. It gets its name because of its double lower arch forming a circular opening. It was so built because the Aille River flows through a deep narrow gorge and the bridge must support the road at a point 25m above the river.

12Travel.com

I first became aware of this bridge after reading Mary Mulvihill’s excellent book, Ingenious Ireland (oft-quoted by Smithy). I must have driven over it (the bridge, not the book) dozens of times and never knew it was there.

Bernie talks about reaching the ultimate point. That’s where I think I’m headed. I’m spending more time off-line digging into the background of things rather than shooting from the hip. Maybe it will lead to somewhere worthwhile. Who knows?

So, they put a rock through his car window, stole his guitar, took it out the bog road and smashed it into a hundred pieces but they can’t stop John Spillane singing about the three whales coming up the river Lee. Sure, if he doesn’t do it who’s gonna do it?

Well done John, well done.

Update. From the man himself:

Hi Lads sorry like I haven’t been on the site so much the last few months, I BEEN WORKING LIKE A DOG! GIGGING, DOING THE OLD RADIO SHOW, WORKING ON DOING UP THE HOUSE ETC ETC AND LIVING MY LIFE ON TOP OF ALL THAT! Anyway there I was down in LISTOWEL for Writer’s Week, I was doing three mornings 9.30 to 1.30 giving the songwriting workshops and it was brilliant fun - I had a great gang of 12 songwriters signed up and there I was cracking the whip and there they were writing songs and they all had a finished song the first morning and another one the second mornig and there were some great ones - notably a woman called JOY who wrote her first song ever called MOMENT OF GOLD - which was just beautiful, and I wrote a Christmas Song there myself and all like, but anyway we all went for a session the second night and an ol’ singsong in the pub and it was GREAT FUN and in came the RUSSIAN POET and the whole place BOWED DOWN like and all. I LOVE THE WHOLE LISTOWEL NORTH KERRY WRITING TRADITION and SEAN MCCARTHY, JOHN B KEANE, BRIAN MACMAHON thing like, but anyway I gets up out of the B and B the next morning and goes out to the car to see the driver’s window smashed and the car RIFLED and my lovely guitar, my CABALLERO by RODRIGUEZ gone out of the boot! So I calls the cops like and next thing there comes along a few people says they seen what looked like the remains of a guitar strewn in the ditches down the OLD BOG ROAD a mile out of town and down we go myself and the coppers to see the ditches of the OLD BOG ROAD strewn with sheets of songs, poems, and bits and pieces of the poor old CABALLERO!

OH MY LOVELY SPANISH GUITAR HOW LONG WE RODE TOGETHER THROUGH IRELAND AND BEYOND THE SEAS YOU AND ME WE TWO AGAINST THE WORLD AND THEY TOLD US IT WOULD NEVER WORK THAT IT COULDN’T BE DONE BUT THAT ONLY PULLED US CLOSER TOGETHER AND JESUS WE WROTE SOME SONGS BOY WE SANG TO THE STARS WE WHEELED AND STRUMMED WE BATTERED AND BLEW WE PICKED OUR WAY OVER ROCKS AND STONES EGGSHELLS AND PEOPLES MINDS THROUGH HEARTS WE GATHERED SOUL THE FIRST SONG WE WROTE WAS CALLED GRACEFUL AND TALL THE LAST SONG WE WROTE WAS THE BALLAD OF FREDDIE WHITE WE MUST HAVE WRITTEN A HUNDRED SONGS CABALLERO GUITARRA DE ARTESANIA I DO NOT MIND THAT YOU LIE NOW BATTERED AND BROKEN IN THE DITCHES OF THE OLD BOG ROAD OUSIDE LISTOWEL WE LEARNED IN FEOTHANACH THAT NÍL IN AON RUD ACH SEAL - THERE ISN’T IN ANYTHING BUT A WHILE - I COULD HAVE MINDED YOU BETTER I COULD HAVE LOCKED THE BOOT FOR A START I COULD HAVE PARKED INSIDE THE GATE BUT WE WERE ALWAYS LIKE THAT MY CABALLERO MY COMPADRE MY COMPÁNACH EASY COME EASY GO EVEN WHEN WE SANG AROUND THE CAMPFIRE IN UÍBH RÁTHACH DRINKING NICKY KIND’S DAMSON WINE AND STAGGERING HOME THROUGH THE STARS AH MY CABALLERO MY GENTLEMAN MY HORSEMAN MY FRIEND YOU NEVER DONE ME NO HARM WE RODE THROUGH THE WIND WE MOUNTED THE AIR WE HOWLED AT THE MOON WE BAYED AT THE STARS WE STOLE HAPPINESS FROM DEATH WE STOLE APPLES FROM LIFE’S ORCHARD WE SANG OUR POEMS WE POEMED OUR SONGS WE KISSED THE POET’S BREATH WE DIDN’T DO NO ONE NO HARM WAS IT SUCH A BAD END TO BE PLAYED AND TRAVELLED AND MUSICED AND SANG TO DEATH - YOU WERE PLAYED GUITAR YOU WERE PLAYE - TO DEATH MAYBE AND WOULD YOU NOT HAVE RATHERED TO BE US THAN THE ONES WHO ATTACKED YOU AND TORE YOU APART LIKE YOU WOULD TEAR A FLOWER PETAL BY PETAL AH CABALLERO THEY WERE ONLY ATTACKING THEMSELVES - WE SANG OUR PAIN WE TORE OUR GRIEF - IT WASN’T YOU THEY TORE FOR YOU WERE A DREAM CABALLERO YOU WERE ONLY A SHINING DREAM

JOHNNY THE SCYTHE SPILLANE - CORCAIGH 15TH MEITHEAMH 2005.