flea market and late night dip

22 Monday Jul 2013

Tags

50s, flea-maket, lake, photography, photos, swimming, travellers

Today I am hot … too darn hot as the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald says … and I have been since yesterday. I think it may be my Irish blood, my fair skin or just the fact that I seem to thrive in the shade but I am hiding inside today trying to stay cool. After my trip to the flea-market yesterday in the blistering heat it seems to be the only way to not spontaneously combust.

As I hopped from shade to shade yesterday as I browsed the stalls I had to giggle at myself and the insanity of being out in the glaring midday heat. But my beautiful finds made up for all the sweat and heatwaves running through my body.

the hoard

a handmade lace tablecloth … a bargin at 5€

I was delighted to find this jug as my friend who I’m staying with

two old milk bottles from the 50s, both are companies from Berlin. I think the are great, usable mementos of my time spent here

a coffee-pot and filter, also from the 50s … I will be using it for herbal tea

this is the filter and lid, the insert is original … and all for 6€

a book from 1955 and yes I have been to all three cities … only cost 50Cent

the book are the memories of a sports journalist

three little jugs, I love the black and orange one and will be keeping it, the other two I will give away, but at 1€ each I couldn’t resist

As the day started to fade and I had admired my treasures enough I decided the only way to cool down was to take a late night dip in the lake. I had to hurry a little as I had to make my way through the wood but once I reached the bathing spot and sank into the cool water contentment flooded right though me.

I swam, ducks as my companions and the friendly full moon smiling down on me from his big round face, the sizzling sun of the day becoming a memory. The waves my slow strokes made disturbing only the flies and mosquitoes dancing on the surface of the water. The lights of Friedrichshagen were twinkling across the lake, calling me home, reminding me that it soon would be too dark to find my way back.

Today that late night swim seems so long ago but I think i will wander down to the shores of lake again to day as I am not sure how else t cope with the heat. Again as Ella sings it so well “It’s too darn hot”

bad horse day

04 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by jensine in Dublin

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Celtic Tiger, Dublin, Dublin City Council, Dublin restorations, Ireland, photography, photos, Richard Burton, Smithfield, Smithfield Horse Fair, travellers

Smithfield is one of the oldest market squares in Dublin City Centre. Situated on the north side of the Liffey it even featured in the film The Spy who came in from the Cold, starring Richard Burton, as the home of Checkpoint Charlie. Sadly the once vibrant town square lost most of it’s charm during the Celtic Tiger restorations.

For centuries it was the home of the loud and somewhat smelly Dublin Horse Fair. On the first Sunday of every month traveller families would migrate to the big open space and buy and sell horses. Often this would lead to loud arguments and shouting but overall it was a colourful day filled with neighing and neighbours, horses and hay.

However the City Council always saw it a little bit differently and when they “rejuvenated” Smithfield into a place where lawyers, bankers and other successful Celtic Tigers lived, they tried to move the old horse market, the last surviving open trading in the square. Luckily for them in 2011 a feud between two traveller families resulted in shoots being fired, leaving three people wounded and finally giving the Dublin City Council enough reason to close the fair down on the 6th March.

Since then the Horse Market in Smithfield has been a topic of debate. Of course no one condones shootings, however with traditions being eroded from Dublin life it seemed important to try and save some of what is left. So yesterday for the first time in nearly two years the Horse Market in Smithfield reopened.

And although the Arts Council advertised the event, the national news even featured it as a main story, the whole day was very lackluster. The promised exhibition was a library-bus showing a few slides and displaying six black and white print-outs, the live-music was kept separate and the policing was very severe. Dublin City Council had managed to convert a lively, bustling family day-out into a clinical event with no charm, atmosphere and very few horses.

It’s a pity, but the reopened Smithfield Horse Fair is a little like the square itself: the facelift changing it’s image too much, the restrictions choking out its life and the atmosphere evaporating like the residents 4X4s exhausts.