That’s what the ads in the Evening Herald or Evening Press usually said, but spacious usually meant enough room to swing a very small cat in a space with a bit of well worn carpet and a bed that doubled as a couch against one of the damp walls.
Ah yes, the bedsit days. For most people it was the first taste of freedom away from the family home. My bedsit experiences were all on the north side of Dublin in the seventies and in Bertie’s backyard, Drumcondra, in particular. Every Friday a knock on the door would mean that the landlord, usually a guard or teacher from Cavan or Monaghan, had arrived to collect the rent.
Two of us shared the room and kitchenette, another word you don’t hear often nowadays. Most of our friends were born and bred Dubliners, still living at home with their mammies, so the “flat” became a very popular meeting place. There was a constant stream of callers. The flat was in demand even when we headed home for a weekend when it became a popular spot to entertain a girlfriend with a nice cup of tea or whatever.
It was the rendezvous before or after a few pints in the Cat and Cage, or the venue for a late night game of poker. There were nights when it seemed that most of the pub squeezed into the small space and I’m sure a few love stories began and ended there also.
Now the bedsit is to become a thing of the past and part of history. The Greens plan to ban the traditional rented bedsit, as part of a series of new measures to improve standards in the rented accommodation sector. They say that their proposal will see one-room units phased out by new regulations insisting that rental units should have their own sanitary facilities.
“Sanitary facilities” wasn’t a phrase that was heard too often back in the seventies, when four or five bedsits would share the one bathroom.
This is what’s surprising about the Green Party’s proposal. Surely they should be all in favour of shared “sanitary facilities”. I thought they even wanted us to share a bath or a shower. Now the landlords are going to have to put in extra toilets and showers, which will mean using more energy and water and upping the carbon footprint.
Surely the traditional bedsit is the most energy efficient accommodation available? I thought the Greens would be happy with one or two people eating, living and sleeping in the same room, thereby saving on heating and electricity.
Campaign kicks off for new Taoiseach
There seems to be no end to the number of Keanes involved in the journalistic and literary world. Locally we have Sean Keane and there’s also Billy Keane, Fergal Keane, Eamon Keane and Fergus Keane regularly putting pen to paper.
I went along to hear another Keane giving a talk at the Ormonde Hotel last week. This member of the Keane clan spells his name with just one ‘E’ so I presume he’s not a member of the Kerry branch. I had a look at Google for some background information on Gerard Kean and there’s two of them listed. One is a plumber and the other is described as a “celebrity solicitor,” so I presume it was the solicitor we were listening to.
He started his talk with a few fairly familiar anecdotes that were told originally by Hal Roach or Noel V Ginnitty and then gave us his opinion on who should lead the country. He said there was one politician he admired for speaking out over the last couple of years and he should now be given the job of leading the country. Who was he talking about? Step forward our own John McGuinness, your country needs you. Don’t tell Brian Cowen though, he has enough problems giving him sleepless nights lately.
Mr Kean with one ’E’ then went on to give some solutions to our current problems. He made it all seems simple. Just sack 3,500 HSE workers, flog off the voting machines and get rid of all consultants and the good times would roll once more.
There we were thinking we were in serious bother when the solutions are so simple. I think someone should give Gerard Kean the plumber a ring and ask him for his ideas.
Last call!
The Duiske Concerts in Graignamanagh finish up tomorrow night, Friday, with what promises to be a spectacular show from the group Tread. As well as brilliant traditional musicians, the band features the unbelievable dancing talents of Canadians Jon and Nathan Pilatzke, along with traditional Irish dancer Cara Butler, sister of Jean Butler.
The dancing Pilatzkes have been a part of The Chieftains’ show for just over five years, with Jon continuing to dazzle audiences with his ability to combine his dancing and fiddling talents on stage.
A very special night is in store and a great finale to a wonderful series of concerts.
