History
Nostalgia
Buses, wire hangers and other Eamonn Lynskey remembers a family hardships elder’s reminiscences Who is it has never been ordered by mother to sit for a while with a visiting elder on the promise of a reward later? A granduncle perhaps, or some other relative full of years, who having settled himself (it was nearly always a himself) into a favourite chair, proceeded to inflict nuggets of arcane remembrance on his younger relatives – remembrances which invariably took the form of comparisons between times past and times present, usually unfavourable to the latter. “We were all very careful with our money then, ye know. Had to be! There was very little of it around. Unlike the pocket money ye youngsters are handed today. Unheard of when I was yeer age “ Even the most casual remark might lead to a quite unexpected turn in the ‘conversation’ – ‘Buses? Did I ever tell about the open platform at the back of the old buses?’ ‘Ah, the open platform’. We youngsters, with ‘our’ modern, comfortable buses, didn’t know how lucky we were. He would never forget as long as he lived the open platform at the back of the bus in his day where, if you sat near it at all, the wind would cut you in two halves. ‘Two halves, mind you. In particular with the so-called ‘heating system’ which roasted the feet off anyone lucky enough to grab the seat above it, but did nothing for anyone else, and especially nothing for anyone sitting anywhere near the open back platform. “’Draught’ did ye say?” (we hadn’t). ‘Draught isn’t the word. ‘North Pole wind’ would be more like it’.
10 Senior Times l May - June 2021 l www.seniortimes.ie
and hit the ground running as the bus slowed down. Any boy who waited until the bus came to a halt before getting off was liable to be ridiculed at school as a sissy, and have his head dunked (deservedly) into the nearest water-barrel. A bout of unrestrained laughter usually seized granduncle at this point but he always recovered quickly enough to
Here he sometimes paused, and a nostalgic tone would creep into his voice as he recalled that rare skill (now unhappily lost) acquired by school boys who took up position on the open platform, ready to jump
forestall any contributions from his listeners. Still on the subject of the old-style bus he might then ask us did we ever hear of the ‘television seat’? And very quickly, and to head off any replies that might break his flow, he would continue immediately ‘No?
