044 Foley Street

I played in that street when I was a very young boy. I did not live there. My granny, Maney Lynch lived there with her son and his family. I think Sean O'Caseys mother lived there before moving to Summerhill, I do not remember the poles at the entrance to the Buildings. By leaving Foley Street at the Buckingham Street end; was like entering another world; but Dublin was like that There has never been another city in the world like Dublin. I was a laundry boy (Phoenix Bag Wash) we roamed from Russell Street to Donnybrook/Ranelagh/Crumlin/Kimmage all the way over to the Union (St Kevins Hospital) Some of the areas and housing designs seemed very strange to me. The street where I was born (Fitzgibbon St and the schools I attended are now gone. No regrets over Fitzgibbon St. it was a vermin infested slum. I was glad to escape from there. The rent for a back parlour room in number ten, was six shilling a week. Nothing could touch that rent money; not even hunger pains.Like another expat, I carry the sights,sounds and smells of Anna. Seamus O'Dorain