Kevin Higgins writes:
Below is my tribute to what is, hopefully, the worst public toilet in Irish history. It was perched by O’Brien’s Bridge in Galway City, immediately above the River Corrib, beside the Bridge Mills. It is now boarded up because it cannot be demolished because it is part of the structure of the bridge.
In Memoriam: the worst public toilet in Galway
Hidden like a pimple on the City’s most intimate bit.
We went down your steps to tiles
that were never white and had seen things
no lavatory attendant should have to look at.
You hung above the river
as it went viciously about its business.
Whatever the temperature
you were ten degrees less.
No one visited you except out of desperation
or via the sort of mistake American tourists make.
You belonged to gents in questionable coats
with even more questionable things
hanging hopefully beneath them
like ukuleles.
Though you’ve been boarded up
since what’s now the last century; it’s said
each Halloween and Macnas parade,
in your far dark, their coats come alive
to again disgrace your tiles.
Growing up in Galway, anytime I went to use it it was shut…
A pic of the inside would have been worth a look Kevin :)
Best headline ever.
Pity the ‘trek’ part doesn’t work. I guess ‘Dreck’ would be a bit insulting to Higgins!
Get M D to reopen it formally, that’s when the … would hit the fan.
Oh, that is what it is there then.
Is this the entrance? I walk over the bridge daily and never knew there was a historic toilet there. Galway is full of surprises. :P
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2716359,-9.056385,3a,44.8y,156.4h,77.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4myGOlUVYn7BDrRNYTAQUg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
You belonged to gents in questionable coats
with even more questionable things
hanging hopefully beneath them
like ukuleles.
if I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed Seamus Heaney
Really enjoyed this one Kevin. Would love to read a few more in this vein.