37 thoughts on “Crossing Parnell

  1. millie madonna

    The green bus! Bus of my childhood. Brings back memories of going into town with my nana as a child to get the fruit on Moore Street.

    1. Slightly Bemused

      I always liked the ritual of the driver standing on the dashboard to wind the signs as the route turned around to head back, before they would let anyone on.

      1. scottser

        ah, waiting for the bus on abbey street while the buses all had their engines running. then getting on board, blowing your nose and watching your hanky fill up with black snot from the diesel fumes and coal dust in the air.
        good times.

  2. Slightly Bemused

    from left, Citroen Dyane, ??, Mini, Ford Cortina MkIII (in greeen)

    The red car behind the Cortina, and white one parked beside it are really annoying me, as I should know them.

    The buses seem to be Bombardiers of two models, but I am not so familar with them

      1. Slightly Bemused

        Nobody could demand more!

        I think you may be right about the Audi, but smacking my head about the Kadett!

        And I think the van may be a Toyota LiteAce. Seems a bit small for a Hiace.

    1. Pip

      Two green Bombardiers, pretty new then.
      One orange Van Hool McArdle, the predecessor of the B’s. Assembled in Inchicore village.

  3. Panty Christ

    Those big orange buses with the blue grey patent leather seats, smoking on upper deck only. Good, emphysema-riddled days

      1. Bertie Theodore Alphege Blenkinsop

        If only.
        Back in the days of the conductors, if the fare was say, 20p, you’d give him 10p and say go ahead… he didn’t give you a ticket and you took the chance that the inspector didn’t get on.

        1. Otis Blue

          By a strange quirk when the National Transport Authority sought competitive tenders for some Dublin bus routes, one of the successful bidders was called…

          … Go Ahead

    1. Slightly Bemused

      I am betting on the Austin Mini.

      A friend of mine had a Dyane, and one time, around that period, we headed up to the Big Smoke for the cinema. At one point on the N4 dual-carriageway he looked down, and was delighted to report that he was doing almost 55 mph, and with 5 of us in the car. The road was largely empty, with the most notable behing a large artic in front of us.
      Right, he thought to pull out and overtake the truck in front. The engine roared and talk was impossible. He edged up past the truck, and I could see him urging his little baby on. Then the inevitable happened: he hit the front wave of the truck’s slipstream, and it felt like the car hit a brick wall. Sheepishly, he slipped back behind the truck and let it suck us along and we could tell from the look on his face that this should never be spoken of again.

      1. GiggidyGoo

        I know the feeling. I had one – same colour as the one in the photo above. I tried to get up Patrick’s Hill in Cork and had to give up. Great summer car though. The older 2CV’s are worth a fortune now.

  4. Slightly Bemused

    Around that time I got on a bus on Eden Quay, just behind a group of American tourists. As they paid the driver, and noted the stairs, one asked him ” do you have a upstairs on this bus?”
    Quick as a flash, the response “No ma’am. This one has a basement!”
    “Oh!” said the tourist. “That is so cool”

    1. Bertie Theodore Alphege Blenkinsop

      I think 1982 was the year I queued to get Sally O’Brien’s (and the way she might look at ya) autograph.

      1. scottser

        musical pedantry alert. the trad tune playing in the sally o’brien ad is ‘the maid behind the bar’.

  5. Shawnee Poole.

    Is that a young ‘Lock Hard’ between the buses. Came back to my car on the other side of the square one day to find Lock Hard standing next to the car and a parking ticket on the windscreen. Never checked the reg.no. on the ticket and for a fee he would take care of the fine. Fee paid and never heard about the parking ticket again, lesson learned. A handy bonus for Lock Hard that day. Haven’t been parked there this past 20 years, are those parking helpers still operating.

  6. SB

    I’d say the kids of 46 PZU would love to see a photo of their Da – if data protection of car reg’s didn’t preclude it. Or is he ogling yer wan?

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