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There are two snaps taken by a photographer within minutes of one another – posted below – both include John Redmond, Jim Brennan and myself, and a young girl named Eve Kelly from Churchtown in Dublin. The one showing Jim Brennan and myself looking out of the mouth of the harbour always reminded me of the man who had the vineyard in the parable ‘Oh men of Gallilee, why stand you all the day idle. Because no man hath hired us‘.
The trouble now is that we have neither crab wall nor the top of the slip – and certainly no bridge below the town, and the nations that are rearming are Russia, China and North Korea.
Pic: Harry Acheson
very now and then, and usually without warning, Jago Hayden sends 
us another slice of personal Greystones history.
very now and then, and usually without warning, Jago Hayden sends 
us another slice of personal Greystones history.The man’s memories of growing up here – largely around the old harbour – and how so much has changed, both naturally and unnaturally.
You can go explore the man’s earlier home thoughts from abroad here.
You can go explore the man’s earlier home thoughts from abroad This week, out of the blue, we got an email with the subject line, A Song And A Couple Of Photos.
And the message went very much like this…
The song, Sittin’ On The Bridge Below The Town, is by Frank O’Donovan, and it starts:
‘Now there’s a bridge below the town, I’d have you all you know? It’s broken and it’s tumbling to the ground/ But there we used to gather every evening long ago/ Sittin’ on the bridge below the town.’
It was a long song, a real come all ye, but it finished with this verse:
‘The nations are rearmin’ and preparin’ for to fight/ But a settlement could easily be found/ If, instead of at Geneva, they were meetin’ here tonight/ Sittin’ on the bridge below the town.
It was in Geneva that the League of Nations set up their headquarters after the First World War – “The war to end all wars”.
Our ‘bridge below the town’ was the crab wall – or anywhere about the old harbour for that matter. I’m attaching a couple of old harbour snaps that you may or may not have seen.
Leslie Spurling, Jim Brennan, Dessie Murphy, Paddy Murphy, Sean Brosnan and Conal Brennan
The first shows Leslie Spurling, Jim Brennan, Dessie Murphy and Paddy Murphy sitting on the crab wall with Sean Brosnan and Conal Brennan standing on it. The second shows Sean Brosnan and myself after we had been for a swim.
Jago & Sean
There are two snaps taken by a photographer within minutes of one another – posted below – both include John Redmond, Jim Brennan and myself, and a young girl named Eve Kelly from Churchtown in Dublin. The one showing Jim Brennan and myself looking out of the mouth of the harbour always reminded me of the man who had the vineyard in the parable ‘Oh men of Gallilee, why stand you all the day idle. Because no man hath hired us‘. 
Because neither Jim Brennan nor I had a job at the time.
The trouble now is that we have neither crab wall nor the top of the slip – and certainly no bridge below the town, and the nations that are rearming are Russia, China and North Korea. 
This week, The Sunday Times reported that Nato and our own navy have been monitoring Russian ships in the Irish Sea, and around our coasts generally, and the yanks have planes flying from their base in Keflavik in Iceland to keep tabs on a Russian nuclear sub that’s skulking somewhere on the west coast.
Take care – and your iodine tablet, if you still have it…
John Redmond, Jim Brennan, Jago Hayden and Eve Kelly. 1950s postcard
Greystones Harbour Bray Head. Sean Tierney