5thPercentile.com

June 24, 2006

Flying Rats

Posted by dottie at 7:40 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2006

Rainbow

Up above the streets and houses, rainbow climbing high!

Posted by dottie at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2006

Welcome to Dublin

Posted by dottie at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)

Money Worship

Posted by dottie at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)

Neuvo Graffiti

A lovely piece of official Graffiti - click for a more detailed image

Posted by dottie at 7:55 PM | Comments (0)

May 8, 2006

Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs, the 'godmother' of urban planning, died last week.

I didnt know of her until I read th obits, but her influence can be seen and felt even in Dublin.

In a nutshell - or at least the nutshell that I have gathered so far in my limited reading on the subject over the last couple of days - Jane Jacobs was to urban planning what Charles Darwin was to evolution, sort of.

She examined the way communities in cities sprang up, how their differences and similarities to the whole (the city, country) initiated and sustained them.

She spoke of areas with diversity and easy travel with an environment that catered to the needs of the inhabitants as being the most successful. She championed incremental change and experimentation.

Unfortunately many urban planners who claim to be influenced by her tailor/design/build urban centers expecting them to appeal to a certain group of people.

How does this affect me? I live in Smithfield. It has long been touted as the next big thing in Dublin. I love living there myself but the reality does not gybe with the hype.

I live in one block of a series of high-rise apartments. Its great. Spacious, with floor to ceiling windows and doors looking out onto Smithfield square with a balcony wide enough to accmmodate chairs and a small table. Fantastic. I wake up every day with a fuzzy feeling inside about it all.

However, the ground level view is a little different. The hype projects an image of hazy, warm summer nights filled with hip urbanites chilling in cafés and poking about in interesting little shops and museums.

The reality is a little different. All the shops, bar an admittedly nice supermarket, are lying empty. The hype machine keeps turning and telling us that this summer will be different. The buildings will all be finished and sit for months or years on the stillborn dreams of property developers cashing in on the desires of urban planners.

The 'locals' (aboriginies?) do scoff at us for being posh. No doubt they notice the concrete dust and squalor of the pre-abandoned units beneath our living space, on display behind hermetically installed double-glazing. The ante-commerical dustbowls are our cabinet of curios - empty, just as our dectractors expect them to be, allowing them to nod and grin as we shuffle past to buy out of date ginger at twice the price in the 'local' supermarket or brave the triad members in the even more 'local' chinese market. They know and show it. We know and ignore.

Just to add insult to injury, the dream has been killed. The spaces, once pregnant with the possibility of bustling cafes with sexy, foreign barristae and languid caffeine addicts (is there such a thing) talking the night away in a pseudo bohemian way, have been gievn over to more dust. They will be offices.

Posted by dottie at 3:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2006

Something old, something new(ish)

The old thing

And the not so old thing, relatively speaking

Posted by dottie at 3:21 PM | Comments (0)

January 6, 2006

Laying Down the Law

Posted by dottie at 2:08 PM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2005

Pictures aid the memory

I completely forgot that this happened just behind me the other day (I was on the path not the road and I heard it happen but didnt see it...).

It sounded like the motorcyclist could have been to blame, he dropped the clutch and did one of those high speed take offs that motor cycles are so good at.

I'd imagine he was expecting to get around the end of the car but they stopped and he suddenly ran out of road.

His first words were 'what the fuck are you doing...' tailing off very quickly at the end when he realised he was in the wrong and that he had just fucked up his bike.

ha fucking ha.

The last time I saw something like this I was in a taxi with a moronbike rider revving away beside it. Before the lights fully changed he dropped the clutch, pulled a little wheelie with the acceleration and smashed into an old man who was attempting to hobble the last few feet across the road.

Moronbike riders: they yearn for the open roads and the feel of the wind on their skin and freedom! Freedom! They get instead the feel of tarmac against their faces (hopefully) and the enclosed space of a jail cell shared with a hairy bloke called Ben.

Sorry Dave :)

Posted by dottie at 12:35 AM

Dun Laoghaire

Detail of one of the figures on the Christ the King sculpture overlooking the harbour. Crucifixes that are erected in or near harbours or harbour towns always have a nautical air to them, I have to say this is one of the best I have seen. The figures are at the same time reminiscent of drowning sailors, or traitors lashed to the mast. Stirring stuff.

Down the road a bit are the old Thallasic baths (not sure what the thallasic bit means - isnt that somewhere in Greece, perhaps they were hoping that by some associative magic the sun would always shine over this little patch of ground..).

The boths have been abandoned for what looks like years. Impressive building though. Doric columns and grecian touches all over (obviously...). The crumbling only adds to the air of Grecian authority I am sure the designers wished to convey.

This tank was attached to the side of the building - I am sure Hammond Lane is nowhere near Athens.

Big balls. What more needs to be said.

Great big, rock hard balls.

Any man would be proud of them.

Posted by dottie at 12:23 AM

Anti-junkie lighting

Q. What does papier maché, bad puns and drugs have in common?

I was out in Dun Laoighaire the other day trying to drum up some work (successfully I think!). On the way home (after taking more photos which will be put up in due course) I had to go to the toilet.

The blue light is to stop the junkies from finding a vein and shooting up.

You can just see the wet toilet paper that was thrown onto the light in a vein (sorry..) attempt to block the light.

A. now you know....

Posted by dottie at 12:07 AM

December 3, 2004

Coming attractions...

Be it here known that Vice-Chancellor David Grogan (formerly vice-chancellor of the recently aborted attempt at 'plantations' in the Sargasso sea where many were lost to culinary boredom derived from over-ingestion of 'the highly nutritious' seaweed and barnacle found in those latitudes aformentioned) and Professor Mark Lennox seek twelve good mean and strong to accompany them on an expedition of discovery into the dark wilderness of the Tallaght Luas line.

The expedition seeks to investigate the social, moral and physignomic range expressed by the fauna of the accursed region. To wit the pair shall journey (braced by suitable alcholic drinks) to take note of all manifestations that present to them. Noting them, photographing them and where appropriate stuffing (them out the door as quickly as possible....)

The results of these investigations will merit interest from a social and scientific standpoint. The pair, stout in character if not in body, ask that you congregate at your nearest 'browser' at a time yet to be determined but no later than December 20th of the year of the calendar of pope Julius (friend and benefactor to Michaelangelo and clric militant supreme) 2004 where they will present in an orgy of multimedia in a fine spectacle all that befell them on their hazardous journey from the Boars Head pub to the Square Tallaght and back again - all in the space of a day!

Posted by dottie at 12:28 AM

October 11, 2004

Interesting jobs...

Was talking to a chap recently who in his spare time from working as a bouncer, collects gravestone rubbings (from as far away as Singapore making them all himself) and also indulges in a spot of debt collecting and err... 'associated activities'

Yes, this man breaks legs. I'm paraphrasing her but this is the jist of what I was told:

You would be surprised how little it costs to get someones legs broken. Apparently this is because it is easy when you know how and can be done without having to wrestle with the person (as you would have to when breaking an arm...).

The preferred tool is a baseball bat or wooden stick drilled and filled with lead or even, in some cases, concrete. Basically you want a bit of heft.

Approach the target from behind or wait until they pass you and swing the bat at the side of their knee just as they drop their weight onto their leg.

With a bit of practice this will causes instant dislocation of the knee and if you are unlucky means that your kneecap is destroyed as your femur pushes forward under the descending weight of the body.

Instant unconciousness results from the extreme pain involved and the target might never walk properly again, if ever. The assailant can make a quick getaway and never have been spotted by the target.

Scary motherfucker.....and while its not strictly a broken leg but very effective and for more long lasting in its effects.

Nice collection though. Of rubbings that is...

Posted by dottie at 11:26 PM | Comments (1)

August 8, 2004

New walk

Usually I go for a walk for two reasons - to keep a litle bit fit, and to think. For this reason I havea set route that I follow, long hill to climb (about 1.5 miles), then a serene walk along the canal bank before the walk dumps me into the often surreal Dorset Street and then to home.

For a change I decided to go down North Circular Road, right down to Phoenix Park and Infirmary road.

Its amazing how many more things you see. You shut yourself off when you follow the same route day after day (one of the reasons I choose the same route..). I remembered nights with an ex girlfriend, James Joyce stories, and visits to the zoo to see the Meerkats (hows that finger Matt?).

I got my geography wrong - I thought I'd be able to duck in front of the barracks and snap some shots of the er.. 'ladies' who frequent the area, but I headed back up past Arbour hill prison instead. Which reminded me of dragging an 8x4ft sheet of 3/4 inch ply by hand from there to my flat with my mate George. You really get to appreciate the weight of plywood stretching out your arms like that.

Nice walk

Posted by dottie at 11:08 PM

July 30, 2004

Drunken Night photos

Some photos from last night.

I finally managed to break my camera by dropping it - it no longer connects to my computer. I had to go and buy a card reader. Anyone know of a good repair shop for Fuji Digital cameras?

Posted by dottie at 1:56 PM

July 29, 2004

Howth Harbour

Cliche shots I know, but you gotta do it sometime eh?

What is it about chipped paint, big ass lumps of steel of indeterminate function, rust, twine, and the smell of fish that holds asuch an appeal? There is something that twists your guts with some weird sense of longing, the challenge of the open sea, of braving and surviving (never conquering) nature.

I suspect its a male thing. The smae urge that has us stop and stare in fascination at multi-tool sets in hardware store windows. Thankfully we are most of us just weekend warriors, not the north sea for me, thank you!

Posted by dottie at 12:43 AM

July 20, 2004

Balls!

Posted by dottie at 6:19 PM

July 19, 2004

Some views from the southside

Posted by dottie at 5:35 PM

July 7, 2004

Midnight Statue

Posted by dottie at 1:03 AM

June 29, 2004

Some graffiti

Pretty cool. Its actually painted on paper and stuck to the wall, so not Graffiti as such. Apparently its some bloke having a fiddle with himself. I dont know art, but I know what I like!

Grifters. Cool bike from the eighties or con artist? you decide

Posted by dottie at 2:00 AM

June 28, 2004

Sunshine beauty makeover

Dublin looks great in the sunshine. Even the normally drab old gates of the Kings Inn looks kinda interesting

Posted by dottie at 3:04 PM

June 17, 2004

Farewell Dempseys music shop we hardly knew ye

Another small part of Dublin has fallen to the wrecking ball.

OK. The building was in need of a little repair. Well.. the front wall was bulging out in the street a LITTLE. OK, ok, the feckin thing was ready to fall down.

You have to mourn it still though. It;s one of the last original buildings on Parnell street. I'd like to see a balance between history and having enough places to stay.

And for Jaysus sake please say a prayer to whatever god you hold dear, that they dont put up one of those marble-clad monstrosities that seem to be the vogue at the moment.

In ten years time, people will look back at these hideous buildings with the marble missing in patches all over them - because the residents dont want tot pay the exorbitant servcie charges that would be needed to stave off the delapidation - and say to themselves 'wasnt there a nice little Georgian building there before they built this piece of crap?'

And of course by then it will be too late. Dublin architecture will have been raped by the developers and Fianna Fail and none of the history that made Dublin what it was will remain. The decline of our capital city started 20 years ago and shows no signs of slowing down.

Some more images of the building for context

Meant to say (damn never post entries when you are drunk..) that the main reason I am sorry to see it go is that Dempseys music shop used ot be in the bottom floor. Old man Dempsey used to be there rain or shine with a collection of guitars only marginally older than he was. Not that they were worth much.

I always used to like sticking my nose in, sit down on the rickety stool and scratch up the old cherryburst arch top that used to hang in the corner. Ah them were the days!

Posted by dottie at 12:55 AM | Comments (4)

June 4, 2004

The auld triangle

I've started taking a stroll up the royal canal every day (not the whole lengthof it mind...) and its lovely. A little oasis in the desert of phibsboro.

Its a canal fabled in song and verse, most famously (for me at least ) in Brendan Behans 'The Auld Triangle'.

The lock gates are beautifully kept as the canal is still used - for leisure traffic only nowadays.

Heres the bauld fella himself.

The whole chair is cast in bronze - including the bird!

This is the view Brendan has to enjoy

A quick step over this lock and you are out onto Dorset street.

A little way down and we come to a memorial to the man who wrote our previous rugby song, err, I mean national anthem. This is a song that most of us hold dear to our hearts, we are taught it in school as we learn the great sacrifices made by our great patriots.

Yeah, I know, I cant remember the words either...

and that fecker Burty Ahern has to get in on the action. The plaque below this one records that the plinth was unveiled by the Taoiseach - what about the poor feckers had to make it?

Posted by dottie at 11:17 PM

March 5, 2004

Dubh Linn

The Liffey is living up to its name, for once :)

Posted by dottie at 10:01 AM

Sunny day in Dame Street

I have a backlog of photos. This one is just from a couple of days ago. I bet if I didnt tell you it was Dame Street you wouldnt have recognised it!

Posted by dottie at 9:59 AM

February 26, 2004

Putting up your feet for th evening with a root beer

I love this seat. I want one for my front room for watching TV.

Posted by dottie at 2:35 AM

More cranes

{stands on soapbox}

I was wandering down Manor street today when I looked up to see the sky filled with Cranes.

These are all building flats in Smithfield. Sold off the plans. €350,000 for a single bed, €35,000 for a parking space.

A lot of people have, are and will fall through the cracks in the coming years. Without friends and family we are all a bad month away from the streets ourselves. It worries me.

{stands down}

Posted by dottie at 2:29 AM

Focus Ireland

Every year in Dublin there are more people living on the street. I dont know about most other people but I get to know the ones I pass regularly, either to see or stop sometimes for a wee chat. I always mean to do more than that, but to my shame I have not yet. The extent is a little money here and there and more importantly, I think, a solid meal (usually a sandwich and coffee is requested - always lots of sugar...) and a little bit of non-patronising attention.

Anyway, my point is that most people either dont notice these homeless individuals or avoid them as if they had the plague. What focus Ireland is attempting to do is to live up to their name and focus people's attention on the fact that these are people dealing with life without a home. Enduring stigma and hardship and eventually sliding into drug abuse.

The ad campaign that Focus are now running is brilliant. It copies the plaque erecting campaign by Dublin city council where places that have been graced byu historical figures have a little plaque and a short bio written on them.

Focus Irelands campaign shows park benches with a similar plaque reading John Murphy lived here Spring 1992. An arresting images I think.

If you would like to know more about what it is to live on the streets I would recommend George Orwell's classic novel 'Down and out in Paris and London'. It dates from the early 30's but hasn't dated in what it portrays.

Posted by dottie at 2:24 AM

Requiem for remains unknown

What the hell is this? I have seen it all over Dublin. Anybody know?

Posted by dottie at 2:14 AM | Comments (2)

February 22, 2004

Bus Crash

Not even sure if I should post this - if people think its in bad taste I can take it down.

There was a us crash on the quays this saturday. Two double-decker buses crashed. One of them mounted the pavement instantly killing 5 people and injuring 20 others.

May they rest in peace.

Posted by dottie at 8:36 PM

February 17, 2004

Dublin from the Train

This shot was taken from the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit - a suburban train system, sort of - a system that is, its definitely a train. When it runs. Never a system though. Kinda like the difference between art and science. In Germany train timetables are a science, in Irleland.....). It was late in the evening and I wanted to capture the cranes as the sun shone behind them over Dublin. There were about 7 cranes in view, but it looks like my shitty camera struck again and you can just about see only one of them.

Actually, I'm kinda proud of this one, its not the best photo in the world and there are lots of problems introduced by the camera but...

It was a weird train ride. There were two scobies a few seats up from me skinning up joints and talking about how dangerous they were, comparing scars, swapping fighting anecdotes and generally having a whale of a time. Off their heads. There was an english couple sitting beside them looking a bit pale - nice introduction to one of the mini-cultures of Ireland. Cead mile failte romhat!

They got off at Howth Junction and the one who claimed to be the most dangerous fell over, spoiling the auld savoir faire a bit in front of your public keeling over like that. Off he toddles with his mate down the tracks (no ticket) only to have to avoid a train coming the other way. Ah, for an uncomplicated life...

Posted by dottie at 12:18 PM

February 13, 2004

Irish Soldiers

This is a statue in memory of the Irish soldiers who dies in the first world war, fighting under the British flag mores the pity. We Irish have never been a martial race. We never fielded our own armies. People through history have said that we fought fiercely for any cause but our own. Well we eventually got it right in 1916.I like to think that these soldiers died fighting for freedom rather than king and country.

Posted by dottie at 4:56 PM | Comments (2)

Dorset Street

Who said Dorset Street Wasnt pretty?

Posted by dottie at 4:49 PM

February 4, 2004

and now..the Cathedral!

Viking type doorways - these were all the rage back when Dublin was founded, like 1000 years ago! Hey thats like five times the age of America*! Wow!

*yeah, I know or therabouts anyhow.... ok maybe just the United States, happy now?

Oooh!

Aaah!

Rapunzel! Let down your hair!!

This last one is some 12th Century cathedral. They didnt make them too big in those days, guess they were lazy or something. They were all pretty short too if this thing had a roof on it! Me and my crazy tall girlfriend would have had to be atheists - they would have burned us at the cross! Our pleas of 'we couldnt get into the church to get communion - besides which those tiny hosts ore too small for our huge bellies!' would fall on deaf ears. We would have been turned to ashes which would have mingled with the wind and air - lovely, a true hallmark moment!

Hmm. I've been sick the last few days. In fact I'm still sick. Excuse any rambling......

Posted by dottie at 7:26 PM

Cars! Cars! Cathedral! Cars!

I was out walking the other day (actually going to pick up my film camera, antother story..) and this is what I saw parked outside Christchurch Cathedral - no rhyme, no reason, jusr hunks of gorgeous metal, rubber and leather. When you put it like that actually it sounds kind of fetishy!

Posted by dottie at 6:43 PM

January 27, 2004

Graffiti Tags Murder Machine

I like this. I like it a lot. It'll be gone from the street in a few days. Good. My version is BETTER!

Posted by dottie at 3:19 PM

January 26, 2004

Views of Dublin

More views of Dublin

I always love tumultuous skies and the contrast between that and bright sunlight on buildings. Lovely. Need to get a better camera to do it justice though....

For all you folks who come to Dublin just to get these shots up and down the river, save your money! Nah, come over nad see it for real. When the light is right in Ireland everything looks fantastic

Posted by dottie at 7:42 PM

Rainy day in Dublin

I went out in the rain and the wind the other day with the express purpose of capturing some images of Dublin. Which I did. Then I just left them on my hard drive. So here they are.

I think there is nothing more forlorn than a broken phone

This cheeky chappie was looking at me.

The view from the Millenium bridge downriver (note this is a colour image not grayscale, this is what Dublin REALLY looks like!)

and the view up river...

This is where some of the video for Phil Lynott's 'Old Town' was filmed. The song voted best Irish song of all time three years running. But how a song can be best of all time one week and not the next is beyond me!

This is the house where James Joyce set his short story 'The Dead'. I think the John Huston film was also filmed here, but I'm probably wrong about that as it is undergoign extreme restoration. The chap who is doing the restoration has apparently opened the house to the public during the proceedings so they can see what is going on and make suggestions. I will try and get in and bring the camera with me, that'd be great trodding the same footsteps as Gabriel.

Just round the corner from me on North Brunswick Street is the old Richmond hospital which is now used for the small claims court. The whole area arouns Smithfield (near where I live) is dedicated to fruit/vegetable markets and law buildings. Although a friend of mine who works in the fruit mrkets tells me that they may not be there for much longer due to traffic congestion etc. Its a pity. Just as an old part of Dublin is revitalised it looses what makes it so special. Hopefully thy wont tear down the lovely old fruit market building.

Posted by dottie at 2:39 PM

January 18, 2004

Handels Archway

I thought you might be interested in seeing the archway from Fishamble street.

Maybe not, but here it is anyway.

And here is the statue that stands in the courtyard beyond the gate. I think its meant to commemorate the great event of the first production of Handel's Messiah.

Incidentaly there is a pub on Fishamble Street called Handels - typical of us Irish , you can keep your statues, the best way to remember a good night out and a great man is to open a pub!

Posted by dottie at 7:25 PM