Reading UK December 2011

Now I am always happy to visit Reading. I've been going there on and off for the last 15 years and the town has certainly grown on me. Picture a typical English provincial nest that has been augmented with a couple of business parks and shopping centers. The infrastructure cannot cope with the traffic - the couple of miles from the Thames Valley business park to the city center can, at the worst of times, take over 1 hour. This may lead one to curse the town and its environs. However, there are gems there that more than make up for this inconvenience.

1. Gem Nr. 1 - The Hobgoblin pub situated on Broad Street, Reading's main pedestrian thoroughfare. This sanctuary from the everyday is over 300 years old and comes complete with snugs. It doesn't serve food - all it does is serve wonderful and quirky British beers and ales from niche breweries. This time I had the luck to be able to down a pint of "Hot Dog Chilli Stout" which tasted much better than it sounds. But the great thing about quirky pubs is that it attracts quirky characters. The Hobgoblin regulars are a mix of society from the local canal lock keeper to the business park IT professional - the one thing all have in common is the love of a good pint in convivial surroundings - the staff are British and know their stuff - one even left to start his own brewery - his beer was being served there on my last visit.

speaking of my last visit, I was talking to some folk there when a group of young men arrived into the pub - 20 of them, it was, all dressed as Santa's elves. The lads, it turned out, were members of a rugby team from the nearby university. They ordered their pints in silence - gesticulating their orders to the barman. The captain of this merry band, incidentally also the rugby team captain, was the only one allowed to talk - but even he was a man of few words. What I did learn though is that the boys were on a pub crawl and this was a silent stop. No one was allowed to talk or make any noise - like Trappist monks on a day out.



The next stop would, of course, be a non-silent one. So all of us were glad to be staying put. Now the Hobgoblin is not the only real ale pub in Reading there is also "The Nag's Head" on Russel Street - up the other end of the town. They are currently serving an "Oscar Wilde Mild" a must for all literati.

2. Gem Nr. 2.

The Kennett and Avon Canal. This lovely canal runs through the town and out to the Thames Valley business park and beyond. It is a joy to walk to work along it's banks. There are still some architectural gems along its banks - these canal side houses may seem to have lost the competition with the modern multi-stories overarching them - but they are still here and taunt the modern with their simplicity and style. The canal has a fine population of swans and ducks and one does see the lock in action, especially in summer with the many barge tourists.

3. Gem Nr. 3.

Reading Jail, opened in 1844 - this was the place that broke the back of THE Irish man of letters - Oscar Wilde. It might have broken his back but not his spirit as the "Ballad of Reading Gaol" testifies.

In Reading gaol by Reading town
There is a pit of shame,
And in it lies a wretched man
Eaten by teeth of flame,
In a burning winding-sheet he lies,
And his grave has got no name.

Oscar did his 2 years hard labour in the jail and, on release, left for Paris where he died a few years later, destitute.






4. Gem Nr. 4.

Reading Minster or the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.
The origins of the Church go back to St. Birinus in the 7th century. Today it's gothic spirit acts as a counterpoint to the lack lustre modern day surrounding it.

What really intrigues me is the old tree in its grounds -

November/December 2011 Mother Ireland's taxi driver from Navan

I spent a week in Dublin at the end of November. And what a week it was...
I arrived at Dublin airport full of joy and caught a taxi home. The taxi driver was an older lady, originally from Dublin but now living in Navan. As soon as she found out I was Irish, she began bemoaning the state of the country and the evils of the upcoming budget. The hard hitting budget, a result of the Euro crisis, was due to be presented the following week, but most points had already been leaked to the press - carbon tax, VAT increase, fuel increase, social welfare decrease - you get the drift. The Greeks would be manning the barricades at this stage, but we Irish seemed to be falling back into the fatalism that brought us through centuries of British occupation, penal laws, famine etc. It is interesting to note the different reactions of the 2 countries. The Greeks complain and lose the head, we complain and drop the head.

But don't confuse our head dropping with giving up. We are used to hard times - they were de facto up until the 1970's. Most people had enough but not more and emigration was a fact of life. Nearly everyone lived in a house - it was probably very modest but it was their's or the Corporation's. Apartments, bistros etc. were foreign to us. Pubs didn't serve food, you ate at home.

The property boom that accompanied the Celtic Tiger put an end to all of that and as a direct result of that our taxi driver was living in Navan instead of Dublin. Dublin's working class was priced out of the city and many had to bite the bullet and go into inner emigration to the satellite towns emerging around the city, one of which was Navan.

I tried to boost her spirits by telling her about my friend who moved down there many years ago. He sold his 3 bed semi in Dublin and bought a 4 bed detached just outside the town in one of the new dormitory settlements. I told her how happy he was but no joy with her. "No fun in Navan if you're unemployed" and, of course she has a point.

But let's not denigrate Navan - I passed through the town very often as a child on the way to visit my grandmother in Kells - 10 miles further down the road. Kells was, for my father, the centre of the universe - Navan a very important satellite.
So what is Navan famous for?

1. First of all it's name as Gaeilge - an Uaimh - the cave. Now where was the cave? what happened there? Go to an Uaimh and look for yourself. Also the palindromic nature of "Navan" - There are only a few palindromic places in the world, all I can think of is Ellemelle in Belgium and Oktahatko in Florida - maybe you know some more?

2. Bloodshot terrace, a row of houses on the Kells road, built for ex-British soldiers returning from WW1. Bloodshot comes from the regular fist fights after the boozer on pension day.

3. Tara - The hill of Tara, seat of the Irish Ard-Rís (High Kings), is very close to Navan - visit it then come back into the town, spend some money and boost the local economy. The hill requires some use of the imagination as the original structure was a wooden construction - they obviously had better things to do than to immortalise themselves in stone - they live on in stories as epic as any you could find.

4. The river Boyne flows close to the town - this river was immortalised through the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 where James faced William of Orange in that clash of culture which determined the course of British and Irish history. This of course, gave rise to the cult of the Orangemen which persists to this day.

The battle actually happened close to Drogheda but, if you had time on your hands, you could certainly swim to there from Navan. You would probably be the first person to do so which certainly adds some kudos to the whole undertaking.

5. Pierce Brosnan is a Navan man - Pierce, who enthralled us all as Remington Steele, James Bond and a host of other roles, is a Navan man born and bred. On a Summer's day you can meet him strolling through the town with a throng of Hollywood buddies in tow. No what more could you ask for?

6. Navan Carpets and their ad - "Only an hour from Dublin"

Definitely worth putting on your list of places to see before you die!