Box Room and Mrs Quinn's - Periphery Stuff

(Red Leather Jacket by Waterfall)

I know I’m going back a month, but have got to share about my pub box room and Mrs Quinn’s Charity shop in Listowel ….among other things.

I was staying in a very nice box room above a pub…with a great line in music each night! On my first night there, Sunday, it was the fields of Athenry, live, and most singularly by my eardrum as I lay myself down to sleep.

On Monday night, there was a peaceful break and pure bliss. I’m bonding fondly with my box room at this stage. But, ahoy captain, because on Tuesday, it was a rock jamming session, determined guitarists and no string too weak to jam with, till near crack of dawn.

On Wednesday morning, I noticed the pub had put up a poster saying ‘All musicians welcome’ ….how speedy! I thought and was left wondering what eclectic mix I was in for on Wednesday night.

Luckily, we were out till 1 am ourselves and when we returned it was so quiet that we expected eruptions at any minute – you know that type of silence where it is too good to be true and totally untrustworthy. I could hardly sleep for the silence…but yes, loved the musical miscellany of boarding above an Irish pub.

Across the road from my box room was Mrs Quinn’s charity shop. Had I known about this shop beforehand, I would have left my case at home and relied totally on the great clothes Mrs Quinn sold…as it was, I couldn’t resist a red leather jacket (4€) which I duly wore whenever I could, regardless of the heat-wave that saw fit to come within an hour of my buying the jacket. The red leather jacket became like my lucky mascot jacket, I took it everywhere – be it on my back or on the back of a chair, but it was there – a little like a baby’s comfort blanket, so to speak! : )

A few more gems from Mrs Quinn’s charity shop: a signed copy of Billy Collins’ poetry book: Nine Horses, in hardback. (2€)

Walt Whitman’s poetry book – Song of Myself - with a great inscription: ‘
when unsure, read this, love Greg’ (2€)

A Frank O’ Connor short story book and a book of short stories by Edna O’ Brien – I left both these books at a friend’s in Ireland in order to read them when I return in August.

All in all, a jam-packed time…and this was supposedly the periphery stuff. Some of the main stuff being: the discovery, on my part, of a writer named
James Kelman ...more on him later...and not to mention the very nice restaurants and pubs of Listowel too! : )