Sir, – Further to Frank McNally's Irishman's Diary (August 7th), walking through one of Dublin's more salubrious leafy suburbs the other day, the most overpowering odour I could detect was the smell of money. – Yours, etc,
EMER HUGHES,
Moate,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – Reading the ever-endearing Frank NcNally’s article Irishman’s Diary, I was immediately transported back to my school days in the Holy Faith Convent, The Coombe, Dublin 8, from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Dependent on which way the wind was blowing, we were enveloped not only by the pungent aromas of the Guinness hops and Keeffe’s the knackers, but also the exquisite, sweet, jammy, biscuity scents from the nearby Jacob’s factory on Bishop Street. – Yours, etc,
ITA SAUL VAUGHAN,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Who could forget the “Golden Miles” created every Wednesday by hundreds of cattle being herded on the hoof along the North Circular Road from Dublin’s Cattle Market to the North Wall for onward shipment to the UK in the 1950s? Then there were the slops horse-carts, the drivers of which had the unenviable task of removing food waste by hand from roadside dustbins just before the refuse collection. The recycled contents were part of the food chain for the pigsties that dotted Dublin in the old days. Frank McNally might not necessarily want to house those odours in his proposed “Museum of Smells”. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK JUDGE,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.