A Portrait of Vintage Irishmen in Dublin's Fair City

Recently returned from a brief encounter of the vintage kind in Dublin, with my mobbish friends Mr 'H' (The Sandman); that aul Moll...Betty (The Apron) and the chap who makes photos look like a hard night on the town, Dermot (The Lens).
From walks around the Irish seat of Parliament, then down to the banks of the Liffey River, onto the bars of Temple Bar, the 80-year-old Barber Shop (THE WALDORF) as frequented by Sinatra (believe it or not, there was a guy from NYC and LA there for shaves and cuts..it's THAT GOOD!!

The sun was certainly shining on the un-righteous that weekend, where one could sit at a pavement cafe, drink Cappuccino, watch the 'beautiful people' glide by towards the expensive shops around Grafton Street and almost believe that you were in France or Italy!! Rain is often de-rigeur in Ireland (all that green comes at a price!!).

It was marvellous catching up with old friends and making new ones. Drinking in the atmosphere of The Palace Bar, frequented by the Fleet Street journalisic crowd and once favourite to the literary giants of Keats, Joyce and Beckett. Sadly I cannot add my name to that illustrious group, but I can bask in their shadows! Their shadows bring light into the world.

But the creme-de-la-creme was to travel around Dublin in a pristine 1941 Buick Special like an extra in LA Confidential! The sun brought happiness into people's lives that day, but the Buick infused that happiness into their hearts, as their eyes lit up at the sight of two men in 40's gear and fedora clad, cruising to the roar of those horses beating beneath the bonnet!

Sure, the craic was GRAND..!