THE IRISH TIMES 20NewsReview Saturday,May9,2015

LifeAbroad The Social Morocco KevinCourtney SarahGeraghty Ileft Network Ireland becauseall ‘ThewholeEurovisionthingdoesn’tseemreal’toMollySterling myfriends “Well,you’vegotmydouzepoints,”theAus- shouldn’t make sense. I mean, the Australi- thoseofsomeone with a bit ofa life lived. Having been involved in key moments of toVienna forthis year’scontest. trian ambassador, Thomas Nader, told Ire- ansareinit this year.” “That’s kind of worrying,” said her dad, the contest’s 50-year history, including “This is going to date me, but Sandie land’sEurovisionstarlet,MollySterling,af- Nosense. laughing. Johnny Logan’s double victory in 1980 and Shaw, Puppet on a String, is my favourite hadleft ter her performance at the Austrian resi- Molly’s jolly dad, Andrew Sterling, said The whole Eurovision thing doesn’t feel 1987,BlakeKnox knows hisEurovision. Eurovision song of all time. Once I saw denceon Wednesday. itwas “uuunbelievable”to be at anembassy real. “It just doesn’t sink in, it’s so weird. It “I’ve written about every entry for the SandieShaw Iwas gone.I loved her.” “We have a young and energetic foreign receptioninhonourof hisdaughter. feels like it’s so out of reach, and suddenly past 50 years, but it’s also a trajectory of The writer Fiona Looney will be glued to minister who said the embassies could do “She’d get dropped off from school a people are asking for pictures and auto- Irishsocietyduring the same period.” hertelly–andTwitter–onMay22nd.“When Elaine Carney send-offparties,”the ambassadorsaid. kilometre from home and sing the whole graphs.” What Ireland needs now is a win to really theYesvotecomesin,whatbetterwaytocel- Sandie Shaw’s Puppet on a String and way. I used to joke to the farmers that the Douzepointsfromus, too. knockusoutofrecession.“Ifwesendagood ebratethanbywatchingtheEurovision?” Johnny Logan are his Euro-favourites. And cowswouldalllookupwhenshepassed and song it does well,” said Louis Walsh, “but Father Ted. “I loved the one where they say,‘Oh, it’s onlyMolly,’ and carryon.” DAVID BLAKE KNOX’S favourite Eurovi- we’re sending amateur singers and ama- tis notdifficultto finda job teaching showedhownot towin it.” Molly’s parents, sister, pregnant god- sion song is Luxembourg’s 1965 winner, teur songwriters, and it doesn’t work. You ■ From left: Marty Whelan, Molly Englishas aforeign languagein Did you Euro(vision)-sceptics miss the mother and granny fly to Vienna on the Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son, written by havetohaveagreatsong.Dana,LindaMar- Sterling and Minister for the Environment IIreland. Ileftbecauseall myfriends Austriaconnection?Thisyear’sextravagan- Tuesday of Eurovision week. “I’m not nerv- Serge Gainsbourg. “It’s a fantastic song, tin, Johnny Logan: they all went out with Alan Kelly at the Austrian ambassador’s had left.I left becausemy relationships zais inVienna. ous,” said Andrew. “I just want her to enjoy verysubversive. Itwas the cuttingedge.” greatsongs, andthebest songwon.” residence; and Robbie Fox, Fiona had allbeen ended inairports. Mybody Our man on the ground, RTÉ’s Marty herself.” The former RTÉ head of entertainment Don’tmention Jedward. Looney, Steve Lindsey, Rory Cowan, wasinIreland, but I waswalking around Whelan, approaches his commentating gig She’s really enjoying herself. “It’s all so was launching his new book, Ireland and Rory Cowan from Mrs Brown’s Boys is Margaret Beere and Louis Walsh at with atight map,divided intoBrazil, as the viewers do. “We laugh with it, never cool,” said the so-cool 17-year old from Tip- theEurovision,attheSpencerHotelinDub- planning to cast his Yes vote early in the David Blake Knox’s launch. PHOTOGRAPHS: Japan,England, Austria,Australia and at it. It’s brilliant because it doesn’t and perary, whose voice and lyrics sound like lin’sdocklands, on Tuesdayevening. marriage referendum, then fly straight out REINHARD SCHOLLER AND DARA MAC DÓNAILL China,inmychest. Istartedteaching Englishbecause whenI graduated fromcollegeI wastoo shyto be ajournalist and too inexperi- encedtobe anything else.One day Iwas livingwith my parents inMayoand the nextI wokeup with thefingers ofpalm treesbrushing a hotelwindow. Iwas in Rabat,thecapital of Morocco. Moroccois old.You can feel its age immediately,leakingfrom the wallsand gatessurrounding Rabatlike anancient sandcastle.ButI feltthe ageeven more sointhe people.Moroccans aremuch liketheir weather.They knowwhen to bewarm and at the same timethey know whento builda ceiling foryou whenyou need theshade. She’d get WhenI wentwalkingaround the city myredhairdidn’t helpwith the staring. dropped off Equally,Iwouldstare at the womenwith from school a theirhair wrappedinsilk and cotton, kilometre from crossingthe streetstogether,shoulders home‘‘ and sing the together,laughingand having secret conversations.Isaw their closeness, and whole way. I joked itreminded me of home.I feltthe mapof to the farmers that myfriends tighten. Thefirstday teachingat the Moroc- the cows would all cancollegewas fear,just fear.I wasthe look up and say, onlyfemaleteacher workingthere, and I startedto wonderhow Iwould fitintheir ‘Oh, it’s only Molly,’ minds.I have givensomeof them Mayo and carry on accents;theyhave givenme gifts from theircities and towns, traditional I saw the closeness of the Moroccans Littlelawfirms and it reminded me of Smocktailsforathirdbirthdaybash home. I felt the map of getahelping ‘‘my friends tighten SmockAlleyTheatrehostedits thirdbirth- Of course, Smock Alley is really three rector of Project Arts Centre. “It’s become day bash on Tuesday night, and no one was and a half centuries old, having first this hub for new and exciting work, and it’s more relieved to be reaching this mile- openedits doorsin 1662,butsinceitsresto- importanthistorically.” hand stone than the Dublin theatre’s director, ration in 2012 it is looking good as new. In August Smock Alley’s production of Patrick Sutton. “It’ssuchabeautiful restorationofa the- Waiting for Godot will travel to Brazil to In the contemporary surround- “When you start a business, they say, af- atre space and a great example of how you mark the 40th anniversary of bilateral ings of the Solomon Gallery in ter the third year you’ll know if you’re go- can reclaim a building,” said Aideen How- trade agreements between Ireland and Dublin,MinisterforJusticeFranc- ing to sink or swim. And this year has been ard, the new director of the Ark children’s Brazil. es Fitzgerald launched the solici- really significant for us, because apart theatre. In December the theatre is stagingA tor Flor McCarthy’s guide for col- from the feeling that the recession is leav- She has been two weeks in the job, and Christmas Carol, featuring “the scariest leagues navigating the contempo- ing us behind there’s a kind of confidence enjoying it immensely. “It’s full of poten- ghost ever to appear on an Irish stage”. rary legal world: The Solicitor’s that’s building,” Sutton said. tial, and what’s so interesting to me is that “By our fourth birthday the Arts Coun- Guide to Marketing and Growing Guestssipped “smocktails” and listened the audience keeps refreshing itself.” cil will have realised the error of their ways a Business: How to Turn Your Le- to live music in the theatre’s magnificent “It’s a fantastic achievement for Patrick in not supporting us from the get-go,” Sut- gal Practice into a Financial Suc- banqueting hall. andthe team,”said CianO’Brien,artisticdi- ton predicted. cess. “The book is aimed at small firms with five partners or less,” said the Clonakilty-based author. ■ Widening map: Elaine Carney “These firms make up 92 per cent of the profession in Ireland. However, they’ve have been hard- earrings,silk scarves, bookson Islam est hit by the recession, and many and smallbiscuits shapedlike half of them have struggled. moons. Iwas teachingthem, but they “The people who need most taughtme alot aboutIslam, not to help with legal services – the ordi- convertme but tohelp me understand nary citizens and small businesses whattheyfelt they understoodbefore of Ireland – depend on small theycould even speak. firms, but if those firms are to Thereis aduality there that reminds have a future, and continue to be meof Ireland. There arethosestill close viable for the long term, to help tothe traditional religionandculture the people who need them, they and thosetakinga fewsteps away. If you need sustainable modern busi- walkdown AvenueMohammedV you ness models.” cansee peopledressed intraditional Seán Gillane SC was MC; djellabasand yellow Berber slippers among the 100 guests were Jim weavingthrough younger Moroccans DalyTD, Seán GuerinSCandDr dressedlikeGrafton Streethipsters. In a John O’Mahony SC. clothesshop one dayIwatched women Walt Hampton, a trial lawyer inhijabspickclothes from railsto the ■ From top: Flor McCarthy with for 30 years (and a business blareof explicitEnglishlyrics. Minister for Justice Frances coach) describes the book as “cut- Youcan feel thisduality even inthe Fitzgerald; Flor’s wife, Mags; and ting edge” and says the biggest buildings.Acrossfroman oldmosque is Stephanie Molloy and Brendan misconception of lawyers is that thenewMohammed VIMuseum of ■ Aisling Mooney, Aideen Howard, Cliona Duke, Patrick Sutton, Emily Elphinstone and Paul Halpin. PHOTOGRAPHS: DARA MAC DONÁILL Molloy. PHOTOGRAPHS: BRENDAN LYON they are “unavailable”. Modernand Contemporary Art,where youcanfind progressive workby young Moroccans.Onephotograph there showsa dirtywhite horse chainedtoa barrel outsidea block ofrun-down apartments.Itis wearing feather wings, FromtheArchivesMay9th,1966 and writtenaboveit is “Everything is Sacred”. IleftIrelandfor arelease from he national gradh – or weakness – for election – absit omen. Thus we were told “you’re a young man, you’re a young man, missingso manypeople.I leftsoI Ananonymousreporter– politics cannot be denied. There we from the rostrum that Mr. O’Higgins was you’re a young man . . . Y’are” . . . and a wouldn’tfeel left behind. The studentsI probablyJohnHealy– Twere, hundreds of us, pressed into not a man for empty formulas, nor a man cheerand a laugh. wasteaching inMoroccoarenurses who doorways, tucked away behind corners, for shibboleths, nor a man for greed – i.e., It is wetter than ever, but Tom O’Higgins arestudying sothey too canleave where followedTomO’Higgins, hunched in the lee of parked cars as the impliedly, he’ll hardly be standing for a sec- bounceshisvoiceoffthegreywallsthatface theyarefrom. They wanttotravel thena49-year-oldTD,on windtore andtherainlashed.ItwasCashel, ondterm ifhegets inthisyear. him – the National Bank and the Munster abroadto earnbetter money in hospitals County Tipperary, it was Saturday night, Mr. O’Higgins has a good, bold delivery, and LeinsterBank. and tomakea better life.We had that thecampaigntrailashe May 7th, 1966, it was winter. We were wait- well suited to be heard over the elements Gay Byrne is on now with the Late Late longingto leave incommon,andthat is ing to hear Tom O’Higgins, Presidential and from under the cover of umbrellas and Show but we’re with O’Higgins on the kind whereI startedto fitintotheir world. challengedthe83-year-old candidateon behalfof Fine Gael. through ears running with water. He and of Ireland we want, old men dreaming Irecently movedon from Morocco,to president,ÉamondeValera, There was a squeal from the end of the his wife are young, he is saying; he’s for dreams, “as the poet Yeats said”, and young workinGenoa, inItaly, forthe summer. town, barely audible over the whistling of youth; he’s not surprised that Fianna Fail men,etc. It’sstrange: as the mapwidensand I whowasseekingre-election the wind, but you knew it was music, and object to his standing. He’s here to be seen Councillor Michael Fitzgerald asks travelmore myself, Ifeel closer tomy then the motorcade inched along; a blue and heard and judged. He’s not a captive of “Who’s Tom O’Higgins?” (that voice from friendsand home than Iever have inhisfinalcontest Austin, a larger light-coloured station wag- thepast. thecrowd–“He’sayoungman,he’sayoung before. on, a small green van, all surmounted by The Rock of Cashel stands up behind us. man, he’s a young man . . . he is”). Anyway, placards bearing the O’Higgins tricolour Old men dream dreams, he tells us, we the says the Councillor, he’s the great-grand- posters; then the band – and there’s some- younghave thevision. sonofA.M.Sullivanandthebandisgoingto thing about a band (was that tigerskin People bend their necks to keep the rivu- playGod Save Ireland. figurenot oneof theformidable early mem- letsfrom goingdownboth sides. bigredlorry;thestreetisnarrower,therain They give us God Save Ireland indeed ories of anyone brought up in a country The band was to conclude by playing and wind hurl themselves at the huddle of and the same bonus of Let Erin Remember town?); the band plays “God Save Ireland,” “GodSaveIreland,”composedbythecandi- umbrellas. – and why not – just before the national an- the motorcade distributes itself around the date’sancestor,A.M.Sullivan.Itplays“God This has more in it of a scene from Moth- them. magnificent street; the candidate, his wife Save Ireland,” gives us a bit of “Let Erin Re- er Courage than the modern image con- Amazinglytherainstops.Whenlastseen and the platform party get up on the wag- member” for good measure, and then jured up by the official designation of the the candidate was signing autographs. He’s gon behind the blue tractor and under the there’s theNational Anthem. campaignas a whistle-stoptour. a young man, a young man, a young umbrellas,and we areoff. Itwasafter nineo’clockand darkling; the Mr. O’Higgins, suitably introduced, belt- man . . . he is. It’s so wet and so cold, and the candidate motorcade had to be off to the next meet- ed away into the wind, rain and darkness in Online hastobeofftoTipperarytospeakagain,that ing. As it crawls into Tipperary town, a fine style, as before . . . see me, hear me, Readtheoriginalatiti.ms/1KH2p8Q The site by and for we’rewarnedthebusinesswillbeshort. mighty long line of red lights showing in judgeme. One name apparently is not to be men- front of us, the weather gets even worse. “You’re a young man,” comes a voice – SelectedbyJoeJoyce;email expats: irishtimes.com/ tionedfromFineGaelplatformsduringthis This time the platform party is up behind a very much a late Saturday night voice – [email protected] generationemigration