Christmas Eve: Dublin & KC
Christmas Eve in Dublin
I would leave most if not all present buying until Christmas Eve and then head into town for the present-buying blitz.
I might walk twenty miles in the day, among the bustle of tens of thousands.
From Thomas Street and Meath Street to Capel Street to Talbot Street, and backwards and forwards from Henry Street and Grafton Street, crossing the river using four or five bridges. Is that Gay Byrne? Liffey Street, Mary Street, Abbey Street - upper, middle and lower - Parnell Street, Moore Street, Earl Street, Nasseau Street, Dawson Street. Homeless Santas. The ilac, Georges Arcade, the Irish Life Centre, Easons. Five times. Six. Even the Jervis Centre - yuk - but not Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre or the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre.
Easier than the day before though with the city losing some of its residents to their family homes elsewhere in Ireland.
Take a break at lunchtime. Meet a friend. One pint. No more. Struggling for presents but ideas are forming. The International. The Sackville Lounge. The Oval. The Bachelor Inn. The Old Stand. The old Old Stand. Presents. Back to it.
See so many people you know. Always bump into people you haven’t seen for years. And emigrants home for Christmas. Maybe if you’re making progress on the present front have a spontaneous pint with them. Bumped into an Irish man who lives in Kansas City one Christmas Eve when I was home blitzing a few years ago. It was raining. It was lovely. A pint? Can’t - shops are closing in half an hour and I’m not done. Catch ya back in KC? Sure.
Fail gallantly with presents but so close. Think of a back up. Santy isn’t due for a few hours yet. I think I can do it. Bewleys. Flowers. Feet sore. A pint? Just one? Gotta watch those buses. They say the last one is in an hour but sometimes they just leave town early like the rest of us.
Before heading home to my parents I’d usually call in to the parents of one of my friends. A whiskey? Grand. And a cup of tea? Lovely.
And in the night-time, you’d amble to the local. It would always be packed. You could meet anybody. You would. I once counted over three hundred people I knew by name in my local in Dublin on Christmas Eve. At the time I was living in England. Sorry, I can’t talk, I’m counting.
I love Dublin on a Christmas Eve. It’s magical.
Christmas Eve in Kansas City
Try to replicate the blitz. Tough with a city with no centre. When I had a car I could cover more ground. It would be like Dublin without town. You’d drive to Liffey Valley, to Blanchardstown, and then to the Square. And maybe to Rathmines. But I wouldn’t do that in Dublin. Ever.
With the car in Kansas City I’d go to 119th Street. Metcalf. Ward Parkway. Wornall. Brookside. Westport. The Plaza.
But with the bike I go to Ward Parkway, Wornall, and Brookside. Think about the Plaza but don’t bother. Inside the shops everywhere are empty. Really. If you’re Irish that is. I’m talking comparatively. The locals talk about the crowds but I’ve never seen what I know as crowds.
On a nothing Saturday in the middle of summer the shoppers in Arnott’s Bargain Basement of Dublin are more numerous than anything I’ve ever seen on a Christmas Eve, or anytime in KC. There’s a lot of space in Kansas and Missouri.
Last night I went to CVS for its last half hour - the first time it was open until midnight. I was the only person in the shop. They said it had been that way since ten. I’d been there in the afternoon when it was ‘crowded’. There was a total of eight people queing at three registers. They’re opening on Christmas Day - for who?
For atmosphere on Christmas Eve in KC you can’t rely on spontaneity. The streets are deserted compared to Dublin. You have to make arrangements to meet friends, to call in, to go to them. So I have.
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