Annie's arthritis, Ned's knee and John Joe's jokes

Jean's Journal with Jean Farrell

Won’t we miss Joe Duffy? He has been part of our lives for a long time. Like Gay Byrne, he gave a voice to the ordinary listener. From these programmes we learnt how others live their lives.

I “talked to Joe” myself, one day recently. It began when my editor rang me saying that Liveline had phoned the Westmeath Independent looking for my number. They wanted me to come on air to speak about a topic I had written about in my column. My first thought was ‘What topic?’ It turned out to be comics! As this was a safe, harmless subject I said to go ahead and pass on my phone number to Liveline.

A researcher rang me shortly afterwards and we chatted. Then Liveline began. First, Joe spoke to a man who has literally thousands of old comics in his attic. Then he spoke to me. He was very easy to chat to. Joe asked what my favourite story was. I told him that it was definitely ‘The Four Marys’, in my beloved Bunty. This led on to me telling him that I wrote a play called ‘The Six Marys’.

“Tell me all about it,” said Joe. “Start at the beginning,” he insisted. “Tell me what you say when you come out on stage?”

So I told him about my Mary Black, Mary Green, Mary White, Mary Brown, grey Mary Grey and golden Mary Golden, my six Marys!

What marvellous publicity! That afternoon I got phone calls from folk requesting performances! We were in the lovely King House in Boyle a few weeks ago and are off to a festival in Limerick soon, plus more.

One of the saddest callers to Liveline talked about loneliness. We all heard the woman who rang in, in response. She told Joe that in order for her to talk to someone, she writes letters to herself. By doing so, she is ensuring that her local postman will call to her.

As I live in town, I can head out every day and meet people, which I consider to be a great advantage. Over and over again, we hear about the necessity of ‘social interaction’ for our mental health. Rural buses are a wonderful asset for those who live in isolated areas. I was on one once and saw, first hand, how good they are.

Our boat was in Carrick-on-Shannon. I wanted to get to it, from Athlone, using public transport. A Bus Eireann bus took me to Longford railway station. I was supposed to wait there for an hour to get the bus to Carrick. As I stood outside the station in Longford, I saw a small bus with Carrick-on-Shannon written on the front. It was about to leave. I asked him would he take me. “Certainly,” he replied, “But I can’t guarantee when we’ll get there.” There was no hurry on me, so that was fine.

It was one of these rural buses that take folk from their homes into the nearest town for a few hours, once a week. What an experience it was!

First of all, every one of the 12 passengers studied me from head to toe as they got on. A stranger didn’t usually travel with them. I sat at the back of the little bus and stayed quiet.

Our first stop was outside a pub in Longford town. “No sign of Johnny or Jimmy,” announced the bus driver. He told Paddy to go in and get them, “And you’re NOT to have a pint,” he added. All the women laughed. They had great chats while we waited for twenty minutes. They showed each other what they had bought and they admired each other’s hair-dos. One woman was knitting. Another two were discussing their library books. An old lady told her friend all about her visit to the doctor. They studied her new green and yellow tablets with great interest.

Our next stop was in a housing estate on the outskirts of Longford. We called to collect a ‘granny’ from a house there. All her little grandchildren came out to the garden gate to wave goodbye, and all the women on the bus waved at them too. Next we stopped outside a supermarket. We picked up two shoppers with bags of groceries.

Everyone chatted to everyone as we left Longford. They asked about Annie’s arthritis and Ned’s knee. They discussed a recent funeral at great length and they laughed at John Joe’s jokes.

Well, what a tour of Leitrim I had that evening. We stopped at homes in Drumshambo, Drumsna, Drumod, Drumkeeran and Drumdoo. We drove up lanes and avenues and byroads and pathways, delivering every person to their own front door. As each one alighted, with their wares, everybody on the bus said goodbye to their friend, adding, “We’ll see you next week.” The whole journey took hours, eventually ending in Carrick-on-Shannon. I was very impressed with the service and can really see its benefit. It was a great experience for me (and it did cross my mind that a play could be written about that bus!)

In the autumn we will watch, with interest, who takes over from Joe Duffy.

When my call to Joe ended, a researcher asked me for my name and address. A couple of days later, I received a card from Joe. Apparently, he dabbles in art. I heard him say that he sends out one of his paintings to all the people whom he talks to on Liveline. I shall cherish mine!

jeanfarrell@live.ie