Cycling, I can do it as long as I can remember. First a small bike, with two support wheels to help me balance. I can’t remember how long it took me to learn how to cycle, but in real terms it can’t have been very long. Maybe a few weeks. Then came primary school, Bloemcampschool… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Adriaan Palm
Author: Chloe Browne
Chloe Browne is an Irish writer, curator and Art Historian, with a keen interest in objects and social history.
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Cónal Creedon
Downtown Cork city is like being centre stage in a West End musical. It’s an animated warren of shops and arcades, inhabited by every class of shopkeeper, hawker and market trader you could imagine. It’s a city of characters and chancers, and a wander through the streets is an education in itself. It’s true to… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Cónal Creedon
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Nora Corcoran
My earliest memories as a child going to junior school was that we lived in the town, and my father used to drop us down in the morning. We had a Ford Escort van. I come from a Mincéir / Irish Traveller Family, and my father was a Tinsmith who made and mended pots and… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Nora Corcoran
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Sheena Wilkinson
1974. I’m six and I walk to school alone, like all the other kids in the estate. P1s are allowed to be walked there by their mummies, but they’re only babies. P2s and over would die of shame. There’s a boy in P4 and he lets his mummy walk with him and hold his hand.… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Sheena Wilkinson
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Zainab Boladale
As I got older, I didn’t mind walking to or from school. I lived in Ennis town in County Clare and getting from place to place by foot wasn’t difficult, the only thing that could make it less enjoyable was the harsh winter weather. Once I got past the front of our house, the route… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Zainab Boladale
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Terry Christian
I started school, aged four, a month or so before my fifth birthday. It must have been after Easter as the blossoms were on the few trees that dotted Ayres Road Old Trafford. I walked to school from that day until the day I finished at my catholic Grammar school age 18. Each walk to… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Terry Christian
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Daniel Airey
The Secondary School Years 2010-2016. The secondary school years. 6:45am, my dad knocks on the door and comes into my room as another day begins. He utters a friendly yet firm good morning greeting as I slowly regain awareness of my existence. Dad walks over to my bedside radio and turns on Today FM as… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Daniel Airey
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Leanne McDonagh
“We never knew when daddy would come to pick us up from school with the horse and sulky cart but when he did there was fierce excitement for the journey home. I remember getting to the gates of the school and looking to spot the big blue HiAce van and trying to identify if it… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Leanne McDonagh
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Frank McDonald
Cycling to School through Droves of Cattle and Sheep As the first son of William and Maura McDonald, I grew up in Glenmore Road, a little cul-de-sac between Old Cabra Road and Blackhorse Avenue in what came to be known as Dublin 7. The house had been built in 1948, the year of my parents’… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Frank McDonald
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Robert Burns
Three o’clock and school was over. We slid out from behind our old wooden desks, the ones with the sloping desktop and the old inkwell holders, and darted out the door, making a beeline for the old shed where our bikes were stored. It was early June and at 10 years old I was in… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Robert Burns