Tramore is in deep mourning today as the community tries to come to terms with a horrific car crash out along the Cliff Road last night.
A sixteen year old school girl lost her life and two other teenagers are seriously injured.
Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the girl who died and our thoughts are with the injured boy and girl and the driver who, though, not badly injured will clearly be scarred for life.
Every parent lives in dread of these awful accidents which can bring such drastic changes in a heartbeat.
The community is certainly drawing together to try and support those who have been beareved and injured. I guess we all know that this could just as easily be one of our own children and, in a small place like this, where people know each other, there is a sense that we have lost a child who was part of Tramore and its environs.
A sad, sad time here which will live on in the collective memory for a long, long time.
Rest in Peace, Beautiful Young Woman and know that you are held in the most loving arms imaginable.
I discovered the true meaning of neighbourliness very early this morning. I was home alone last night with the dogs keeping a watchful eye on me.
I woke to a lot of barking at around 6.40am and wondered what was up. The chorus was emanating from son Harry’s dogs and it seemed a bit strange that Puppy Stan who was sleeping away from them wasn’t joining in the cacophony. I scrunched my ears and heard an unusual thudding sound from his quarters. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever heard before so I decided I’d better go and see what kind of mischief he was engaging in.
What I found was the stuff of nightmares. My precious pup had somehow got entangled in a very heavy lined curtain that pulls across our back door. The curtain was tightly twisted round his little neck and he was barely able to breathe, let alone bark.
At first I thought it was a simple matter of getting his collar off and that he would be able to run free but it was when I unclipped the collar that I realised the full extent of how much the curtain was constricting him.
After a quick try at cutting through the material with a fairly ordinary scissors and then a sharp knife, I knew we were in dire trouble. His mahogany eyes were pleading with me to act quickly but I couldn’t see how to release him without some sort of very sharp cutting implement and I was terrified to leave him in case he tried to follow me and made the tightness even worse than it was.
A zillion thoughts flashed into my mind ~ everything from calling the fire service with their cutting equipment to trying to pull the curtain down and somehow untwist it ….. Before I knew it I was racing across the road to neighbours who I know to be interested in DIY and the like so would be likely to have cutting tools.
I banged on the door and kept my finger on the bell until the woman of the house peered sleepily out the upstairs window to see what all the commotion was about. I gave her a shorthand account of what was wrong and within a minute or so she came running over to our house in her pyjamas carrying a very strong scissors.
Stan was frothing at the mouth by this point and between us we managed to get the scissors between his coat and the wadge of material. My neighbour steadied her hand and cut down hard. The blade bore through the taut curtain that had once been my pride and joy and Stan took a gasp and went to the Good Samaritan and put his head on her knee in a gesture of relieved thanks.
We opened the back door and Stan ran out drinking in the fresh air and then gulps of water from the dish on the steps.
My neighbour and I sat together on the steps in the early sun and she comforted me like a mother soothing a shocked child.
All day, I’ve been counting my blessings that I live in a community in which neighbours look out for each other. ( I know that this isn’t necessarily the norm, especially in bigger towns and cities in Ireland and elsewhere.) We don’t live in each other’s pockets but when the chips are down, it is beyond reassuring to know that there are caring hearts close by.
Today is a day when it feels like the world is caught in a terrible storm of unrest, fear and nightmarish violence.
Maybe it’s not any worse than usual but somehow the dreadful shooting on the beach in Tunisia yesterday seems to underline the fragility of life at the end of a week which has seen Irish hearts blown open with grief after the tragic deaths of the young students in Berkeley, California.
When I was walking the few hundred yards up to our local shop early this morning, it was so reassuring to meet friendly faces. Everyone had a smile and a warm ‘Good morning.‘ No one was talking about the dark side of life but it felt like each person was reaching just that little bit more to touch the very essence of humanity.
Eyes meeting eyes, hello in harmony, taking the time to stop and have a little chat … these are the tiny things that matter, that matter hugely in restoring faith in humanity.
I don’t think I have ever felt as deeply in love with my home town, Tramore, as I did this evening as the sun was setting. The intensity of the feeling is very difficult to describe but it was undoubtedly fuelled by the fact I knew that my best friend from Tramore was on her way home from far away to attend her father’s funeral.
We had messaged each other a few times during the day and she wrote at one point that she was doing okay but she wasn’t so sure how she would be when she got to Tramore. It seemed as if this lovely seaside town was doing everything it possibly could to ease her homecoming and soften the sadness of death.
Tramore towards Brownstowns Town Head, Co. Waterford
By October each year, Tramore is pretty much back to itself after the hectic tourist season which swells the population, especially in July and August. The town is small enough that most people are at least nodding acquaintances with each other and there is a very strong sense of community, especially at times of sadness and joy.
As I was standing on the historic Promenade, with the waves splashing through the distinctive railings, I realised that this is the place in the world where I feel totally at home.
The arms of Tramore Bay have a special embrace and the sound of the sea is the sweetest I know, especially when it whispers beneath the full moon, just like it’s doing now with midnight approaching under the fullest of full moons.
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 