I have just seen a TV3 presenter outside the new Ikea store in Dublin in front of a baying mob of anxious punters champing at the bit to get in. The doors are about to be thrown open any minute and the tension all over north Dublin is, quite naturally, unbearable. The store we are told is “the size of several football pitches.” This shoddy description renders a good image hard to conjure since the presenter did not say whether she was talking about gaelic, soccer, aussie rules or even grid iron. And “several” left me with a muddled, unsatisfactory picture in my head. I resolved not to set foot next nor near the place until I acquire a more accurate mental image of the scale of the sales floor, in sporting terms of course. Surely Micheal O’ Muireheartigh was the man to anchor that report, not some Xpose type handbag addict. “ I can now reveal that the sales floor in this retail facility is equivalent in size to the combined playing area in O’Moore Park, Parnell Park, St. Conleths Park, Markiewicz Park ( prior to redevelopment), Semple Stadium and Dr. Cullen Park up to and including the 45m line at the town end”. Much better. Now that’s a place I can shop.
A new swimming pool opened recently in our local town and I recall excitedly describing the facility to a friend of mine who had yet to visit it. “How big is the pool?” was his sole, perplexing response. “Massive” I replied. “Yeah but how big, is it Olympic size like?” was his insistent reply. It’s funny, you think you know someone but here was a guy I have known for years who was obviously secretly harbouring ambitions to launch an assault on Michael Phelps’ 200m freestyle world record, and in the heart of the midlands to boot. I am watching his progress intently, this is the type of thing we need to put us on the map. That and a discount furniture store the size of several Olympic swimming pools. We shall be known henceforth as the definitive, undisputed Olympic Village.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
