It Happens Between Stops From The Pen Of CIE Staff

The town of Thurles enjoys quick and easy accessibility by both train and road and as Thurles Railway Station is on the Inter-City line, there is an excellent train service with hourly trains to and from Dublin and excellent services also to Cork, Limerick and Killarney. Express buses, presently operated by Bus Éireann, also call daily to the railway station trafficking passengers to the outer areas of the county.

For me long train and bus journeys can be boring so I always unsure to accompany myself with some light reading material.

Talking of bus and train journeys and reading material, reminds me of the new splendid publication ‘It Happens Between Stops‘  which is a collection of short-stories, articles, essays, poems and a play written by current and former employees of the CIE group of companies. There is something for everyone in this collection and here is just a brief sample;

“The Eclipse on the Cheap” By John Bolton.

The morning news told of a full load of Concorde passengers who had paid some €2,000 for a figure of eight over Tenerife to see the eclipse.  This way you got to see it from both sides of the plane twice.

For me, I loaded up my single decker to go to Dalkey. I got to Booterstown when I got this eerie feeling. I noticed the light change, but before I pulled back into the traffic, I noticed the start of the eclipse in the dark glass sun visor.  The time was spot on between 11.18am and 11.22 am.

While watching this, an elderly lady asked if I was OK.
I replied, “It’s the eclipse, do you want to see it?”

She and all the rest queued up the centre aisle to see this from the drivers’ seat.  I got a great round of applause at 11.25am, when it was all over.

I would be barking up the wrong tree to stick them for £2,000 each.

It Happens Between Stops

“Autumn Day” By Cathy Hickey

I am walking in the woods,
The Autumn wind takes the leaves from the trees,
They fall around me
And crunch beneath my feet.
I watch them dancing on the wind
And think of You.

You would wonder at this,
The sound of the river rushing by,
Breathing the sweet crisp air.
Absorbing the warmth of colour,
Enjoying the sight of a young squirrel
Busily preparing for Winter,
At the base of the magnificent old tree,

Simplistic, yet so complex,
This cycle of Life…….Nature…..
It saddens me to think, yet again,
You are missing this moment.
Then it occurs to me that you are not,
Because you are here, walking with me.
Sharing this joy !

I am not the only person to enjoy this fine witty publication, containing well observed and sometimes moving material.

It is, in the words of Lee Dunne, “As an entertaining well written, ‘dip in for a shot’ kind of book, this publication does not disappoint. So many tastes and flavours, none of them likely to give anybody indigestion.”

Irish Times journalist and RTE commentator Fintan O ‘Toole had this to say, “Witty and gritty, It Happens Between Stops is something rare in Irish fiction, a view of working life from the inside. It combines the freshness, vigour, humour and hard edge of everyday speech with the determination to transform the mundane with the power of imagination.”

‘It Happens Between Stops‘ is published by Original Writing. You can get further information on the Original Writings website or by emailing  ciewriters@gmail.com