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This Limerick Life - with PJ Taylor
Self employed for the past 45 years, PJ says Limerick people have put the food on his table and the clothes on his back. His memoir Between The Three Bridges was undertaken at his wife's suggestion as a legacy for their grandchildren
I love the fact I've been able to stay here in Limerick all my life. I thought about going to the States or joining the British Army when I was seventeen but I had just met a new girl that I am now married to for the last forty years. If I went away she might have gone off with someone else, so I stayed and put a ring on her finger. I've always had plenty of work here, so I never had any reason to leave the place that I love.
It's the people of Limerick who put food on my table and clothes on my back. You see, I've been self-employed for the last 45 years. But apart from that, what I love about Limerick people is the ball-hopping, the craic, and the sport that make us unique.
Because I work for myself every day is different; that's what I love about it. One day I'm out in Raheen, another day I'll be over on the North Circular Road. I tell the customer I like my porridge watery in the morning and I lie down in one of the beds upstairs at eleven o'clock and four o'clock in the afternoon. They laugh and tell me what to do with myself. I love the banter and most folk seem to enjoy it.
It wasn't me who decided to write my book. My wife Mary said it would be a good idea. She'd heard all the stories many times before and thought it would be great for the grand-children.
A lot of people thought my book was about the history of Upper Carey's Road. It isn't. These stories could have happened anywhere in Ireland or any Catholic country. It's a universal account of a childhood.
Having raised and thrown out two children Sorcha and Cory, Mary and I are back where we started. It took us a long time to get used to the peace and quiet. When the phone rang it was always for one of them or one of their friends would stay over for a weekend, but now it's our four grandchildren that's keeping us busy again.
I don't have any free time. I generally stop every night around ten. I watch a bit of TV for about 30 minutes, then I throw the bones into the scratcher and wrap myself around her.
For me it's a case of loads done, and buckets to do. When I was a young fellow I used to think that if I lived to be 60 I'd be sitting in the corner every day dribbling and drooling, eyesight gone, half deaf and half-way down the road to Alzheimer's with my son and my daughter shouting at me all the time. But here I am with everything working and rearing to go. I have another two books to write. I want to keep working with my hands for as long as I can.
When I finished my book, I got notions about myself and called myself PJ but I'll answer to other variations. Mary calls me Podge, friends call me Pat or Paddy, my son calls me PJ and a couple of messers refer to me as Paddy Joe
Frank McCourt was a big influence on me writing the book. I struggled for a long time trying to find a style of writing that I enjoyed. So I read his first book Angela's Ashes and studied the way he structured his stories; how he started the story, his humour, and his descriptions of people and places. I couldn't have done it without him.
PJ Taylor's memoir Between The Three Bridges is available in bookshops locally
Interview: Petula Martyn
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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