Where I've Lived

I've lived in some different places. Here are the ones I remember.

Family home#

Near Blarney, County Cork, Ireland

I grew up in the countryside and went to a small Catholic school. My main interests were rugby and video games.

When I was a teenager, I went to school in Blarney, which was about a 20 minute bus ride away. As I got older my friends and would drink beer in the Blarney woods. It seemed like we would talk about everything.

My family's house was a bungalow surrounded by farmland. There is a crashed car in the back garden — I still don't know how it got there.

Factory cottage#

On the site of a manufacturing company in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

I did an internship for a company in Scotland that had cottages on company land. They put us up in one for a month until we could find a place in the city. It was odd living in an idyllic cottage embedded within industrial facilities.

Two of us would go to a local bar, where it was usually just us and the owner, who always seemed like he was after a few pints himself.

Something difficult happened during that time which had a big impact on me. I can't really go into it.

A two-bed for three#

Apartment in Aberdeen city, Scotland

It was impossible to find a three bedroom apartment in Aberdeen. We pretended there was only two of us and I slept on the couch for six months. I watched and rewatched Twin Peaks on a laptop every night.

Aberdeen is not a fashionable city but I liked it. There's a beach at the city's edge with carnival attractions and oil rigs in the distance — a strange configuration.

We never met the absentee landlord and never got our deposit back.

Above the nunchuker#

Studio in Sunday's Well, Cork city, Ireland

This was a small, old studio in a house with five other tenants. The studio was meagre but a step-up from sleeping on a couch. I had no internet and there were mushrooms growing in the landing.

I worked late on my PhD in a laboratory and stopped in a pub on the way home. Five old guys sat at the bar ribbing each other and I would read the newspapers nearby. By virtue of not liking where I lived, I explored the city and met people.

An unusual man in my building once invited me into his place when I came home. He asked me to sit down on the couch and then he did a nunchuck demonstration — it wasn't very good and I was nervous for both of us. Afterwards he gave me a large block of government cheese that he no longer wanted and said goodnight. I never saw him again.

Sunday's Well is one of the wealthier areas of Cork city. Lots of doctors, solicitors and professors live there. I lived there that one year during the recession and it has been unaffordable ever since.

Among musicians#

Shared house in Lower Janemount, Cork city, Ireland

I had to leave the studio after a year because the landlord sold up.

I went from living on my own to living with seven other people. Most of them were musicians. At parties I would meet people who edited literary magazines and made sound collages from animal noises.

I only lived there for a year because I got a scholarship to do research abroad. The scholarship was prestigious and I was invited to some events where wealthy people gave speeches about the future. I never felt entirely comfortable.

I met my partner during this time. She was from the place I was going (Midwest of the USA).

Floor 11, somewhere in the Midwest#

Apartment in Madison, Wisconsin, USA

I lived in two buildings in Madison, Wisconsin. In the first I shared a small apartment with a lovely guy who watched sermons on YouTube. Much to my relief, he never mentioned anything about religion. He was a really nice person.

Then I moved to the 11th floor of a nearby building. It was a studio and I lived there alone. I had a view of frat houses and a big lake from my balcony. It was a great time to smoke and the cigarettes were cheap.

I had no internet so I would download podcasts in the lobby after doing laundry in the basement. The elevator back always seemed about to malfunction.

Madison had boiling summers and icy Winters. When Winter hit there was a kind of cold I had never experienced. I ran to the Winter supplies store:

Hi. I'm Irish and I don't know what I'm doing....

They gave me gators, wicking layers, insulating layers and a bunch of other things so that I wouldn't freeze to death.

To this day I love Madison as a city. Very laid-back, hippy-ish vibe. Lovely bookshop and record store. Lakeside terrace with beer, food and music.

Breached apartment#

Apartment in Shandon Street, Cork City, Ireland

I moved back to Ireland and got a tenured position as an academic. For the first time since I left home I lived somewhere for more than one year.

My partner and I spent the Covid lockdowns here. We had no garden, so we would walk out onto the roof and talk to our friend in the apartment below.

The house had problems. Worst was the frequent rodent issues. Some weeks I would catch almost ten mice.

The apartment underneath was gutted. In the process, one of our rooms had to be removed. This left a large hole in the wall that was only covered with a thin board.

It was a happy time for us despite everything that was going on.

Shandon street is a unique place on the North side of Cork city. There is a mixture of traditional Irish shops and bars but also many African-owned businesses, as well as a Mosque.

People who never lived there would tell me it was dangerous. I would tell them it wasn't and they wouldn't believe me.

With a garden, near a stadium#

A house in Turner's Cross, outside Cork City, Ireland

We moved from the North to the South side of the city. The area was very residential, with lots of kids playing around. The main attraction for us was that we finally had a small garden.

We were near a stadium and there was regular crowd noise. I hadn't experience many big crowds and it amazed me how pleasant crowd noise could be.

One night, I think we heard a marriage break down nextdoor.

After two years, the landlord said they wanted to give the place to one of their children.

In the few months that remained on our lease we looked for apartments and were contemplating the prospect of homelessness when we couldn't find anything.

A family friend came to our rescue.

Back on the north side#

The house where I live now

We are now living on the North side of Cork city again.

This is probably the place I've lived with the strongest feeling of community. People really look out for each other. There are always neighbours chatting on the street.

One peculiar feature is the fireworks. As October approaches there is constant, intermittent fireworks. I don't know where exactly they are coming from. It must be just a fun thing people do. Recently, I heard it described in the news as "anti-social"

We plan to stay put as long as we can.