Culture

In a Word . . . Wisdom

Women and bicycles are no longer what you’d expect

Patsy McGarry's face
Patsy McGarry
Sat Nov 20 2021 - 00:30

Women and bicycles are no longer what you’d expect. (Maybe?)

A 1937 news report circulated recently elicited the plaintive response from your humble scribe: “plus ca change.”

The then parish priest of Collooney Co Sligo fulminated at how his county had the highest number of bachelors in Ireland at the time. He blamed women.

“All the women were good for nowadays was smoking, dancing and having a good time,” he said, “…and keeping away from their homes as much as possible.” (How things have changed!)

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“The drudgery of the kitchen was not for them. They did not know how to knit, sew, or darn a pair of socks or keep a house clean,” he said. (So different now.)

“They would not know how to look after a husband.” And “if the present state of affairs continued there would be no need for teachers, and the schools would have to be closed”.

It “looked as if marriages in the parish were going to cease altogether” and that “the time was fast approaching when there would be no christenings in the Church”. (So very different now.)

Then there was the recent comment from Sanjay Thakrar, chief executive at the London-based Euro Exim Bank, that cyclists were "a disaster for the country's economy". They did not "buy a car, take a car loan or buy car insurance".

The cyclist “does not buy fuel, does not pay for the necessary maintenance and repairs, does not use paid parking and does not cause serious accidents”. And, cyclists “do not get fat”. (Good God, where will it all end?)

“Healthy people are neither needed nor useful for the economy. They don’t buy medicine. They don’t go to hospitals or doctors. Nothing is added to the country’s GDP [gross domestic product],” he said. (Off with their heads!)

However, “on the contrary, every new McDonald’s restaurant creates at least 30 jobs: 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 dietary experts and nutritionists, and obviously, people who work at the restaurant itself”.

And, before you smug walkers get carried away on a cloud of virtue, he said you are “even worse. Pedestrians don’t even buy bicycles.”

So let’s be clear on this, healthy people and sociable women are bad for us.

Glad to clear that up.

Wisdom, from Old English wisdom, for "good sense, knowledge, experience".

In a word@irishtimes.com

CollooneyExim BankMcDonald'sSanjay Thakrar