‘Old Moore’ still guiding the future

CHRISTMAS always comes earlier in the country. Its spoor is everywhere around from the gloaming twilight to frost-laden darkness and that startling dawn clarity to the distant horizon that’s nigh impossible to find in the city.

As the clock moves inexorably through All Souls and into the grand expectation of December, rural homes begin that timeless dance around puddings, pines and poitín – traditions refusing to yield the floor to any so-called progress of the 21st century. And weeks before Santa leaves the ‘Peppa Pig’ and One Direction annuals, their daddies will have brought that adult periodical without which no farming home is complete – ‘Old Moore’s Almanac’ (inset). Surviving depressions, recessions and wars, the yearly edition of this national treasure is published the first week of December, recently having passed a remarkable 250-year milestone.

A vital reference for all things rural, its link to the farming community has long been a treasure trove of important agri-info like tide tables, moon phases and mart schedules – backed up with eye-opening nuggets like how to stop bleeding using a cobweb. Seems those gauzy gossamer fibres lurking in the dusty corners of all our homes are high in vitamin K, a natural coagulant. Imagine.

For many of us, though, it’s ‘Old Moore’s’ psychic predictions that garner the most interest

– all the more due to his or her identity having been kept a secret for generations.

Last December, those predictions for 2017 included: North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to threaten the West – check; cyber hacking on banks and supermarket chains – spot on; an interactive robotic sex partner for sale – virtually there; Dublin to win the football and Tipperary the hurling – well, one out of two ain’t bad. Some time ago it predicted the prospect of a massive bridge linking Ireland with Britain, powered by solar, wind and wave energy.

A structure with habitable communities at various points across its span, the project would create thousands of jobs and bring a huge boost to both economies. With up to five million people travelling between the two countries each year, it’s surely not as fanciful a notion as it sounds. And in this increasingly doubtful era of Brexit, maybe it’s just the kind of ‘hands across the sea’ project we all badly need.