Bomb alert: Forest Eireann spokesman forced to evacuate home
Thursday, July 12, 2012 at 10:25
Simon Clark

I meant to post this last week but got distracted.

The headline is true but the target wasn't John Mallon. Let me explain.

John is Forest's spokesman in Ireland. He lives in Mayfield, Cork, an area he describes as a "curious mix of the very good and the very bad".

According to one report:

Dozens of homes in Cork were evacuated last night over a suspect device in Mayfield.

A bar manager finishing work at a bar known as "the Cow" on the Old Youghal Road noticed a suspect device under his car and alerted the authorities.

The Army Bomb Disposal team arrived on scene at 2.20am and examined the suspect device and found a container with powder, a fuse and some 70 nails.

Writing about the incident on the Forest Eireann blog, John said:

We were evacuated at 2.30am. They claim that residents were allowed to return to their homes at 4.30am. I was just in time for the 6.00am news when they allowed us back.

On a lighter note, he added:

I got chatting to a 'happy' Garda outside our house and asked him what drove people to do such things.

With a sweeping wave of his arm, he called my attention to the full moon. Eighteen years in the force confirmed to him that the nuttiness came out at full moons and he told me that night two jumpers had been pulled from the river.

What really tickled though was his description that "The estates were hopping all over the city last night".

More seriously he wrote, "When you are sitting in the street in the dark, many thoughts come to mind."

Full post: A bombshell from Mayfield

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