Rest may elude Bono at his Dublin home

Bono might be returning home to recover after his back surgery, but rest might be harder to come by.

I have sympathy for Bono, suffering with his bad back. I'm sure if I was 20 or so my reaction to Bono's injury would be something along the lines of, "What's that old guy doing anyway, trying to behave like a young rock star. He's lucky he can still stand at the microphone." But, I'm in my mid 40s and can fully understand why Bono doesn't want to give up yet. Who wants to be old?

The media says Bono will do his recuperating in his home on Killiney Hill in south County Dublin. What better place? It's beautiful there. Tremendous views looking out over Killiney Bay from Bray to Dalkey and Dalkey Island {photo}, with its medieval church and 19th century Martello Tower.

I went for a walk in that neighborhood earlier in the week. It's just a perfect place. So quiet that the predominant sounds are the birds in the trees and the sea crashing off the rocks below. And, at the moment many of the roads around Bono's house are closed to traffic due a to a rock slide in the area, making it seem even more secluded.

If you have to recover from serious surgery, Killiney Hill is probably about as good any place I can think of. Except for Bono's house right now.

Bono was clearly not anticipating spending a lot of time at home over the next few months, what with his hectic tour schedule (the tour he was training for when he got hurt). He was probably figuring he wouldn't be home much before Christmas. His wife and children probably arranged to be away a lot too.

Why do I think that? Because Bono, as as a lot of people would do, decided to get some work done around the place while he was away. From the looks of it, he's getting a lot of work done. From what I could see his house is one big building site. I'm not certain, but I think Bono and his wife must be getting a whole new top floor. The house suddenly seems a lot more visible than it used to be and there's scaffolding all around the top.

Oh, and there's a huge crane looming over the house, doing the things cranes do, making the noises cranes make. And based on the number of what looked like workmen's cars parked on the road outside Bono's gate I would guess his house is crawling with workers too.

Will they leave him alone? Probably will, actually. That's how Irish people generally are. Still, life in a building site is hardly going to be stress free. I don't care who you are or how much money you have, the sound of things crashing around, the sight of workmen spilling cups of coffee or bags of cement in your house is hardly the recipe for a restful recovery. Bono might do well to reconsider coming home to get over his surgery.

Where it's not just the streets that have names

Posted by TheYank at 7/21/2009 2:28 PM EDT

I read in the Irish Times today that there is a travel agency in Boston that has booked a U2 tour to Ireland for this week's three big U2 concerts at Dublin's Croke Park. Not only will these U2 fanatics from America get tickets to the show(s), but they will also dine at U2's Clarence Hotel and go on a U2-themed tour or two around Dublin.

I hope the tour group gets to come out to the Dalkey/Killiney area where Bono lives. Thanks to the fact that my in-laws live in Dalkey I've spent quite a bit of time there. {For the record, my in-laws do not live in a Bono-style mansion.}

It's beautiful there and there are a few great walks, the best of which is up to the top of Dalkey/Killiney Hill. From the top of the hill you can see near-by Dalkey Island, over Dublin and Killiney Bays, across the city and out towards the Dublin mountains. The views are tremendous no matter which way you turn.


{Bono's house is directly below this shot. He has a great view.}

Among the big houses built along the side of Dalkey/Killiney Hill facing out to toward the sea is Bono's house. As you can imagine, all of the houses around this area are tremendous, although some are more tremendous than others. I'm sure Bono's is great, but it's not really easy to get a good look at it, and that's probably just as well. He has a big black gate in front of his house and whenever Bono's in town a small crowd of young folks seem to stand there. How they know when he's in town is a mystery to me.

Bono's not the only famous person who lives in the area either. I think the Edge might still have a house there, but I'm not sure. Van Morrison, Neil Jordan and Maeve Binchy all live in the area, although Binchy lives just about in the heart of Dalkey, in a much more modest house than those other three. I think Chris de Burgh lives in Dalkey too.



Like I said walking around Dalkey/Killiney Hill is a real treat (if it's dry). When you're in an area where the views aren't quite so great, you can enjoy the houses. Many are fairly old and many are unique. No numbers on the houses either. Each house has a name. Most of the names are towns and villages in Ireland, probably the ancestral home of the person who built or owns the house. I have often told my wife that when we get rich we're buying one of those houses and we're going to call it Cooperstown. I've always wanted to be in Cooperstown.