In Episode 48 of the Joe Irish & Shirin Podcast, Joe and Shirin are joined by Joe’s old boss, mentor and longtime friend — the one and only Ozzy - for a proper trip down memory lane. 😂
From growing up in the flats before moving to Tallaght in the late 70s, street fights, community games and the absolute madness of childhood in the 70s and 80s, Ozzy shares stories from a completely different Ireland.
There’s plenty of nostalgia, plenty of slagging and some brilliant stories about apprenticeships, site banter, old-school drinking culture, gambling, pranks, builders, broken skylights and why construction sites simply aren’t the same anymore.
Underneath all the madness, there’s also a great conversation about friendship, community, learning a trade, how working life has changed and the relationships you build with people along the way.
A proper old-school episode packed with stories, memories and absolute chaos. 🎙️😂
[
00:00] — Welcome to Episode 48 of the Joe Irish & Shirin Podcast
[
00:47] — Introducing Joe’s old boss and longtime friend Ozzy
[
01:09] — Ozzy on growing up in Dolphin’s Barn
[
02:12] — Life in the flats during the 70s and the arrival of heroin
[
03:05] — Moving to Tallaght in 1979
[
03:53] — Growing up in a brand-new Tallaght and finding your place
[
05:15] — Moving from the flats into a house and suddenly having your own room
[
06:17] — Ozzy’s family joining the Mormon Church
[
07:20] — Did Ozzy ever become a Mormon himself?
[
08:20] — Vincent de Paul, childhood memories and growing up with very little
[
09:12] — The milkman, coal man, vegetable man and everyone calling to the door
[
10:10] — One unforgettable story involving a Jewish salesman and Ozzy’s mother 😂
[
11:49] — The kind of parenting you definitely wouldn’t get away with today
[
12:30] — Ozzy’s mother terrifying the kids through the letterbox
[
14:32] — Car theft, messing around and teenage trouble in the 80s
[
15:31] — Why community felt completely different back then
[
16:14] — Street parties, community games and rival roads
[
17:21] — When the entire street would come out for a fight
[
19:30] — The characters everyone in Tallaght knew to avoid
[
20:39] — How families, neighbours and communities all became connected
[
21:25] — Kids moving away, coming home and how family life changes
[
23:18] — How Ozzy got into plastering
[
23:57] — Leaving Ireland at 18 and heading to Liverpool
[
24:16] — Meeting at Southampton station with no mobile phones
[
24:32] — The 11-hour boat journey to Jersey
[
25:07] — Learning the plastering trade on the Channel Islands
[
26:32] — Coming back to Ireland and meeting Joe on the job
[
27:31] — Joe’s early days working alongside Ozzy
[
28:10] — One of the first construction-site pranks gets completely out of hand
[
29:51] — Finishing work early and heading straight to the pub
[
30:25] — Construction sites in the old days versus health and safety today
[
31:06] — The rabbit-catching prank begins
[
32:20] — Setting up the snare and planning the perfect joke
[
32:56] — The dead rabbit… with a cigarette hanging out of its mouth 😂
[
34:07] — The job that should have taken two weeks but somehow lasted months
[
34:49] — How one lunch-break bet stopped Joe gambling for life
[
35:39] — Why gambling can become one of the hardest addictions to escape
[
36:02] — Gambling, gaming and how kids are exposed to it today
[
37:15] — Joe’s first pint on a building site at 15
[
38:33] — The legendary hoover prank
[
40:15] — Getting your workmate out of bed and onto the site
[
41:32] — Racing to work before the boss catches you doing nothing
[
42:32] — Joe’s first proper drinking session with the older tradesmen
[
44:06] — Starting work at 14 and how different apprenticeships are today
[
44:28] — Why nobody wants to become a plasterer anymore
[
46:39] — Years of working together and the stories that came with it
[
46:55] — The £16,000 skylight disaster
[
48:07] — Realising the skylight has cracked… and waiting for the builder to notice
[
49:45] — Why construction banter made the hardest jobs enjoyable
[
50:42] — The recession forces Ozzy into a completely different career
[
51:03] — Starting care work with no experience or qualifications
[
51:39] — Looking after one particularly unforgettable resident
[
53:31] — Ozzy reads a handwritten note and makes a catastrophic mistake
[
53:43] — Completely misunderstanding what the cream is actually for 😭
[
54:15] — “I have your cream there…”
[
55:28] — The moment Ozzy realises he has completely misunderstood the instructions
[
56:23] — Ringing the supervisor and expecting to lose his job
[
57:28] — Somehow, Ozzy survives the incident
[
58:16] — The relationships built through years of care work
[
58:38] — Wrapping up an hour of memories, construction stories and absolute madness