Denis Lehane: Looking at today's cattle marts, I share Cate Blanchett's phone frustration

if Cate thinks that the theatre has gone to the dogs because of phone usage, she should come to a cattle mart sometime.

Cate Blanchett and Auld Lehane see eye to eye with regard to phones. We both hate them.

At the moment, the actress Cate Blanchett is frustrated over people using their phones while she is on stage.

She claims people are recording her performance instead on enjoying it and this is driving Cate to distraction.

“There are few places on this planet where we can simply be together and be present," Cate says, and she is right of course.

Auld Lehane backs her all the way.

But if Cate thinks that the theatre has gone to the dogs because of phone usage, she should come to a cattle mart sometime.

In the name of heaven, the cattle marts have gone phone crazy and it is driving many auld lads to despair.

Long ago, before phones, if you wanted to buy cattle at a mart, all you had to do was raise your hand, or your leg, to get attention.

And then, when the likes of the legendary cattle auctioneer Jack McGraw saw your efforts, you were away.

Away in a bidding battle for a bullock.

It was fun like no other.

Back in the day, the art of the bid was an art in itself.

You'd have forcefully thrown bids, you'd have sneaky bids.

There were bids made by the twitching of an ear, the rubbing of a nose, the raising of an eyebrow, the twisting of a cap, the tapping of a knee, the wagging of a finger.

In fact almost every bodily part could be used to signal to an auctioneer that you were interested in an animal.

Nothing was ever deemed too outrageous.

If you had it, you could twist it, and the bid would be accepted.

Eventually the highest price was reached, and one buyer deemed the winner.

It was great fun.

They were great days.

Farmers antics at the mart when bidding for cattle, was one of the reasons why our marts became so famous and so appealing to all in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

They were the theatres of rural Ireland. And we were the stars.

But then along came the mobile phones, and with it, online bidding. And now fellows no longer have to be at the mart twitching an old cap or a knee in order to bid on cattle.

Fellows can bid for cattle from Timbuktu, simply by staring at a screen and tapping on their phone.

They can bid for cattle from their bed, or even from a jacuzzi!

And sure where is the fun in that?

Fellows can now buy cattle in Macroom or Kanturk while sitting on a sun lounger in Montecito.

The result of course is that the air has gone out of the bidding balloon.

The fun is no more, as nobody can see the bids being thrown.

The performance is over.

The days of a right good mart bidding battle are gone.

Gone like the Corncake. Gone like Cate Blanchett's patience.

So for goodness sake, if you do own a mobile phone, would you ever fire it aside for a while and enjoy life.

Enjoy the performances up there on stage, or in the mart ring.

For these are the kind of things that make a life worth living. The phone only removes you from it.