Dateline – Dublin, Ireland
The organized tour/get on the bus/why am I so danged tired portion of the current vacation is over as of this evening. I still have three nights and two full days here in Dublin during which I can get into trouble if I so desire but I get to do it on my schedule. The first thing on tap for tomorrow is sleeping in. I’m not due anywhere and I am putting out the Do Not Disturb sign and I’m sleeping until my natural urges wake me. As I’m not sure what time zone my body and brain are effectively in – Greenwich or Central or something in between, that could be anywhere between about 7 am and noon. And that’s OK with me. We’re three weeks out from the solstice and at latitude 53 (I looked it up) so it doesn’t get dark until 10 pm anyway.
We departed from Tralee about 8:30 this monring and were in County Cork by ten or so for a stop at Blarney Castle and gardens. The castle and grounds, still in private hands, have become a rather significant tourist attraction. As it was my first visit to Ireland, I felt obliged to visit the castle (not much but very photogenic) climb up the 100 or so stairs to the top, and assume the very uncomfortable position necessary to kiss the Blarney Stone. (It’s disinfected between each supplicant so Tom Lehrer got it wrong in his song. I’m more likely to get covid from crowding up the very narrow ill ventilated stairs than from the actual kiss). I can now scratch that item off the life list and feel no need to repeat it should I return to Ireland in the future. Does anyone still read Richard Scarry to their children? My favorite, which I had as a small child and read and reread until the pages began to fall apart was ‘Busy Busy World’ in which each chapter took place in a different country. In recent years as I have taken to traveling, episodes and illustrations will come racing back to me as I hit that particular destination. My introduction to the Blarney Stone was from this book and the Ireland chapter in which Patrick the Pig learns to talk. (He won’t speak as a small pig – his parents take him to kiss the Blarney stone and then he won’t shut up – a child’s version of ‘be careful for what you wish’). I’ll have to see if I can find a copy to reread. And I will forever be in the Lowly Worm fan club.
The castle may be a bit underwhelming, especially to those who have been to a lot of medieval European sites, but the gardens are to die for. Acres and acres meticulously planted and maintained. At this time of year they were in full bloom (except the azaleas – they were over) and wonderful to wander through. They reminded me very much of Butchart Gardens in Victoria so my advice is go for the gardens and accept the castle as an add on. I may have kissed the Blarney stone this monring, but I don’t seem to have noticed a change in vocabulary or any irresistable urges to speak.
Then back on the road and another three hours or so to Dublin. Different hotel this time – the Radisson which is two blocks from St. Patrick’s cathedral and therefore centrally located unlike the castle in which we all started a week ago. I had a couple of hours before dinner so took a walk, found Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, the cathedral and a few other landmarks, all close by before joining the group for our closing dinner. This was at The Abbey Tavern in what used to be the independent fishing village of Howth but is now a suburban part of Dublin. Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guiness, Apple Tart, Irish Coffee, and entertainment consisting of Irish singing and dancing definitely remixed for the tourist trade. I was not a huge fan. We then said goodbye to Dominic our intrepid tour guide and driver (who was very grateful that we were a small group of 9, got along well with each other, and handled minor travel issues ourselves) and I now have 60 or so hours in Dublin before I have to think about the road home.
For those who are wondering, I still have a bit of a chest cough (as I do after every cold virus), feel a little more fatigued than I think I should, but am otherwise back to normal. And I have another full week before I have to return to work. I just hope I don’t pick up yet another viral crud when I seal myself in a tin can with several hundred of my closest friends and launch myself across an ocean midweek. The work stuff remains pretty caught up but I’m feeling the need to throw myself into Richard II in the not too distant future as there is a lot of work to be done there, especially to pull off the concept which will require a lot of stage time from the actors when they aren’t the focus but still have to be present and I have to help them come up with requisite emotion, backstory, and balance it in such a way that there is interest outside of who is speaking but not a stealing of scenes.
Perusing the headlines, the one I’m most interested in is the absolute stunning success of the Ukranian military at pretty much wiping out Russian air power with their drone operation. That’s a maneuver that’s going to be in all of the military histories and studied at war colleges worldwide from now on. Response from the administration has been muted. I’m wondering how they’re going to spin it given the rather deep tendrils the Russian state has inserted into American politics over the last decade. Bravo Volodomyr. (I’m firmly on Ukraine’s side in this particular conflict).
More and more of the great American public who somehow bought the idea that criminals were flowing in over porous borders and must be immediately removed are now starting to understand that an overly empowered ICE force is going to go after easy targets and that’s going to lead to a lot of hard working people being branded as ‘criminals’ when they’re nothing of the sort, the tearing apart of families including American citizens, the creation of detention centers which are concentration camps in all but name, and misapplication of punishment as those with the power can’t be bothered to verify if they even have the right people in custody and are under intense pressure to step up the numbers. To those who are now saying ‘This is not what I voted for’ I say ‘This is exactly what you voted for and you must learn to live with your guilty conscience or figure out how to begin making amends’. If anyone tries to come after me or anyone I’m around without a properly signed judicial warrant, I’m not staying silent. I guess I’ll find out on Wednesday when I need to clear immigration coming back to the US if I’m yet on any watch lists for more intense screening due to my ‘subversive’ writings.
It’s nearly midnight local time. I feel the need for sleep. Carry on.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 