First pics from the Emerald Isle (complete)

Some quiet time on my own in Dublin after conference, St Stephen's Green

I've been so very lazy updating. Days since I was suddenly transported from the lush plains of Ireland to train-delayed London have been filled with one bye-bye to American boy, one lamb xacutti with Lulu, one beautiful church wedding with a stomping Ceilidh to boot (I was asked to dance three dances!), fundraising plans for India and lots of post-trip catching up. I was glad for the chance to take my short floaty yellow dress and black taffeta skirt for an outing on Saturday. Last night, I had dinner with a group of older ladies from church - it was nice just sitting amidst their chatter about the weather, church going-ons, stories about 'darling, you know that pastor in Shannon who was at the wedding last week, his wife is something Moore' etc. I was just sitting there, and suddenly, it struck me how admirable their steadfastness and positivism was - in their case, it derived from an enduring Englishness and an unshakeable faith in God. And, when they start thinking of nice boys in church to introduce to you, you know you've been adopted...

Exploring Temple Bar with my backpack

The conference in Dublin was just what I needed. To be inspired by academics who are not content to stay in their ivory towers, but who are practitioners in their own right getting their hands dirty in issues of global justice, basic income, disability, workfare, environmentalism, security, reconciliation etc. I was very much challenged to rethink some aspects of my own work and to refine the questions I was asking, especially by one professor in particular who was on my panel (and also pretty hot!). On the social side, I found academics pleasant enough to get on with after a few drinks. But it's an existence of solitude when you're alone and not famous. There was a very nice boy, however, who first caught me with his pudgy smile and soon became my best conference friend - everyone needs one, you know, the person you look for when everyone else has cliqued, to eat lunch/dinner/coffee (you can't eat coffee, I know) etc., to pretend to talk serious talk when all you want to do is laugh crazily and tell Irish jokes. In my case, he also turned out to be the one who introduced me to absolutely everybody fun at the conference (being one of the conference organisers' best friend), and the one who walked in the rain with me looking for a cash machine so that I could take a taxi back to the university, which is out of Dublin city centre somewhere tres ulu. Ah, Irish chivalry... but then again, he's Scottish living in England. hm.

With friends outside the Dublin Film Institute the next day,

waiting to watch the deeply moving and beautiful film, Wah Wah

Spent the rest of Saturday after the conference wandering the streets of Dublin, then it was Sunday morning and time to rendezvous with Anna on the banks of the Liffey! I spotted her first. Waving and weaving frantically through the traffic (human and vehicular) that is O'Connell bridge, we hugged and gave a whoop of joy. Dublin, here we come! Bags dumped in hostel, picked up Mina, and we were off to lunch in Temple Bar. A tour of the fascinating Book of Kells at Trinity College, shopping and chocolates, and a chance film at the Dublin Institute of Film later, we found ourselves in the warm Italian bosom of Baccaro, a candlelit cellar restaurant we had spied in Anna's guide book. We were very silent at first, something not quite right after the film. Had it touched us? Brought out our inner fears? Make us laugh sadly? A thorough dissection was called for. Then, much much later, plied with one glass of Venezia, another glass of red with my tagliatelle, and yet another glass of vin Santo, I was quite happy to walk back down the pulsating streets of Temple Bar to the quiet of my bed, my heart light to be reminded of the indomitableness of the human spirit, and gladdened by the absolute necessity of girlfriends.

Stopping in Cashel on the drive from Dublin to Cork

Faint fresco of a Viking ship on the ruins of Cashel Castle

Next morning was an early start. Collected our rental car and off we were. Bye bye Dublin! Five hours of high roads and byroads it took us to get to the remotest of remotest Cork (although we did admittedly stop in Cashel to have lunch and tea and explore the castle ruins). Part of the directions included "turn into the forestry patch", so you get the idea... But Ireland is (quote Anna) "beeeauuuutiful!". So lush, and green, and well, wet. There was a hot stew awaiting us, and a homemade sign to welcome us - I felt very special indeed. After dinner, Anna taught all of us the absolutely evil game called the Black Mariah. And then to bath in the cute turquoise tub (no shower!) with Abi's rubber duckies and sharkies, and to bed.

In beautiful Tullagh at last

Abi checking our supper

Picnic lunch on the card table the next day

Ireland is incredibly green, in all senses of the word. The Elias-Corello team recycle absolutely everything, and have a compost bin with rotting stuff in it in their garden - you have to pay for any disposable rubbish that you don't recycle, you see. Dublin was afterall the first city in Europe to ban smoking in all public spaces - with the result that everybody smokes outside, hence making the streets quite unbearable at times. But my grouses aside, I think it's wonderful that my groceries are put in paper bags, that people recycle so much, that the water from the tap comes from an underground spring, that the vegetables I eat come from the garden outside, that I need to clean the old-fashioned way because there's no shower, that an argo heats the house, that life is just so healthy here! But also that there're two electric guitars and one bass sitting in the living room, that the house is equipped to the ends of the earth with every sound engineering possible, that the kichen has a microwave and a kicking coffee machine, and that we have cars in plural. haha. Life is good.

Horseriding with the girls - picture by Paul Corello

picture by Paul Corello

Over the next few days, we covered the country roads between Tullagh, Glengarriff, Bantry (which I kept calling Balti) and Dunmanway lazily, or crazily if Paul's driving was anything to go by. There was their church fellowship in Bantry, poking around the shops in Bantry while the others visited Bantry House (I found my bedside lamp at last!), glancing through the craft shops in Glengariff, the expedition up a very very long and uphill road (in heels!) to see a very very small stone circle, and of course, horse-riding in Dunmanway thanks to Anna's persistence - boy, were our bums hurting the next day! My horse, Boyz, was the laziest horse ever! The nights were filled with warmth and fellowship and home-cooked food, including pizzas, roast lamb, and Paul's ever addictive chocolate bars. Mm... nothing better on a cold summer's night.

So, to sum up the trip, we didn't get to snog the Blarney stone (that gives the gift of the gab, as legend goes), but we did go horse-riding and eat a lot, and I learned how to suck the nectar off honeysuckle blossoms! And most importantly, we spent precious time together - I love my girlfriends!

My impression of the beautiful Irish countryside:

pretty foxgloves, delicious honeysuckle, and a lot of heather