From my diaries: the year 2003 ...
* A year in the Irish valley - love
and hate. Life-flowing walks, tempesteous intrigues, exotic people. Working hard, flirting wildly, making a
hotel bar my home. This was the year everyone wondered where Saddam
was.
* Auld Lang Syne and Bailey's liqueur on
New Year, on duty in a hotel reception. My employer gave me free
alcohol at midnight but no food on New Year's Day. Cried of hunger.
* Risked jail by driving illegally to
Newgrange, a mystery more ancient than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.
Was stuffed into an underground tomb with 20 teenagers.
* Sci-fi-obsessed and stayed up every
night to watch TV.
* Valentine's Day under siege: alone in my room with
wine and chocolate to avoid an admirer who desperately wanted to give me flowers.
* Represented the village badminton team
in a local game. This being Ireland, there were drinks afterwards.
* Discussed immigration with Irish
embassies in Bratislava and Moscow.
* Gained entry into a cathedral through
the sacristy wall.
* Almost killed myself working for
a hateful boss who was never happy. Felt bullied and persecuted, felt
very much loved by others. Lots of crying in the back office, public
fits of rage, stolen desserts with my only allies and 3 a.m. drinking
at the mysterious Table Twenty-Seven.
* Discussions about South American brothels and whether it is possible to worship a curtain.
* Was offered a thousand euros to marry a
Chilean. He loved me for my European passport.
* Hated a Frenchwoman.
* Celebrated a big birthday
in Dublin's Temple Bar with friends, vodka and no sleep for
three nights.
* Holiday in the heart of Ireland: the
town of Birr, stuck in a time-warp and impossible to leave.
* A night in a 13th century
castle with cocktails and canopy beds.
* Trip to Cork and the Kingdom of Kerry
with Finnish strangers and friends. Almost crashed our car into a
chainsaw and witnessed what we interpreted to be a secret IRA burial.
Only with my own people can I laugh so hysterically. Drove across the
mountains while a Gaelic lass sang us rebel songs, danced all night
in Dingle.
* Romance with a sweet Irish lad who had
no curiosity.
* A summer of laughs with two Aussies and
a Frenchie. Picnics in castle gardens, games of pool, watching TV in
bed, exploring a cave.
* Witnessed an Irish form of pub
entertainment: pretend horse-racing but without pretend horses.
* A night in a thousand-year-old cemetery
with candles, whisky and all the stars of the sky.
* Conquered a mountain.
* Gave an interview for the radio while
leaning against a gravestone.
* Saw an Irish dance show at the theatre
and studied albino hedgehogs at the museum of natural history.
* November weekend hidden away among
rain-swept hills, sipping drinks by the fire with my best friend.
* Chased the police for a residence
permit but they avoided me diligently.
* Adventures in the Dublin nightlife,
Wexford and Waterford.
* A Christmas holiday in Finland with the
flu, a new Thai niece, pancakes in a Helsinki hipster kitchen and
a party in an old farmhouse on a starry, ice-cold night.
* Decided to leave Ireland, the land of
my dreams.
Weirdest question asked of me this year
(by man in medieval garb, long hair and desperate eyes): ”Do you
have some oyster shells I can borrow?”
3 comments:
"Far on the ringing fields of windy Troy,
I am part of all that I have seen"
--
It must be an indescribable delight (shot through with nostalgia, sure) look back on the gems of travel and passion and youth. I find these glimpses of a life richly lived most exhilarating.
Oh, thank you! I didn't think anyone would bother reading my tedious nostalgic forays (written mostly to document past times of my life).
I am part of all that I have seen - I had not come across that quote before, how nicely put!
Glad you liked the quote, it is a not-very-famous portion from Tennyson's famous Ulysses. We had that in high school, an eternity and more ago.
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