A Suprise Visit
Friday, August 19th, 2005‘ I look back and peering into the shadows I see a figure emerge. Is this a spectre, a dream, do my eyes decieve me? An enthusiastic hug proves to me that this visitor is flesh and bone – and that Lex is in Doolin! A week back from Mongolia, and still on holiday with his whanau, he was staying in Galway and after asking at two of the other three hostels in Doolin he managed to tracked me down. What a great suprise. And there I was thinking it was going to be just another regular old day in Doolin. He only had a few hours in town so we went for a walk in the rain to a cafe that was closed, then drove up to the cliffs and walked in the rain up to the track that was closed (while they build the new visitors centre and walking track) then drove back to Doolin to a cafe that was open and feasted on carrot cake and chocolate. His trip sounds like it was amazing though it seems like he is still trying to get his head round it all. I think he was headed up to Scotland then back home to the real world. It was such an unexpected suprise and and so good to see a familiar face. Thanks Lex, you made my day!
Last night I went to my second concert in Doolin. This one was in aid of five County Mayo farmers jailed for contempt of court as a result of their protest against Shell’s plan to lay pipes through their land to transport gas to a proposed oil refinery 10 miles inland. Local musicians from around Clare put together a concert to raise money for the families of the imprisoned men. It was very looong but featured some really good musicians, singers, dancers. The fiddlers I paid particular attention to – maybe there’s some secret trick to all this fiddle playing, an anti-braying remedy – if I could just spot what it is…
Highlight of the night was the Israeli fiddler who played a couple of Irish songs but totally jazzed them up so he was playing all this crazy stuff. It was cool. Actually the real highlight came close to the beginning of the concert when your general Irish band was playing and they got this Irish man up to dance. This guy was maybe 60 – 70 odd, white hair, long white beard and not someone you would take particular notice of were you ever on the lookout for a dancing type but I wish you all could have seen him go – Ive never seen anything like it. There’s nothing like seeing a grown man jigging like his life depended on it and thoroughly enjoying himself to put a smile on your face.
Today I was woken early so I dragged myself down to the beach determined to do something useful with my last day of freedom before 4 days working in a row (!!) and ended up spending most of the day there. I spent my time collecting and assembling junk and am proud to annouce the inauguration of the 2005 Em’s Modern Sculpture Symposium. If you want to visit the address is: Dirty Beach to the Left of the Pier, Doolin, County Clare. Entry is free but donations of junk are welcome.
Em