Baile Átha Cliath, Republic of Ireland September 9th 2023 – Come Home Journal #21

A reckoning of the journey (turas) to tour Dancing Shadows in Ireland, a retrospective of my film works as part of the Come Home project.

“Wherever you go, there you are!” Darling Daddio.

This morning I lay in bed, with a cup of tea, talking with my lover, on the other side of the world, also in bed having a cup of tea. Or was that yesterday?

We mishear each other and talk about our furbaby Betty. He tells me she hears me and searches the back of the phone to see me. He has to go to sleep while I am about to start my day.

On my walk into the town centre I find a feather. Birds really are divine, a little scarey too close, leaving gifts of their flight. I find some graffitti my dad could have written.

“I’ve been running from myself for years, and I still can’t lose the fucker!”

I take a photo and send it to my daughter Fagyn. Then I ring her. My voice sings and kicks laughter into the square. I’m full of verve. Talking. Laughing. More talking. Travelling on my own I’m talking a lot to myself and a lot more to other people. She’s tired and very unbubbled. I remember its the time difference again and let her go into the night as I go into the day.

I wander town and find a museum. There are more than a few in Dublin. This one is the GPO Museum, by the Post Office (An Post). It focuses on the events of the 1916 Easter Rising.* I wander through and buy some postcards. Grab a coffee and sandwich in the cafe as I write home.

I go next door into An Post to buy stamps. She’s lovely and smiles at me so big it bursts out of her wooden enclosure and into the hall. It’s grand** in a fabulous way, much more than fine.

“Where are you from?” she asks
“From Australia” I reply
“Just home for a visit then!” she confirms. “How many stamps for home would you like?
“Twenty should do.”
“Oh no. That’s not going to work. You’ll have to post them when you get home.”
I’m confused, I’m in the Post Office, stamps are their business.
“They’re expensive. An arm and a leg.”
“Do you cut or do I?”

We laugh together. I get the stamps. Hand over my leg.

* The 1916 Easter Rising was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland. The centre of the uprising was Dublin. It was brutally defeated. The British response continued unrelenting across Ireland. They proclaimed martial law, incarcerated rebels and executed fifteen of the leaders. This brutality shocked the majority of Irish people into working towards a fully independent Irish Republic.

** Grand is a colloquialism for ‘fine’ in Ireland. However here I mean it as grand as in grandiose. How awful to talk of this after *.

IMAGE CREDIT: Write the Music by Erin M McCuskey

The image journal can be found in this Collection – Ireland –  Flickr Album – in this album – Dublin