Love, Poetry and Revolution - Friday 2nd February 2024

A chilled day ahead after three consecutive days out, most notably with Wednesday's day trip to Dublin.

Dublin for the day - how did it go?  A very early start for Q and me as we head off for Liverpool John Lennon Airport at five-thirty in the morning.  Unusually (for me at least) we have no luggage barring a small bag that fits under the seat.  We're flying BryanAir and it's a pretty full flight, but the window seat next to me is free so I moved into it.  I was glad I did as we had some great views of the sunrise behind us over the starboard wing.

We took a taxi ride to the location of Q's meeting near the Botanical Gardens and parted company there.  I started walking to the James Joyce Cultural Centre on North Great George's Street, getting there far too early for its ten-thirty opening.  Exit stage left to a nearby coffee shop.

I returned just after opening time and received a warm welcome from the director of the centre whom I'd only previously 'met' online.  I explored the house at my leisure, ending up back in the shop where I had to purchase some items.

After a long goodbye, I began my walk back to Glasnevin for some lunch ahead of my pre-booked tour of the cemetery.

Several people had recommended a pub called 'The Gravediggers', which allegedly serves the best pint of Guinness in Dublin.  Partway through my dinner and Guinness, who should have turned up but Q and some of the other attendees from the business meeting.  Quite a coincidence. My quiet lunch turned into a very lively and social one.

Q and I left for Glasnevin Cemetery (the location for the 'Hades' chapter of 'Ulysses') when everyone parted company, Q to work, me to attend my tour.  I'll not bore you with all the details, though the cemetery is host to many of the key figures of recent Irish history, especially many of those involved in gaining independence. Not to mention, coincidentally, members of James Joyce's family.

After an enjoyable early evening meal at a local Italian restaurant, we headed back to Dublin airport for the return flight home.

Yesterday I returned to Liverpool City centre for lunch with E's brother.  We ate at a vegan restaurant and had an enjoyable meal and chat.  After the meal, we walked to the Walker Gallery (as opposed to...), for a brief look at some of the many works there.  I plan to make a day trip to the gallery during a  later visit to Liverpool.  Most importantly, we had a lot of time to talk about things past, present and future before he headed off to work to give a lecture on knowledge-based systems at the university.

I now have the freedom to find time to think, and I've been doing a lot of that lately.  Now that I have more time, I'm thinking I'd like to write more about music and share more stuff.  I'm thinking I'll do that here, maybe by having a new post title for things purely music-related. I'll still close posts like this with music, but separately have an all-music blog.  Need to think of a title, that's all. Watch this            space.

Charles Moothart /  'Roll'  / 'Black Holes Don't Choke' (forthcoming)

[[Just heard this, this morning.  Great energy. Love it.]]