Diary

A grey day in Mid'May, and I'm walking on Moore Street. Where did all the Gypsies go? And in my haste in buying sandwiches and Danish Pastries and a bottle of Chenin Blanc, I managed to forget the daily bananas. So after the 123 bus was waiting for me at the stop on O'Connell Street and I returned to base, I went out again down to Talbot Street to the Iceland store in particular, where I duly picked up bunch of bananas. Many days, I do a shop on Moore Street and in particular in the Lidl store there. And I leave there and am bemused at the presence of Roma Gypsies. I often wonder why they gather there daily, and what it is that thy have to converse about. And sometimes, I bus it to Blackrock and sometimes I bus it to Dun Laoghaire. I believe in seeking to vainly recapture the past. And Main Street Blackrock is looking fine these days, with its tables and benches and chairs. For me, it has a European feel to it. And very often, when I visit there, I get on a returning bus, very shortly afterwards. And I wonder if they are going to create a real eyesore in the further development of the Frascasti Centre. And I had an afternoon where I meditated about these things. And other things and people came to my lazy mind. Dalkey was to the fore, and a working experience that I had there. And then other working experiences came to mind, not in Dalkey, but in Dun Laoghaire and Blackrock. And I know that I should have defended my corner a lot more. But there can be victory in silence, as there also can be defeat in it. And the day still looks like rain, and is yet grey. And back in those days of Dalkey and Dun Laoghaire and Blackrock, I had a wife and two grown sons.