In a few hours, I will be departing for Dublin, to return late on the 23rd of this month. Quite probably, I will have the chance to post something here while I am in Ireland, but please do not expect prompt responses to emails. My thanks to the many people who provided suggestions regarding what to do while I am over there. I still haven’t decided exactly where I will go for my away trip, but if Galway and the Aran Islands prove feasible, that would be my first choice at the moment.
All told, I don’t feel as though I am in the very greatest shape to be going on a solitary week-long trip. That said, I am generally anxious immediately before such travel, especially when it involves waking up so early and concerns about security and flights working out. That said, I am sure once I am there it will prove an interesting and worthwhile expedition.
Those looking for some entertainment in the interim should have a look at my brother Mica’s videos or my friend Alex’s ruminations on the papacy as an international actor (link removed 26 Sept 2006), according to taste.
[Update: 26 Sept 2006] Alex Stummvoll’s blog has been discontinued.
Flight delayed four hours
Departure time still racing away faster than it approaches. At least two more hours, now.
Are you reading Joyce’s “Dubliners”? As I recall, it is the most difficult of Joyce’s works, even more so than the voluminous “Ulysses”. Taking on such a challenge comes as no surprise from someone who has taken his cue from Joyce, calling himself “Night’s Sindark Knave.” Good luck reading “Dubliners”, I look forward to a review.
Also, have you heard of Dublin’s Joyce Festival. I believe that it is held in June. Perhaps you can go next year and take some photos.
Viki,
I couldn’t find a used copy of Dubliners in Oxford, so I am reading Sweetness in the Belly instead. So far, it is excellent. It reminds me of Anil’s Ghost, in many ways.
As for the origin of Night’s Sindark Nave as a phrase with personal relevance, it goes back to when Sarah Johnston was in Vancouver, and it is too long a story to tell here and now.
More on Ireland soon.
Victoria Kowalewski,
That’s ‘Night’s Sindark Nave.’ ‘Nave’ being the long portion of a church that intersects the transept, as opposed to ‘knave,’ meaning a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel.
From the poem Nightpiece, by Joyce.
Anonymous,
That is all true. I hadn’t noticed the spelling used in the earlier comment.