Hello all. This is to tell you all what's going on at the moment on my overseas trip. I left on Saturday 20th May 2000 for a several-months long journey around Britain and Ireland for various reasons, the biggest of which is the marriage of several people that I know.
I never realised how much I missed the history of the land of my ancestors. I've only been here a couple of days but so far I've walked through Liverpool and Birmingham with my eyes wide open. The buildings are amazing. Victoria Square in Birmingham just blew me away. I always thought this place was drab (but then I've only ever seen it from the window of a train) but it's anything but. It's vibrant, crammed to the rafters with students (hurrah!) and chock-full of amazing old buildings and great restored cobbled streets. Good stuff. There's a fountain in Victoria Square that looks like a water goddess, so I walked past it and called it 'Sulis' in my head. It seemed to fit quite nicely even though the heart of Sulis' worship was in Bath.
My biggest surprise so far has been Alba, or Scotland to those of you who don't understand Gallic names. It was entirely by accident that I was railroaded into going around the land of my father's ancestors and I'm really glad I was. It's a very magical place, with moody countryside and moody weather (it wouldn't be the same otherwise, would it!). For anyone thinking of going I recommend a trip to Eilean Donan castle and also to Kilmartin Glen. It might interest you to know that there are henges and standing stones dotted all over the place and even if they are on private land you have the right to visit and worship at them. Next time I'm over here I'm going to spend a very long time in Scotland, especially the Highlands. Stunning. I'll scan some photographs when I have them developed. There is a fabulous place in Inverness called Balnain House, and it is a folk club. I think I was there on a Thursday night with a few friends and also a couple of tour guides from the Macbackpackers tour we were on. The acoustics were perfect, and I sang a song called Ye Jacobites by Name with those friends I mentioned. It's taken from a Robert Burns poem, and it went down incredibly well. I think I fell in love with the Scots that night. The guides, Oisin (very appropriate!) and Gordon, both told stories from Celtic legend. Gordon told of Gary of the Fianna who killed all the women because they pulled out his hair, and thereby sealed the fate of the Fianna. Osh told the story of his namesake, who went to Tir-na-nOg with Niamh of the Golden Hair, and returned to Ireland to find centuries had passed. It was like watching bards perform - the whole place was spellbound. I found a part of Scottish culture I never knew existed that is away from the bagpipes and false clan tartan stuff. I found people full of passion and honour, people who made me feel like I belonged.
Ireland is next week. I managed to spend a whole 3 days in Dublin without spending a penny, and getting horrendously drunk each night anyway! Friends are wonderful things. I had to come to a wedding here in England then but I'm going back soon to partake in that gem of a country again. The whole of the Land calls me. I wonder if I'll find Tir-na-nOg...
IRELAND
I did find Tir-na-nOg. The people all over Ireland are old and young at the same time - wise and yet innocent. I had spent a long time in England, stuck there because I had run out of money, and the Irish showed me how to relax again and take everything in my stride. I did a backpacker tour of Ireland, though I wouldn't do one again. For historical and archaeological reasons looking at old monasteries and churches is great, but sometimes I felt that was all that was valued. Our tour guide took us off the beaten track a bit to stone circles like Drombeg and ancient dolmens like the one at Brownshill, but by the end of the tour I had had my fill of Christian monuments. I know that is a big part of Ireland's past but some of the richest mythology in the world comes from there, and so many people seem too willing to forget it. However, I had a fantastic time in Ireland. For anyone who wants to go, I would say to you - hire a car and get a really good map, and then take off and go wherever the wind blows you. You will always find hospitality, you will always find music, you will always find beer :) and you will always have a good time. If you want to avoid the tourists, go to the Dingle peninsula instead of the Ring of Kerry. It's a stunning place, all of it, and very humbling. You can stand on the farthest point west in Europe and stare out to where you imagine the American continent to be. I think if you go in a straight line over the Atlantic from the Dingle peninsula you come to Nova Scotia in Canada. Every time I drove through a town, I could think of a song (or ten) from that place, so I like to think I sang my way around Ireland! So my favourites - Skibbereen, the Fields of Athenry, Lanigan's Ball and Whiskey in the Jar, because I walked across the mountains between Cork and Kerry!
I missed out on a lot in Ireland, but I have plans to go back there in a couple of years and do what I should have done this time. Scotland is a very intense place, whereas Ireland is so laid back. It reminded me of New Zealand in some respects. I felt like I could laugh all day in Ireland, and both Dublin and Kilkenny are places I think I could spend a very long time in. By the way, if you are in Dublin, go to the Brazen Head on Bridge Street. It's about a ten minute walk along the Liffey from the Temple Bar area, and well worth the effort. There's a band playing there some nights called Rafferty, and they're great fun!
I look at things, songs, people differently now. I look at the reasons behind things more. I look at myself differently. I have broad horizons anyway but now they've been widened more. I have more patience with myself and others, and I feel part of something - a group of people who have been touched by the magic of the Celtic nations. I visited four of them during my time in Britain and Ireland, and they all had something special to offer. I'm a Celtophile through and through, and I wonder if it does run in the blood. Even my father's 'English' side, my paternal grandfather, was originally from Scotland, just as my mother's roots are in Ireland, and I feel like I found my home in so many different places. For anyone who wonders why I spend so much time at the Dog's Bollix bar in Auckland, THAT is the reason. It's there that all of this comes together. It's there that I can put all parts of my transient life together and celebrate all that I am, be it English, Irish or Scottish. I'd never had roots before. But now I've found them, and they're very deep. Beannachtai.
