Quite a few years ago, on June 17th, yes, the day after Bloomsday, I intended to attend a conference held on the IADT (Institute of Art Design and Technology) campus in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. Since I wasn't scheduled to present until the 19th, I thought I'd drive myself for the first day's activities. After carefully surveying maps and consulting Mapquest, I sat myself in the driver's seat and decided to drive myself. Since I'm left-handed, driving on the left side of the road comes naturally to me. I was set to go. FOUR HOURS later, I drove into the parking lot of IADT. The following days, I relied on the bus.
Below is a photo I took whilst I was lost:
Day After Bloomsday:
My Own Odyssey in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland
I pass by Davy Byrne's pub
And think, “I must go there for a pint.”
It’s just off Grafton Street, ye know.
And there’s the Ormond Hotel (Sirens chapter)
But I must get on the M-50 to Dun Laoghaire.
It’s now 9:30.
I get off the M-50 and drive along the highway,
I go through a town and find another highway.
Water is to my left. So beautiful!
I take a picture and miss my turn.
So I ask for directions from a lovely garda.
“Oh, I know exactly where ye want to go.
I used to pick mushrooms there
when I was a boy. Shame what they’ve done
To that land now. A real shame. It’ll take you
no time at all to get there.”
I follow his directions to the T…
And end up at the Martello tower.
The Coast Guard tell me I’m almost there.
10:30 I missed the first panels.
I drive around Sandycove
And around Sandycove
And around Sandycove
And around.... well, you get the picture...
I see cliffs in the distance. I want to jump….
End up back in City Center Dublin!
I pass the Gardai station again
in Dun Laoghaire... and keep driving.
Eventually,
I see a little red pub: Dunpheys Pub
1:00 (I’ve missed Lunch.)
I beg them to tell me where IADT is.
“I’ve heard there’s a blue, boxy building,” sigh I.
One kind gentleman says to another,
“Oh, I know where that is.
Tom’s son goes there.
Here, let me draw you a map.”
He proceeds to draw each traffic light,
And tells me which lane to drive in.
I make it! Just in time for the 2:00 panel.
When I return to my hotel room,
An email awaits me from my friend,
“Jeanne,” he says, “You MUST go to
Davy Byrne’s pub, the Martello Tower,
(Opening Ithaca chapter-
where Buck Mulligan descends the stairwell.)
Sandycove, the cliffs of Killiney…
That’s real Joyce country.”
I smile as my keys click the reply…
Been there, done that.
© Jeanne I. Lakatos
Media Arts Building, IADT, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, where mushrooms once grew.
Very cute! I love to be lost as long as I don't have a particular time to arrive someplace. Sort of takes the pleasure out of discovery, doesn't it? Great ending to your poem.
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely, lovely. Very much captures the feeling of trying to get somewhere 'by the scenic route'.
ReplyDeleteWonderful tale, so well told and so, well, appropriate.
ReplyDeletesounds about right :-).. I think the 'gardo' should be 'gardai' or 'garda' though... unless that's a poetic reference that has slipped over my head (these things happen to me frequently).. really nice story in this, the best days are often lost ones :-D
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karen. Yes, I try to add a bit of discovery to each activity, whether I'm lost or not.
ReplyDeleteArgent, thank you... and thanks for providing this opportunity to return to that 'scenic route.' : )
Titus: Thank you, again, for your kind words.
Watercats: Oops! Thanks for pointing out that spelling error. Garda is the word I was going for. Perhaps, we're not really lost on those 'lost days.' Perhaps, we're guided by the subconscious to find another truth.
Oh, I feel your pain! Dun Laoghaire is like that... I got lost there only a few weeks ago on the way to a poetry reading in the Peoples Park. I got lost despite the fact that I have in the past lived in Dun Laoghaire and my parents have run a shop there for nearly 20 years (in which I have also worked!) The place is bewitched :)
ReplyDeleteWhew! So I'm not alone! Thanks for that, D. O. And if you ever pass by Dunpheys Pub, please give them my regards! : )
ReplyDeleteSounds more fun than a conference! Did you take a potato with you?
ReplyDeleteWill do Jeanne!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I never leave home without one Dominic ;)
Okay, now why do I need that potato?
ReplyDeleteActually, on the last day of the conference, I skipped out and went to the Guinness Brewery. LOVED it! : )
I'll be in Dublin this May 24-27, it would be so much fun to meet up with the bus riders from that side of the pond.
Re the potato. Bloom carries one round Dublin in his pocket. OK, so I got a bit obsessed with reading Ulysses a few years ago. (It's a bit like literary Marmite I suspect: one loves it or hates it). The first time he goes out:
ReplyDeleteOn the doorstep he felt in his hip pocket for the latchkey. Not there. In the trousers I left off. Must get it. Potato I have. Creaky wardrobe. No use disturbing her. She turned over sleepily that time. He pulled the halldoor to after him very quietly, more, till the footleaf dropped gently over the threshold, a limp lid. Looked shut. All right till I come back anyhow.
OMG! Yes! How could I forget about that?!
ReplyDeleteyes the potato yes in his pocket yes perhaps that's where I went wrong for I did not carry a potato with me and most likely had I carried that potato I would have made it to the first panels on time yes
A Bloomsday wander plus one--having been lost quite badly once on my recent road trip (mine also in a rural area), I believe you've captured the experience well!
ReplyDeleteThank you, John! Glad you made it back okay! Gone fishin' lately?
ReplyDeleteIndeed... except for the worm! ; )
ReplyDelete