December 4, 2009

A dip in the temperature has sharpened the old mental faculty. The various weather events, as previously detailed in this unrolling blatheration, thrill me in their individual ways. I think my weather intrigue springs from being part of the Sealink Ferry generation. The wind in Mayo has it’s own patois. But the most informative snippet I ever heard about the weather came not from a scientist or a web based reading but from an Icelandic postwoman who I followed on her route in Reykjavik I think it was in 94 as research for a story I was trying to cultivate.

I recall her explaining to me that everybody thinks the weather is all kinds of things and usually terrible, but if you are out in it, she explained it’s really not bad at all. I think she was galloping along with a big bag at the time, me at her heels, eyes a-opened, listening intently for something, and probably not expecting to hear that. In my imagination I had concocted the world of Icelandic post women as something far beyond what the reality entailed.

Back in the sorting office, we gathered with the other women for their coffee break around flasks and during the chatter (quite a bit of why on earth are you interested in the post office) the conversation turned to music. We talked briefly of music incl Bjork (she’s very special) and I think we talked about low pay and much more. It was the weather reflection that stayed with me for I found that once I was indeed out in the weather and actually in it, paying attention to it, it was precisely as she’d described.

When I am looking at the weather I can find it vexing, but by getting underneath it, I have a whole other relationship with it. And that relationship includes moments of oppression, of marvel, wonder, despair and what if? I established this relationship in a country where it can be every season within fifteen minutes.

July 30, 2007

Arthur Ransome travel article

Here’s a link to a travel article I (and the Puffin, who provided stellar guide to Ransome’s characters) wrote about Arthur Ransome and the locations in his novels. (Swallows and Amazons etc). Avast!

May 29, 2007

Climbing on a bad hip and chocolate

Here’s a link to a travel article published in Sat’s Globe and Mail I wrote about climbing Croagh Patrick with the Puffin and granny/sister gang. For at least 15 minutes after the descending I considered acquiring an appetite for clambering and wandering about the place, but it appears to have diminished in favour of learning the Japanese abacus.