Sean's Space

Saturday 27 September 2008

Rosanna and I caught the 11.38 a.m. Enterprise from Clarke Station to Connolly.  Free tickets because Rosanna has the free travel.  Chat with Mrs. Billy Baldwin on the platform as we waited for the train which was about 7 minutes late.  Rosanna rang Aisling from the bar at Connolly.  Aisling complained of a sore throat and said we were welcome to come out to the house.  She was supposed to go to a wedding of a friend of Paul’s in Wicklow but she cried off.  Around 5.00 p.m. when I in The Writers’ Bar in The Gresham returned her missed call she was on her way to Wicklow in better humor and quite vivacious and conversational.  "How did Mum like the film?" she enquired.  Rosanna and I caught the Luas from Connolly to the "Jervis" stop.  We paused around 1.15 p.m. for lunch in The Lotts Café near The Halfpenny Bridge.  Rosanna had coffee Americano (€2.50) and garlic bread and cheese (€6.00): I had salmon fillet on a bed of small peas or lentils (€15).  Paid all with my MBNA credit card.  I was going to the toilet like a fiddler’s elbow in Clarke Station, Connolly, on the train, in the café and later in the Irish Film Institute.  "You’ll have to see someone about that," Rosanna worried a few times, "You shouldn’t be going to the toilet so much!"  Got my tickets out of the machine in IFI and sat down at a table in the bar beside a man who was eating.  A little inconsequential but friendly conversation with him.  I think I said I was secretary of IMPERO but he did not say anything about himself except that he was a Dub.  Afterwards I found out from Peter Moroney that he was a "Dr Murphy" who used to be in "Ardee."  "I never heard anyone say they were sorry to see him go?" Peter commented.  The film "I see a Darkness" was a poignant, posthumous, well-shot, coherent (at least on the surface) account of the death by suicide of Simon Moroney (16) on 10 May 2003.  Simon was the second of Peter and Mrs. Moroney’s three sons.  Rosanna said later that the youngest son who was sitting beside her was crying during the showing.  The film featured the four member’s of Simon’s family and a boy and a girl (friends of Simon’s) as well as a mature friend (an MS sufferer?) of Simon’s who philosophized a few times on camera.  I was talking to Peter Moroney as we left IFI and as Rosanna went to the toilet.  He said as he moved on to talk to Dr. Murphy, "Are you going to the reception?"  "No," I replied, "My wife wants to see the shops."  Cool in the morning it turned out to be a balmy, calm day and I sweated as we rushed a little to get to IFI.  As I was drinking a coffee in Clery’s around 4.15 p.m. I took off my jacket, rested and cooled down a bit.  Bought a pack of 3 pairs of Argyle socks in Clery’s (€5.00 total) and a pack containing two singlet-type vests (€12.00 total).  Rosanna bought there for me a v-necked acrylic pullover in brown, yellow and dark green (€10).  We walked as far as The Gresham where I had tea (€4.00) and two "hot" scones with butter and strawberry jam (€4.95).  Rosanna had soup of the day with brown bread and butter (€6.50).  Total paid with my MBNA card, €15.45.  I dropped some crumbs on the carpet and an American woman lifted my jacket off the floor (where I had carelessly placed it) and hung it on the back of my armchair.  The young waiter was from Mauritius and Rosanna made a point of giving him a tip (€2?).  Ate a pack of Munchies in Connolly that Rosanna bought for me – she also bought a pack for herself.  Was able to wash my hands in the toilet before we boarded the 7.00 p.m. Enterprise for Clarke Station.  A woman called "Rosaleen" from Crossmaglen told me on the train that Pat Kiernan’s mother died when he was young and that his father married again.  Joe Kiernan is Pat’s step-brother.  Wrote yesterday’s diary soon after I got up this morning.  Did my exercises morning and night and washed and flossed my teeth before bed.  My head and face not as painful today as they were yesterday.  Went on to have a good night’s sleep.  Got up 3 or 4 times to go to the toilet and drank a glass of tap-water each time.  A "warning" note on Rosanna’s windscreen in the car-park at the station.  She had not realized that a €2 parking fee is now payable for using the car-park.  I ate corn flakes, sliced banana and milk and drank a few glasses of tap-water when we arrived home.  I rang Og this morning from Connolly Station.  He was minding Gavin – Lisa gone out.  Rosanna had a red eye today especially noticeable when we were in Clery’s.  Rosanna said of the film-maker Alan Gilsenan, "Is he a bit affected?"  To be judgmental about it I formed a good impression of him.  The film was well-made, inoffensive and all the participants were presented in a reasonably flattering light.