summer's over... be glad to be alive

in other news, i have finally rectified something i have somehow overlooked - cheryl's blog is now listed in my blogs i'm following. always worth a looksee. [hold :: this space] over there --->

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this next couple of days is all about back-to-school. i now have my work area set up. but clearing shelves to make way for my soon-to-be feminist library leaves me wishing i could snap my fingers to tidy up the nursery guest bedroom, where i dumped all the stuff needing an alternative home. apparently in every job that must be done there is an element of fun. right now i need some convincing of that. i think the element of fun is hidden under a pile of stuff.

and there's folders to be bought, notebooks and paper, and ink and a diary and i'm thinking one is never too old for the excitement of going to get one's new stationery. i can still remember getting my brown leather satchel from WHSmith for my first day at school. satchel not shown in this picture of that auspicious day 31 years ago...

a couple of fridays back i took a late morning train from dublin to belfast and at tea time (far too few hours later for my comfort frankly) this happened. disturbingly, it's been revealed the train authorities were warned 5 days earlier by a group of very concerned Sea Scouts, having watched the weir erode progressively for two months. nothing was done in response of the warning of imminent collapse, and it is something like a miracle that the last train made it across the collapsing rails and that no one was killed or injured.
all to say, with the massive disruption to the busiest rail line in the country, it meant for me my plan to finally bring my bike to dublin from belfast was instantly banjaxed. and for at least the rest of '09, as i can't put a bike on the bus. so a car journey is needed to get it here. (i like cycling but to be honest 100+ miles seems a little excessive. especially to my backside.)
in the meantime, i'll be using public transport to get to school. and so today features the first experiment, or dry run before classes start on tuesday. i have numerous options for getting there (buses, trams, walking) but there's no direct route from home to the university. i'm currently poring over maps and timetables planning the route. somehow i doubt Iarnród Éireann would be obliging if i sent them my bus and tram fares i'll be paying 'til i have my bike.

but i say all that because i need to remember: whatever the inconvenience, it's better to be jumping on and off buses than lots of people on a train, including me, being dead. given the choice, i'll gladly take the disruption. 

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some final gb09 photos from Mo and i. thanks MoMo. feel free to add captions/thought bubbles for the last one... :)

(jayne on the ferry home; the irish sea takes us back to dublin; me at Padraig's poetry reading; dinner with Chris at camp fury; at Duke Special with Jayne; i would love to know what it was we were discussing... )

LB