Thirty shades of green

You know, that old cliche of Ireland as a green land is actually true. It's easy to see it in the countryside where, when the sun comes out (as it does more often than most people seem to think) everything is suddenly amazingly, dazzlingly green, but even here in the city, with spring well underway, nature is everywhere. Ireland does seem to be an astonishingly fertile place. I've noticed what look like trees growing from the chimneypots (the chimneys!) of old houses here and there, and in my apartment block, some ambitious types are managing to grow herb gardens and even small fruit bushes on their tiny balconies! I've been inspired by this to the extent that I've actually bought some seeds from Lidl. Haven't gotten so far as actually planting them, but no doubt that will come :-)

I have made an important decision. I'm not going to leave Dublin. Not yet. I've been studying since I was 18 and when this MA is finished, I think I need some time out before deciding whether or not a PhD is a route I want to take. It's time for the real world. Now, I do know that the real world is quite tough at the moment and all, but I have one part time job already that can expand to two or three days and I am prepared to do, well, almost anything to make ends meet for another year or so. There's just something about this place. Like anywhere, it has its flaws, but I kinda like those flaws or a lot of them, at least. I think that the chaos that seems to underlie some aspects of Irish life is really just the flipside of the spontaneity and openness of Irish culture. And often, that chaos gels into something wonderful, like when a rock guitarist and a trad fiddler and an electric keyboardist all end up in the same pub and, despite the fact that they don't even know each other, end up playing for hours while the crowd goes wild...

When I think about leaving, well, it's a wrenching prospect [sniff]. So I've decided to stay. I just haven't told the folks back home yet.