oh ireland

another quiet week in worthing so went back to hibernia. the main attraction was to see stephen rea [great actor in my opinion] in a new play, specially written for him. frankly, i had never heard of the playright but surely he must be good to be in the famous abbey. don't ask! had absolutely no idea what was going on. rea was the only person on stage apart from a dead horse (and a young girl who emerged too briefly from the grave wearing very little - o/k there were some good parts) but it was absolute nonsense. thoroughly agreed with one reviewer who said "despite the celebrity appearance in this play, the one star rating goes to the horse". what a waste. could have been watching ireland getting hammered by france – it made more sense.

but things got better. thoroughly recommend a visit to kilmainham gaol. lots of history and, despite my "loyalist" background, i was moved by the sacrifices made by people who feel strongly enough to die for their country. but why? taking a cold war analogy would you rather be dead than red or red than dead? i think i prefer life. is that wrong?

next: went on a literary pub crawl. great crack. lots of clever quotes and anecdotes but the one i remember best is around brendan behan [look him up on google]. apparently, in the early 50s, the catholic clergy decreed that women shouldn't be allowed in to pubs because they corrupted men and encouraged evil thoughts. behan disagreed saying that an irishman is the only person on earth who would climb over 20 naked women to get to the bar. good man!