Close to home

The town of Arklow - Not the place for me. The home front - so nice and cosy and easy to experience. 3 weeks since leaving Holland and arriving in Ireland. So fast time has been passing by. Everyday I’m filled with excitement for what will happen. Every single day, since deciding to focus on writing, has been precious. Every moment has been precious and the days don’t seem long enough.

Ireland is bringing me “up” at the moment. But, not for wanting to sound negative, Arklow is not. So, as much as possible, I get away from the town. If I had the choice it would be 7 days a week. Instead it’s 5. When I’m gone during the days, I seem to then be free and I feel like I’m travelling. I’m not at home, I’m by myself, I’m away from the town that doesn’t set me free and I put myself in places and choose to see them as having the potential of being anywhere in the world; when in reality I’m so close to my home. It’s so much fun!

When I go to Bray, at lunchtime, I have an hour at the beach. There are people from all over the world walking along the seafront, whether it‘s cloudy, windy, warm or wet. There are tourists, immigrants, locals and commuters.. All walks of life and the Irish Sea is right in front of me. It sometimes has a gorgeous deep blue shade, when the sun shines on it and the sea itself shows me the whole world! It’s amazing. It’s moments like those when I think to myself: who needs to be gallivanting around the world when there’s such things to experience, only 40 minutes from my front door! So that’s where I am most days, when I allow myself to leave the library for lunch; for the sight of the sea, the people and to be with the world again; because observed in writing for hours, can sometimes take me away to others places and my surroundings can seem to disappear. On the odd days, I’d go to Dublin and get a taste of the library in the “big city”, which is full of dedicated professionals working and studying hard. In between them all, sits a Niamh floating in and out of space, seeming to be doing nothing, but reliving past experiences, emotions and adventures that were once recorded with a purpose to set herself free. Again, this feels to be the purpose of what I’m doing now; I’m working at setting myself even freer than I already am.