When we were in Wexford on Monday, I noticed an advertisement for a production of "An Inspector Calls" at the Wexford Opera House. I love live theatre, used to go all of the time when I lived in Toronto and in Vancouver. I haven't been for years--the last time I went, I think, was to see "Wicked" in Scottsdale and that was in 2009. Richard wasn't interested but said why didn't I go if I wanted to see it? I looked up bus timetables and a new friend at church who lives in Wexford nicely offered that I could stay the night with her and ride to church this morning with her.
As I set off yesterday I felt a bit nervous. Which was odd because I travel by myself so much. I guess partly it was to do with leaving the dog overnight with Richard for the first time here in Ireland. No doggie door here and she doesn't go out for walks with him. So that was one thing. And then I just felt a little lost yesterday. I don't know why, maybe just some insecurity coming out again.
Anyway, I did go to Wexford and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Once I was on the bus and enjoying looking out at the countryside (this is New Ross in the photo) I relaxed. And then I treated myself to a very nice dinner at The Green Ways, a "hip" restaurant in Wexford Town before the production. The production itself was quite good. The theatre is small, probably only sits about 100 people. Sitting in the third row, I felt I was right there in the drawing room as the Edwardian family comes to grips with their treatment of a mysterious girl, accused by an even more mysterious "inspector." I saw the production in 1989 at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake with my late friend Peggy. Peggy and I always treated ourselves to a good dinner before we would go see plays so I felt very much last night like she was with me.
My friend, Manon (not French, German) met me in the lobby after the performance. She had driven 20 minutes from her small village outside Wexford Town to pick me up which I thought was incredibly kind. I had never been to her house, didn't even know her awfully well. Met her at church these last four Sundays. Her husband is Irish and very much "take the mickey out of you." He teased me about being one of Manon's "religious friends" and telling me over and over again that of course he himself was atheist. Methinks he did protest too much about all that but if he thought he could shock me of course he was wrong. I grew up in a very diverse society and again, as most of my friends know, I do more than tolerate other people's views religious or non-religious--I respect them.
I am so very sad about what is happening in the United States. I feel that moving to Ireland at this point was a very good thing. The Irish can say very off-the-wall things but at the end of the day, their country is wide open. We had the couple next door to dinner on Friday night and they talked about how, especially in Waterford, there are so many different religions and ethnicities that everyone rubs along together. Apparently it has always been that way because of the fishing and the history with Europe. And then, spending last night with Manon and Ray, listening to them talk about their experiences in Berlin during the days of the Berlin Wall, touching on the Holocaust because of the anniversary, I am grateful to be somewhere where people DO talk about injustice and the importance of staying open minded.
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| Ray was proud of his garden and insisted on showing me around |
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| His "man cave" |
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| Their house |
I spoke to Laurie and the kids tonight. It was so very good to connect with them. This week it is supposed to rain here so, except for my regular weekly trip into Waterford on Tuesday, we don't have any plans for jaunting around. May be a quiet week on the blog then.
Oh, one thing we did see on the way home from church today was a hunting party. I took photos and thought it was all quite nice, thinking that fox hunting wasn't "real" anymore. It was only when I got home and was texting with my friend Sheila that I found out Ireland hasn't banned fox hunting (yet). So it may have been interesting to see them riding down the road but I don't hold with fox hunting. Nowhere is without brambles.
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