It rained all day today until about 5 PM, but the streets were no less crowded with people. I guess the tourist have things to do and the locals are just used to it.
I watched the morning part of the U S Open in a pub called Mother Kelly’s. When I saw the name I had to stop for a pint. While I was there I met a 54-year-old local named Martin who wanted to talk American politics. He volunteered he didn’t like the Clintons and that he understood the appeal of Trump as a non-politician but was concerned about the way he seems to talk before he thinks. I was surprised he was not vehemently anti-Trump!
On another subject, I did not realize it before I got here but this is the 100-year anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, the rebellion that finally resulted in the end of British rule for the southern part of Ireland, but not the north. So Ireland in has been divided into two nations for almost 100 years. A cab driver, Joseph, told me he hates to go up north because it just doesn’t seem right to see English mailboxes, telephone boxes, and police on the streets of Ireland. He said it made him sad. Emotions still run deep over the issue and there are signs all over town making the 100-year mark.
I took a trip out to Dublin City University and was happy to see the campus is in a nice neighborhood. I enroll tomorrow! I did notice a number of people on campus in their 40’s and 50’s who are there for sports camps on Gallic football and hurling, so it won’t be just me and all twentysomethings! They have beer pong tables in the student union pub so maybe I’ll be good at that by the end of the summer! 😉
