Sligo, Fringe, Yay!

Yeah I'm behind again. I know, but I'm sure we are all used to it by now. So as I said I was on my way to Sligo and before I can get into the wild tale that was Sligo I must take a short aside to mention that I, recently, have been dating an Irishman and that is who I went to Sligo with and that is all the details on him for now.

Anyways so we went to Sligo for the weekend which is on the West coast of Ireland and the Irishman suggested that we go to Coney Island for the day. No, not the one in NY. Though apparently that is how the NY one got its name though I am skeptical as the two islands could not be more different. The island can be accessed by boat or by car when the tide is out by driving over the beach. We asked a taxi driver if he would drive us out and, to my surprise, he did. As we drove across I noticed that we were driving across a watery beach and the water seemed to be accumulating but as the taxi driver did not seem too bothered I decided not to worry too much. Once we got across the taxi let us off in front of the one and only pub on the island and a woman came out and said that the tide was coming in and if we wanted to get off the island we had better get back in the taxi. I, however, a girl of the desert whose knowledge of oceans and tides is limited said that we should stay on the island (having driven all the way out) and wait for the tide to go back out, because my concept of tides is that it would only be an hour or two. This is wrong. It was more like six hours. As soon as the taxi left it began to rain. Of course. So we took shelter in the pub where, over a whiskey, I began to realize what I had gotten us into. The tiny island only has two families living on it year round and is really a place where people go for the day or weekend in the summer. There was only the pub, no shops or restaurants, oh and this pub was also tiny and could maybe fit a dozen people at the very most. The local islanders soon realized that there were two strangers around and I think because I was American I received most of the attention.  One woman remarked on how long my hair is and asked if I plaited it. That means braid, right? Yes I can do that but nothing fancy. She then asked how I managed to stay so slim. I don't really have an answer for that. Except that I am a starving artist. I told her it was because I am not very good at cooking. This is only sort of true. Also, probably not really something you should say to an Irishwoman. She told me all I had to do was cook some mince with a bit of chopped up onion and garlic.  Why didn't I think of that?

The rain stopped and we went for a walk around the island. It was beautiful. Completely worth being trapped there for several hours. There were wild blackberries growing (which I helped myself to) and as there was no one else around it was very peaceful. I decided that when I am old I want to live on an island and go to the pub and make blackberry tarts and give silly girls weird advice. Except it would be nice if there was more than just a pub and maybe a bridge to access the island better.  After we walked around the whole island we went back to the pub where we met a few more locals who were all very kind. I noticed amongst all the different things tacked to the wall a list of people who had lost their lives at sea. This does not bode well, I thought. Finally, a lovely couple named Violet and George offered to drive us back across as the tide had made its way out. We all cramped into the front of their pickup truck and drove across the beach, which still had a good bit of water on it. I saw crabs scuttling away and big clumps of seaweed dragging along the sand. It was a relief to be back on dry land, my clothes never dried from being caught in the rain and my bones were frozen. As soon as we got back to the hotel I drew myself the hottest bath possible and stayed in till my skin turned pink. Next time I go to the island I will wear my wellies.

Now then, let's see. After that adventure I spent my week back in Dublin interning. I went to dinner (a free dinner no less) with my friend Mc. which he won through twitter and then we saw a play called Our Father which was part of the Fringe festival. The play is told through rap and rhyme and was really good. Hurray for good plays. Then it was my turn to work away on S.'s show in the Fringe. Last weekend we were in tech which is always fun horrendous. The show ran all last week, it was called Amy, I want to make you hard. S. and her friend wrote it based on their experiences of being a woman in Ireland and how that has shaped their lives. It is interesting to see what is similar about my childhood to their's and what is different. The show was well received and we had good audiences all week and I think S. should be very proud of her accomplishment. I was glad to be a part of it. I have also started working as a production assistant with S. on a show she is working on which will be in the Dublin Theatre Festival, so I have been very busy lately, which I enjoy, despite the fact that I am tired.

Well that's that! Thanks for reading!