This is me in Ennis, Co. Clare, in 1998. I was a champion Irish dancer in those far off days.
Like the Duke of Wellington and Iris Murdoch, I feel unsentimental about Ireland to the point of hatred. I think you need to be of Irish stock to feel this way about the tragic country, the isle of saints and a rich tradition of legends but whose chief claim to fame these days is the thick mick stereotype who gets drunk during a St Patrick's day parade. I also find the Irish language which, like C.S Lewis, I attempted to learn as a teenager, totally unattractive.
Nevertheless, if I am not serf to a Muslim lord in my dotage when English is become the language of thralls in this country, I'll probably move to Donegal, specifically to Inishowen. It is a part of the island so far north that it is largely untouched by the tawdriness of modern life.
Was the salver Irish silver?
ReplyDeleteNo, sterling I'm afraid.
DeleteNothing wrong with Sterling though and at least it is not plate. It is just that Irish silver was/is very good (and expensive) and the Hibernia mark is always much sought after, but always remember Britannia is best!
ReplyDeleteI must apologise for the quality of the photograph; it is a photograph of a photograph, and you can clearly see the shadow of my head.
DeleteI like silver better than gold. So did Tolkien, hence the prominence of Mithril (or "true silver") which the dwarves discovered in Moria. In "theological" terms, silver was purer than gold in the legendarium; reminiscent of Telperion being the "eldest of trees," and the Moon cherishing the memory of the Eldar. Remember also Gandalf's words about Bilbo's old mithril coat, that it was worth more than the whole Shire and everything in it!