Saturday 6 November 2021

A last Jolly




We went swimming this morning. We have been living above, walking along the Lough all week, so Jolly decided he'd get into the Lough with my swimming friends and me this morning. It was more stormy than cold, so lots of hard swimming without getting very far at all! Jolly has a cosy new scarf to help him warm up, but tea always helps too. I've been keeping a tight hold of Jolly today for fear that he would get carried away by wind or excitement.
Since the area around St Anne's Cathedral in the city has been developped into a bustling restaurant district - the Cathedral Quarter, would you believe - someone must have decided that we needed three other quarters to be mathematically correct. I don't even know what the fourth one is. Jolly has seen the Titanic Quarter, so we decided to have a stroll round the University Quarter on our way to the airport. This is the beautiful Lanyon building of Queen's University. I studied French and English here, in the little street to the left of the Quad, and after this gap year Mattman will be studying Chemical Engineering just up the hill past the Ulster Museum. We didn't get to the Seamus Heaney Library round the back, but it is very lovely too.
The Museum sits at the top end of our Botanic Gardens, which are all bedecked and ready for this year's nocturnal festive delight, Botanic Bright Lights. During the day you can just dander through for free and enjoy the vibrant colours and gorgeous displays. This year you follow the journey of Bobo the garden gnome as he takes off on a whirlwind world tour on his way to a new job at the North Pole. Jolly could relate.

He got talking to a Scot gnome. They were swapping kilt stories. I had to reach in and extricate him in case he missed his flight. It was very hard saying goodbye. We wished him good luck with the many deliveries ahead, a Merry Christmas, and good luck for his retirement. He took his now bulging diary as hand luggage to read on the plane. He said he wanted to look back on all his travels, and on all his new friends, and try to come to some sort of a decision about his future. We wish him every blessing.

Pom Pom, I really hope that he'll be with you by Christmas, if not by Thanksgiving. It's a wide old sea, and borders have always been problematic for us here, but if he was a character in A Midsummer's Dream (instead of a nearly Midwinter one) he'd be singing, "I go, I go; look how I go, swifter than arrow from the Tartare's bow."
 

5 comments:

Lisa Richards said...

Delightful post! You've been such a good host and friend to Jolly! We wait with bated breath to see what happens next! :) I think if I was in Ireland with you, you might just talk me into trying a swim in the ocean. Brr!! :) God bless you and yours!

M.K. said...

The university building looks impressive. I'd love to spend some time in the library you mentioned! All that calm, quiet, and surrounded by BOOKS. Safe flying, Jolly! We look forward to hearing from you again! I'd forgotten all about his diary! That will be a lot of reading, and he can look at all the lovely women he has met.

Pom Pom said...

Glorious! How fun and I agree with Lisa! Let's ALL swim in the sea! I can't wait to welcome him back and snoop through his luggage.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

GretchenJoanna said...

Every time you mention your sea swimming... it seems to be exhilarating to my mind, even while the body languishes in comfort and lethargy. It's good that Jolly didn't miss out on that distinctive feature of your northern culture. I'm sure he had mixed feelings about leaving you. <3

Sandra at Thistle Cove Farm said...

It's hard to believe Matt is so close to Uni; I remember him as a boy and not a young man.

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