From Bath to Cork with Baby Grace

This is the morning after HelpPortraitCork.  I’m slowly recovering energy.  When I woke I wanted to cancel the day & stay in bed. The adrenaline was gone - the body felt as if it was fit for nothing.

Help-Portrait was that good.  Later I’ll say more about what HelpPortraitCork was like yesterday.  Until then, this is the complete set of audios I made on the day:

On the day: 

(1)  Start of day diary recorded very early here 

(2)  Another personal diary about why I’m doing Help-Portrait - recorded as I left home   here  

(3)  Just as HelpPortraitCork was ready to welcome people for their portraits - voices of our team here  

(4)  1310 What it all looked like and sounded - music & interview with magician Ger Kearney here

(5)  Lunchtime: More sounds from the lobby of HelpPortraitCork - two make-up artists (Lisa & Andrea) speak here  

(6)  Towards the end I interviewed Michael Lynch & Darran Kelleher of AV3 Productions  here 

(7)  The end of HelpPortraitCork - a description & "in a word" comments for many people here  

I’m about to go to the dentist.  I’m about to finish a cup of coffee in Cafe Beva in Glanmire, near where I live.  I’m about to upload a few photographs of Rocky - our Coton de Tulear puppy - to Flickr. 

You are about to do something too.  

The whole world is about to do something.  We are all about to make something happen.

Now I’m paying a little more attention to what I’d doing.  I had to notice what was about to do in order to appreciate what I was doing.

Appreciating now.  Slowing myself down a little…

Here’s a gift for you…

It was taken on Inch Beach in East Cork -  yesterday.  It was uploaded today, a few seconds ago.  

I simply hope you like it. 

An audio version of this blogpost is here (10 minutes) 

Last Friday night I got an idea.  Just as I was hoping to slip off to sleep without excitement, I thought about Twitter.  I thought about how good it was to be connected to people all over the globe via such a brilliant tool.

This pleasant thought led to another - more questioning - thought : how well connected am I really?  How many counties in Ireland do I have contact with via Twitter?  Where are my contacts based?

I went to sleep with a new project forming

- I would like to have at least one engaging Twitter contact in each county of Ireland…

Usually those sort of ideas fade in the sleep.  So often I wake & move on to something else -  the idea goes off to haunt somebody else…

On Saturday morning, it was different - the idea rose with me.  Within a couple of hours I found myself formulating a plan to seek out someone from each of the 26 counties of RoI.  The idea had taken root.  And I’d begun to say to myself - "if the idea has survived the night, there must be legs in it…"

I’d like to tell you what happened next.

The first thing I did was tweet my intention to find at least one engaging tweeter in each county.

"Last night’s big idea: get at least one engaging Twitter contact in all 26 counties of RoI #project26"

I simply announced that via Twitter - I didn’t poke the plan at anyone, at first.  (I soon sent a few tweets like "@Paraic @dogfoodlady You are fine engaging people#omaniCork #project26 - Co Limerick next".

You can imagine how thrilled I was when @SundayTwist responded with enthusiasm for the idea.

That’s how our collaboration began.  We exchanged a few tweets about it,  agreed to spend 48 hours seeing what we could come up with.  

I live in Cork & know plenty of engaging tweeters there.  She lives in Dublin - and I was sure she would know many engaging tweeters there.  But I didn’t know much about the network of @SundayTwist.  This felt like a great advantage  - because together we might dovetail well. 

By the end of Sunday, we’d cracked the job of finding two per county.  We had a few blank counties - Offaly, Roscommon & Monaghan proved to be the toughest for us.  But we got great help.

Boy did we get great help from the following people :

(1) @eirepreneur introduced me to @giftedkidsie & @harrypig in Co Clare 

(2) @bobgreenmonster introduced @lawlorchiro @golfchiro @DIBayliss @Laois_offaly @unlaoised @cebyrne in Co Laois

(3) @susankilkenny helped with Co Kilkenny

(4) @aoifep helped with Co Sligo

(5) @elaineLarkin with Co Wexford & "sunnysoutheast list"

(6) @topgold helped with intro to @manaboutcouch in Co Donegal

(7)  @CliffHouseHotel introduced @tanneryDungarva in Co Waterford

(8) @sineadniriain helped with Co Tipperary

(9) @IvanSantry introduced @PaulaCoMayo from Co Mayo

(10) @dannifromdublin helped by RT - as did @NaughtyNikKit

(11) @jonathangrimes introduced @adam_melvin from Co Donegal

(12) @cotisgal helped with RT  - as did @siobhancoyle & @susanalustiza

(13) @scottyccfc helped by asking why this wasn’t a 32 county project

(14) @mimistores appeared and helped with Co Meath

(15) @primaryposition helped with RT of our quest re Co Galway & introduced @antonmannering

(16) @domybooks popped up from Co Galway

(17) @celav from Co Cork recommended @allancavanagh from Co Galway

(18) @danmorris63 disqualified himself from Co Kerry

(19) @diarmuidcogan Co Cork offered to help & introduced @paddyjkelly from Co Kerry + @debz from Co Offaly

(20) @Ritchhh helped by RT re Co Offaly 

(21) @cotisgal recommended @donegalabu from Co Donegal

(22) Roddy Jenkins helped, recommended @oconnellbrian in Co Cork + @alisonwells from Co Wicklow + @janetravers Co Kildare

(23) I can’t remember who recommended @kieranmurphy & @dinglesurf from Co Kerry

(24) @johnpeavoy helped by clarifying that he was no longer living in Co Offaly

(25) @suzybie  & @conor_pope helped by RT of search for Co Offaly tweeter

(26) @trevorvaugh & @siobhancoyle  helped us on the Co Offaly search 

(27) @CJohnson103 helped on Co Roscommon 

(28) @burbage1 recommended @mduffywriter from Co Dublin

(29) @sandrahennessy RT’ed our search for particularly engaging tweeters

(30) @misIJenkins helped us with Co Offaly

(31) @donegalabu helped us with thanks in an RT

(32) @allisonwells helped us with encouraging comments

(33) @berniequinn helped us use the correct #project26 hashtag

(34) @adrianBarry98FM helped by asking what this was all about + suggested we hold a vote on Twitter

(35) @scarie recommended @mammyskitchen from Co Westmeath

(36) @angevf helped by recommending @john_mcguirk from Co Monaghan

(37) @berniequinn recommended @monaghanpenguin from Co Monaghan

(38) @dinglesurf helped by chipping in a bit of humour from Co Kerry

(39) @doogarry helped us from Co Monaghan 

(40) @ladydotty from Co Sligo helped by asking what #project26 was all about

(41) @reddav14 & @angevf helped by questioning why we kept to 26 counties 

(42) @monaghanpenguin helped by asking what #project26 was 

(43) @reddave14 helped by questioning the decision-making process to pick engaging tweeters

(44) @aloliver + @martineCork + @FinbarrWilson @thickeytom also helped.

If I’ve left anyone out of this list, I’d be happy to edit them in - so that the historical record will be accurate. I suspect there are contacts of @sundaytwist who’ve helped without me being aware of their role.

Audio helped on the way: 

I made two audios on the way.  One was early on and the second was later - those links on AudioBoo were useful & enriching  - they gave us an easy way to fill people in on what this was all about.  [I must remember to make an audio version of this blogpost.]

This began with a simple idea - one person per county.  But it spawned more complex ideas - and a new collaborative team.  @SundayTwist & I stumbled into the idea of going the same for the counties of UK and the States of USA.

It’s been a wonderful way to realise the value of location-specific connections.  It’s opened up fresh prospects.  It’s enabled us to offer a suggestion to others - that they do the same for themselves…

Our list is now a Twitter List - it’s available to anyone who’s interested.  It may even become useful to someone else.

It was particularly satisfying to get the idea & complete the project as a collaboration in a few days. 

"ENGAGE" is the name of an Arts Festival that happens in Bandon, Co Cork, Ireland.  I went there last night.

I thought the prospect of hearing Claire Kilroy & Derek Mahon reading was too good to miss.  Thought it would be hard to get in. Even urged Adrian Roche (oral historian) to be sure and pre-book tickets - in case we’d be turned away at the door.  Bandon is close to Cork city - there would be many who’d travel out for such a powerful draw.  The Town Hall in Bandon would be packed…

Twenty people… plus three late-comers…  I’m still shocked.  Certainly it was an intimate event.  I can’t get my head round why there were so few there?

Before & during the event, I used Twitter.  
Tweeted about 22 times, used the hashtag "#engage".  Imagined there was an audience out there on the internet - interested in the work of Claire Kilroy & Derek Mahon…  I also took photographs on my iPhone & shared them via Twitter.

The reading was in a small room, three rows of stacking chairs.

Matthew Geden, poet & bookseller, author of "Swimming to Albania", introduced the event.
I ended up in O’Hara’s pub with him, Adam Wyeth (poet & teacher), Derek Mahon & Adrian Roach afterwards.

The walls of the Town Hall room held an exhibition of paintings by Angie Shanahan - a "shedload of sheds" I called it. A lovely collection of paintings (officially called "Towards the Edge").  In the middle of his reading, Derek Mahon asked "is the painter here?"   She was.  And I met her briefly afterwards.

After the reading… 
people left, but a few stayed on for talk. That’s when Cape Clear island came into the mix. I met a woman from Philadelphia. We talked about the paintings, the sheds.  We both agreed that the collection of shed was great - much better than an exhibition of disparate paintings without theme. She told me about her son’s photographic exhibition. She said she lived now on Cape Clear. That’s when I remembered my one visit to Cape Clear and the storytelling festival I’ve wanted to go to.

I turned round and there was Chuck Kruger - the founder of the Cape Clear Storytelling Festival. I’d met him once before but couldn’t remember where.  We chatted.  I got this idea: let’s use AudioBoo to share the storytelling that takes place on Cape Clear Island to the masses via Internet…

Full of enthusiasm at the prospect I couldn’t resist showing Chuck Kruger how AudioBoo worked. An impromptu interview with him in which I must have seemed like a crazed obsessive.  Now that I look at Chuck’s bio & track record as poet, short story writer, novelist & organiser of that festival, I must have sounded like a bubbling teenager meeting a celebrity.  You can listen to the converation with Chuck Kruger here.

Such a rich evening.  Finished off with a plate of chips in The Courthouse Take-away. Drove back to Glanmire very satisfied with myself.  An intimate time - packed with surprises.

Why did so few travel out from Cork for it? 

Writing an epic poem is epic work - the result may be epic too - or disastrous.  I remember spending huge chunks of time in November 2009 - writing this poem in a Moleskine Notebook - as I travelled round Ireland [& UK too].

Recording an audio version of an epic poem is another epic job.  I’ve been doing my best.  Now it’s reached the 8th stage, canto 8  [I wonder where Dante was at this stage of his epic Inferno?]

You might like to listen to this version  [I’m gradually reading it into iPhone & sharing it via AudioBoo.]

Canto 1

Canto 2

Canto 3

Canto 4 part 1 & Canto 4 part 2

Canto 5

Canto 6

Canto 7

Canto 8 

What I’d love you to do is listen to some, and write (or audio) a review which let’s me know how you found it. 

Would it be useful to gather my recent audio broadcasts together in one place on this blog?  Would that be handy & attractive for others - especially those who don’t use AudioBoo themselves?

Let’s see…

Here are sounds of my last couple of weeks: [after each I’ve put the number of times each has been listened to - so far]

 I went to London

(1) My son Benjamin O’Mahony played Ibsen at Arcola Theatre Hackney, London by Mahdi Yahya [67]

(2) I felt encouraged by others  [35]

(3) I reviewed "The Emperor Self" and wished I’d seen it twice [158]

(4) I walked towards AudioBoo HQ [26]

(5) I interviewed Mark Rock, CEO  - and met team AudioBoo on Tower Bridge Road, London [125]

(6) I wrote a poem "AudioBoo" after the style of Rudyard Kipling’s Mandalay  [15]

I returned to work in Cork  

(7) I worked for a start-up "On-Line Senior Citizen" [25]

(8) I read my own Epic Poem: Irish Epic Poem in 33 Cantos - canto 7  [11]

(9) I listened to views of others who’ve given up Twitter  [708]

(10) I walked in the city of Cork on a Saturday morning, hear music  [24]

(11) I read Grace a bedtime story : Pinocchio (but audio ran out) [12]

(12) I vowed to take up golf again - after the Ryder Cup team was selected by a Scot [21]

(13) I celebrated Grace’s 5th birthday  [24]

(14) I started the school run from Glanmire thru the Jack Lynch tunnel  [22]

(15) I complained about traffic congestion in Douglas Cork - while I added to it [21]

(16) I experienced chaos on first school day - relived my childhood [27]

(17) I read out a blogpost letter to Grace : her birthday & first day at "big" school  [19]

(18) I worked for another start-up : In Hand Guides & discovered Innovation Vouchers  [25]

(19) I got my car repaired by AutoMotif in Cork, a team led by Paul Allen [35]

(20 I interviewed a policeman, Garda, about cancer - what Boston cops do with Cork Gardai [32]

I’ve promised Grace I’ll give her a gift of some of my writing.  Since she’s almost five, she may not read this blog for years - and then may not be interested in it for ages. Maybe even my grandchildren will value this most?

Rather than leave everything in Moleskine Notebooks, I’m going to do the "modern" thing - publish here…  

The act of sharing my diary will help me too… I may surprise myself.

So this is going to be a very long blogpost.  The Lourdes pilgrimage journey in June became spread over many posts.  This time, I’ll put everything from Galicia together - gradually until I complete the task.  There will be plenty of snaps too.

______________________________________________

To set the scene, a few snaps

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Episode 1

Give me a word to start the poem, Grace…

"Dfu"

A double Bombay
laced the icebergs
floating in tonic

Maiz or Millo
salted, almonds crunched
- welcome to Pazo O Rial

The child on my knee is obsessed,
crisps on the brain,
her fruit juice neglected

My gin slipping down nicely 
_______________________

This was my first drink in Spain, after first swim in the pool, after the surprise that the shallowest part was 1.6 metres.  The implications clear: I’d have to hold her up in the water - she couldn’t play without attention. 

This is the new hotel - we’ll eat here this evening.  It is fabulous the way the sun shines long into the bar.

_______________________

This is pure cliché
dappled wicker
stone lit, shadows firm,
the warmth of evening song,
the comings and goings,
Spanish movements through the bar,
my Bombay going down,
the Schweppes on ice
already … a little pissed
Martini Basarana Tanqueray
Ballantine’s Bacardi Beefeater 
Zoco Drambuie Calisay
100 Pipers Ron Barcelo
Jack Daniels Cointreau
even the Cutty Sark is too much
now that the company’s gone
and "Prohibido Fumar" reigns
supreme behind the counter
- what price a coffee now?

_______________________________

It was so pleasant to feel the warm sun baking my shins, and see the pattern change on the old castle walls.  I’d drunk a big Gin & Tonic - so that even the bottles looked exotically shaped, and the quiet attractive.

_______________________________

I will drink the sugar,
pour the stars of glucose
onto the tea spoon,
and sprinkle refined grains
on the surface of Galician
Expresso.

I will cherish the remainder
that lingers in the sachet,
wet the pad of forefinger
- licking it softly -
before cleaning the counter.
I like to flick fallen sweet.

I will go back to my hotel room,
leave behind a night sky
on hard wood.
There is Venus there,
Mercury, Mars, Neptune reflected
from the sapphire bottle of gin. 

___________________________

I broke open a sachet of sugar to temper the coffee. The sugar spilled on the counter, littered it so that I saw a clear night sky of stars in front of me. I then played with the debris, licking my finger.

___________________________

Wisps of curled hair hung over ears,
the child’s necklace chimed,
her elbows sat glued to the story
told by her thirsty mother.

Night fell
stars appeared
the sky formed
over Pontevedra.
There’s a party coming. 

I have to sign for

1. huge G&T €8
2. Agua Grande Sin Ga €3
3. Copa Rioja Tinto X 4  €8 (Albarino)
4. Ensalada Mixta €5
5. Copa de Halado €4 (ice cream)
6. Revuelto de Gambas €7 (eggs & prawn)
7. Pasta salsa carbona €9
8. Brochela de Polla €5 (chicken curry)

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Friday 6 August 2010
on the sofa in the hotel lobby with Grace & iPad

I woke first.  Omanimot & Grace asleep on the other bed.  
Warm.  Hotel wakes.  Lights moving on & off.  Voices. Sneezes & coughs.
"Angry Birds" on iPad.
A couple wheel their infant into the lobby, the man speaks Spanish - I can understand nothing.
The peace is now gone - we are now public.  It’s warm - frighteningly hot promises the day - I am afraid we’ll be burnt.  I’ll be fried.

There are five open locks on "Angry Birds", and no sound.  This is an artificially lit place, the bowel of the castle.
Faux fortress battlements - a bit like Blackrock Castle.
The infant says something - sounds off.  Mother bends over him? Is it a boy? Is that blue?

"Daddy, can we go for a swim?"
"Maybe when Mum wakes up…
"Dad, can I get a sweet?
"No, where from?
"Daddy, there’s a  man in there, he said Hola to me… And I said Hola back to him… My oil’s a brown one.
"Do you want to swap?
"You’re brown like me.
"We can swap anyway. I’m going to wrap mine in a wrapper.
"I’m going to wrap wrap wrap it up like me… (sings)
"Like me.
"You’re like an ee." Pops sweet in mouth. 

"Will we go exploring?" I suggest.
No reply, ignored - she’s in her world…
"Will we go exploring?" More ignoring.  A man walks by in pristine runners - looks as if he’s been out running.

"Can we go swimming?
"We can but not now" - I wonder what’s up that stairs?
"Just bedrooms & bedrooms & even more bedrooms" - still sucking her sweet.
What’s this Daddy?
"It’s a thing for a curtain."
Grace dives on top of me, like a cat… grabs my sweet.

Going on a mission, a special mission, to see, to find out what’s upstairs from the half-landing…
"Daddy, there’s even a better place upstairs…  

"It’s fantastic, double fantastic, it’s so pretty, even better than this room… wait til you see it, you’ll like it too."

_____________________________

First breakfast (0940-1010)

Cold meats X 3 Coffee X 1
Croissant X 2 Peach X 1
Tea (Barry’s) X 1 Roll = chorizo + cheese X 2 + tomato 
Almond Cake X 1/2 

The coffee’s bitter here,
beans dark roasted hard,
flavour for waking up
- I see Cezanne on the wall,
a fire extinguisher,
a smoke-free zone,
even water can’t soften the taste,
exploration calls,
echo of earlier conversation,
poplars wave, leaves flash,
sunlight shortening shadows
under the apple trees.
A bronzed girl hangs her jacket
on the back of a chair. 

___________________________

Lunch 

• Pimentos de Patron
• Awesome bread
• Grace = gambas
• Fish soup - monkfish + another (peas, red peppers, onion, potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes) X €22
• Albanina 2009  12% Rias Baixas €9
• Coffee X 2 

 

The Wine Festival
dregs of the bottle
opened last week.
Artisan broach-maker,
ringman born in England,
a girl with braces, 
bright sparklers 

a stall on which to taste
the languages of X,
shish, almost extinct
thanks to Franco from Fustar,
charcouterie from Léon
to Combarro with love
From Cambados
a playground cooking,
children swinging. 

______________________________

Lunch  

Embutidos (cold meats) X 1  €9.90
Ensaladas  €5
Gambas ajille  €9.50
1 Lager  + 2 Water
1 X Halado

_______________________

The day flowers
a sunshine bloom
shadows rest
on baked stone
- time reclines

Nada
strikes me
the table supports
left-overs
crumbs of rustic bread
loiter in crevices  

____________________________

Saturday evening @ 2117
Sitting in hotel room - omanimot gone to find the beach - Grace watching basketball Spain V Lit (Lithuania?) (her choice) 

I fell asleep for about 40 minutes - while the others went to the pool. Unusual for me: went to WiFi zone in hotel lobby - intended to start putting up "The Galician Writing" - frustrated by iPad.

It let me into my blog via Search (not Wordpress) - let me start to  compose blogpost, write the title - but not the body of the post.

Why?
Weird.

iPad would be great if …

(1) I knew how to work it better
(2) It was better
(3) I was different
(4) It was different

"The Simpsons" in Spanish - Grace got fed up with basketball - how long before she tires of Bart & Co.?

The window cells
rectangles
against sky and homes.
Evening spreads its quiet
fade
- the heat of the day
stays in my cheeks. 

I saw a bat dash across the courtyard,
flit faster than a swallow after a fly

You may be content with moths’ wings
and other electrical thicks in the light

This is an evening with Venus. 

__________________________________

Sunday 0905  The sofa in hotel lobby with Grace & iPad

Random doodle (saved to photos)

This is like a train station, people passing by in couples & individuals. I’ve had a lousy night - woke dehydrated four times - so thirsty - didn’t get up in case I’d wake the others.

The plastic back & backpacks leave the hotel speaking Scandanavian.  Benjamin is in Ibsenland now.

We’ve learned how to move on to a new work of art.

"The iPad did a parp."
"No, that was me,
excuse me, I said excuse me…"

I’m so glad it’s 9 - I feared it might be 6, and I’d be awake, annoyed, tired.  This means I must have slept - even tho I had the impression I was awake for hours.

Oh I am tired, hot, another day of hot sun is here - the heat takes it out of me.

Artificial light inside.

"The snakes are kissing each other…
Look at this, I can even draw a white snake.
Look at this, they are hugging
poor black one…
There, his is very sick, all those spots
cause he is leaning over
he’s ill
He’s ill, look, all those spots…
That snake said
‘I will make you better.’
That’s the yellow
mommy, mommy mommy [squeeking]
mommy… "

I want mussels for dinner tonight
I want a song that’s ever so tight
Let me have my favorite sweet
Nothing you do would be such a treat. 

____________________________________________________________

Monday morning 

I woke at 0915, with a pain all over my back. Showered in hot water, hoping the warmth would tend the aching muscles.
Slowly I forgot about my back.
I had a while without glasses - couldn’t find them in bedroom - they’d been handed into Reception..

Still trying to get iPad to let me update my blog on Blogs.ie + add a blog to Reeder
- so irritating that I’ve vowed not to Tweet.  Bet I could get an answer of help on Twitter.

Also, I can’t put my photos on to iPad.

Grace plays on "Angry Birds" - we all do.  I read "The Google Story". 

There’s a woman on her iPad in lobby, another woman on laptop & son on notebook.

We’re going to go to Muros.  How far is that from here? The four hours from 2pm are fit only for driving & sitting in cafés.

Galicia…
They say it’s Spain’s Ireland
where the temperature’s not so hot -
the coastline’s rough and crude,
unsophisticated, undeveloped land

they say it’s like going back
to the tone of the 1950s,
but the Irish don’t visit Galicia,
this is an English-free zone -
corn-on-the-cob, vineyard plots,
eucalyptus and honeysuckle…
wind, sun and independence.

It feels so far from Madrid,
a Donegal from Stephen’s Green,
a Belfast from Tralee -  
Monks carried the Albarino seeds
from across the Rhine they say
but the razor-shell clams are homegrown
Navajas
Pimientos de Padrón fly the green flag
sweetening the oil, salted, occasionally fiery,
a surprising explosion of chilli
reminds me of Franco’s birthplace Ferrol
El Caudillo - the shipyards of Harland & Wolff,
the fishing fleet in Killybegs,
memories of the Lanes in Limerick.

________________________________

1400
I can set my clock by the heat of the sun,
feel the call of the shade through skin of Irish genes
‘Estrella Galicia, cerveza especial’.
There is no place like stone for refuge,
no far, far better place that I drink now,
than I have ever been
to slake a thirst
conceived by the morning’s pool. 

We have plans to go out for the afternoon & evening, north to Muros, driving with the windows open, or air-conditioning on. We have no map for distances - the WiFi…

_______________________________

Monday @ 2105
Restaurante Marsquéria in town, harbour of Fisterra
- as the light thins
- on a white paper tablecloth
- the day chills to a close
and the people gather to eat.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Tues @ 0708

Sent 303kb
Received 1.7mb     Why so high?

____________________________

The end of the world

the coast of death
the Camino finish
lighthouse
people wait for an apparition
boots suspended from metal
cameras for eyes
taking up position on the rocks
the tiny flotilla below
a speedboat rounding the Head
inside an Exhibition 
the Cross
the sun on the sea
blinding light
The God of the Sea is expected,
an air of a gathering
bodies arranging themselves

_________________________

1043 Getting up for breakfast

fried egg X 2            Pineapple X 2 X 1/2
bacon X 6                Plum
grapes X 1 big bunch  Bread

After writing more of "Social Media for Beginners"
After leaving a blog comment on MWN
After lying on sofa in pajama bottoms
After Grace coming to find me @ 1015
Shower & shave
Can’t believe I’ve been up 4 hours
After looking at photos on iPhone & Fugifilm

Let’s go to Gui on way to Vigo - agreed 

Lot’s of cake & more pineapple.

________________________

Tui (say Twee)
1515 Hot:  31 degrees now - up from 27 degrees
- across from Portugal

______________________________________

________________________

Snack Cantinho
19.40: Kyle from San Francisco, spoke Spanish, Portugese,+ Russian, daughter 3 Maiah
= heading south towards Algarve
Live near Bilbao, 30-40 mins Calabria
Born 1969, knows Santana’s music 

In Portugal I met a man
looking for a church,
his shirt was black
his head was bald.

___________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday begins here …. 

Baiona Plan

• Columbus’ Pinta in harbour [10-2pm]
• Medieval walls - walk around parapet
• Footpath beneath walls - small beaches
• Praia de America  2 kms east via village Ramallosa (Roman Bridge)
• Picador Conde de Gondomar (visit)
• A Guneda = Celta (pre Roman hill fort)  = Cromlech (stone circle)
• Ferry €3 X 2 to Caminha Portugal