Thursday 27th May (Dublin):

I spent the morning reading Dermot Bolger's 'A Father's Music' and the Bealtaine evaluation report. In the afternoon I met up with Alice Twaite again and we toured The Hugh Lane, 'Rialto Twirlers' at The Lab, 'The North Strand Bombing' exhibit at Dublin Library plus 'Crochet Coral Reef at the Science Gallery.

We then checked out Temple Bar and went for a rather superior supper at a place on Upper Ormond Quay - the food is getting better at last...

Friday 28th May(Dublin):

I drove from Castleknock through Phoenix Park to Christ Church Rathgar for a screening of the fantastic 'Dean Spanley' (Peter O'Toole, Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill) in an upstairs room in the church hall as part of the 'First Friday Film Club'. The film is set in Edwardian England and tracks the thawing of the relationship between widower and eccentric patriarch Fisk Senior (O'Toole) and Fisk Junior (Northam), following the loss of their wife / mother and son / brother respectively. The relationship change is triggered by the mysterious Dean Spanley and his predilection for Imperial Tokay. About 30 people attended. After the film had finished and we had had a cup of tea, we were entertained with live Roots and Americana music by Lynda Lucas and Brendan Priestley - excellent traditional and more recent material from The Carter Family et al - excellent close harmonies. http://www.firstfridayfilmclub.com

IMDB overview and reviews of 'Dean Spanley': http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135968/

What is interesting is that, during my ten days in Dublin, I keep finding connections back to the East of England and Norfolk. The Tacita Dean film 'Apples' showing at The Hugh Lane was filmed in Suffolk, Alice Twaite (whom I only met through this fellowship) originally comes from Norfolk, and the film 'Dean Spanley' was shot mainly in the East of England (- I think Norwich and Cambridge) and was part-funded by Screen East.

I then drove through town and out to Howth to eat whitebait and mussels in Octopussy's Seafood Tapas Bar, followed by a frustrating drive across the top of Dublin and down the now legendary M50 back home.