Month: September 2018

Night at the Museum

| Mairead

(Glass shelves filled with porcelain from a famous factory in Bayeux, no longer operational)

We have arrived in France! Our ship docked right on time at 4.15pm, at 5pm we were in the supermarket and back on the road by 6pm. We had planned to stay the night at Isigny sur Mer because it was a great place to stay back in February even though we nearly came to blows over the water being turned off… This time the water was turned on but there was no space to spend the night. That was a bit of a shock, it seems this might be the popular time of the year for motorhomes in France…

(Tools used to make the famous Bayeux lace)

Denis was not dismayed (I was a bit) so we decided to follow our previous advice to ourselves – take the opportunities when they arrive – we filled up with water. There was a moment of hilarity (not for me but for the watching Frenchmen) when I pressed the button and only half the water reached the tank, the rest spraying me in the face. Oh how we (read, they) laughed… but we were friends in the end because one man came over with a spanner and a bunch of connectors and made all the water go into the tank. I thanked him profusely with the water dripping down my glasses. Denis was in search of even a tiny spot for us to park and came back to see the Frenchman and me smiling at each other… so he smiled along too. He’s very trusting.

(I love the way the shadow of the lace fell on the wall panels)

It was nearly 7.30pm and I was hungry and tired, not a good combination – for Denis. There was nothing to do but head for another location and hope for the best. And we did really well. Half an hour later we were pulling into the parking area of a museum in Bayeux with plenty of space. The joy of finding a place cleared my hunger and tiredness so we locked up and took a walk into town. We had only reached the cathedral (very lovely looking building) when the hunger and tiredness returned. We raced (as only people of our levels of fitness can) back to Ruby, made dinner, washed dishes and straight to our lovely comfy bed, our first night back in France.

(Isn’t that just adorable? The antique chairs up hight out of harms way)

Then this morning we visited two very good museums. We took an early visit to the  Bataille de Normandie (100 meters from our parking spot) and saw a concise overview movie of the invasion of Normandy. For some reason that whole episode in history makes me tear up. After that I went to see the MAH-B. It’s an old restored town house with the history of the area told through art. So that includes prehistoric pottery, Roman artefacts, paintings,  lace making and modern porcelain. It was unique in the way it was designed, very simple but with style, very French. Very lovely.

(Very lovely French restaurant opposite the cathedral, Bayeux)

We’ve moved on again tonight and are behind the sand dunes of a Normandy beach. We can hear the waves, an insomniac seagull and we are so close to our neighbour’s motorhome we can hear him snoring.

All is well, Mairead.

Sea Day

| Mairead

(I don’t know where I am…)

We’re on the high seas somewhere between Rosslare in Ireland and Cherbourg in France. Possibly already in the English Channel but can’t be sure. So we’re between places, in transition, not there yet, not started and yet begun.

(Blue is my favorite color, lots on this ship)

It is my joy to know lots of people who are waaay younger than me. I think I like younger people because I never wanted to grow up, to be an adult, to have that haggard oppressed air all adults seemed to have when I was a child. Or it could be that I know how difficult it was for me to make the transition across the space between before-adult and acting-adult, actually I might still be in that space. Or… maybe it’s possibility.

Really young children know possibility. They usually get it knocked out of them when they’ve been in school a couple of years though. But you can re-learn possibility and when you re-learn it you can see it in yourself and in others. It’s a yummy feeling, kinda of sparkly with little pops of joy!

(It’s a bit scary down there…)

I know two waaay younger people who are about to start third level education and I am awash with sparkle and poppy for them! I know their journey might be rocky and messy and scary but it’s also exciting and wonderful and interesting but mainly it’s incredibly beautiful. Because they are incredibly beautiful…

It’s something I learned from standing on the path cheering bus loads of women who had been in Magdalene Laundries… no matter what people say about you, or what you think about yourself, or what you’ve done that seems like a mistake, or what you can’t do that seems like a failure or what you’re afraid you can’t do because you’re not capable, there is at the center of you, an essence, that is pure and white and beautiful and it touches everything you do and all of your journeys.

I wasn’t so sparkly, poppy when it was me… noooo, I was more scared shirtless. I’m sure you’re sick of me telling you I failed third level education, didn’t get the marks, had to leave, no piece of paper, no graduation day. If I had known that failing was just part of my incredibly beautiful journey I might have been kinder, less angry, more patient, less ashamed of myself. It’s very, very difficult to feel sparkly poppy and shame, simultaneously. One kinda pushes the other away and shame is better at pushing.

(The coffee on board may not be great but the cups are an inspiration!)

For today, for me and for you and for those starting new journeys I’m going to give lots of attention to sparkly poppy… because I want it to push stronger.

How about you? Mairead.

On the Road Again!

| Mairead

NewImage

(Today I’m at a luxurious secret location having an adventure… Translation: I’m sitting on the bed at the motorway services writing to you)

It has taken us weeks but we finally packed everything into Ruby (the motorhome) and we are on the road to Rosslare and the ferry to France. It depends completely on the weather where we will go after that… warm = stay north, cool = head south. It’s one of the things we like about this way of travelling, no planning required and we can change as we go.

My intention is to blog every day but I have some other things I want to do also. One thing I want to play around with is the idea of publishing a creative workbook – possibly digital so that it can be downloaded. Anyway, all that’s for the future, for now we are parked at the motorway services just twenty minutes from home – you can be having an adventure anywhere! Denis is working and I’m talking to you.

Since the last time I blogged while travelling there’s a new law (GDPR) and I had to be sure to be sure you really, really wanted to get these emails. So if you are getting this by email then you said yes! Thank you! If you’re reading this on Facebook (or someone sent it to you) and you want to get the emails then go to mairead hennessy.com and click (or tap on) the subscribe button. Speaking of Facebook, I used to be able to post automatically there but now it’s a bit more complicated and requires a different page (The Blog) not sure how it will work… If you’re reading this on Facebook, thank you! And could you let me know how you did that! Also, please feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested.

I know it’s confusing or maybe I’m making it more confusing, apologies! We’ll be moving on soon, the ferry will be leaving at 9pm. This post is scheduled to arrive by email tomorrow morning and in Facebook an hour earlier…

…fingers crossed. Mairead.