Letter from Dublin. Morning breeze (Awakening of the senses)

By Pantelis Goularas

     Every morning. Every. Single. Morning. I do the same walk. I use to follow the same direction. Walking from the Dun Laoghaire Harbor to Martello Tower. A distance more than two kilometers and so much on going back. Passing by or meeting names, that sound strange in my ear. East Pier, Scotchman Bay, Newtownsmith, Marine Parade, Glasthule, Sandycove, Sandycove Harbor, Forty Foot, Martello Tower. How different in the first hearing, from the familiar Greek names, that I used to hear during the previous sixty years. Strange names in the beginning, but now, after two years of stay in Ireland, I started to get used to them. They became part of my life too.

(The Dun Laoghaire-Sandycove coastline. Place of my daily morning walk)

     The sea on my left. The sea that all the time gives in, to the mood of the tide. I still dοn't understand the regularity of its moving. Sometimes, during the ebb, it's so far away from me, hundred or even more meters, leaving naked rocks, stones, pebbles and sand and sometimes, with the flow, covers everything, touching the coastline promenade. Black or brown rocks, taking the color from the time they stay under the water. Green stones, when the water does not leave junk on them. A very special green color, the color of the sea plants, that are wrapped around them, like precious celebration gifts.

(Like precious celebration gifts)

     Amazing! The sea color is amazing! When the sky is cloudy and the rain is coming, the sea turns wild and black. When the colors of the sky are lighter, with little or no clouds, the sea takes all the shades of green and sky blue. And then, especially when the water comes back, I can hear the gently fading of the roaring. Like a secret whisper in my ear. Gazing far away, to the Dublin bay, I can see the Howth Peninsula very clearly. So close, that I think I can catch it with my hands. Or, I can move the small white houses, like chess pieces. And left to the Howth, the North Bull Island, flat, like a floating platform.

(The Howth Peninsula)

     Sounds! Distance sounds from the deep sea, sounds from the going and coming ships! Wave sounds, from the licking the coast waves. Car sounds, from the Marine Parade. Sounds of people walking, trekking or running next to me. But also bird sounds. Screams of gulls or other birds flying over the sea or sitting on the sea rocks or on the coastline. Cormorants, Grey Herons, Wild Geese and even Crows at the seaside, fighting, screaming, looking for food. You can see the cormorants and the wild geese (we call them “divers” in Greece) diving under the water, not only with their head but the whole body, disappearing for a few moments and then, appear in a distance of twenty or thirty meters. You can see the grey herons standing motionless, on small sea rocks, lurking patiently for their hunting. And when it appears, with a fast, sudden flick, they unroll their long neck and they catch the poor creature of the nature, that had the foolishness to pass by. You can hear the croh-croh of the crows, when three or four of them, in the same time, try to claim a small worm, that the sea left in front οf their feet, or the night rain made it leave its hole.

(Lurking patiently for their hunting)

     Later I meet the picturesque Sandycove Harbor. Swimmers cheering and laughing, ready to swim in the welcome waters of the harbor, walking on the sand, even it is Autumn and the morning temperature very low. And smells! The salt and iodine aroma, that the morning sea breeze brings to, and reminds me my home so much. A few meters next, in the hug of the Forty Foot, swimmers are already into the water and a chilling is running along my spine. It's cold, not in my imagination, but these swimmers are fearless and swim like they are in the midsummer.

(The picturesque Sandycove Harbor)

(Forty Foot)

     Time to go back. I'm looking forward to get in my favorite local coffee shop, where I use to drink my first cup of coffee, after the morning walk. Getting into, happy faces say good morning to me. The shop is full of the smell of the coffee and of the accompanying cookies. I get my coffee and walk to my favorite seat. A deep breathing and the perfume of the freshly brewed coffee, covers my nose and lungs. I'm hugging the cup with my palms. Hot! All the heat is getting into my body! I bring it close to my lips. Sipping once or twice carefully. Hot! The full coffee taste, flows and covers my tongue and my palate! I close my eyes and I recall the morning pictures in my memory. Another day began. Finally life is beautiful.

(Hatch. May favorite local coffee shop)

Note: This is an exercise story, in the frame of the Creative Writing Class - Dun Laoghaire Further Education Institute. At first it was written in Greek and then in English, not as the translation but as a new story from the beginning.