well, today september brought moisty mist … the sort of spitting spray you don’t think of as rain until you reach up to push your tendriling hair out of your eyes and find that your face is wet. the californians, who must have thought otherwise, were trudging about with umbrellas. silly geese.

this morning i passed dozens of dew-bedecked spider webs strung up in morning glory vines … then scrambled down the rocky path beside the moody river (grey and mysterious today). highlights of my four hours at nui included the seventy-five cent fruit scone at java city and the sign outside a seminar room in the zoology department which very politely informed visitors: “please note that it would be highly appreciated if no beverages, excepting plain water, were to be consumed in this room.” eire has come a long way from its allegedly barbaric roots, as anyone who’s ridden in a taxi (“kindly refrain from smoking”) or eaten at supermac’s (“please queue here”) can attest.

and now it’s back across the bridge to the lovely library to read up on javanese factory workers and early irish history!