Fragments of Ireland (Sept - Nov 2022)
- giannis330
- Dec 3, 2022
- 11 min read
Updated: Feb 10, 2023
Idea Shamelessly Stolen and Vulgarly Reappropriated
Thessaloniki, Greece 31-1/08-09/2022
From what unfathomable depths comes such warmth. Five more minutes… please…
Thessaloniki, Greece 02/09/2022
With every step I took, they became smaller; and as they became from small to tiny, a dark lump kept growing in my chest. Lost them behind some Duty-Free bloody perfumes.
♪ Song of the day: Dio “All the Fools Sailed Away” https://open.spotify.com/track/0SYF0IKXsDZI0XR7TM2Kxr?si=3040a18044214459
[First days in Cork are under construction; so many things to say I don’t know where to start from]
Cork, Ireland 03/09/2022
Iggy’s “People Are Strange” is playing in my mind.
Cork, Ireland 04/09/2022
Official Greek welcome to Cork; they all seem lovely!
Cork, Ireland 05/09/2022
Café Spresso, Cork. “I suggest you come inside and eat your Goulash my friend because the dish is going to get cold so fast out here”. Taking care of me like the long-lost Polish relatives I haven’t got.
Cork, Ireland 08/09/2022
“‘there are many kinds of loves’ Ereköse said” (Michael Moorcock, Elric:The Sleeping Sorceress) and I think I can tell the difference now.
Cork, Ireland 09/09/2022
Firecrackers at the distance. Got to love the Irish humour.
Cork, Ireland, Wednesday 14/09/2022
Passing by “The Cork Arms”. Old rock ‘n’ roll songs pouring out of its open door; I entered, ordered a Beamish and sat at the bar. Overhearing discussions, staring at the colourful bottles and the pictures on the wall. Finally, stayed for three pints, after Dennis, the old Irish man sitting next to me at the bar started a discussion which began from engineering – for the duration of which I was nodding my head in agreement, understanding not a single word – and went on to traveling all over Greece and the Arab countries, about Mythology, Religion, Yeats, and women. “I am here almost every Wednesday lad! I’ve been coming here since I was sixteen!”
Cork, Ireland 16/09/2022
Took me so long to realise that this place has no real cops; and the ones I have come across seem to be so nice! To whom, may I ask, are those people throw stuff at when getting angry? ؞
Cork, Ireland 17/09/2022
A Capitalist Paradise and I’m running about with nothing but a fig leaf.
Cork, Ireland 18/09/2022
I always had an urge to write. But every time I pressed my pencil on the paper there they were, springing out like some ghastly caricatures of Gilray’s prints or like ludicrous cartoons out of “MAD” magazine, laughing their heads off hysterically, pointing at the page with their crooked fingers, blabbering nonsense. Nietzsche, riding the horse, has come to the rescue!
Cork, Ireland 19/09/2022
“Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine” (Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science). Wondering what their response would have been. And, is the answer liable to perpetual change?
Cork, Ireland 20/09/2022
I stumble on the bus, carrying so many bags of stuff for my new home. I sit next to an old person, dressed neatly with a brown suit and a flat cap, disturbing him a bit while trying to arrange my load. He says hello and laughs a bit seeing me like that. I open a bag of liquorice – I got the mere essentials – and offer one to him. We start talking a bit and I tell him that I am studying English literature. He asks me about Yeats and “Sailing to Byzantium” and “Leda and the Swan” comes to my mind. Then he starts reciting “The Song of Wondering Aengus” by heart, with a voice so deep and an astonishing vigour:
I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.
When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
I was so amazed and absorbed that I missed my stop. I thanked him and I got off the bus smiling. I didn’t mind walking, carrying all that stuff uphill; it deserved the two extra miles.
Cork, Ireland 22/09/2022
Got a job at the restaurant opposite the pub! Ran to the pub afterwards to buy everyone a drink for helping me out. They said they didn’t do anything; I did it all by being so open and talkative and smiling, getting my way through eventually. Anyway, thanks. One Heineken, two pints of Beamish and this piss you guys here call wine, please!
Cork, Ireland 23/09/2022
Thessaloniki will be lovely this time of the year. I wonder if she’s thinking of me too.
Loose Fragment:
Every Saturday I am trying to wake up as early as possible to go to the open market in Cornmarket. I buy ten apples (the only thing I can afford) from a very cute young couple there. Then I have to cross the bridge on my way to Myo café. I always stop right in the middle of that bridge, a crossroads of some sort, a point where the river and the bridge “meet” each other; I open my bag and give one apple to the old lady who is always sitting there.
Cork, Ireland 30/09/2022
She keeps doing that. She pops her little head out of the wallet every time I open it and makes me smile.
Cork, Ireland 02/10/2022
“Only one month in Ireland and you’re already drinking the black stuff!”
Cork, Ireland 03/10/2022
“Hence, also, we can see that when a plant or animal is placed in a new country amongst new competitors, though the climate may be exactly the same as in its former home, yet the conditions of its life will generally be changed in an essential manner” (Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species).
Cork, Ireland 05/10/2022
The coffee at home tastes the same as the Orwellian “Victory Coffee” must have had tasted. I need to find a job.
Cork, Ireland 06/10/2022
Cold and rain. Images of her house in Nemeas Street are keeping me warm.
“[S]he is refuge, sleep; at the caress of her hands he sinks again into natures bosom, he lets himself be carried onward in life’s vast flow as quietly as in the womb or in the grave” (Simon de Beauvoir, The Second Sex).
Cork, Ireland 08/10/2022
Jungian archetypes everywhere. Must study something else.
Cork, Ireland 09/10/2022
Before coming to Cork, I was thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be a great idea to socialize a lot with Greeks since, one of the most important aims of going abroad is to delve into the country’s culture, interact with its people, learn, practice the language etc. Moreover, I didn’t hold much appreciation for the Greeks abroad, having seen innumerable stereotypical examples every summer in Greece who, to say it as gently as possible, are mere imbeciles with money. Thanks to a friend of mine, Christos, who is from my hometown in Greece and who organized a group of Greeks here, taking good care on who is to be added to this group, I met a lot of Greek people in Cork who apparently are amazing! You can always find someone to go out with, they are more than eager to help you and fun to be around! Thanos, who is one of them, has become my Cork best friend, since we find so many similarities in our dispositions. I found out that it is always good to keep in touch with your natives since you can share many similar experiences and problems for which they will probably be more understandable and able to help. A certain balance is also recommended to be kept between hanging out with Greeks, locals or people from other ethnic backgrounds. I’m lucky to have found a new family in Cork.
Cork, Ireland, Monday 10/10/2022
Liked her because of the way she was pronouncing a particular word, which I’m not going to reveal here – and I won’t say it to her either, from fear of making her stop saying it in such a lovely manner.
Cork, Ireland, Tuesday night 11/10/2022
After a couple of pints – or was it more? – upon my way back home, an old man was standing near the gate of St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral. He was staggering, right in the middle of the pavement, staring at the distance. Approaching him he looked at me with glistening eyes, red cheeks and white hair falling in front of his face and said, ‘Have a good night lad’. ‘Goodnight to you too’, I said and smiled. ‘God bless, look after yourself now’. ‘Take care of yourself too, alright?’ I said, and he smiled back. ‘God bless, God bless lad’. After walking a few feet away from him, I looked back before turning the corner. He was still there, looking after me as I was walking home. Guardian angel of the pissed.
Cork, Ireland 12/10/2022
Movie of the day: Woody Allen’s “Love and Death”
Cork, Ireland 13/10/2022
Derrida kicked ass in that conference, didn’t he?
Cork, Ireland 14/10/2022
So cold in this library! Bob Cratchit in Ebenezer’s office. Rubbing fingers, breathing on them, pencil sliding off of them.
Cork, Ireland 15/10/2022
My new walking soundtrack https://open.spotify.com/track/6DTxW9d9kId4E89B1na0lF?si=18fd045e0a794e75
Cork, Ireland 16/10/2022
Started a job as waiter in a posh restaurant. Having “Ratatouille” in mind made the chaos of the kitchen seem ludicrous.
Nothing more invigorating – after running up and down on those uncomfortable shoes and then getting soaked by the rain afterwards – than a Beamish by the fireplace at the “Castle Inn”.
Cork, Ireland 17/10/2022
Mondays are for Dungeons and Dragons at "The Friary"! Saved the day by casting Silence.
Cork, Ireland 18/10/2022
‘Here’s the tall garden wall’, he said. Then showed me to a breach between the stones, through which I had a glimpse of the magnificent garden. Then he said, ‘Go and gather some wood and I will help you build a ladder’.
Cork, Ireland 19/10/2022 From Transhumanism to Alchemy to Renaissance Occultism to Hermeticism to Coincidentia Oppositorum to the Decadent Movement to Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poems; and now a chilling premonition that H.P. Lovecraft is lurking in a dark corner, waiting for his turn.
Cork, Ireland 20/10/2022 If we would overcome death, Transhumanist-wise, we would end up like Tolkien’s elves. Ever-brooding know-it-alls; impeccable hippies; pompous little brats bumming around in fancy houses and transparent clothes, not giving a shite about anyone but themselves, waiting for a chance to die and move to Fantasy Island. Now that I’m thinking about it, I had known a lot of elves.
Cork, Ireland 21/10/2022 First money from the restaurant; 22,50 euro tips. That’s close to the basic allowance in Greece. Big breath for mum. Kettles and cutlery and glasses and pans are boiling and banging and clattering in my room while I’m sleeping.
Cork, Ireland 22/10/2022 Working in that restaurant feels like infiltrating the realm of the elite. Black bow tie, white shirt; a bourgeois 007.
Cork, Ireland 23/10/2022 You’ve got to be a bit mental to work in a restaurant’s kitchen.
Fragment of a Letter to Greece Cork, Ireland 27/10/2022
Like Michael Moorcock’s character, Elric of Melniboné, who abandoned Immryr and all he adored and held dear to travel the continent and discover and understand himself and the world around him and not be engulfed in the degenerate philosophy of his homeland, with its marvelous past and its degraded present and its more ominous future, I – and I don’t want to compare my humble self to the magnanimity of Elric, although he wouldn’t agree to such a sympathetic characterization about himself – had to travel, even if my trip was shorter – and less perilous – than his. Up to a point, its valid that you have to travel and experience other places to reach your inner self and dispatch the veil that hinders your vision to your inner thoughts.
But, as the time goes by, I see that there is nothing else to discover than what I had in front of me, in my embrace or inside me all this time. Everything else is just shadows of the former. The “perfect” – or rather better, materialistically-wise, maybe with some psychological overtones – living conditions of a place may now seem great, but are liable to constant change – for better or for worse – and the paradise you behold now can turn to be illusory, can turn out to be the most gruesome and tortuous hell. Perpetual mobility, such as absolute knowledge, equals to void; to nothingness. As I gather, and as I now deconstruct my previous thoughts about exploring the world, and therefore my self, ceaseless mobility cannot provide you with something that in its turn will supply you with the sanctuary you seek. It can only provide you with hope. And hope is illusory; it is the murderer of creativity and of active dreaming. I want you to Dream with me. Until we meet again.
Cork, Ireland 28/10/2022 Keats fell into the soup of the day.
Cork, Ireland 29/10/2022 Modernity evolves thus, sprouting out of the misinterpretations made by the ephebe and the youth, caused by the function of the allegorical elements which enshroud the literal meaning in a poem, which… ‘Service pleeeease!!’ Oh fuckin’hell..
Cork, Ireland 30/10/2022 Had some salmon with strawberries leftovers from this morning’s VIP buffet. Throw a Marxist in there and he’ll write you a tome the size of the salmon platter.
Cork, Ireland 31/10/2022
Must write somewhat about the Halloween parade! It was marvelous!
Cork, Ireland 01/11/2022
While waiting for the traffic light to turn green I heard someone behind me, whistling a very familiar tune. It had some Balkan overtones, reminding me of home, making me immediately turn around. There was a tall guy, a construction worker. He smiled at me and I smiled back. “Nice tune!” “Thanks mate, it’s a Croatian folk song!” “Brother!”
Cork, Ireland 03/11/2022
“Dennehy’s” Pub. Best Beamish in Cork!
Cork, Ireland 02/11/2022
Movie of the day: George Cukor’s “Gaslight”
Cork, Ireland 04/11/2022 Sometimes I have the urge to go and touch the wrist of some of the clients, to check their pulse. It’s like a wake in there.
Cork, Ireland 05/11/2022 I don’t know why I keep on bringing “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” with me at the restaurant. It oddly comforts me. Like the teddy bear I used to drag around by the throat in the kindergarten.
P.S. Going for a pint with your co-workers after work makes you visible.
Cork, Ireland 06/11/2022
Too quiet at the restaurant today. Working there, I didn’t have many chances to pass by the main entrance where an old gentleman is playing the piano for the guests. The few times that I did though – while carrying drinks or the room service trolley – I nodded my head a little at him, in appreciation of his music, and he used to return that nod with a smile. A momentary bliss, hearing the music, contrasted to the clamor of the kitchen.
So, it is a quiet Sunday today and I am carrying some polished glasses to the bar. The piano player is having a tea there by himself. “And where are you from yourself?”, he asks. The mentioning of Greece triggered a chain of a discussion about music. He told me that he loves the music of Nana Moushouri and that he is playing two of her songs almost every day on the piano in the lounge. He started humming the songs and I recognized them immediately. I told him about Mikis Theodorakis and he knew, of course, the theme from Zorba the Greek. Feeling that they will probably be looking for me in the kitchen I excused myself, telling him that it was a pleasure talking to him; he said the same.
A bit later, having polished more glasses, I took them to the bar and, approaching the counter I heard him playing Nana Moushouri’s “Agapi pou’gines dikopo mahairi”. I was humming it while cleaning the kitchen all night and when I returned home I became quite homesick and cried.
Cork, Ireland 10/11/2022 Dennehy’s Pub is becoming my regular boozer. Gazing at old pictures of Cork all around the walls, talking to Mary, the owner of the pub and her friend, I’ve learned so many things about Cork and Cornmarket Street.
Cork, Ireland 11/11/2022
Movie of the day: Federico Fellini’s “La Strada”
Cork, Ireland, 20/11/2022
Movie of the day: Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”
Cork, Ireland, 27/11/2022
Reading P.B. Shelley’s “The Triumph of Life” after watching Fellini’s “8 ½” https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/8-12 I tend to find a lot of similarities, not only restricted to the blurring of reality and dream but also the concept of the procession, the dance (of death?) in the end and, now that I have attended the lecture on it (28/11/2022) the similarities of both the film and Shelley’s text with Dante’s “Divine Comedy”.
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