I wonder at times why we don’t get up and out for every dawn. When you are camping or sleeping in a tiny VW van at western the edge of Ireland, every sound tells you, the day is here! Get out of bed now!
It starts with crows flying from their roost across the harbour to the Castle. I catch them crossing overhead from my leaba. (Irish for bed) It is still chilly and about 6.30 when the swallows begin to chatter. So we jump up, pull on jackets and shoes and go out into the morning. The step from the leaba to Kinvarra Pier is literally just one leap out of bed onto the stones!
The village is still asleep except for these fishermen. Three generations, they board a tiny boat to take them further out in the harbour to their trawler. They seem cold and very serious about their work, never casting a glance left or right.
Gradually the sun rises up from behind the castle, making the sky deep and golden. Swallows gather around our heads, lining up in rows on wires and masts. Getting ready to head back to Africa, they are giddy and lithe. Like ourselves, two big kids. Gawking, as if we never saw a sunrise, as if we never before had stood on a chilly pier at dawn, skywatching.
Granpa with his white beard looks like the leprechaun doll my mother brought me from Ireland.
Well I have to say he caught my eye and my lens although he never noticed me at all! Definitely the Grandpa of the bunch, but is he an actual leprechaun…..? The jury is still out!!
I’d imagine they have a lot on their mind, trying to make a living from the water at the moment. I’d put money on you being noticed, maybe it’s just the weight of responsibility on them, or something more 🙂
A hard day’s work ahead of them for sure. It’s a strange one to be standing there admiring the view and then to see the three of them with that weight on them. Very well put Andrew. A weight is right….
Or maybe they were returning Santa to the North Pole.
That’s a fair bit of rowing they have ahead of them so Anonymous!