Our New Digs

So, here we are in Ireland.
Brookfield Hall is a university affiliated apartment complex designed with students in mind. (Obviously.) The joint is mostly furnished and appointed, so we have television (for the first time in nearly a decade), semi-functional kitchen accoutrements, some dingy, old couches, and a double bed. There are two rooms in this place; each has a student desk and a closet as well as the most important item in any student facility, a cork bulletin board. We’re on the second floor and have a lovely balcony to take the air and to hang some laundry. Happily, the flat gets plenty of light throughout the day.

         

Brookfield is just shy of three kilometers from the Irish World Academy on campus. We were able to purchase a couple of secondhand bikes and have been getting around that way for the most part. There is also a free shuttle from here to there which we’ll surely use throughout the wintery months and in case of rain, which it does quite often.
It’s quiet here most of the time. Our next door neighbors are a mom and a two-year-old daughter. The latter makes quite a sound and likes to slam the vestibule door often. Otherwise, she’s cute as a button.

We do have a ticking clock. It’s both comforting and nettlesome.

There’s a foot path running along the perimeter of the complex bordered on both sides by wild blackberry and stinging nettle that leads to the apartments behind us and terminates in an open field. Overlooking the field is the strangest grove of manicured trees. Someone has taken great pains to prune the pine trees that form a wall around that property. What lies beyond, we have yet to discover. The curious aspect of the pruning is that it’s been done on the side of the “wall” that nobody is meant to see. Odd?

          

The Limerick City Centre is a five kilometer hike. That’s about a fifteen minute bike ride. It’s a place like many others; industrial on the outskirts, mercantile on the inskirts, and, naturally, pubs sprinkled throughout. The River Shannon runs through the city and defines the northern boundary of County Limerick. It’s a fairly bike-friendly city; the drivers here tend to be in much less a rush and are far more aware of pedestrians and cyclists. There are a number of bike lanes going into the city and a beautiful path that follows the bank of the river and leads from downtown all the way to the UL campus.

We’re technically living in Castletroy, a “suburb” of Limerick City. There are fields where snails crawl, flowers grow, horses play, and cattle low. Castletroy offers much of the steeper inclines to pedal as opposed to Limerick City’s relative flats. The balance of fields to commercial area is equitable and the business seems to be mostly big-box corporate and not very personal. So it goes; Limerick City has plenty to offer in opposition.

           

The climate of Ireland would be considered to be of the temperate oceanic variety. “They” say there are no extremes in temperature and that rainfall is moderate. That doesn’t really hold up with our experience or the warnings we’ve received from the locals. “Buy a sturdy umbrella and always have it on hand.” “Make sure to have loads of warm clothing for the winter.” These are the common statements we’ve heard as newcomers. To quote Frank McCourt on growing up here in the 1930s and 40s, “Above all — we were wet. Out in the Atlantic Ocean great sheets of rain gathered to drift slowly up the River Shannon and settle forever in Limerick.” A lot has changed since Frank McCourt’s childhood, but not the weather. Nothing ever really dries here. For most of the first month here it’s rained every day, and we’ve been out and about when that rain happens. When the sun has graced us, it’s been very pleasant, though. We did have sunshine and perfect weather this past week and we’re grateful for that. The summer temperatures have been no higher than a balmy seventy degrees (F); quite a contrast to central Texas! One can hope for a mild winter and enough respite from the rain to enjoy the lush surroundings.

All in all, it’s very different here, but there is a quiet beauty, a rawness and unpretentiousness that is refreshing. And we have each other.