No place like home
Lorna looks back at her time in London and realises that there is no place like her hometown - Dublin.
Just a tourist as soon as I arrived. I was dumbfounded by that huge city. Everybody seems so secure in his or her own skin. Nobody gave a monkeys what anyone else thought of him or her.
So many cultures in such a city must create an overwhelming atmosphere of pure individuality for everyone. When you got angry at people you could say what you wanted to anyone. Everyone got angry quite often in London. Even if it was sunny the atmosphere was dull.
What is it about Dublin? It could be that lively cultural atmosphere or that never-ending flow of beer.
For me though, the essence of Dublin is walking up those cobble stones of Grafton Street alongside the ghosts of Joyce, Wilde or Casey, Yates, Beckett, Stoker and the biggest drunk of us all - Behan, who probably meets up for the odd pint with Kavanagh now and again. Most **** belts out their tunes on either side of you - theirs and everyone else's.
London - bright-lights city with diversity and energy spouting out from every pore. I'll always have the snapshots to remember, yet wherever I go I'll smell, taste and feel Dublin - my little apple of my eye.
End slide - With Thanks to Rob and Paul.
Lorna Brennan