I often think of my holidays in Dublin two years ago. Dublin is a really bright cheery town, a contrast to Cork in every way. The proximity of the sea has a bracing effect on the whole atmosphere. There are some lovely stretches of strand in Portmarnock, solitary and lonely, with Lambeg Island and Ireland’s Eye looking like fairy isles out at sea. In the harbour is a marshy waste with a beautiful silver strand on the far side, called the ‘Bull’. These places, when I think of them, impress me with a feeling of loneliness I cannot describe. I spent some of the happiest days there. To-day I felt miserable. I am not out enough lately, stuck inside the whole day, and whenever I begin work, I get a head like a lump of lead. But I am going to exercise myself well when the hols come.
