EXCERPT FROM SARA’S JOURNALOctober 29, 1998
Near Ballyferriter
Dingle Peninsula
Alfi is good to us. She
always gets her pains when we are close to a garage. Now if she could only master her
timing so that they wouldn’t show themselves after dark.
A young, perspiring woman enters the dining room and asks how we would
like our eggs. She is cooking breakfast for the noisy pub-people in a
miniscule furnace of a kitchen.
Alfi is up on the hoist. We cross the street and land in the Cybersuite.
Alfi has had some seals replaced and the Fiat mechanic has assured us
that she won’t need a new clutch for at least a few months.
Kerry The Kingdom Museum provides a detailed overview of the
history of County Kerry beginning at about 3000 BC. Exhibits explain where one can
find evidence of Neolithic settlements in Kerry, the Celts, Saint Patrick's mission in the
5th century, the Norman conquest of the middle ages, England's control and what happened
when Oliver Cromwell rampaged in 1641. How Kerry was affected by the Great
Famine of 1845-51, Home Rule, the Anglo-Irish wars and the continued Troubles
between Northern Ireland and England are touched upon. The museum features an
installation exhibit called "The Medieval Experience". We sit on a little
electrical bench that moves through a reconstruction of medieval Tralee.
The wind has been blowing hard for four days. The swells at Sybil Point
are rough and crashing on the fields in front of the cottage. I trust the sheep know to
get out of the way. There is a lot of information about surfing.
