Down time
(Dundrum Castle, County Down, Northern Ireland)When John de Courcy founded this castle in 1177 overlooking Dundrum Bay and the Mourne Mountains, little could he have suspected that Dundrum would one day become the home of Gerard "Crime Scene NI" Brennan, blogger, wearer of several crime-fiction hats, and my gracious host yesterday. (Little more could he have dreamed that Carrickfergus, site of his other great castle, would one day become home to the Joymount Arms pub, its proprietress, and her crime-writing brother.)
Our restful drive through the fields of County Down followed an afternoon of talking, shopping and talking shop at Belfast's No Alibis. The day's bounty included books by Brian McGilloway, David Peace and Reginald Hill; a calendar with gorgeous illustrations inspired by classic crime-book covers; and the only novel ever placed into my hands by its own putative protagonist.
© Peter Rozovsky 2009
Labels: Gerard Brennan, images, Ireland, No Alibis, Northern Ireland, what I did on my vacation
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 4:11 AM
6 Comments:
Finally a plug for the Joymount Arms. Our family masterplan has paid off at last! Now I can retire from this crime writing racket for good.
Hope you're enjoying the County Down. It's a lovely spot and home of crime writer Colin Bateman and singer Van Morrison - one of cheerful demeanor and the other, well, to steal from Bertie Wooster, it's not difficult to tell the difference between him and a ray of sunshine.
Buy Ger a half of Carlsberg on me.
Ah, Ireland!
Have never visited Northern Ireland, but been to Dublin twice, and the west coast two years ago. Enjoy - and I wouldn´t mind seeing more photos :D
Adrian, I had to do the drinking for both of us. We ate dinner out in the company of Gerard's two-year-old. Maybe Ger would have had a pint if all he had to do afterward was drive me, but with his son, no. So my Magner's was the only alcoholic beverage consumed. Ah, and we had a lovely view of the bay.
Dorte, when you come to Belfast, you stop at No Alibis to stalk up on crime fiction, but only if you're not flying Ryanair, with its niggardly baggage allowance and outsize charges for exceeding it.
Then I shall have to use my sister´s method: bring old clothes and leave them there so you can stuff your bags with more books.
I applied a variant. I used convention book bags as packing material for the books I sen thome by mail.
In any case, the postscript is that I'll wind up not flying Ryanair again this trip, so I need not have been in such a rush to use the post. I found an alternate method of transport that should be more fun.
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