The Botanic Gardens, Dublin

dod

Under the statue of Socrates, the towering glasshouse reflecting the sun in a thousand directions on the horizon, by the rocky weir where the fall reinvigorates the dead water, the sun beats, the busy flies hover, and I sit with the birdsong, the lilac, the various greens and the brilliant off-reds. The river prattles over the rock, and up the grassy hill the students anticipate holidays in the school whose name I still do not know. Occasionally an old man wiling the day away will walk by; a couple younger than their age might suggest will go by hand in hand, smiling; a daughter still wearing last weekend’s communion dress will pass, her mother looking for a photograph setting.

Down the turning path past the heathers and a rickety bench a squirrel runs, perhaps on his way to the rose garden. A light breeze strokes through the treetops. A magpie saunters up another pathway and a carefree ivory butterfly flutters nimbly past.

I have fond recollections of my regular visits to these gardens with my grandparents many years ago. Untroubled by worldly concerns, and oblivious to the constraining effect that old age had on their agility, I would run through the lolling spread of the Lawson Cypress branches calling out catchphrases from Saturday morning TV programmes. Patiently they would wait, vainly hoping that I might eventually tire myself out. Running as fast as my short legs would carry me I would holler Red-Indian battle cries whilst whipping out behind me at an imaginary horse.

Starting at the top of the hill that descends to the reed-pond, I would lie and roll down, covering myself in cut grass. Ignoring the increasingly urgent calls warning me of the approaching pond, I somehow always managed to stop short of the water. I would rise, pointing at them to indicate the futility of their worry, disarming them by laughing hysterically. After a pause for breath, I would climb the hill again for a repeat performance.

We would pause at the bandstand for an ice cream. Now I realise it was to allow them time for a rest. The toilet building close by, integrated into a rockery in order not to offend the general aesthetic of the gardens, are closed to the public now- a throwback to a more naive time.

In the serene calm the birds sing. Here there is no competition with gatling snarl of motorbike engines or impatient hooting of frustrated drivers. Here you are troubled only by the sound of a duck diving recklessly into the pond, of a squirrel rustling through the exotic grasses, of a blithely chirping robin perched on the wrought iron arm of a bench.

Somewhere there is a photograph of me as a boy standing on the plinth by Socrates. I have my arm around his back as if he were a childhood friend, and I am grinning toothily at the camera as a happy-go-lucky five year old might. Now I sit under the same podium attempting fancifully to recapture those untroubled times- a reunion with a onetime ally who no longer recognises me.

The sundial is situated on a raised dais at the centre of an immaculately maintained rose garden bordering the Tolka river. A hollowed-out globe, a slim arrow through its’ axis casting time’s shadow on a bronze band to indicate the hour, it struck me then as a marvel of engineering, and now as art representing a lost age. I used to have to stand on the tips of my toes, straining my neck that I might see what time the shadow indicated. Now, the sundial is as much about the memory of childhood awe, and constancy, and change.

Up the hill, after the gushing water-lock, past a group huddled in a thicket furtively drinking cheap beer, work continues on new plant exhibits and on the new glasshouse. Through the gates, a young couple and their child enter, the unpredictable sun having enticed them out for a few hours. A group of ladies works on a display piece of cacti.

Beyond the gateway a bus pulls out from its’ stop. A car driver honks loudly to indicate his displeasure at the manoeuvre. I hesitate briefly. I look at the slow-moving convoy of traffic outside and, too early to return to suburbia, I turn around for another walk through the gardens.

TheWolf

Dod, always a pleasure reading your posts. Powerful stuff

Draupnir

Its great, I live round the corner from the Botanic Gardens, used to be a super place to bring women back in the day.

SheroN

Where are these gardens?

Beruthiel

Originally posted by SheroN
Where are these gardens?

out near glasnevin and well worth an afternoon of your time, especially on a summers day

Draupnir

Get the 19 or 13 to the main gate. B is right, lovely place to sit on a Summers day.

Sleepy

That brought back a few memories. I'll have to go out there and relive some of them a bit more. Congrats Dod, you're a one person marketing machine for the Botanic Gardens!

thegills

The old glass house has just been re-vamped too. Bring a sling-shot to kill a few grey squirrels while your at it.

Kone

Very well written dod

I live 5 minutes from the gardens, it's a wonderful place to stroll around
on a summers day.

/Kone

Draupnir

We might be neighbours Kone!

Manchegan

You forgot the two outstanding displays: the "Poisons" section with its hemlock, foxglove, thistle and rhubarb and the "Grasses" exhibit, with the incongruous juxtaposition of "Bowling Green", "Tennis Court", "Soccer Pitch" and "Construction Site".

A friend would mitch off school and look at the spirogyra in the pond all day.

A true gem of Dublin.

nobby79

Great read when cooped up in work waiting for the weekend, powerful imagery. Enjoyed it, thanks dod!

tk123

and up the grassy hill the students anticipate holidays in the school whose name I still do not know.

The school is St Mary's - part of he HFC convent...i'm an ex-pupil!!!! Anyhoo the Bots are great - I live around the corner. Ahhhhhh I wouldn't mind being there now instead of being in work!

leonotron

Hello? Creative Writing forum perhaps? Last thing I want is to check out a post on my local gardens and see this drivel. How about a warning in the title even?

nobby79

How about getting rid of your poxy signature which is drivel, if you think thats impressive and your last post is constructive you are a dick. A wanna be moderator, that is sad.

Draupnir

Nope, really should think before I post sometimes!

leonotron

Originally posted by nobby79
How about getting rid of your poxy signature which is drivel, if you think thats impressive and your last post is constructive you are a dick. A wanna be moderator, that is sad.

Your a wanna be moderator so you have a go at my sig? You loser. Loads of people here list their system specs, I am no different except for the fact that I have a superior machine.

nobby79

"Your a wanna be moderator so you have a go at my sig?" What the **** does that mean you illiterate prick? Superior nob head more like.

leonotron

come on knobby, relax there a little, whats wrong, bad day at your crap job in a call centre? I'm not illetrate either, get a life mate.

nobby79

call centre?? Thats hilarious mate, i'm having a great day in my ideal job, i just don't appreciate people like you judging dod's work as drivel, get a life? I'm not the one bragging about my superior pc even though i'm in my air conditioned office getting ready to leave for the weekend. Just try not to be so judgemental thats all, and ps, presumption is the mother of all **** ups. Enjoy your pc **** boy.:D

leonotron

I have the a/c turned off myself, seeing as I have the doors to the balcony in my office opened up to let the sun shine in. Too bad you can't adjust the a/c in your workplace. Maybe if you ask your floor manager nicely he might get them to adjust it in the factory for you.

nobby79

Look you fool nobody, someone intelligent enough to have their own office with a balcony does not randomly slate a creative work from a stranger, your bragging signature and your demeanor tell me you are sitting at home waiting for your Ma to make you lunch while you finsish your 3rd toss of the day and play some silly pc game. Open those curtains when you finish and get some air, you sound a little bitter.

leonotron

I thought you were getting ready to go home, hurry up an d punch out you loser. I've had enough of your boring nonsense. I'm not going to drop to you're level. The fact you have no sense of humour appals me, or are you just really slow perhaps. And don't bother with a come back, I won't be reading it so it will only prove your talking tough to try and impress others.

nobby79

"you're level" "appals" : should have finished school leo.

I haven't been talking tough, i just wanted to let you know that judging someones creative work as drivel shows stupidity and immaturity.

Where has been your humour, not in one post has there been anything to laugh at apart from your spelling and bragging sig.

PS I know you are reading this little man.:D

SantaHoe

Oh yeah?
Well I live in that "If Carlsburg did flat-mates" apartment which I share with many beautiful ladies, I don't have to work because I won the lottery then trippled my winnings on the stock market.
I have huge muscles and a big willy.
Yet curiously enough, I find nothing better to do with my time than argue with people on the internet

Exit

Very good read as usual. It's nice to have it on After Hours, brings some class to the forum.

I haven't been to the Botanic Gardens since I was a kid. I'll have to go spend a day there someday soon.

Decker

Hi,

Great post dod, well written. Brings back my most memorable sunny afternoon there. A good mate and myself were looking after another friend’s 4 or 5 year old at the time. As we were walking around the gardens he kept running onto the grass, so we started to make up stories; the sprinklers were lasers and if he stepped on the grass more than 3 times in a minute the lasers would burn his fingers nails or his eyebrows off. The pointy building (think it’s one of the met buildings) was the space centre and at night a large laser would pop out and burn holes in the moon, that’s how it has all those dark spots you know, this went on for hours, the kid loved it. He thought we were cool, hell … we thought we were cool; in fact we were just baked:) Ever after he always referred to the Botanic as the Space Gardens! Of course his mum said he had nightmares for weeks.

adonis

who is the moron that has that computer? with the specs?
you should do some kind of screening process on applications for membership.
I dont mind him critisicing the post, but the air of pseudo-superiority only goes to show how inferior he really is to everyone else in the world.

so what do you store on your 10*120GB usb hard drives?
your memoirs, something like this perhaps

"light chinks through the curtains as i open my trousers for the fourth time"

Dredz

Great stuff dod, nice description of the Gardens

Don't go there as otfen as I should nowadays...must laze around there during the holidays.

Jaysus, a lot of boardsers live around my neighborhood

BEAT

very nice, this should be moved to creative writing though, shouldnt it?

SantaHoe

Also, trolling aside... nice thread.
I also live only a few minutes walk from the gardens, and have similar scary memories of the place
I dropped in a few weeks ago, and was just thinking how much bigger the place seemed when you were a sprog.... you'd hardly recognise some of the landmarks with an extra 3 feet onto your height.
I always found its proximity to Glasnevin cemetary a bit unsettling though.
But then... I have issues

ur mentor

Hey Dod, what stimulated that lovely piece. hope it wasn't caused by a grandparent passing away?

Petoria

Why isn't this in Creative Writing? I didn't come here to get bored.

flogen

a nice read.... brings back memories!

Used to go there with my girlfriend when she came out of school for lunch (on the days I had a half day and could make it up in time)

Its a lovely place alright, can be lovely to just wander through.

Flogen

Mossy Monk

brilliant again dod. give him his own board, well over due

catsup

nicely written dod. havent been to the botanic gardens in years, but reading that brought it all flooding back. today would be perfect for the trip but i just cant avoid the studies any longer. :dunno:

leonotron

Originally posted by adonis
who is the moron that has that computer? with the specs?
you should do some kind of screening process on applications for membership.
I dont mind him critisicing the post, but the air of pseudo-superiority only goes to show how inferior he really is to everyone else in the world.

so what do you store on your 10*120GB usb hard drives?
your memoirs, something like this perhaps

"light chinks through the curtains as i open my trousers for the fourth time"

The shows I edit for TV of course, then I have them sent to the UK for broadcast. And the 10 portable ones I have are 160 not 120 GBs

leonotron

Originally posted by nobby79
"you're level" "appals" : should have finished school leo.

I haven't been talking tough, i just wanted to let you know that judging someones creative work as drivel shows stupidity and immaturity.

Where has been your humour, not in one post has there been anything to laugh at apart from your spelling and bragging sig.

PS I know you are reading this little man.:D

You don't spot my blatent attempt at humour that is in every one of my posts.
PS Your PS didn't work goon looser

RicardoSmith

Nice little story dod. Reminds me of my school days when our school got barred from the gardens. If anyone doesn't like the story, don't read it. How hard is that.

That superior machine has a really odd spec. Its almost the same as any mid range workstation or server. But its quite low on ram, and should really be using a SCSI or FW disk array. The external disk should be SCSI or FW too. USB2 is the worst performing of the three. The gfx card is more suitable for CAD work than video work. Either someone didn't know what to order or they got it cheap. Its just a CAD workstation thats being used for Video editing. Performance wise in many applications a Single P4 3.2+ or a AMD64 would be faster. It all depends on the application you are using. Certainly most of the overclocked P4's will be quicker especially if they are using 10K drives. Again depending on the application.

leonotron

Talk to the elbow cause the hand ain't even listening to your crap

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Nice little story dod. Reminds me of my school days when our school got barred from the gardens. If anyone doesn't like the story, don't read it. How hard is that.

That superior machine has a really odd spec. Its almost the same as any mid range workstation or server. But its quite low on ram, and should really be using a SCSI or FW disk array. The external disk should be SCSI or FW too. USB2 is the worst performing of the three. The gfx card is more suitable for CAD work than video work. Either someone didn't know what to order or they got it cheap. Its just a CAD workstation thats being used for Video editing. Performance wise in many applications a Single P4 3.2+ or a AMD64 would be faster. It all depends on the application you are using. Certainly most of the overclocked P4's will be quicker especially if they are using 10K drives. Again depending on the application.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by leonotron
Talk to the elbow cause the hand ain't even listening to your crap

Theres an intelligent reply. I especially like all the technical points he refutes. But hes not listening. You'd wonder how he knew to reply ...

leonotron

YEAH YOU WOULD WOODNT YOU RETARDO SMITH

leonotron

tHE EXTERNAL DISKS ARE USED FOR RENDERING VIDEO TO. oUR PLAYOUT SERVERS DONT SUPPORT fw SO WE uSE USB2, WHICH IS FASTER THAN FW ANYWAY. RETARDO SMITH DOESNT KNOW WHAT HES TALKING ABOUT, PROBABLEY JUST SOME NERD THAT WORKS IN A NET CAFE OR SOMETHING, MAYBE HE PACKS BOXES IN DELL OR SOMETHING.

minority

Excellent read Dod.

Just click you ignore button on leonotron.

With post like this one accusing an intelligent long standing member of boards he really should be banned, hung, drawn and kicked to death.

leonotron - YEAH YOU WOULD WOODNT YOU RETARDO SMITH

Oh yeah, never, ever accuse someone of being a retard with spelling that could only be so bad if you were a retard yourself. lmao

I hope you dont write the credits for your imaginary movies. You need to learn to spell for that.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by leonotron
tHE EXTERNAL DISKS ARE USED FOR RENDERING VIDEO TO. oUR PLAYOUT SERVERS DONT SUPPORT fw SO WE uSE USB2, WHICH IS FASTER THAN FW ANYWAY. RETARDO SMITH DOESNT KNOW WHAT HES TALKING ABOUT, PROBABLEY JUST SOME NERD THAT WORKS IN A NET CAFE OR SOMETHING, MAYBE HE PACKS BOXES IN DELL OR SOMETHING.

Still not listening then? Theres an unsubscribe feature you know. Can you post some stats and benchmarks on USB2 being faster than FW in a Disk array, especially for video applications. To prove that your not talking through your butt.

"...PROBABLEY..." nope. But is there something wrong with working in Dell, packing boxes or working in a Net Cafe? You upset or something. Whats with the abuse and the caps?

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by minority
....With post like this one accusing an intelligent long standing member of boards he really should be banned, hung, drawn and kicked to death. ....

Well for the horrific misuse of the caps key at least.

leonotron

THEY ARE tv sHOWS, NOT MOVIES DUMBASSS

Originally posted by minority


I hope you dont write the credits for your imaginary movies. You need to learn to spell for that.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by leonotron
THEY ARE tv sHOWS, NOT MOVIES DUMBASSS

minority - tut tut, imaginary TV SHOWS.

leonotron - No links provding USB2 is faster than FW?

What kind of a playout server is USB2 only. You'd think it would be networked to a SANs at least. Alternativelt to a SCSI or FW striped array. USB2 would be the last think you'd choose unless you didn't know what you were doing or you had a very tight budget. Sounds like a micky mouse setup.