Ireland day 0231. Tuesday 17 May 2022- Writing
Commentary
Right now, it’s pouring down outside – as it has been for most of the last eight hours – even though my normally reliable weather app is confidently telling me that the sun is shining. It’s a good job that I have retained the ability to use my eyes and actually look out of the window to tell me about what is going on in the world. Though sometime I do feel I am getting perilously close to relying solely on electronic gadgetry not just assist but to replace my senses altogether.
Anyway, the combination of Val being out at work and the heavy rain meant that really I didn’t have much excuse for putting off writing the geological paper that I’d been researching in Dublin last Thursday, any longer. So I made a cup of tea (and another, and another) and set to work at the computer.
I rashly promised a few months ago that I’d write a paper on “Irish Geology” for a local group of the UK’s Geological Society. Readers may remember that I had decided to write about the history and work of the Geological Survey Ireland, based on an exhibition that is running at the Collins Barracks commemorating the Survey’s 175th anniversary. The paper needed more careful thought than you might imagine. The Geological Society is a learned body full of well-informed scientists, so I couldn’t afford to dumb it down to the point where it would become an insult to readers’ intelligence. On the other hand I didn’t want to make it too technical – largely because there are bound to be Society members who will know more than I ever will about any subject I might choose to write about.
So I spent the afternoon choosing my words carefully, treading a fine line between patronisation and pomposity. In then end I came up with about 1,500 words, which I think should be more than enough, especially when interspersed with a few colourful photos. Right now, the draft paper is with a couple of geologists I know, to check for technical accuracy. Then I’ll send it off to the GSI representative I met the exhibition last week, to make sure I haven’t said anything inaccurate or offensive. Finally I will submit it for publication by the end of May. I’ll also share it on this blog in case anyone else is interested in reading it.
Now, believe it or not, the sun has started shining – less than half an hour after I was criticising my app for so robustly for getting it wrong in the midst of the last downpour. I do apologise. But given that the weather has bucked its ideas up at last, and given that Val’s home from work, and most importantly given that I’ve been writing almost all day, I am going to pack up now and go out into the wet evening for a walk.
See you tomorrow!
Today’s photos (click to enlarge)
Interactive map
(No map today)