Of islands...May thoughts

 Of islands.
Local lore insists that there are 365 islands in Clew Bay, one for each day of the year...a whimsical and endearing thought.

Without even thinking of counting, there are islands in large numbers all along the west coast...although a day or three out on the water appeals..

When, some 3 years ago, it was decided that I retire from street markets and craft fairs ( 12 hour days out in all weathers is a little too much for such an old person!)  my heart turned to my old thoughts of living again on an island. ... a small and very quiet one.

So what became an intriguing and fascinating quest began in earnest, rather than just casually as it has been before.

As a friend and former colleague of  over 55 years standing reminded me, I have always been drawn to islands. I can date that no to at least 16 years old; add to that summers in Anglesey and Cornwall, on the ocean's edge..  tides and seaweed, sand and rocks...can you not smell that glorious air!

Every holiday in the decades past had to be ... an island.. Iona, the Hebrides, Caldey, the Channel Islands, Orkney, anywhere as long as there was a boat and water. Always as we left, standing gazing back in longing, yearning to know what it was like when the visitors had left.. hating to leave...

Learning to avoid rose-tinted glasses. Learning to watch and wait and assess what you really seek and need. To be uncompromisingly practical.

NB for those who live such sites as I do, see  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Ireland

for a comprehensive list; nb the population figures are now out of date,
I spent many a while here, rejecting any island that has a bridge or causeway! Seeking a real island.!

Reluctantly  taking my eyes away from the holy places, the now all but deserted monastic sites.  Unlike Skellig Michael, many others rest in utter quietude... High Island, Inishglora, Where monastics could be safe in the peace, away from the outside world. a refuge of prayer.

So along the coast here I voyaged! Not, I hasten to explain, in person. To visit brings in a whole different dimension.

The pattern emerged. Many once well populated islands now have a few holiday homes only. People seek more these days than basic living with minimal facilities. And once a population falls beneath a certain level and especially when there are too few families for there  to be a school...

For me, finding a longterm rental was at the brass tacks heart  of the quest.

Many of the islands  are striving to survive, as are coastal areas, by holiday lets. Tourism. So they seek rather to let in summer and have the properties lie empty all winter rather than add full time residents to the basic core population.  It works, short term  at least and many love visiting in summer.

There are some hard sagas of islands that lost the fight to survive..
This poignant film tells a sad story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmXb2sIFJuY

The opening words express the theme

 and this

http://www.inishbofin.com/death-of-inishark/

One man is on record as saying, "No one should have to live without a doctor or electricity.. " But that is  how many choose to live in many places now .

Seeking basic facilities and resources.

As it is, many of the successful   islands have changed  in the need for updating to survive and thrive.

My policy of not visiting had its exception. Omey Island is a tidal "island". I happened at the village as a funeral was assembling; the last living resident.

 Watching the funeral procession cross the sands at low tide was a poignant and moving occasion.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/omey-island-s-last-resident-crosses-strand-at-low-tide-one-final-time-1.2968365


The  following week I , as I lived then in Connemara, I called on the man who cares for it. He kindly drove me over; something I could not face doing ( far too much imagination), and showed me a tiny house he had been raised in.. that I could have rented.

But since they put a Wild Atlantic way marker up, folk have walked across the sands at low tide in droves.  And it was far too accessible for my needs and I dreaded the idea of getting the tide times wrong..being stranded in a car sinking in sand.. OH My!.

Blasket was interesting. The Slea Head drive became a huge favourite when I lived in Kerry. If you are ever near Dingle, please take my heart with you as you drive it... I left part of it there.. and allow a few hours for the Blasket Centre, a work of devotion and a rich resource.

I used to stop at the wide layby opposite the Crucifixion, where seagulls soar and dive with their haunting insistent call.  And was chatting to three  young German women who worked in Dublin as we gazed across at the island. Oh and once a man let me watch the seals through his telescope, on the beaches over there.
 Sheer magic..

They were wildly enthusiastic about the island... until I mentioned I would love to live there...but there were no supply lines,   nothing basic even.  There are lines below which you cannot safely go, in respect for tide, time, weather . My years in the North Sea taught me a sturdy realism.

The reaction to my words!

HORROR! Nothing to do, no where to get to....

One of those moments when you realise you are on a different road from those around you. Reminding me of on the North sea island and a storm had knocked the power out so the repair men were out. Most of them were terrified of missing the boat, while a few chose to stay at an excellent B and B.

I am a stayer. And knew that when the right place showed, I would know .
  That my needs are basic and simple. No social gatherings needed.. That once settled, I would be rarely off the island. Once supply lines were established. Which in these days of internet shopping is so easy to do,  Internet access essential..

Many see an island as restrictive, rather like a prison? One person opined " If something happens YOU CAN'T GET OFF! "
As was pointed out very early to me, we have a helipad and would get to hospital by Air Ambulance far faster than by road.

They see not the safety here , protected by the ocean. Preparing to move   to mainland Ireland from a North sea island was worrying. So.... accessible...Here there is safety. Ocean  all sides.  My cats too are safe. Everyone here knows they are mine.  They can roam and run, coming home for food and sleep.

And I am old and need so little! Gardening, knitting, reading, above all praying. In the deep quietude here. A roof, a bed, food , work for my hands, growing flowers and food,  and the unspoiled, unmanicured loveliness; all around.

Listening to high tide on the shore, rattling the rocks.. the cry of sea birds,,, cuckoo and lark, The lark singing well before 4 am...

Thoughts on a May Sunday as a welcome wind gusts and ruffles. The days of flat calm are over. there has been good, sustaining rain.  My small flowery patch is colouring more and more now. Growing from seed, patience and so fulfilling.