On our way to Northern Ireland, our ferry docked at Dublin, so we'd decided to spend a couple of days.
We last were here over 25 years ago.
I remember the excellent range of public sculpture, all with nicknames. For instance, a very decollete statue of Molly Malone was known as the dolly with the trolley.
I remember it rained so much our map dissolved into paper mache.
But most of all, I recall a little golden boat with spindly oars and rudder, glowing in the depths of the Archaeology Museum.
I have retained none of the facts about it.
Date? Provenance? Function?
Yet every so often, through my dreams has sailed that little golden boat.
Usually when we re-visit a place, I want to see the attractions we missed the first time. But in Dublin, I wanted most to revisit the little golden boat.
It was a large museum and I was impatient, so on arrival, I asked a custodian for 'the little golden boat' and she marched me straight there.
'Ohhh. Hello again.'
There it was, luminous in its case.
So now I know it is part of the Broighter horde, dating from the first century BC and that it was found in County Derry. I noticed this time that it is surrounded by other pieces of gold from the horde including a magnificent torc.
But also I know that ten years from now I will have forgotten the name and date and other contents of the horde.
Yet the golden boat will still be meandering through my imagination.
