If you are a fan of the streaming series Bad Sisters, and you should be, you will know that the Garvey sisters are fond of soaking their bums in the cold, cold Irish Sea at a place called The Forty Foot.
Why the odd name? No one really knows. Theories include being named after the 40th Foot Regiment or referring to the depth or width of the area. No definitive explanation exists. What is known is that bathing, traditionally for men only, has been going on here for over 250 years. Women made the scene in the 1970s.
James Joyce, the famous, and famously incomprehensible, Irish writer lived for a short while in a former military gun emplacement nearby. Ulysses begins here.
We stopped to take a look as we headed south to Gorey.
After taking a look at Forty Foot, we walked along the water and discovered first an odd triangular hole in the rock, then the “tower” where James Joyce and a couple of his friends lived for a few days.
Forty Foot is part of the Sandycove Beach area. Besides a nice beach, it’s a pleasant residential area.
Bonus: I found a flower!
OMG! I had to go stand in the shower with “hot” on full after reading this post. These people are nuts! Oh, the flower is a Blue Crown Passion Flower. We grew them in Walnut Creek, CA. So of course you would find them at 33 degrees north.
Tomorrow I play a James Joyce piece by Samuel Barber for a student of Sue McBerry! It’s called “I Hear an Army” and is fiendishly difficult to play. Accompanying 8 of her senior/advanced students in a recital . . . Rehearsed all day yesterday with them; perform tomorrow! Send special Joyce prayers! Love, MEB
How did the recital go, Michael?