1999 Derry Diary #2 10 June

Diary #2 -Thursday 10th June 1999
Failte! from Doire Columcille...or Derry, Northern Ireland...to all our new subscribers and the others who have weathered these newsletters from time to time...I hope this letter finds you well...
Thursday 10th June 1999
During the nite at St. Eugene's Parish hall, our humble home, it was discovered that one of the girls talks in her sleep...Most of the conversation was unintelligible, but entertaining none-the-less especially when she said "I gotta burp" and she did...We awoke this morning still talking about F. Grimaldi's press conference yesterday which was augmented when some of the girls and myself went to the Bloody Sunday Trust building to begin painting and scraping. Our supervision, Mick Mc Kenna who's brother Willy was killed on Bloody Sunday, gave us a brief history of the civil rights movement in the North and the evolution of the center's building took 27 years to accomplish.', 'A whole range of emotions from anger, to sadness, to righteous indignation passed through all of us as we listen to his story...We then started work...I spent most of the afternoon scraping wallpaper off the stairwell along with another girl...we laughed a lot and it WAS fun pulling the old paper off the wall...we like simple pleasures...Amazingly, speaking of ironies...Sir Mike Jackson, one of the NATO generals of whom I mentioned yesterday, anyway his picture was on the front page of the Belfast Telegraph...you'll be reminded that he was the officer second in command of the Paras on that dark January Day in 1972...I asked Mick if he didn't ever feel like throwing in the towel after so many years of stonewalling and half-truths...he thought for a moment and said fairly simply "No, because it is right..." The building will house the lawyers who are representing 27 families of those who were killed or wounded in the massacre...other than that, day care is in full swing...one of the girl's has a boyfriend in day care...unfortunately he is four years old...Friday nite I'm going to get an Irish dancing lesson...if that doesn't bring in the crowds I don't know what...I've always thought myself to be another Michael Flatley...or maybe a Paul Fatass...or something...There was a Disco Nite at the Parish Hall this eve...age limited of course, 11-15 years old...good craic...the girls were upstairs dancing and instantly made a ton o' friends...I stayed outside waiting for the long-lost bagage to arrive from Dublin...it never did...I also chatted with the locals walking by...they have trouble with my California accent...2 of the girls made a great taco dinner this eve...amazing what you can do on a limited budget! Tomorrow is bath nite...I and the rest of us can't wait to shower at the pool around the corner...it has been the highlight of our week to be able to shower Mon, Wed, and Friday's...
-------MORE TOMORROW-------- From the Derry Library, second floor overlooking the Ulster Bus station... ---------------------------- Slan, paul (BlackShade)