My friend Emmie had a fire yesterday. Oh. Wait. What I mean is she had a bonfire, not a house fire. Though, she does live about four hundred metres away from the local fire station.
By the way, shouldn't it be a 'bonfeu' or even a 'goodfire'? What's with all this mixed-up squishing of languages? And why has it taken me thirty nine years to notice?
Anyway, etymology aside, I went round and sat by it. Her parents were there too, listening to Miles Davis between the flickering of candles and the crackling flames in the firepit.
"Are you going on holiday soon, Matt?" asked Emmie's Mum.
It suddenly leaped into my memory like a dancing flame. Yes! I'm going to Dublin!
"Yes," I replied, "I'm going to Dublin in September."
I had forgotten it. I'd booked it months and months ago and it hadn't occurred until that moment, how close September is. I checked the details this morning, and now I am properly excited.
My third Capital City Break is on the horizon - and Dublin looks amazing. Even better, I seem to have paid for all of it in January, and booked the time off. Past me was wise.
So that potential adventure has brightened my Monday.
It got dark imperceptibly in the bright glow of the fire. In the end, Emmie and I were like flickering islands, our illuminated faces floating on either side of the flames. I drifted into dreams while the hypnotic dance bedazzled me. Through the wisps of smoke and the crackling embers, it whispered to me, almost, telling me of ancient stories it had heard - Vikings and cowboys and raiders and outlaws, explorers and adventurers and lovers and dreamers, or perhaps just someone who fell out of luck on a winter's night.
I think I would like to live a life of stories that I could tell in front of a fire. I'm not sure there'd be many wide eyes though, at the story of how I configured automated builds and planned a branching strategy that meant mutliple technical authors couldn't overwrite their changes. Ooh. Tell us more.
Anyway, at least I'm going to Dublin. Maybe I'll find a pub with a roaring fire and sit by it.
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