The StudyBringing it all back home. That’s for Mike. Two days after the West, last trip to the lumber yard, closing it out. Hunt down people who love and live their thing, specially if not everyone else does. Pat the man with the blackboard paint is one. The container was down as Traffic Purple in the RAL Codes but it was fairly pink when Mike and Eoin saw it in Meath. A man called Matt put it on the back of a truck and the two long hairs followed after it with the spidered branches of country lanes overhead. I was with my twin racing to get to the drop off point when we stopped at an intersection and it roared past pink in front of us and we set off after it giddy. Matt said he hadn’t seen one that colour either, ‘Never’ as he let it down off the crane on a scrap bit of road, greeted by pale drizzle and a grey sheet where the sky should be. The solid lock bolt and squat of it, flamingo against concrete. Luke and Adam back at it, the genny up again, the snap of measuring tapes, glue, cable ties, clamps, jabba jabba jabba. Offer one up. You could walk to town if you had to and you can chance anything once you’ve a hi-vis on. The fireworks of Celebration Rock then Luke smashed the bottle and it was launched. Into town, wrapped and on a dragon roll, the Stag’s Head and more messing. There’s more in your city than you know. Don’t take a street of it for granted. Directions? Not for this one. There’s a lock in Dublin, the key is four numbers you’ll get from Luke’s favourite explorers. 1 There’s a boat in Dulwich. How many men sailed away to save the 22 left behind? That’s your first number. 2 In a race for the rich stuff, the chunky kid gets the squeeze from two brothers and a mother, what grade did he blame it on the dog? 3 Theodore and William go to market, how many went with them? 4 The king of the cabin makers lived Alone in the Wilderness, how many lakes marked his home? Put these four together and it’ll swing open. There’s a view of the Sugarloaf and the walls are blank for you. Scheme something up in the study. Something only you could do. It’s there now while I’m writing this and it’s there now while you’re reading this. Put something down. |