Billy, Bob, and Me
Bob
Billy
This is my tale of how I honoured the life of my friend Bob.
Bob was perplexed by the Celts, he loved our race, the fire we had in our souls. He was always kidding me about my Irishness, and this from the most quintessential Englishman that I know! The whole day was surreal and ironic. Here I was driving an english reg car across the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, where in times gone past the Irish escaped to get away from the English soldiers who were trying to arrest them. It was considered a safe place as the soldiers were nervous of going there because of all the marsh and bogland. Not to be outdone, the British Army started cutting down the trees to make a road over the mountain, it is still this road that we travel on today. Military Road was first started in 1798 as a result of the rebellion in that same year. For the next hundreds of years the mountains were the means of escape for the Irish. There are some crosses dotted over the mountains to commemorate the death of some of our soldiers that were killed by the British Army. Now I come along retracing their steps, to honour, mourn and celebrate the sheer pleasure I have had in knowing this Englishman. Bob would have enjoyed this. I could hear him questioning me endlessly in my ear about where we were and the history surrounding the area. While all the time Billy Connolly is giving us his take on everything from nuculear bombs, condoms, masturbation, politics, to singing a song that was the signature tune to his hit series 'World Tour of Scotland'. The signature tune was one of Van Morrisions songs,, 'Irish Heartbeat' and I love it.. In my head and heart I could hear the conversations that Bob and I had both had on the same topics and I found myself laughing outloud at the memory. I was heading to a part of Ireland that Bob had been to a year before his first heartattack. It was my place to go and say Goodbye. The Meeting of the Waters is where two rivers meet and join, and it is where one of Irelands top poets of old (Thomas Moore) wrote some of his poetry.
