10,000

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by Wu Men

Ten thousand flowers in spring,
the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer,
snow in winter.

If your mind isn't clouded
by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.

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We were in Donegal over the weekend. Driving along the Inishowen 100, I visited some places I hadn’t done in years. The place has changed. Empty holiday homes everywhere after the housing boom so if anyone is looking for a holiday home to break into and squat for the next few months, Inishowen is the place. Every other house was up for sale and the ones which weren’t had been abandoned in the process of building. I exaggerate, but only a tad.
The scenery is still stunning, even if it was drizzling all the time. And we discovered Dunree Fort, this amazingly located old fort which has been there since 1611 or so. It was given to the Irish Free State, as the interpretation called it, round about WWII, which surprised me really. Seeing how Wolfe Tone and the Spanish Armada were shipwrecked off the coast of Inishowen, you’d imagine that the Brits would have held on to it awhile longer what with the small matter of Hitler and all.

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