#311 - The Oldest Oak Tree in Ireland

Yesterday I visited Belvoir Park Forest to get photographs of trees for a new proposal I'm working on with someone who asked me to do some drawings for a story she had written.

Naturally no visit to Belvoir is complete without visiting the Belvoir oak. 

It is around 500 - 600 years old. Just let that sink in. And recently, there was a serious outbreak of larch disease. All the forest around the tree had to be cut and only a few trunks were left around it. 

However, the Belvoir Oak was not alone. It had other younger oaks around it - around 200 years old. Yes, when I say younger, it is younger in Oak years. I went there, hoping to get a photograph of the sulpher tuft display which was spectacular about ten years ago. As you know fungi only grows on dead wood. So I pretty much expected the display to be great, because you know, dead wood. 

What I was not prepared for was the complete regeneration of the entire back part of the tree. The Belvoir Oak has stayed alive for all these years for one reason and one reason alone... it is an oak tree of remarkable ability... but is it the tree itself, or are all oaks like this and we never gave them an opportunity to regenerate?

Is a question that cannot be answered no matter how much science thinks it has the answer.

The more I think about the stupidity of science, as in how sure they are of themselves, the more irritated I become. It is clear that science and the arrogance of people who were put into positions of authority in knowledge, like academics and experts, are responsible for the state we are in. Because they claimed to have the knowledge - to understand EVERYTHING. And make decisions based on that knowledge.

It is clear that no one has all the knowledge. It is just not possible. It is barmy. I become utterly apoplectic when I hear an economist being interviewed on the radio. And people who talk about the GDP. How is GDP still a thing? 

Then we have the Belvoir Oak. A REAL expert at something - surviving all these years. With lessons to teach us if we sit beside it and listen carefully.

So I have decided to make it the woodland home for the drawing.

Here are more amazing photographs of it. There are few buildings which are as old as this oak in Ireland. They are now ruins. The Belvoir Oak is still alive. It is now surrounded by little oak seedlings. I almost wept when I saw them. Maybe Ghin and I will go and look at it again today after school.

This is the thing about Belfast. It is full of gorgeous things. Full of secrets and whispers. Of spectacular sights. 

The fitness is going great. I am becoming fitter by the day. Yesterday I went running in Ardmore and then Croft Road. It is a very hilly route. There are two level bits which don't last for very long. But most of it is some kind of an incline. It did use to be a really tough route for me. But yesterday it was so doable. I ran all of it and then did my fifty sit ups. Yes, I have graduated to 50 sit ups. 

Trousers which were impossibly tight in Singapore are now comfortable. I now dare to look at myself in the mirror. And I feel brilliant into the bargain. I was back home at 10.30 and spent the day with Oisin who spent the day sleeping. Oisin is very conscientious. He told me yesterday that he got, for the third time in the row, best in class for his video assignment. He has been doing really well in Lagan. 

Yesterday too for the first time I had a breakthrough in my writing. 

I did the weekly shop, did the laundry and cooked dinner. Oh watched Splash! and as I did the housework watched Meet Joe Black which was so slow and terrible that it was great for watching while I did the housework. Oisin asked me why are you watching this, and I said this is perfect for doing the housework to and he laughed. 

Peter was nowhere to be seen all day. He had left and asked Oisin to come home early because he had to let Ghin in. But Ghin only came home at 5 pm. Peter himself came home after 11 pm. He had basically made playdate arrangements, failed to follow them through and then instead of telling me that he wasn't going to be around because he knew it would show him to be irresponsible decided to ask Oisin to pick up his pieces. That is basically life with Peter. His laundry is piled high because I am no longer doing his laundry. And the bathroom is in a state - it would worse if I wasn't here because he doesn't understand how to use towels. Anyhow, it doesn't matter... because...

I had to use my mantra last night - the mantras. It still does not mean that I do not witness the carelessness. The lies. 

I am well over the 294 days of writing. I now have written more entries into my blog than I have ever written. Ever. Documenting my life this year. I was chatting to a friend this weekend saying that if I looked at how low I was last year in terms of my mental and physical well being, it couldn't be more different. I feel so together this year. Establishing good practices and habits. I get up and have a glass of Vit C and tea - any kind of tea except teabag tea. Then I write. After that I run. Then I Facetime Ma. I must plan this afternoon when I get back. That was something I completely forgot to do yesterday.

Well, it is run time. Runtime. I will never ever stop running for the rest of my life... not if I could choose to. How did I know that something I began when I was 15 would eventually save my life? Nothing is accidental, nothing.