It was held in the function room upstairs at the Devereux pub, in the historic Temple area. Not familiar with the venue, but well familiar with the complexity of the narrow, winding old streets there, I took myself straight to Google Maps Streetview, which showed me exactly how to get there. It was explained on the event website that the event was to start at 7:30, but we could arrive any time after 6:30.
And so it came to pass that I headed off, getting the Tube to Temple. Now, Streetview, for some reason best known to itself, had me heading to the embankment and winding my way around. Nonsense! Quicker to climb the steps, to your left as you leave the station, then head right along Temple Place to the corner, where you intersect with the Streetview route. You need to cross the road, and it's funny how, just at the top of the aforementioned steps, where there's a junction with Arundel Street, there's a zebra crossing on one side, where traffic has to give way to pedestrians - and a light-controlled pedestrian crossing on the other, where pedestrians are supposed to wait for the lights to turn in their favour. Turning to the right, it's the light-controlled crossing you come across; but the traffic from Temple Place (which is one-way) is held at the zebra crossing anyway, so it's just the traffic from Arundel Street you have to watch.
Having crossed successfully, I came across the beautiful building at 2 Temple Place:
At the corner, I knew I had to turn left, into a pedestrianized street - the end of Milford Lane:
And then I proceeded up the flight of steps directly in front of me, to take me onto Essex Street:
Head along to the pub on the corner, turn down the laneway and The Devereux is a little ways down on the left. It didn't take long, and I got there at about 20 past. Now, The Devereux is more than a little confusing. I knew I had to go upstairs, but on my first pass I couldn't see a way there! I tried again, and finally, at the back of the pub, came across a door marked "Restaurant". I knew the restaurant was upstairs, so thought this would be a good bet. Upon climbing the stairs, I came across the restaurant, with tables packed with people. I couldn't see anywhere else, and when I saw a screen displaying a slideshow of what looked like images of Ireland, I figured I was in the right place. Mind you, it did occur to me that it must be awkward trying to eat here, if the restaurant might on any given occasion be booked by a private party..
I should probably have come earlier - pretty much the only seats left faced away from the screen. I had to swivel around in my seat to get a view. As the talk started, one guy's food arrived - you had to get drinks downstairs though, and bring them upstairs - I didn't bother.
The talk was given by a soft-spoken German. Very softly spoken - it occurred to me how many people who are to give presentations put so much thought and effort into slides (or film clips) but so little into what they're going to say, or how they're going to say it. Frankly, he nearly put me to sleep. Still, I have to give him credit - although he admitted his research was on Wikipedia, it was quite extensive.
He started by asking whether there were any Irish in the room. Well goodness, there were a bunch of us! He was impressed - said there'd been no Swiss people at the talk on Switzerland. Yes, well, that's the Irish for you.. It soon became apparent that he was focussing on the history. Mind you, it was a bad sign that he chose to start with the English invasion of 1169. He did pay lip-service to the fact that there was loads of history before that, but well.. he was starting there, and that was that.
After meandering through to the 17th Century, he had some facts clarified by an elderly Irish gent down the back, who pointed out that although Cromwell did massacre many in Ireland, it was royalist supporters he was targeting, and many of those killed were Protestant, English settlers who supported the king. But things didn't really start to warm up until he got up to the Troubles.
They say the tragedy of the English is that they never remember, and the tragedy of the Irish is that they never forget. Well - predictably, really - there were a lot of people in that room with a great capacity not to forget. They soon commandeered the discussion, which became all about the North. And the British Army (Northern Ireland is their longest foreign assignment, you know - by a mile). And the hunger strikes. And so on - and on - and on..
There were some interesting asides, for instance by the Englishman sitting beside me, who described how, as a kid in London, he was terrified to get on a train because of all of the talk of bombs. Or the woman in front of me, from an Irish family but who grew up in London, who remembers the racism of the 60s - "no blacks, no Irish, no dogs", said the signs in boarding houses. See, these are perspectives I haven't heard done to death.
But the discussion for most of the night was just plain depressing, and when he announced a 15-minute interval, for people to get drinks and such, I knew I was leaving. They might have struck a lighter note after I left, but I wasn't willing to risk it. I wasn't the only one - I overheard a couple who left just in front of me also complaining that the discussion had been hijacked. By the sort of people who would never let it go.. ugh. Let them at it. Ironically, I love history - in general. But Irish history has a terrible tendency to turn into a melancholic sinkhole. I climbed out.
Nice to get home early, too. Tomorrow night, I'm joining the same club - but this time, it's for their Spring Extravaganza concert, to promote two young Irish opera singers: Alison Langer and Lawrence Thackeray. And has a different organiser. And, hopefully, NO history.
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