Coincidence

13/8/19 Donegal

I am sitting at The Rusty Mackerel pub in Teelin, Donegal. The woman beside me (a fellow painter on my course in Glencolmcille) is from Ballymena. I mention the recent indiscretion by Ballymena's finest son. She knows I am talking about Liam Neeson. She gives her view on his bizarre comments about taking revenge on a black man when promoting his last film. I tell her about when I met him in Kilburn.

I am sitting on Teelin pier an hour later. I open my new copy of Brian Friel's Translations bought the other day in Donegal Town. At the front is the cast list of the original 1980 production in Guildhall, Derry (where I was married). Doalty was played by a young Liam Neeson, early in his career.