Last week a friend of Pádraig’s came to visit and we went for a walk along the Royal Canal, the one of the ‘screws’ and the ‘auld triangle‘ that went ‘dingle dangle’.

We went the ‘wrong way’, East to West, uphill – though you wouldn’t think that ‘uphill’ and ‘canal’ are concepts that could co-exist, there is a distinct difference when you push a wheelchair. But Pádraig was enjoying the change in direction, so to speak, and the friend was doing extremely well, given the, at times, pretty steep inclines. So I could do what I usually can’t which is looking around.

And there was this roof, in the middle of all the other roofs: covered by seagulls.

I have no idea what attracted all these seagulls. There must have been some invisible factor that made them feel so comfortable on this roof that they all assembled there.

It made me thinks of walks down a street full of restaurants, some overcrowded, others completely empty, for no apparent reason.

Could be that seagulls, as people, just feel more comfortable in the company of others. Honestly, you wouldn’t want to be that seagull sitting by itself on a deserted roof, while or your friends had assembled ‘next door’, nor that lone person sitting on a window seat in an otherwise empty restaurant?

On the other hand, it takes courage to step ‘out of line’ and explore new roofs or new restaurants. It might not be as re-assuring to go out on your own, it might feel slightly uncomfortable to push your boundaries and start exploring.

Yet, this is exactly what dreamers and dreamboaters do. And guess what, it’s fun!

Tomorrow, Pádraig will go out to the Button Factory for KILA’s Christmas Extravaganza. And I feel so lucky and privileged that I will be able to go too. Imagine that, 30 years in Dublin and never been in the Button Factory!