A day with Barry

             Barry is a local man here in Louisburgh and a few of us stopped to play with his sheep dogs Jan and Bell and chat with him after class today. The conversation turned towards the storm that hit County Mayo recently and Barry said he was going to look at the damage done to the beaches, and offered to take some of us with if we were interested. Two of my male classmates and I said we’d love to go, and agreed to meet at Barry’s house in several hours. 

            The three of us were invited in for tea and coffee and to meet his cat Freddie. We gained some great insight from Barry about where to go, and more importantly where not to go, in Dublin. After awhile he told us “well boyos, time to saddle up I think!”. And we hopped in his car and began our tour of the storm damage. 

           Barry took us to all of the local beaches, that is the ones we were able to reach. The damage was substantial, and more severe at each area we visited. At the first beach where there used to be three storage units, there were now two. Huge rocks now covered the once sandy beach, and pieces of the hill above had been washed away. Barry told us that the layer of charcoal black peat that lay where the car park used to be should have been twenty-five meters below our feet. When I asked if there was anything to be done to clear the beach I was told that “the sea will take back what she gives”. 

The more places we stopped the more we saw the power and treachery of the sea. Driftwood and debris lay in the pastures of farmers, and previously green fields now lay flooded, which was estimated to take at least a month to drain. Here we also found the third storage unit, which belonged several miles over. When my classmate commented on how terrible the destruction was Barry remarked that “Nature is nature and you can’t best it. She’s only taking back what was once hers”. This comment was a recognition that we are at the mercy of our environments and it struck me hard. There was one encouraging sight however. As we stopped at the end of a road that had been washed out and flooded, I saw a swan floating in the newly formed lake. It reminded me that even in the face of disaster, beauty can be found as long as you look hard enough.