Interesting lunch guest

Yesterday M & I went to lunch at his friends house. M used to work with Mo'C years ago - they first met about 15 years ago, I believe. So she's a really good friend to him and I like her alot. She was having a mutual friend of theirs for lunch and asked us to come along.

M had told me a bit about So'D before. He used to be a letter bomber in London for the IRA and went to prison for 15 years because of it. When M and Mo'C met S, he had just started at Trinity College to study english after his time in prison. Mo'C told me that she didn't know who he was as she opened his account that day but the next day in the paper there was a huge headline about 'Convicted IRA bomber starts Trinity College' and she saw a photo of him. She said she nearly died! She said it was a little strange getting to know him but they were, at this point, good friends. She and her husband knew he and his ex-wife fairly well.

Anyhow, this guy was really interesting. One of those people that you get to talk to that you just know is brillant. And of course, he had GREAT stories. He got involved in the IRA very young, like 15 yo or something and by 20, was the main letter bomb expert in London (a one man show, I guess).

He told us about ending up in hospital for some letter bomb that went off on him (i think), how he spent the weeks after that recovering at the house of an IRA big wig (who had been killed), being taken care of by his wife and daughters when he was 19. He told stories about their gardenshed being full of explosives and detonating equipment! About the police coming to raid the house (while he was out at Mass one Sunday, lucky for him) but not finding any of the equipment (or not recognizing it anyhow). Anyhow, he mentioned seeing one of the daughters a few weeks ago when he was helping with Mass (oh, by the way, he's studying to be a priest now) and how shocking that was!

He told us a story about running into his best friend, a childhood friend that was devoted to art and had no idea that So'C was in the IRA, on the tube in London - one of those random meetings where neither had an idea that the other was in town and they got on the same subway, at the same stop, the same car and the same time. Random occurence. He talked about that same friend later, who used to come and visit him in prison every Sunday, who eventually got taken into the police because they thought he must somehow be involved as he was a friend of So'C. But he didn't know a thing.

He told stories about his career after he went to prison. He quit the IRA after prison (I can't figure out how you 'quit' but I guess he did) and he got a degree in english and then another in Computer Science. While he was working in that degree, he was addressing Congress in the U.S in regards to the IRA and peace process in Ireland. I guess he wrote his own book as well ('The Volunteer'). He gave lectures at Trinity College in CS stuff. He had stories about Sweden and what it was like to live there (he worked there for 3 years) because it is a country that has only 2 hours daylight in the winter.. He said people become very very quiet in the winter and talked about a boss that he took the train to work with every day, someone he talked to daily during the summer, told him that most people don't talk during the winter and stopped talking to him during their trips to the office come wintertime! LOL He also said, because of that, Swedish people like to have sex alot during the winter! He said he remembers giving a presentation at work and receiving texts the next day at work, would he like to have sex? etc.

As I said, now he is studying to be a priest. He joined the seminary in August and he was talking about life there - the other would-be priests, etc. He is just one of those people who seemed to have fit alot into a very short life (I suppose prison would do that to you, force you to look at your life differently). I really, really liked him.

And in the end, he's a good person to know. He arranged to introduce me to a women friend of his who is American but has lived and worked in Ireland for years. And HE DID. He called her while he was still at lunch with us, left her a message as she was out, then an hour after he left (while we were still there) he called me and told me to call her right away and left her number. I called her and we arranged to meet today (she had to cancel but we might do it tomorrow or wednesday - tough before the holidays, i understand!). Anyhow, she may have contacts for me or not but it'll be sooo nice to meet someone who might be able to push me the right direction! I'll keep you posted...

So, it was an interesting day, I must say. Sorry if I went on with the stories, but I just found the guy so intriguing. (Of course, he didn't stop talking the whole time... but that's another story! LOL)

mmm... my honey just brought me a Baileys on crushed ice so I must go now and give him a hug. yum! bye