Introvert alert

I met in the morning with Andrew McMurray, a young engineer who is building wind turbine and solar co-operatives in Northern Ireland. Then I met with Kevin Donnelly, the director of the Belfast office for Trociare, the development arm of the Catholic church in Ireland. Neither of these have led to any job opportunities per se, but they both are useful in understanding what’s going on in Northern Ireland.

Then I went to Nicras to volunteer (refugee agency), then home for run/shower/feed pets, then back into the city for dinner with David’s American work colleagues, who have been here all week. One of them is the worst kind of American--loud, domineering, opinionated, overly confident and brash. I was in her presence for about five minutes before I felt an itch to escape. When I went to bed I realised I’d been in conversations with people all day and I was completely wrung out. I think I made it through dinner without doing anything to embarrass David, but it wasn’t easy. I longed to be home in bed with a book and feigning interest in their road warrior stories took all my concentration.
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