Mount Stewart Silence

Today we went to Mount Stewart for “Conversations,” an annual talkfest put on by the BBC, with panels discussing digital democracy, Russian politics, the history of Mount Stewart, and other interesting topics.
The tickets are free and the BBC doles them out in a lottery. They grant many more tickets than there are seats, assuming a lot of people won’t turn up. We were in a line for nearly an hour to attend our first event and we didn’t get in. We had tickets for two more talks today, but we left because we didn’t want to wait around for the later events, which we also might not get into.
The upside is we went for a walk before the event on new trails at Mount Stewart. We walked through a weird wood with no understory.

At the top of the hill was the Temple of the Wind, where Lord Castlereagh killed himself. The speculation is that, as a young man, he contracted syphilis which left his brain a bit scrambled later in life.

The view from the temple of Strangford Lough is wonderful.

The trip was also worthwhile because we had a nice catch up with Ann O’Dwyer and Shaun Henry and ate lunch on the lawn.
Having an unexpected day at home meant we actually got some work done in the garden, a job we usually succeed in avoiding on the weekends.
I didn’t go to the reservoir swim this a.m. because there was a swing dance tonight and I wanted to conserve my energy. As always, it was fun to get my swing groove on with my Swing Belfast buddies.
9-1