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The choice of college was not a difficult one. In our final year at school, the Mistress of Studies had given us some advice:
1.Never read Voltaire
2.Never attend Trinity College
3.Never ever read a science subject at Trinity College.
A useful roadmap for me there, and I was able to hit the jackpot (the Voltaire being provided by the then compulsory parallel Arts BA) as I ignored all three elements of the advice.
Even now, I get echoes of the excitement I first felt as a Junior Freshman walking past the statues of Goldsmith and Burke, through Front Gate and into Front Square. The fact that it was somehow forbidden fruit added an extra frisson.
Dublin then was not as it is today – they hadn't knocked down so many of the glorious Georgian buildings, and Temple Bar was just a rundown area. However, it was for me a place of liberation and gaiety, and I have so many good memories. Looking back, I should have got out more, spent less time in the library and more time down the pub. This sad imbalance was redressed decades later with the arrival on campus of Number 2 son! He more than made up for the earlier sobriety of his mother.