Alice in Wonderland

The plan was different. I wanted to write this week about fantastic places worth visiting in County Roscommon, but I am the kind of person who changes her mind as often as her socks. I almost missed one of the most amazing things which was RosFest. I write ‘almost’ because on Sunday afternoon, I was able to go for a while, into a children’s fantasy world. Now I am living in the heart of Roscommon town and when I returned to my apartment on Friday, it was really loud because of music, laughter and screaming. Actually, at first it bothered me. All weekend I was working, so in the evening, I just wanted to be really lazy with my favourite music. Fighting with what was going on outside the window made no sense. First, we tried to listen to the great disco hits and at 3 am, went to sleep exhausted. Once again I had to resort to the old Chinese adage ‘if you can’t beat it, join it’, so that’s what we did. Sunday evening we joined the flow of the music. Wow, the place was colourful, with amusements, lights and music. I didn’t know where to look first and my face was creased with a smile until it almost hurt. I almost forgot about reality and I think that I wouldn’t have been surprised if I met the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland! My friends all of a sudden changed from those over 30 to those under seven. They are all screaming ‘I’ll go for that one’. ‘Hey, that one is really cool’. I was staying with my feet on the ground watching their changing expressions as they whizzed through the air. I am really ashamed to admit it, but I am scared of these modern amusements. I probably still miss the slower and closer-to-the-ground swinging boats of my youth! No doubt about it, I am mad. Because of love, I decided to go on one of the machines and you know what, I am still alive. But my boyfriend, still has the bruises from my fingers gripping his knee! I even liked it! For a few seconds, I felt like a small Marta in Luna Park in Chorzowie and I am sorry, I don’t remember if I wept because my stomach was too close to my eyes or because of my exhilaration. I thought that the amusements would leave Roscommon on Monday at sunrise. When I came back around 9 pm from work, in my apartment the music could still be heard. I smiled to myself, opened the window and until midnight, I observed that magic world, because there, once a year, grown up people from Roscommon changed into small kids.