The Christmas Morning Swim.

This is the Half Moon Swimming Club. It is on the southern wall of Dublin Harbour. When I was a youth I used go up there on my bike to swim and listen to the older men telling yarns. Because of it's situation astride the wall and so far along it was easy to see any female figure if they happened to venture that far. Then someone would cry " woman on the wall!" and there would be a casual covering up of the male distinctions. Some would just drape a newspaper over themselves, others would don a bathing suit and a few hardy ones would dive into the sea. The women when they arrived would develop an inordinate interest in the other side of the harbor So was possible for the men to parade around in the nude and many ridiculous sights were to be seen there. But this was Christmas morning and many of the members liked to demonstrate their hardihood by swimming in the freezing cold waters of the bay. I did it myself when I was young and foolish enough to want to impress my elders. I never actually saw a priest, let alone a Bishop on Christmas Morning but this is a painting and the imagination has to run free.