Open!

Nobel Prizes were handed out in Oslo today. Samuel Beckett received his Literature Prize in 1969. Samuel Beckett died just under twenty years ago (22nd December 1989). The Samuel Beckett Bridge (blipped before here and here) was officially opened this afternoon by Dublin's Lord Mayor (currently a lady, but still a Lord Mayor). Carl and I were there, guests of Carl's Mum, Samuel Beckett's niece.

Thankfully, the weather cooperated. It was bright, dry and not too cold. There were too many speeches really (some appalling, some okay), the Mayor cut the obligatory ribbon, and then we were allowed to perambulate across the beautiful structure. It opens to regular traffic at 7.00 am tomorrow, several months ahead of schedule.

I took almost a hundred shots of the occasion, about ten of which were anyway decent. It's a lot easier to choose a blip when there's only ten on the short list, but still there's more than one way to go about marking the event. This shot of the actual ribbon-cutting moment seemed right even as I clicked the shutter, and I still liked it when it found its way onto the pooter, but I was also strongly tempted to go for something much more radical as an alternative. I agonised a bit, liked one, then the other, and finally plumped for this one. It's got a more traditional photo-journalist feel to it, I guess, and it's got a nicely human feel which Sam would have liked.

Decision made anyway. No going back now. Back? Call that going? Call that back?