From Johannesburg To Greystones

Casey Lessing 7FEB20

t’s something we’re all guilty of – becoming so used to the amazing, the wonderful and the beautiful all around us that we eventually fail to even register it anymore.

Having moved here only a few months ago all the way from sunny South Africa, Casey Lessing has found herself constantly entranced by the new world around her.

“To me, everything in Greystones is brand new,” she says, “and pretty much every day, I find something that just takes my breath away. Like The Cliff Walk. How can people not be heading up there every single day…?

It was whilst taking a walk across the country’s most-loved trek with her new school friends that Casey realised that, just as much as she was ranting and raving about the view, the air, the landscape, her classmates saw it as just another part of their world. They’d been there, seen that too many times to be high-fiving each other over gorse.

With this in mind, when Casey came to do a week of work experience at GG HQ, we both reckoned having her outsider take on this town would make a refreshing change from our bored, beleagured and cynical insider chronicles of the place. Been there, offended that.

And so it was that this aspiring and inspiring young journalist headed out around Greystones with her trusty camera, her sunny disposition and a wide-eyed enthusiasm that puts even the Guide to shame…

Moving from Johannesburg, South Africa to Ireland was, of course, a huge change for me and my family; a culture shock, to say the least.

We spent the first few weeks in this country moving from one B&B to the next, which  was unsettling for me because we didn’t have a place of our own, a place that we could call home, adding to this sense of being neither here nor there. So, it was with great relief that one fine day we finally found our dream home, in a town called Greystones. And pretty much from day one, it felt like home.

What struck me almost immediately was all the colour Greystones had to offer.

Beautiful flowers everywhere, and golden sunlight dripping through the trees. And I have to admit, this was not what had sprung to mind when I thought of Ireland back home. I just kept imagining rain. So, seeing the sun, and all the vibrant greens of the plant life and the blue of the ocean, it blew my mind.

Have you seen those beautiful plants down by The Men’s? I just can’t get over them. Which is probably why I decided to paint them.

I was over the moon to be living so close to the sea because Johannesburg is a fairly landlocked province. I’m still not used to looking out my window and seeing the ocean.

And then there’s the town itself. The main street was like something out of a dream. I couldn’t believe how calm and happy everyone seemed to be. It just radiated good energy.

My favourite part of living in Greystones is the ever-changing skies. I’ve never seen so many different colours and patterns in the sky before, especially at dawn and dusk.

I could stare at it for hours. Unless, of course, the Irish sky suddenly decides to send a little liquid sunshine down for all those plants.

The funny thing is, I still feel I haven’t even seen half of what this town has to offer yet.

So, the hope is that, over the coming years, I never, ever lose the ability to just stop and appreciate the beauty of Greystones.