Characters ...

... the world is full of them ... and they brighten up the day!
Take, for example, a walk along Grafton Street in Dublin.  Crowds of people, many of them rushing madly for some imagined deadline, others sauntering along without an apparent care in the world ... and then you stumble upon these two!

They don't speak, but a couple of Euro in the dog's can will bring a response!  With eyes and tiny gestures a conversation does happen.  At first I'd thought the one in the top hat was a real statue ... the makeup and almost perfectly frozen pose had me fooled!
It can't be a financial reward that encourages folk to do this sort of thing ... there must be an element of fun and enjoyment ... the surprise they see on someone's face as it slowly dawns that these are not real statues.
If you've just been taking pictures of Molly Malone then you almost expect them to be bronze ...

 It's hard enough to get a picture of this iconic statue without tourists ... and I just had to accept that the background was going to be cluttered.  That's Dublin life ... a city with energy and buzz.  The fact that the sun was hot and the day bright made it even more enjoyable.

 Presumably Molly was a character too!
The modern version is perhaps a little more modest ...

With all this excitement ... and dozens more pictures ... it was time to relax in the beautiful surroundings of Bewley's ... it has changed a great deal and perhaps no longer offers the superb service that one might have expected 'once upon a time' ... but it is still an attractive area to sit for a while.  If I hadn't wanted to rest then the waiting might have been frustrating ... actually ... it was a rather long time before the Danish Pastry and a bottle of sparkling water arrived!  Maybe they had to go to Tipperary for the water?

Just outside Bewley's there were a couple of accordion players ... they too were willing to chat and, cigarette held well out of sight, this guy wanted me to take his photograph ... do I need a second invitation?!

My reason for being in the city was work ... committee work ... but it is good to have time to wander around and enjoy the atmosphere, especially on a day when there wasn't a cloud in the sky!

I guess it is one of the ways that adults 'play' ... just enjoying the surroundings, basking in the sunshine and going 'as the spirit takes you.'  Every day should have these moments of unstructured play during which we learn to see more clearly.