^{— Author: Charley Brady —}

She was beautiful. And when I say she was beautiful, she was drop-dead gorgeous, hit me on the head, and drag me out beautiful. She was lovely.

Nearly fifty years later I can still see her, still see every pore in her wonderful skin, like someone had shone a light from inside her.

And in that odd year of 1976, I discovered that she was a silent movie buff.

Beautiful. And nice. And funny.

And a silent movie buff.

I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.

So we took the train to Glasgow one Valentine’s night and we held hands I looked at her incredible pitch-black hair and thought about how lucky was I. And afterward, I took her to one of those restaurants that were trendy at the time, always underground and with the candles stuck in wine bottles, with the wax dripping down the side… and we were in love.

Love you only feel at that age.

If you haven’t been here yet, welcome to the Silent Cinema Galway.

And if you are coming along on Valentine’s Week for the first time, I hope you are as much in love as I was all those years ago.

And Leslie, we haven’t seen each other in decades… but I hope that you found lasting love. You deserved it.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you wonderful people out there in the dark.