On this day (October 8^th) in 1904 the chambermaid and the artist, virtually penniless, abandoned Ireland for a new life on mainland Europe. Joyce and his new girlfriend Nora Barnacle (he had only met her on June 10^th) left Dublin and travelled through London, Paris and Trieste to arrive eventually in Pola (now in Croatia) where he became an English teacher.

In Ulysses, October 8^th (1888) is the wedding day of Leopold and Molly Bloom. Coincidence? I doubt it!

Nora Barnacle