Not so long ago, on the river Liffy down by Dublin's docklands, a very old and large ship by the name of the Mary Jane was on show for all to see. You could board the ship and take a tour of it and be told of the many trips it took throughout its history and hear stories of some of the passengers that went along on some of these journeys.

The ship had its own guides to take visitors through the tour, but for some strange reason I did not need a tour guide when I took the time to board this rather unique vessel. The ship itself would tell me, rather show me some of its history, as well as that it would allow me to interact with that history as if I were an actual part of the past which belongs to this awesome place.

How could such a thing be possible? I have no idea. The familiarity I felt upon the vessel came immediately ... from my first step abord in fact.

A group of twenty people which would include myself began the tour in the enormous ballroom of this very impressive ship. Despite the fact that we already knew that this was an old vessel it was easy to tell just by walking into the ballroom that this ship has been around for quite some time. The windows were up high on either side of the room, not much light was getting in, and the pure age of the place made it look and feel cold and dull.

Obviously enough this ballroom has seen very little activity in recent times other that of the tours which passed through its doors. This was the beginning and end of my part with the official tour as the ship itself, or something else, was about to take over and lead me to where I needed to be.

All of a sudden, the room lit up bright, those from the tour along with the tour guide were no longer in the room and I somehow now was wearing a tuxedo and not the regular uninteresting casual clothing I am used to wearing, I had definitely not come on board wearing a tux and this is one thing that is for sure.

The ballroom began to swap its dull coldness for something which would appear to be very much alive indeed. Seven large round tables began to appear one by one with ten chairs around each table. People also began to appear dressed like they were from the 1920's, three chandeliers hanging from the ceiling lit up and almost yellow orange glow.

It was clear it was now night or evening time rather than it being a dreary afternoon, as those windows from way up high had now darkened with night sky rather than owning a dullness belonging to a lengthy period of time. A big band consistent to this 1920's look also appeared on a stage at one end of the room. An elderly gent with a large grey and black handlebar moustache along with bushy eyebrows to match, and wearing an eye piece came over to me.

'I say, what an astonishing place this is' he spoke.

'It is indeed', I replied as I smiled.

For some reason or other, I felt very much at home here, really comfortable with what was happening. I belonged to the moment. The big band began to play, and those in the room began to dance. A beautiful young lady approached me.

'Are you not going to ask me to dance?'

She somehow seemed so ... familiar ... to me.

'Please forgive me; I do not know what came over me. It would be an honour and pleasure if I could have this dance with one whose beauty is beyond comparison.'

These words just rolled of my tongue as if what I had just said was meant to be said. The lady smiled and curtsied as I bowed and so we began to dance. Whatever actually is going on ... this was a moment to which I did not belong but at the same time it became a moment that belonged to me, and I so did not want it to end. As to how and why I am here, for this moment or point in time it did not seem to matter.

The song ended, she curtsied again, keeping her eyes locked to mine, then she turned and quickly exited the room, picking up her blue bell-bottomed dress as if to avoid tripping over it. I was surprised by this and was about to go follow her but before I could, I was tapped on the shoulder and as I turned, I was met by a punch to the face which knocked me to the floor.

What the hell is this? And what the hell again? The ball room all of a sudden was once again dull and old looking; I was back amongst the tour group only now I was sitting on my ass on the floor, in my regular clothing, with a trickle of blood flowing from my nose.

I wanted back into the moment that I had been transported to and from.

Slightly embarrassed from having fallen on my ass, I decided not to continue with the tour of the Mary Jane, so I went up onto the deck and as I made my way to the bridge to take me back from ship to land, I saw her, no more than a couple of hundred meters away. It was her, the woman I had danced with in the ballroom and somehow, she was in the here and now, if indeed our previous encounter had been a moment from another time.

Her long blonde wavy hair, her bright blue piercing eyes that had looked into mine, there was no mistaking her for someone else; she was most definitely the same lady, dress and all. I quickened and made my way across the bridge but by the time I got to where she was, she had gone. I could no longer see her anywhere.

The next day I went back to the ship and began the tour again. I was only in there a matter of seconds when like before the ballroom lit up, changing from the dull and dreary old room to a bright and seemingly new place that was a hive of activity. Those taking the tour along with the tour guide were, just like last time, no longer around.

Tables, people, and a big band all appeared and just as they had done the first time round. The same song that I had danced to the day before was playing. I was once again wearing a tuxedo, only now I was not dancing but sitting at a table, next to the man with the handlebar moustache.

'I say, what an astonishing place this is' he says.

'Indeed, it is.'

I had replied just as I had before, only this time I am someone else. I feel the difference immediately. I am still myself of course, only for now I have become someone else, someone other than whom I had become the day before, as if I am getting to be in this moment via people who actually lived it.

This time round I sit, leaning back on a chair and look on as the lady I had danced with is dancing with another man, quite possibly the person whose eyes I had been seeing through when I first had been taken into a moment. Just like that first moment, the song ends, she picks up her dress, leaves the room in a hurry, her partner receives a punch to his face, and I fall once again.

Instead of being the one receiving a blow to the face, resulting in a fall, I fall off the chair I had been on and once again find myself sitting on my ass as those on the tour of the ship just look at me, some of them laugh.

What the heck is happening to me?

The tour continued down along by the old living quarters. As I looked into one such cabin, its door so happening to be open, the lighting once again changes. Instead of looking into an old dark room, I now found myself in bed with this beautiful lady, the same lady as before and it suffices to say that it was in an adult kind of situation

Even though I had only one dance with this lady, which for me was only just one day ago, and with the likelihood that I am not just myself but possibly living a moment, a moment form the past through the eyes of someone else, there was a very strong feeling of love on my behalf for this lady and I didn't even know her name.

Very strangely my position changed, I was now looking through the eyes of this lady. Before I could make anything more of this situation, I was met with a punch to the face. I am once again back with the tour and in the present-day moment and also once again on the ground, on my ass.

Tour moved on and concluded up on deck where things would become somewhat ... clear. For once more, I would become part of what I can only presume was the ship showing moments from time gone by, and in this moment, I am staring into the barrel of a gun.

I too also knew what exactly was happening in this moment. This woman with the long blonde wavy hair who, I had found myself to have fallen in love with, had once travelled on this ship with her abusive husband, a man she did not love. She was also accompanied by her lover, something she had not tried to hide, and I am in the moment where her husband wanted to gun down his wife's lover with me being that lover. But as a gun fired, the lady threw herself in front of her lover ... me ... with the outcome going on to be that she was not to survive.

Back in the present moment I couldn't help myself but cry. I lost the woman I loved. I didn't love her. Safe to say I was feeling residual emotion. From afar, I could see she was again watching me from just beyond the shore and again I try as quickly as possibly make my way off the ship and get to her.

She stared at me with her piercing bright blue eyes as I got closer and closer to her and slowed until I was right in front of her. One tear rolled down along her left cheek. She kissed my lips, smiled, and vanished. I made my way back onto the deck of the ship and was approached by an elderly gent with a grey/black handlebar moustache.

'I don't even know her name', I said half in confusion and half reeling from that residual emotion.

'Yes, you do' was his reply. He continued 'what an astonishing place this is.'

'Indeed, it is ... it is indeed.'

With that it dawned on me, her name was or is Mary Jane. The ship may have moved on since then, but she will stay with me, always and forever, in my heart.