Were it tomorrow rather than June 16th, 1904, "stately plump Buck Mulligan" would probably go "olé, olé, olé" on the tower at Sandycove or break into The Fields of Athenry instead of holding his shaving bowl aloft and intoning Introibo ad altare Dei as he does in the opening paragraphs of James Joyce's Ulysses, or Useless, as Brendan Behan called it.
Those who would like to start their day with Stephen Dedalus in Sandycove will find Caviston's restaurant in Glasthule open for Bloomsday Breakfast at 7.30 a.m.
The James Joyce Museum at the Tower in Sandycove will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Actor Barry McGovern will read from Ulysses from 9.30 a.m.
Throughout Dublin the Balloonatics theatre company will be putting Joyce on the streets for the 15th consecutive year, with re-enactments from Ulysses at the original locations.
The main focus for events in the city will be the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street, where the Guinness Bloomsday Breakfast (in association with Bewley's) will be served from 8 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., accompanied by readings from Ulysses. From 12.20 p.m. Joyceans can rejoice in the added bonus of empty streets as the World Cup clash with Spain makes Dublin the centre of a sort of paralysis once more.
