Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Bad aunt
I am not a great aunt - either literally or figuratively. I have 5 nieces and nephews (not all from one sibling I hasten to add) and I have forgotten at least one birthday over the years. I also once bought somebody a card that said 'Happy 3rd birthday!' when they were actually only going to be 2 - luckily I realised before the event (wild horses will not tear from me the secret of who it was). Recently two of my little nephews (twins) turned 5. I forgot to get them a present until the last minute and ended up sending them a rather low-maintenance fiver inside a card (euro of course, obtained after lengthy queue at post office in my lunch break, so I did make a modest effort). Apparently, though, it went down well. As the Mastercard ad would say: priceless.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
He drinks tequila, and she talks dirty (in Spanish)
Radio silence from me is due to a peaceful week in Dublin. Arrived into Dublin on Good Friday, on the boat. I like getting the boat. Unlike the airplane which is the opposite of restful, the boat is from a leisurely age - train from Euston at 12.30, change at Crewe, Crewe to Holyhead, look out at the coast, sheep, castles, bays, to Holyhead, onto boat, and so to Dublin by 19.30. I did very little but arrived back in London rested and with some memorable snippets to ponder.
- Good Friday is traditionally a day when pubs close, but because of some important match, some pubs in Limerick (I think) had been given a special license to open. I always thought the Good Friday closing was a traditional thing only, but no, it's enshrined in the 1962 Intoxicating Liquor Act.
- On page 2 of Friday's Irish Times I encouter a photo of two children called Eve and Phoenix Williams. Phoenix? Opposite was a snippet about a newborn giraffe at Fota Zoo in Cork. The giraffe's name is Aoife and its mother is called Roisin. It's a strange day when giraffes have more normal names than humans.
- Much discussion of the financial disasters currently engulfing Ireland. The banks are being bailed out, to a much more punishing tune than here in the UK, as our government was if possible even more reckless than the UK banks. There is a growing feeling that the government of the 90s was the worst we have ever had; yet this same government, which is still in power, is refusing to apologise and in fact in classic 'blame the victim' style are attempting to pin the blame back on the public. As one commentator in the Irish Times said, 'We are the nation that walked into doors'.
- Wednesday saw my first ever outing with my dad and brother's hill running association. I finished a 3k run up and down Killiney Hill only a minute behind my 67-year-old father. Yes, I am proud of this; no, don't laugh.
-A new musical discovery: Crystal Swing. I'm not sure words can adequately describe this musical phenomenon sweeping Ireland, but they are kind of adorable. Combine country and western, the Big Band tradition, a sweet Cork family and YouTube, and this is what you get. Make sure you watch the interview. Enjoy!
- Good Friday is traditionally a day when pubs close, but because of some important match, some pubs in Limerick (I think) had been given a special license to open. I always thought the Good Friday closing was a traditional thing only, but no, it's enshrined in the 1962 Intoxicating Liquor Act.
- On page 2 of Friday's Irish Times I encouter a photo of two children called Eve and Phoenix Williams. Phoenix? Opposite was a snippet about a newborn giraffe at Fota Zoo in Cork. The giraffe's name is Aoife and its mother is called Roisin. It's a strange day when giraffes have more normal names than humans.
- Much discussion of the financial disasters currently engulfing Ireland. The banks are being bailed out, to a much more punishing tune than here in the UK, as our government was if possible even more reckless than the UK banks. There is a growing feeling that the government of the 90s was the worst we have ever had; yet this same government, which is still in power, is refusing to apologise and in fact in classic 'blame the victim' style are attempting to pin the blame back on the public. As one commentator in the Irish Times said, 'We are the nation that walked into doors'.
- Wednesday saw my first ever outing with my dad and brother's hill running association. I finished a 3k run up and down Killiney Hill only a minute behind my 67-year-old father. Yes, I am proud of this; no, don't laugh.
-A new musical discovery: Crystal Swing. I'm not sure words can adequately describe this musical phenomenon sweeping Ireland, but they are kind of adorable. Combine country and western, the Big Band tradition, a sweet Cork family and YouTube, and this is what you get. Make sure you watch the interview. Enjoy!
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Home
Home for the weekend to Dublin - see resolution re keeping in touch with people in Ireland, below (though I don't think people really like being thought of as resolutions, so I'm going to keep quiet about that). And very nice too. Dublin has been having water shortages - the pipes all froze during the snow and now they've burst. My sister-in-law's brother has had no water for 3 weeks. Luckily the parental home was unscathed.
The most exciting part of the weekend was a plan for a family dinner at my brother's that morphed into an ongoing negotiating situation of UN-type complexity, with alternative plans of ever-more fiendish complexity being rolled out. I'll spare you the details but they involved unlimited changes of place and venue, all members of the immediate family, the two girls down our road who I used to babysit, and 12 people sleeping in our (4-bedroom) house. I cut the Gordian knot by saying I had made plans for Friday, and could we keep it Saturday. And that is what we did, and it was very nice. My sister-in-law makes Yorkshire puddings, which I find quite exotic, and we played with their new(ish) cat who shows remarkable tolerance for being manhandled and generally pushed and pulled around. A good quality for any family member, I would say.
The most exciting part of the weekend was a plan for a family dinner at my brother's that morphed into an ongoing negotiating situation of UN-type complexity, with alternative plans of ever-more fiendish complexity being rolled out. I'll spare you the details but they involved unlimited changes of place and venue, all members of the immediate family, the two girls down our road who I used to babysit, and 12 people sleeping in our (4-bedroom) house. I cut the Gordian knot by saying I had made plans for Friday, and could we keep it Saturday. And that is what we did, and it was very nice. My sister-in-law makes Yorkshire puddings, which I find quite exotic, and we played with their new(ish) cat who shows remarkable tolerance for being manhandled and generally pushed and pulled around. A good quality for any family member, I would say.
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