belgianwaffle

Archives for February 2009

Quotes of the week (loosely interpreted)


Posted in: Mr. Waffle, Princess, Reading etc., Work

I found this in a document I was reading recently:

Many wheels have been set in motion, which do not need to be reinvented.

I ask you, really? I have met my master in the matter of cliche.
Many weeks ago, I found this in the Irish Times and I’ve been storing it up for you since, it was apparently said by Louis de Paor and reported by Quentin Fottrell (great name eh?).  It would be important that you know about Peig to appreciate it.

When she [Peig] was dying there was a pilgrimmage to be at her bedside.  Isn’t it funny the way people don’t mention Henry James’s “Portrait of a Lady” as an excuse for extinguishing the English language?

A very bold Princess at bedtime: Can I have a biscuit?

Mr. Waffle: The audacity of hope.

Exciting neighbourhood


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Siblings, Travel

My brother, driving me home from dinner, said “I know you’re a great believer in the classless society and all that but, for the sake of the kids, would you not move somewhere more normal?”

It’s not rough here, it’s just very…urban.

No sweets for my sweet


Posted in: Twins, Youngest Child

Michael is the oddest child.  He does not like sweet things at all.  If the others have a biscuit, he has a cream cracker.  We were in the bakery the other day and the others each had a bun.  Michael picked up a packet of eggs and said, “Please Mummy, can I have a boiled egg instead of a bun?”

Feeling my age, again


Posted in: Ireland, Work

Ireland is awash with angry workers.  This morning, I asked my 28 year old colleague whether she had ever seen a strike before.  “No,” she said “and I thought to myself as I walked past a man with a placard, this must be what industrial unrest looks like.”

Oh Celtic Tiger cubs, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Brilliant Dooce


Posted in: Reading etc.

I know now she does a lot of the style guide stuff which is a bit dull; and she balances stuff on her dog’s nose which is also tedious but she is a genius. Take this, possibly one of the best insights into parenthood you will ever find, beautifully expressed:
Because raising Leta more than anything else in my life has helped me piece together the puzzle of what it means to be human. I understand my own childhood so much better, understand my own parents so much better, and there is so much about myself that I have tried to improve that I didn’t know I needed to improve until I was reduced to a late night pair of pacing legs.So much more makes sense now, and I don’t know if there is any other way I could have gained this type of insight into life. And I think this is what a lot of us are talking about when we say it feels like we were let into a secret club, a club we didn’t know existed until we got here, like we had no idea there was this much to know until our children showed it all to us.

You can read the whole post here.