belgianwaffle

Archives for 27 May, 2014

Saint Paul


Posted in: Family

I am not a great fan of Saint Paul in general. On St. Patrick’s Day, though we had this from one of his letters:

“I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith..”

That really is beautiful. My mother is quite ill – though not getting any worse, or unfortunately, much better – and I suppose that because of this, I find that letter that he wrote towards the end of his life has a greater meaning for me now than it did when it was all more abstract for me.

Of course, St. Paul finishes it off with “all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that Day..” No false modesty there then.

Voting


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland

We have just had European and local elections. Am I the only person who enjoys talking to canvassers? That may be a yes. In the months that preceded the election, the children got into the habit of running around the house shouting, “Mum, come quickly there’s a canvasser at the door”. Jason O’Mahony suggested a couple of questions for candidates and I tried them out but, somewhat to my chagrin, I was easily distracted every time and failed to pin anyone down on these relatively straightforward questions. It was all, “enough about me, let me talk about your issues, how are you getting on with the new rubbish collection arrangements?”

A friend of mine said that every time she went out hoping to give the canvassers an earful about her views on their parties (like me, she wanted to be what they were saying on the doorsteps), the canvasser would turn out to be the candidate’s mother and she would have to hold back. Is it only in Ireland where you have a very good chance of meeting the candidate or his/her mother canvassing on the doorsteps?

Anyway, all over for a bit; must try harder next time.