Princess

Tá na Torthaí Seo Tuillte Agat*

18 April, 2021 2 Comments
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Dublin, Family, Ireland, Michael, Princess, Siblings

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

This was the last day of my Easter holidays. Mr. Waffle was back at work but he took some time off to cycle along the canal and through the park with me. It was fine but, honestly, I am beginning to think that I know every inch of my 5kms.

I spent a lot of the day practising German with herself. She’s really come on in leaps and bounds. The non-stop German television is definitely helping. Also, she has been consulting this textbook which has spent the past 37 years lying dormant on a shelf in my parents’ house waiting for its chance to shine again. I enjoyed the oral sample questions which included “Does your mother work?” Honestly, Mr. Cockburn, all mothers work.

Thursday, April 8, 2021

The German teacher came into school on her holidays to give them all a mock oral. Herself said it went ok but she wasn’t delighted.

I went back to work and spent the whole day thinking it was Monday which was confusing. on the plus side, I didn’t have to speak German.

I have been targetted by a toilet brush ad on instagram and the worst thing about it is that I’m slightly intrigued.

I was chatting to a friend whose son is doing his finals next month. It’s a three year degree and he basically only spent a year of it physically in college. I feel so, so sorry for those young people whose college experience has been largely online.

I did the enneagram personality test for fun and then made them all do it at home. Not my most fantastic idea ever. Everyone’s results were a bit scarring except Michael’s, he’s a nine and simply the best.

Friday, April 9, 2021

I got myself a new bike. It is in the shop but the parts, ordered from Germany, could take 9 weeks. I can’t even blame Brexit. I love the bike. It’s an omafiets and I don’t even care. The brakes on my own bike are a bit dodgy at the moment and I wasn’t going to bother getting them fixed (having spent €200 on an overhaul only a couple of months ago – this was the final straw which persuaded me to get a new bike) but now, I’m wondering whether this is entirely wise as 9 weeks is a bit of a stretch to ride a bike with dodgy brakes.

We watched another episode of “Wer Kann, Der Kann” and understood everything. It was a walk in the park after season 1 of “Charité”. Truly, she seemed ready for her oral.

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Herself had her Leaving Cert German oral. It seems to have gone really well. I’m delighted for her. Not just for the exam but because she is really enjoying the language and it’s something she’ll have for the rest of her life (though, like mine, it may need brushing up, of course). She’s worked so hard on her German over the past couple of months, I’m really glad that it’s paid off for her.

A school friend of mine lives in north county Dublin and, in peacetime, we meet up a couple of times a year for dinner and a chat. With Covid, I haven’t seen her since November 2019 and she called me out of the blue today to say hello and how are things. We arranged that next weekend when our 5km limit is lifted we will go out to the beach near her house for a walk. Delighted with myself. I asked about her family and then she asked about mine and said, “How is your mother managing in the nursing home?” And I said, “Um, my mother is dead, remember you came to the funeral?” God love her, she was mortified but it was kind of hilarious. We’ve reached the age where lots of people’s parents are dying or infirm and it can be difficult to keep track. I told her about my father dying at Christmas, she hadn’t heard and this added to her general levels of mortification. But look, really with Covid and everything, we are where we are.

I was genuinely thrilled to hear that a friend of a friend whom I’ve known since I was about 13 has just got a very important job. She’s a lovely person and the first woman ever in the role. Sometimes it feels like you have to be a bit ruthless and heartless to get these kinds of jobs and it fills my middle-aged heart with joy to see someone so kind filling such a significant role. Also, she’s from Cork. I mean, really, what’s not to love? It perked up my day considerably.

Herself and myself went into town to stock up on birthday goodies. She is facing into her second lock down birthday. Alas.

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Herself celebrated her fake birthday. Her 18th birthday (full, full birthday post to follow), falls on Monday, April 12. We had a somewhat elaborate birthday breakfast.

Then we zoomed with her aunt and uncle in Cork. Her aunt had spent some time planning and had 18 (yes, 18) presents for her to open including a big fat cheque. Her uncle had sent her a fat bank draft. Aiming to outdo his sister, he went to make it out for a round number +€18. On discovering that a bank draft cost €3.50 he had it made out for a large round number +€14.50. I cannot tell you how typical this is of my brother. Herself was pleased. He also wrote her a letter saying that she didn’t have to send a thank you letter no matter what her mother said. Hmm.

Then we had an afternoon birthday tea. As she said, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that the ‘y’ is missing on the Happy Birthday sign.” Alas. I also had the greatest difficulty in finding numbered candles and, in fact she blew out 78 with the cross taken off the 7 rather than 18. Look, there’s a pandemic on. I bought a pricey enough cake from a local artisan but I am not entirely sure that she liked it. Alas again.

As part of her German prep she made her phone language German. She used to have it in French but her new found dedication to German made her change over. She was outraged to discover that it addressed her as ‘du’ rather than ‘Sie’. You will doubtless be relieved to hear that in French it always addressed her as ‘Vous’.

Monday, April 12, 2021

The great day of her 18th birthday dawned. It was the mother of all Mondays as the boys went back to physical school for the first time since Christmas. Excitingly, we were all to be allowed outside our 5km zone (either county wide or 20kms from home whichever is the greater – as someone who comes from one of the largest counties in Ireland – it takes the guts of 3 hours to drive from west to the east – and lives in one of the smallest – about 5 minutes west to east – it’s a source of abiding bitterness) – there was much rejoicing re the latter if not the former.

The paper had on opposite pages two enormous pictures of women – Linda Doyle, first female Provost of Trinity College and Rachel Blackmore first female jockey to win the Grand National and I was quite pleased, I have to say.

Town was much busier than it has been and in the course of my commute I ran into a couple of acquaintances which hasn’t happened in a while.

Herself arrived home from school in great form with an enormous number of presents from her friends including this bag which one of them made. Aren’t the young people talented all the same?

We had another birthday cake and champagne after dinner. You’re only 18 the once. Her father and I gave her some book bundles from Books Upstairs and she seemed pretty pleased. Her aunt and uncle in London sent money and a book.

All in all, notwithstanding that it was her second lock down birthday, she seemed pretty happy.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Mr. Waffle’s lunch was interrupted by the cat coming into the kitchen with a live mouse in her jaws but otherwise the day was uneventful. The child benefit people wrote with impressive promptness to tell me that herself, having turned 18, is now off their books and the health insurance people sent her her own health insurance card. Small thrills.

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

For the first time in a long time there was no one in the house. Inevitably a delivery arrived (the boys’ presents for their sister’s birthday from their aunt – are you with me?) but the neighbours kindly took it in. Mr. Waffle was able to visit his mother in the nursing home for the first time in ages. Although she is, happily, vaccinated, he is not and he had to be swathed in PPE to get in so not entirely successful as he was certainly unrecognisable and inaudible to her.

My brother texted me that an older cousin had died suddenly. It was a real shock. She was only in her 60s. And, of course, no possibility of going to the funeral. It is depressing.

I am being tortured by people in Cork enjoying their new found freedom, travelling all over the county and putting the resulting pictures on Instagram.

Michael is reading “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” and loving it. It is very gratifying to recommend a book to someone and have that person love it. Particularly if the person is a child of yours and the book is a long one with a lot of details to discuss. All the others are hating our detailed dinner time discussions but Michael and I are delighted with ourselves.

There have been complaints about the kitchen bins and their ineffective foot pedals for some time so I bought two new bins in champagne (yes, this is a bin colour) and spent more than I thought possible on bins. They work pretty well though and the troops are pleased.

By the by, the package that had to be delivered next door in the morning contained cool sweatshirts for the boys. My sister is by far the biggest present giver to all of my children. Mr. Waffle and I used to try to compete but now we just relax and say, “Your best presents will be from your aunt.”

Aside – are we missing hairdressers? Very much indeed.

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Now that all five of us have to shower in the morning, bathroom time is at a premium. I went scooting up saying “I’ll only be a minute.” I sang as I went up, “She’s like the wind…” and I heard Michael through the ceiling saying gloomily to his brother, “She’s not like the wind.” Indeed.

Friday, April 16, 2021

Mr. Waffle found ants in the kitchen. Why is our house a haven for vermin of all kind with exciting seasonal variety? Please don’t answer that question.

I bought a hamper from the Lismore Food company at Christmas and, in a moment of weakness signed up to their mailing list. Lads, it’s the best mailing list I’ve ever signed up to. They send excellent, easy to make recipes. I made their Crunchie and it was amazing. No favours, other inducements etc. were given for this recommendation. More’s the pity.

Saturday, April 17, 2021

An absolutely beautiful day. We’d arranged to meet the cousins out in Dun Laoghaire (two households are now allowed to meet outside, hurrah!). It was our first time outside out 5kms and I was delighted. Everyone else in Dublin appeared to have the same idea and the traffic was dreadful but it was worth it. Herself got a flight voucher for her 18th birthday from her uncle and aunt which was lovely and although it’s apparently valid for 5 years, I’m hoping she’ll be able to use it before then.

We had arranged to talk to our French friends for the Princess’s birthday and the carefully set up zoom call had to be done in the car as we were yet again caught in traffic as everyone who had gone out to the seaside to enjoy the sunshine tried to get home again. Their daughter is going to do a college course which involves a year in London, a year in Berlin and a year in Madrid. If all goes according to plan, she and the Princess may be in England at the same time which would be nice. All the parents are very excited about this; the girls showed moderate enthusiasm.

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Neighbours from across the road got turf on a roll for their garden and offered the leftovers to the rest of the road so we scooted out and got four rolls. It’s heavy stuff. I hope it will take in our garden and give us reasonable grass instead of bald patches. More middle aged thrills.

I want out to visit my friend in Skerries and we had a long walk around the beach and the town and it was pretty nice I have to say even though the weather was chilly (the sea was full of people swimming and paddle boarding and generally messing around – dry robes abounded). It was pleasing, firstly because it was well outside 5kms and secondly I was meeting another person outside the family circle. Delighted with myself. Oh I do hope that the end of Covid is nigh.

*This translates from the Irish as “You deserve these results” and is one of the standard comments for our children’s reports so I have seen it a lot over the years. As Mr. Waffle says, it can be a double-edged sword.

Easter!

7 April, 2021 4 Comments
Posted in: Belgium, Boys, Cork, Daniel, Dublin, Family, Ireland, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Siblings

Monday March 29, 2021

We persist in watching “Charité” a German TV series with German subtitles (for added effort). It’s set in the 1880s and its about a hospital in Berlin. It’s hard going and despite my friend who speaks excellent German reassuring me that there is lots of useful domestic vocabulary we are all struggling to see how herself will work the word “Kaiserschnitt” into her German oral.

The evenings feel delightfully long now that the clocks have gone back.

Monday evening is forage night (everyone makes his/her own dinner from the fridge contents – don’t judge) and Daniel usually makes himself pizza. He’s got very handy at making the dough. He said to me as he kneaded, “I couldn’t find the yeast so I’m going to try without.” At one level my children astonish me with their competence, at another level, not so much. We found the yeast.

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

There is a new announcement about the very slow lifting of Covid restrictions. Nothing is changing before April 12 when we may be able to go as far as 10kms from home.

A very expensive Easter hamper from a nice hotel was advertised to me on instagram and, reader, I bought it.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 – Spy Wednesday

The bathroom door broke. I’m not sure whether that constitutes an emergency in Covid times but we had a man in to fix it all the same. Apparently it took ages according to Mr. Waffle and the kids who were all confined to their work spaces for the duration of his visit while I was off in the office. He put it back opening the other way (at our request) and I am delighted with the increased feeling of spaciousness. To be clear, the bathroom remains tiny.

My camellia has finally produced several flowers. I am unreasonably delighted.

We got a notification that there was a Covid case in the school. What would once have been shocking is now a matter of general indifference. Though not a great sign with only two of the six years back in school.

The Government got into trouble in the matter of children’s shoes. Although initially shoes were deemed non-essential retail, now children’s shoes can be purchased in person and an appointment made for fitting. It appears that the Government were nervous about the surprisingly significant role children’s shoes play in Irish politics.

The neighbourhood whatsapp group started to spiral out of control following some vandalism incidents. To my lasting admiration, one of the neighbours called out the language being used. Everyone is back to asking whether anyone knows a good plumber; how to keep the road clean and virtual Easter egg hunts. A relief.

Thursday, April 1, 2021 – Holy Thursday

The first day of my Easter holidays and April’s fool day. I failed to fool herself or Daniel but I did persuade Mr. Waffle that the new bathroom door had come off its hinges. As I pointed out to herself, the relief made it net hugely enjoyable for him. She was unsure. So was he.

Herself spent the morning crafting an application for a summer internship (she is not optimistic but you never know) and imagining a world where the Leaving Cert was over. Then she and I had a very satisfactory urban plunge. We went to Fallon and Byrne (food); Marks and Spencer (more food); Sheridan’s (cheese) and Clement and Pekoe (tea) which were pretty much the only places open. In the course of lock down I have been regularly reminded of this line from Alistair Horne’s book “The Siege of Paris”:

“When in October a copy of the Journal De Rouen was somehow smuggled into the city, and reprinted in extenso, Child remarked that ‘whoever had said 3 months ago that a Provincial paper a fortnight old arriving in Paris would cause a sensation would have been laughed at; however such was the case’.”

Thursday is property supplement day in the Irish Times and even by the generally florid style of this supplement the following line stood out:

“Central to the room is an on-trend cottagecore scrubbed pine table.”

Cottagecore indeed.

Friday, April 2, 2021 -Good Friday

It has been an objective with me since lock down 1 to cycle the length of the canals which, more or less, encircle the city. It was a beautiful day and Mr. Waffle and I set forth to see what could be done. We largely achieved my objective although we did have a brief diversion when we ended up following the Dodder rather than the canal. While commenting on the strangeness of seaweed in the canal; a curve; and a silted up island in the middle we remained convinced that we were on the right track until we saw a sign saying River Dodder in Ballsbridge.

We stopped off on Wilton Terrace in a small but pleasant park filled with deck chairs and a coffee van. It was a private park and though, in theory, I feel quite uncomfortable with that, in practice it was pretty pleasant. I was ravenous and went off to the van to purchase tea and a snack but Mr. Waffle tactfully reminded me that it was Good Friday and I’d already had my two collations, so I restrained myself and had a cup of black tea only. Not entirely satisfactory.

Slightly related: herself tells me that plastic surgeons call the two lines between my eyebrows the “angry 11s”. Happily they are not visible in this picture of me relaxing in the private sector deck chair – taken by my husband. On the minus side, all of my chins are visible.

I was pretty pleased with myself when we got home, though exhausted from our epic trek.

My 91 year old aunt in Cork got her second Covid jab, so that is a relief.

Saturday, April 3, 2021

The very expensive hamper I ordered did not appear. I was pretty nervous as it contained our Easter Sunday lunch but I got a series of soothing emails and messages and it eventually arrived. It was pretty swish, people.

Mr. Waffle spent much of the day trying to make hot cross buns. He had huge success last year but this year, they just would not rise for him. As he said bitterly at the end of his efforts, “I’ve merged two traditions by creating the Passover unleavened bun.”

A friend of Mr. Waffle’s rang to ask whether herself would be willing to do some translation work for him – from French to English. She was delighted and has already mentally spent the generous fee several times.

It was time to yet again the deploy the house cleaning rota. God, we all hate it. But it’s effective.

We did not have takeaway night on Friday as it was Good Friday and it just seemed a bit odd, so we had it on Saturday. The children had pizza and the grown-ups a meal kit from Oliver Dunne. I was pretty impressed. It had, hands down, the best and most straightforward instructions of any meal kit we’ve got. The food was good and it was delivered to the door in a box not a lot larger than a pizza box. In fairness, they have the thing down to a fine art.

Sunday, April 4, 2021 – Easter Sunday

Herself was up at the crack of dawn organising an Easter egg hunt for the boys. They love her Easter egg hunts. The clues are always just right – enjoyably hard. For example, one of this year’s clues had a Caesar cipher which I had never heard of before but which they seemed to know well.

She and I then spent a happy couple of hours setting up the table and cooking our hamper contents. A gendered space I fear. She had a vision of renaissance extravagance for the table:

I was more into replicating cute bunny napkin arrangements I’d seen on the internet.

We were thinking next time we might even iron the table cloth. The gentlemen of the party, had a drink with the chefs/creative geniuses:

And then, warned that they needed to admire, they were escorted to the kitchen:

I must say the hamper was amazing. They promised enough food for six and they more than made good on that promise. There was the most enormous beef Wellington which is likely to be with us all week. All of the courses were superb – I would definitely do something like this again for Easter. Although our poor vegetarian had to make do with a Marks and Spencer offering for mains. Oh well.

After lunch we went for a walk round the block and dropped into the church. It is so odd not to be going to mass at Easter though much less odd than last year.

We talked to my sister, brother and aunt in Cork by Skype. My sister is the major Easter egg donor in our house so we had an unboxing ceremony for her. She seemed to enjoy it. Not as much as we did.

Monday, 5 April, 2021

Herself was plunged deep into her studies. I decided that Mr. Waffle, the boys and I would explore on our bikes a hitherto unknown (to us) bit of the large park nearby. We were only half way there when it started to drizzle. We went in to a smaller park near our house instead and played frisbee in the drizzle which slowly and determinedly changed into snow. Not a perfect outing.

We continued our German TV watching. We switched to a show about a school on the grounds that the vocabulary might be more useful. However, we all pined for “Charité” and wondered how the tuberculin vaccine was going to work out [spoiler alert – not well] so we have decided to abandon the school show and work out how herself can usefully integrate late 19th century medical vocabulary into her German oral. I found myself reading up on Wikipedia about the characters in the show. Three of them won the Nobel prize for medicine. This got me thinking about how Germany was a powerhouse of science and medicine. When my mother went to Germany in the late 50s to do post-graduate work in chemistry, it was considered a fantastic opportunity. Ten years later when she met my father, German was still the language of a lot of scientific papers (they met because the college librarian suggested to my father that my mother might be able to help him with translating a German paper). I wonder is Germany still a world leader in science and, if not, why not? When did English take over from German as the language of scientific research? I daresay google knows.

Tuesday, 6 April, 2021

I’m still on my Easter holidays but there is nothing to do. I did some German practice with herself. My own Leaving Cert German is coming back to me a bit but, even though my Dutch is almost entirely non-existent *, I find myself regularly leading herself astray by using Dutch expressions instead of German ones. I read somewhere that when you are struggling to find a word in a foreign language, often the word will come to you in your weakest foreign language – this certainly seems to be true of me.

Tomorrow is the last day of my Easter holidays and I am not as sorry as I generally am which is a sad reflection on the state of things.

How was your own Easter?

*Despite a good year of classes and living in a Dutch speaking country – in my defence I lived in the French speaking part; Flemish people to a man speak far better English than I speak Dutch so I could only practice on young children and people tend to look askance at that. You would think that as Dutch is the child of English and German** I had a natural advantage, but yet I made no progress.

**An American friend of mine once shouted at Dutch radio, “Come on man, try a little harder, you’re almost at English”- I know what he meant.

Another One Down

28 March, 2021 2 Comments
Posted in: Belgium, Boys, Daniel, Dublin, Ireland, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess

Monday, March 22, 2021

I’ve got nothing. No recollection of what happened on yet another Monday in lock down.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

An elderly woman who was born on our road and has been a very active member of the local residents’ association went into hospital a while back. Mr. Waffle heard that she has cancer and then had a stroke so she is going into a nursing home and not coming home from hospital. It’s so sad. She was always in her front garden, sweeping the path or hanging over the hedge chatting to someone. And when she dies, we won’t even be able to go to the funeral. Very depressing.

On Daniel’s Tuesday course, he and his group did something in 70 lines of code whereas all the other teams had at least 120 lines. Apparently fewer lines is better. I tell you this lest you too make the same kind of tactless remark as me based on an understanding that surely more is better.

Herself went to the orthodontist and he has finally, finally said that he is going to take off her braces in June. This has been a complete marathon. I really regret going in to the process in the first place. Her teeth were fine really. I blame the Americans.

We watched a German film about the devil’s daughter who is staying with a nice family and trying to tempt their teenage daughter. Lots of school vocabulary, very speedy dialogue which was challenging but good for all of us.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

The State Examinations Commission issued new exam guidelines and apparently, inter alia, the Shakespeare question in English will be optional this year. Herself was delighted and she likes Shakespeare. She had two outstanding King Lear essays and felt that now the teacher would no longer want her to complete them (spoiler alert: the teacher still wants her to do the essays).

I felt a bit unwell when I got home from work so took myself up to bed at 8.30. Poor Michael had made a very nice risotto for dinner and was cast into understandable gloom when I merely pushed it round my plate and then departed for bed. Herself said reproachfully that if I had Covid, she wouldn’t be able to do her orals.

Thursday, March 25, 2021 – My father’s birthday

I woke up feeling fine (not Covid, then). This would have been my father’s 96th birthday. I thought about him a lot all day. A friend sent me a card offering perpetual masses for my father and mother and I was amazed how pleased I was. Am I going to become obsessed by religion in my old age?

At school, herself did mock Irish and German orals. The former was more satisfactory than the latter. Her lovely German teacher, looked out the window during the class and said, “Oh I see a bunny in the yard, let’s go outside and see if we can all see him.” She’d bought them all Easter eggs and put them in the yard. This class of 17/18 year olds were delighted which is quite sweet.

Daniel’s GAA coaches ran a zoom games session and they played 2 truths and a lie and he had such a good time. Poor Dan, fun is in short supply these days. I am very grateful to the coaches who organised the whole thing. They have day jobs and I can’t imagine that spending time organising an evening of online games was great fun for them.

Friday, March 26, 2021 – Last day of school before the Easter holidays

Herself had her actual Leaving Cert French oral. She sat 2 metres from the examiner with two sheets of perspex between them, the windows open and both of them wearing masks so I think risk of infection was low. In fairness, her French is good so it all passed off peacefully and she was glad to have the first real exam experience out of the way.

I had a good long Skype call with my friend in Brussels. They’re about to go into lock down again and she is quietly resigned.

I ordered from Uno Mas for dinner. It’s a sister restaurant to Etto which I love but I just didn’t like it as much. I mean it was nice but assembly was tough and nearly floored me. Highlight was waiting to pick it up and singing along with herself to Dolly Parton (“Here you come again” – how does she know this number? Dolly is very popular with the young people, it transpires).

Daniel, Michael and I watched “The Return of the King” which we all enjoyed hugely. Mr. Waffle drifted in and out making slightly snarky comments. He is not a fantasy fan. We had our revenge when he thought it was surely over and there was a final half hour of return to the Shire.

Saturday, March 27, 2021

A day of high drama. Herself came into my room at 9.15 fully of adrenaline in advance of her Leaving Cert oral Irish exam. We sang Dolly Parton (reliving the previous day’s excitement) and she danced around the room. Both her brothers came to the bedroom door having been inadvertently awoken by our antics at this early hour, “Either the singing or the dancing but not both,” said Daniel wearily.

I dropped her to school. She was nervous but she’s good at Irish and she was well prepared. She did the oral and it was the exam of dreams. It went really, really well. She noticed as she was leaving the room that the recording was only ten minutes. She was surprised and raised it with the teachers. It turned out that there was a fault in the recording software and it had cut everyone off after ten minutes. All of the earlier candidates had to be recalled and she had to do her exam again. Her Irish teacher said that it was the worst thing that he had ever heard of happening in an oral exam and he would use her as a cautionary tale for future generations of students. She was not very comforted by this. Anyway, she did the exam again and it went fine but not as well as the first time. The exam recordings have to be sent off to the State Examinations Commission and, apparently, they only mark what they get so it was really fortunate that she spotted the problem as if she hadn’t everyone in the school would have been marked down. She was a bit wrung by the whole thing.

I took to her to Lidl and Tesco to buy Easter tat: thin on the ground. I thought she might find something she would like but no joy. There weren’t even any mini eggs. We made an Easter wreath out of bendy branches and I stuck it up in the hall.

Herself picked the film night film. It was a Senegalese film called “Atlantique” which was largely in Wolof and won a prize in Cannes. The children really enjoyed it. I want to be the kind of person who finds a film in Wolof about the situation of African emigrants fleeing to Europe in death trap boats ideal Saturday night viewing but I’m not. I found it hard going. Before the twist, I dozed slightly. I woke up after the twist and it did improve but, lads, I can’t recommend.

Sunday March 28, 2021 Palm Sunday

I’d completely forgotten that the clocks were going forward (it’s bright outside at 8pm as I write). At least we avoided trooping in late for 11.30 mass. Mr. Waffle and I went for a walk and got rained on but it was not as unpleasant as that sounds. We passed a church with piles of palm outside the door so we picked some up.

Top tip on making your Easter wreath: make sure your bendy tree is not one whose leaves die after a short time indoors. This was the wreath yesterday, maybe not terrific but, you know, ok:

Today, alas, it was dead and positively funereal looking. Back to the drawing board:

My apple tree branch continues to be a source of delight though, so there’s that.

Update me on your own week, ah go on, do.

Hail Glorious Saint Patrick

21 March, 2021 4 Comments
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Dublin, Family, Ireland, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Siblings

Monday, March 15, 2021

I got an exciting package from the relatives in London containing a Cork poster for my birthday. Very thrilling.

We were all very excited to puzzle out this extraordinary translation of washing instructions on a new scarf that herself got. My favourite touch is the apostrophe in necessaire.

Translation below.

The fifth years are back in school and herself is outraged having very much enjoyed having the building open to sixth years only.

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

I took the day off work as it’s a quiet week with Patrick’s Day in the middle. It was a beautiful day and Michael and I went for a cycle in the park in the morning. Mr. Waffle and I cycled out to Chapelizod and had a look at the weir in the afternoon. It was an excellent outing by pandemic standards.

One of the boys’ teachers from primary school rang me out of the blue to say that the church where they were baptised was trying to get in touch with us. Odd. I had a grand old chat with the teacher anyhow. She was asking after all of the children which was nice; she herself is absolutely delighted to be back in the classroom even though she has junior infants this year and I can’t help but imagine social distancing must be difficult. Anyhow, I contacted the church – they had lost the boys’ baptismal certs but with some information on dates, they managed to locate them. So much for the Catholic Church’s extraordinary record keeping or, alternatively, it’s an impressively elaborate scam to get the boys’ data.

That evening we went into town and looked at the buildings lit up in green for Patrick’s Day. Low levels of enthusiasm but it was something a little different.

I made everyone listen to “Hail Glorious St. Patrick” in the car on the way home.

Wednesday, March 17, 2021 – St. Patrick’s Day

After the excitement of Tuesday, this was a quieter day. I thought about my father saying that when he was a little boy, the first time he really understood the passage of time was when he put his St. Patrick’s Day badge in a drawer and then a whole year passed and he was able to use it again. Not perhaps one of his best anecdotes but, it transpires, unforgettable.

Mr. Waffle, Daniel and I went to the Botanic gardens. I mean, fine, spring has sprung and half of Dublin was sitting on the grass enjoying the fine weather. There were pictures out from a photographic competition and I think it’s fair to say, that we were all more excited about this than we would have been in peace time.

Herself is preparing for her various oral exams and is concentrating on her German oral. We watched a dreadful cookery show called “Wer kann, der kann” as practice. Would not recommend although I am slightly intrigued by this review from the Hindu that I found online.

In the midst of it the cat started making the most appalling growling noise in the kitchen. Herself went to investigate and found that the cat had caught a mouse. Mr. Waffle was out and herself, reading the situation quite correctly, decided that I was useless and ran to put on her shoes, get a plastic bag and dispose of the mouse corpse. When she got back it was to see the horrifying sight of the cat bolting the mouse down starting at the tail. On the plus side, it was definitely a mouse and not a rat. Oh Lord, this is the year of vermin. The cat was delighted with herself.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Daniel was on dinner and he decided to make pizza. I picked up some burrata at lunch time at considerable expense to make salad to accompany the pizza. Mr. Waffle picked up some Lidl mozzarella for the topping and Daniel was a bit dubious about its quality. In fact, it was fine. Then Mr. Waffle took some of my beautifully curated salad, “I see what you mean about the Lidl mozzarella,” said he, “It isn’t really very nice.” I was fit to be tied.

Herself pointed out to me that I am not a restful companion and I keep hopping up and saying, “Right” and putting them all to work. This arose when I got up after dinner and said, “Right!” and all the children moaned, “Not ‘right'” which I found perplexing until it was explained to me.

Friday, March 19, 2021 – Mr. Waffle’s Birthday

Mr. Waffle is a hard man to buy for but he seemed reasonably content with his presents. His sister in London starred by getting him a signed copy of a book he was already interested in. She knows the author. The glamour.

Dan had to go to the physio and Mr. Waffle took him (his knee is a bit sore but it’s not serious you will be glad to hear). While they were gone, I sprang into action, taking from their hiding place the ingredients to make the classic rice krispie birthday cake. I made it, I washed up after it and I hid the cake before he came home. You can imagine my ire when Mr. Waffle noticed that there was an extra half pack of rice krispies on the shelf. Sigh.

Mr. Waffle and I took our faithful Pevsner guide and continued our exploration of Dublin. He quite fancied exploring Temple Bar. Normally he loathes Temple Bar as it is full of tourists but he thought he might like it in lock down. He was wrong. It was the most spectacularly depressing outing. It’s become a day time hang out for Dublin’s homeless population. There were people who looked really sick from drugs pale, yellowish skinny faces; people drinking in corners and people wandering aimlessly making quips about us walking around with our guidebook (we were quip worthy, I concede). Honestly, it felt like some kind of scene from one of those post-apocalyptic films; it was really sad but also, not relaxing.

When we got home, herself had returned from school. She did a mock French oral at school. It went well.

I had ordered a birthday dinner in from Etto and it was really excellent. And then we had the rice krispie cake. What’s not to love?

We also talked to the Londoners who had moved house that day and so had actual, live, bona fide real news. We got a tour via Skype of the new house but I can’t wait to visit in real life.

Saturday, March 20, 2021

The cleaning rota was deployed again. We all hate it but most of us think it’s worth it.

Herself and myself have started watching a German series on Netflix called “Zeit der Geheimnisse”. Honestly, I think it would be confusing in English but we are dutifully watching in German with German subtitles (oral prep) and all the twists and turns are definitely keeping us on our toes.

Ireland won in the rugby beating the old enemy, perfidious Albion. Daniel was pleased. My brother watched it in Cork with two friends who have been vaccinated. This is in breach of the rules but I haven’t the heart to blame him.

For film night, I had planned to bring to the audience a three hour epic (and indeed had paid Mr. Waffle’s money to google play to rent it) but dinner was late and I switched horses mid-stream and rented “Little Miss Sunshine” and put that on instead. Everyone loved it and came in at a handy 1hr 42 minutes. It came out in 2006 and Mr. Waffle swears he has never seen it before but who did I see it with then leaving him to mind our 3 children under four? A mystery.

Sunday, March 21, 2021 – Vernal Equinox

I have no idea what I did today other than a lot of walking around the block. I see that a certain anti-lockdown spirit is animating local fly posting.

I also agreed to play a board game with the boys. They were merciful to their father and me and the game they picked was short and not very complicated, it’s all we’re able for. Herself and myself had more of our Netflix German secrets show. Very tiring; she had to get out a piece of paper and draw a family tree for us to follow it.

Let me have your lock down news and, pretty specific this one, if you have a recommended series in German on Netflix, let me know.

International Anne Week

14 March, 2021 5 Comments
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Dublin, Family, Hodge, Ireland, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Siblings

Monday, March 8, 2021 – International Women’s Day

Every woman I know was inundated with invitations to online conferences. Of the three I was invited to, I went to the one from 6.30 to 8.00 in the evening. The timing didn’t seem particularly right on but it did suit me. I watched from home. Herself came and joined me. It was a good panel and interesting. One of the speakers was an older colleague at top management level. I thought she was pretty good but herself said, “She sounds exactly like you, I would not pay for those insights, when I get them for free at home, all the time.” Make of that what you will. One of the speakers was joined by a baby on her lap and the moderator’s small children could be heard roaring in the distance, “Their father is supposed to be keeping them under control,” she said through gritted teeth. Herself tells me that in the lectures that became “A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf, spoke of the “other women who are not here to–night, for they are …putting the children to bed.” Plus ça change eh?

Tuesday, 9 March, 2021 – Birthday Eve

Daniel had his course so was online all day doing Engineering. Roddy Doyle came back to Michael’s online English class to give the 13 children who were there his further advice on their writing work for about an hour. Honestly, the man is a saint. Michael said he answered all their questions and chatted away to them and they really enjoyed it.

I saw this sign outside a restaurant in town. Unintentionally accurate.

That evening marked the deeply unwelcome return of the school parents’ council meetings. The principal is long winded man and have you noticed that however long someone is in person, it is as nothing compared to how they get into their stride in online meetings? We were given some video footage of the outdoor classroom. If you ask me, even set to music on video it looks pretty bleak.

A former colleague sent me birthday flowers and chocolates out of the blue. It was such a lovely surprise as completely unexpected. I think everyone is trying to do more of this kind of thing. It was very nice to be the beneficiary. And due to the fact that the house is freezing, they’re lasting really well.

Wednesday, 10 March 2021 – Happy Birthday to Me

I took the day off work and woke up to driving rain. Alas. Mr. Waffle and the children provided presents and cards which I graciously accepted as my due. Some birthday cards came in the post; loads of people sent messages by text and email. I was delighted with myself. I do love to celebrate my birthday.

Mr. Waffle and I braved the elements and went out to buy the ingredients for a delightful afternoon tea. We returned to the house with our buns and fancy bread and cucumber to find that Irish Water had turned off the water due to a leak and it wouldn’t be back until six that evening. Alas.

The boys got messages about their Leaving Cert subject choices. Daniel is ok but Michael really wanted to do History and Geography and they are timetabled back to back. The perils of a small school. He’s decided to do Geography in school as he knows all the specialist vocabulary in Irish already (igneous and metamorphic rock anyone?) and History outside school. We’ll see how it goes. Herself had the exact same problem and ended up doing Art in school which she enjoys, so that’s something, but which is not, perhaps, her strongest subject.

So a slight pall cast on my day due to Michael’s understandable gloom and the absence of cold water in the taps, but never mind.

I collected herself and her bike from school. She greeted my arrival with unalloyed delight. In the latest news, it appears that following union directives teachers can no longer give test marks or sight of corrected scripts to students. She despairs and, I think, so do her teachers.

Anyhow, crucially, when she got home, she set to co-ordinating my afternoon tea and making brandy snaps (a firm favourite of mine – she makes an excellent brandy snap). This left me time to appreciate the flowers my sister had sent me. Very pleasing.

Afternoon tea of champions:

The tea had to be made with hot water from the tank but no one appears to have suffered any ill effects.

Then after dinner there was cake. My husband and his ability to take a lovely photo of his wife, people:

And a zoom call with my brother and sister who had clubbed together to, very generously, get a blue book voucher, which I really hope to be able to use this year. My sister also supplied various unguents for my aged body. It turns out that all the perfumes of Arabia can sweeten this little hand. Since my brother set up the zoom call, I got to enjoy the sensation of waiting for admittance to my own party, as I told him, once I was let in.

All in all, a good birthday.

Thursday, March 11, 2021

I paid for my fun on the previous day with a rather frantic day at work. Still, well worth it. Mr. Waffle was presented with a social dilemma. While he was out, one of the neighbours dropped by a bottle of wine to say thanks for the bike. We had given away three bikes and Daniel could not say which of the three men had dropped in the bottle of wine. One of the three is a mild media personality and Mr. Waffle showed Daniel some pictures of him in action and, happily, he was able to confirm that this was the wine donor. Life is full of difficulties.

Friday, March 12, 2021 – Covid Anniversary

It was this day last year that the Taoiseach announced from Washington that the country was going into lockdown and that we were going to have a very odd St. Patrick’s Day. There has been lots of “one year on” commentary in the media but I’m not sure I have a lot to say other than, it’s been long. I am simultaneously deeply bored of my 5km limit and the sameness of it all and very used to what I notice people are no longer calling “the new normal”. I know it could be worse but somehow that doesn’t make it a great deal better.

The wind knocked some branches off one of the apple trees in the back garden. I put them in a vase and now they are putting out blossoms. I am delighted with myself. Now that I’m 52 these are the kind of roller-coaster thrills I’m enjoying all the time.

To make up for the dreadful picture her father took of me I spent a happy time with herself taking selfies with the various filters available to me in my new iphone. I love this one with the contour filter wherein I look amazing but, as herself pointed out, she looks like she’s made of plastic. Look, as I said to her, win some lose some.

Herself and myself talked a bit about this poor woman who was murdered in England. V depressing to think that so little has changed for women’s safety since I was the same age as she is now. I tell her the same things as my parents told me and I don’t like her going out in the dark alone.

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Herself was a bit down so we went out on our bikes to the local shops. We were both cheered by a trip to Lidl. Sigh.

The cat welcomed signs of spring.

Mr. Waffle and I went in to Capel Street with our Pevsner guide. And it was grand and mildly interesting and all but I’m not sure a wander up and down Capel Street in the driving rain on a Saturday afternoon is living my best life but, I can tell you, I know my Wyatt windows from my string courses now.

My sister gave my aunt the animatronic cat. Notwithstanding my sister’s description of it as “rather creepy”, my aunt seems to be delighted. We will follow developments with interest. Did I tell you that my aunt got her first Covid jab? Well, she did and she seems to be fine. So good news there.

Sunday, March 14, 2021 – Mother’s Day

There’s a little fatigue amongst the troops after my birthday but, nonetheless, a card is produced and herself bought a bunch of flowers as did her father. I now have four bouquets and my blossoming branch. Delighted with myself.

I went for a walk round the block while my sister did likewise in Cork and we talked on the phone and admired signs of spring in our respective locations.

Mr. Waffle, the boys and I went for another walk after lunch and then Daniel and Mr. Waffle settled down to watch the rugby (Ireland v Scotland, Ireland won!) and Michael scuttled upstairs to continue his game of Crusader Kings III (he has spent many months expanding his empire); and herself continued dolefully with her studies.

As ever, I am anxious to hear news from your own lockdown, bated breath etc.

Onward March

7 March, 2021 3 Comments
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Dublin, Family, Ireland, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess

Monday, March 1, 2021 – Birthday alert

March is the month of birthdays. My mother-in-law on March 1, my brother-in-law on March 3 (a round number this year), my nephew on March 5, my godson on March 8, me (crucially) on March 10, Mr. Waffle on March 19 and my father was March 25. He would have been 96. That’s a lot of potential birthday to forget. March is always a month of high alert.

Herself had her first day back at actual real school as opposed to online learning. She thought she would love it but she did not. Apart from anything else, the school is freezing as all the windows are open and the heating is not on. Then they have to have lunch and assembly in what is euphemistically called the outdoor classroom but, more realistically, might be called a shed.

The boys got their school reports which we have yet to discuss with them but all broadly positive – the online thing is working out better this time around. Daniel is really looking forward to getting back to school on April 12. Michael is not so sure.

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

I had an early start on Monday morning so missed seeing the primary children going back into school. On Tuesday morning junior infants to second class were heading back in to the two schools at the bottom of the road and it was lovely to hear them scooting, running and cycling in.

The boys had an online TY experience at a law firm which a friend of Mr. Waffle’s kindly arranged. Like all these things, it wasn’t as good as an actual work experience module but made a welcome change from their other online experiences.

They had to choose their Leaving Cert subjects. There was much humming and hawing and what they actually get depends on timetabling but neither of them wants to do Art, Tech Graphics or Biology, everything else is pretty much up for grabs.

Wednesday, March 3, 2021 – 51 years and 51 weeks old (me) and round number (brother-in-law)

Mr. Waffle gave herself a lift into school. I went in to Michael’s room to bid him farewell and attempted to comb his hair (now long flowing locks last cut months ago – he’s not a bit believer in the brush and comb himself). He was quite annoyed as he was on his online TY work experience. Unfortunate. But he turned his camera off almost immediately, so no lasting psychological harm done.

After school Mr. Waffle collected herself. As she said, “Imagine my horror when I saw him wheeling my bike. I looked and looked for the car but it was not there.” He said brightly, “I walked up to the school with your bike so that you could cycle home.” She was not as thrilled as he had expected.

Over dinner it transpired that some months ago I had disposed of a pile of old Dandy magazines which had been gathering dust in Daniel’s room for years. It would be fair to say that tensions ran high and Michael and herself were most displeased. I blame Mr. Waffle who innocently let the cat out of the bag.

Thursday, March 4, 2021 – World Book Day

We got our windows cleaned. It just wasn’t as good as last spring where getting the windows cleaned was one of the highlights of lock down 1. The window cleaner had been in Love Hate and had his scene on his phone which he played for Mr. Waffle so there was that. It’s a rough time for the arts, lads.

On the way home from work there was a really violent fight at the end of the street. I was on my bike and quite unnerved. Myself and another woman in her car shouted at the men kicking another man on the street and I called the guards. It was all a bit grim. There seems to be an uptick in crime. A couple of times local children have been set on by gangs of teenagers on bikes at about tea time. I feel it’s some of the consequences of lockdown frustration, boredom and anger spilling out on the streets. I wouldn’t say I’m enjoying it.

Friday, March 5, 2021 – Nephew’s Birthday

Herself and myself went out to get a crêpe before she went to an online get to know you session with her college in England. I am not delighted that she is going abroad but at least the process has distracted her from her other woes. There were older students on the call to give advice about practical questions like food, accommodation and getting around. Herself reflecting her father’s family’s obsession about towels asked whether you have to bring your own towels. You do.

We rang my nephew to wish him a happy birthday. He’s 15 and hilariously, sounds exactly like his father on the phone as we realised when we were talking to both of them on speaker. Look, we get our thrills where we can these days.

We had dinner from Bastible which was recommended by a friend. It was very good but, as herself said, “I’m getting a bit tired of take away where there’s a lot of assembly work.” I mean the food was great and the assembly wasn’t too bad but it definitely was assembly.

Saturday, March 6, 2021 – The Departure of Throck Morton and the Return of the Cleaning Rota

This day marked the return of the cleaning rota. Our cleaner hasn’t been since before Christmas and though we had been doing bits and pieces on an ad hoc basis (bathrooms and hoovering – dusting had definitely fallen by the wayside), it was time for a thorough overhaul. The house is now cleaner than it has been since December. Rejoice.

A man came and put spikes on the chimney and now the pigeon (the children called him Throck Morton after some internet thing) which has been a feature of the Princess’s life since last April has been finally excluded from paradise. Farewell Throck, gone and, frankly, not regretted.

Mr. Waffle, Michael and I cycled into town and home again by different routes testing out the new cycle infrastructure. Improving, in fairness.

Herself had additional maths class in the morning followed by additional Irish class. We’re definitely in full “the Leaving Cert is coming” mode.

My sister has bought an animatronic cat for my aunt. I will keep you posted as to whether this €40 investment is well received by my 91 year old aunt.

Sunday, March 7, 2021

Mr. Waffle and I went into Fitzwilliam Square with our architectural guidebook.

It was sunny and pleasant but the guidebook does not have a great deal to say about the house exteriors.

A very nice resident who was walking her dog told us about her planning woes and lent us her key to go into the private park in the centre of the square which is for residents only. Pretty pleased with ourselves.

A good friend of mine lived in a basement flat on the square about 25 years ago and I found myself reminiscing fondly about that really great flat. Herself and her flatmates went on to have successful careers and I feel that if I had it in me I’d love to write a novel based on this premise. I’ll hand it over to my sister-in-law the novelist although she says that people spend their time telling novelists about great plots for their novels so maybe not.

Our friend in the Netherlands is going to be 50 in the autumn. She emailed Mr. Waffle that she plans to have a party. I immediately said that we will all go. Mr. Waffle says we may not all be invited. If so, the children can hole up in the Airbnb with pizza but as she has four children of her own, I’m sure she won’t mind. Mr. Waffle was less sure. Anyhow, I was very buoyed up and excited at the prospect. A life after Covid, people.

After lunch I took the children for a cycle in the park which was not entirely satisfactory. We’re all a bit bored of the park. But look, it was exercise. While we were gone, Mr. Waffle re-oiled the work surfaces in the kitchen. A job that needs to be done late in the evening so that it can be left to dry out overnight we have discovered. As I type he is cooking dinner in there hoping not to be overcome by the fumes or frozen (the back door has to remain open). We live and learn.

Any lockdown news of your own?