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Princess

Ní Bheidh a Leithéidí Arís Ann

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Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Ireland, Michael, Princess

The principal of our children’s primary school retired at the beginning of September. There was a big party for him and parents of past pupils were invited to attend so we went along. It was a lovely evening and I was impressed by how all the teachers remembered us and asked after the children. We said to the principal how happy the children had been in primary school and what a great operation he ran and he said, “Oh yes, even herself though she was in one of the most difficult classes we ever had in the school.” This was news to us but she got on fine anyhow, I suppose.

The former principal is from the Kerry Gaeltacht (his mother was a great friend of Peig Sayer’s – of course she was) and he went to secondary in St Brendan’s in Killarney. The principal of the children’s secondary school was at the retirement gig also having retired himself this summer. He went to St. Brendan’s as well, in fact the primary principal was a prefect when he started there. All of the clever boys in the Gaeltacht got scholarships to go to secondary school in St. Brendan’s (this was before free second level education was introduced in 1967). A former colleague of mine went there also and he described to me how, the boys from the Gaeltacht never spoke Irish to each other in school (even though the school taught Irish and was very supportive of Irish) but only started speaking Irish to each other again on the bus home at the end of term. There is something very poignant about this.

The new principals of the primary and the secondary school are both fluent Irish speakers but both of them learnt their Irish in school. There are fewer and fewer native speakers and it’s not quite the same, is it?

Parent-Teacher Meeting

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Posted in: Princess

We had our parent-teacher meeting for herself this evening. Her English teacher was wildly, extravagantly enthusiastic in an evening of general enthusiasm. Even her year head who, in previous years, has perhaps been a bit more sceptical pointing to both her limited appetite for PE and her tendency to be late for school as things which might be considerably improved, was entirely positive. Herself tells me he no longer has her for PE; he’s obviously given up on the timekeeping. This general enthusiasm is all the more notable as her hair has been dyed a faint but definite shade of pink in open defiance of the school policy which stipulates “natural hair colours” only. Where will it all end?

Today’s News

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Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Michael, Princess

We had meringues after dinner. “Everyone can have a meringue,” I said. “Do I have to?” asked Michael. “I love the way Michael regards a sugary treat with the same level of enthusiasm that other children reserve for boiled cabbage,” said his sister.

Herself has got her hair cut.

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The dentist had another look at Daniel’s possibly dead front tooth and is almost certain it’s dead but wants to see us again in a month. Sigh

Dress Code

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Posted in: Princess

Herself objects to the school uniform. It is not beautiful, I suppose. It is grey (for boys), blue and navy (for girls) and serviceable and comes with a navy anorak (both sexes). The school uniform policy is strict and parents and children alike are always being reminded of it. Herself is testing the boundaries of the policy in imaginative ways such as by, for example, wearing her own jumper over the uniform and then removing it during that part of the day observed by teachers (almost all of it, I understand). She has an exciting belt which the school authorities objected to. She has been known to wear make up and dangly earrings.

Mr. Waffle feels that the other day, she made her most daring move yet. He drove the children into school as it was raining. He saw them entering the school building. He noted that herself was saying a cheery good morning to the principal while wearing her fake pink fur coat purchased in a second hand shop in Talbot Street. The principal appeared to accept her non-regulation coat without question and she sauntered on. I wonder will she break the Christian Brothers?

Cork

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Posted in: Cork, Family, Ireland, Princess, Siblings

I was in Cork at the weekend with herself. Nothing really happened but here we are in November and I have committed to posting every day. It’s only the 11th and I’m exhausted already.

I took herself to the cemetery to see my mother’s grave and almost missed it because the enormous overgrown hydrangea bush nearby, which is a handy marker, had been chopped down by somebody in an excess of enthusiasm. We went at dusk and it was quite beautiful. I couldn’t help feeling that had she known, my mother would have been delighted to be interred in such an interesting cemetery.

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My father and my aunt were pretty remarkably perky. I made herself consult with my father for his live take on the rise of fascism for her history essay but as he was only 15 in 1940, it was a bit underwhelming – he just summarised what we knew already – but he did comment that his views were formed in part by the papers his aunts and uncles took: the Daily Mail and, oh God, the Express. I can only rejoice, I suppose, that he himself is a Daily Telegraph reader.

We went out on Friday night for my sister’s birthday which was a bit disastrous as both she and my brother were quite ill and herself was exhausted. We ate our way around Cork over the weekend. After our ill-fated dinner on Friday night, herself and myself had a satisfactory breakfast in the Crawford, then picked up lunch ingredients in the Market and in the evening she had chips and Tanora from Jackie Lennox’s; the following morning we had breakfast in the Nano Nagle cafe (aside, is it too early for the return of Hanora as a girl’s name?). All in all a culinary tour de force.

How was your own weekend? Much food?

Still Sticking it to the Man

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Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Princess

A couple of weeks ago, I was cycling back to my, very traditional, workplace after lunch wearing my, very traditional, work suit when I had to stop to walk past the Extinction Rebellion installation. As I looked in, who did I see, with her face painted with leaves, only one of the Princess’s friends from primary school. I called out to her and she trotted across to me with a big smile. We had a friendly chat across the barricades and she explained that despite her very best efforts, she had not been arrested. The Guards said that she was too young to be arrested. “Where is [herself]?” she asked. “At school,” I said offering up silent thanks and asked, “Why aren’t you at school?” She paused and then offered, “My parents are hippies?” Fair enough, I suppose.