belgianwaffle

Princess

The Rules of the Game


Posted in: Princess

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Transcript follows:

We the undersigned do hereby solemnly swear that we will play Hot Chocolate fairly without fear or favour and follow the rules and regulations as explained by [herself]. We promise to obey the completely random system of Coconut Crack and never complain about the (if any) prejeduices (sic) of the President Dipper. We promise to obey the Catcher System and never complain or disagree with the catching if the majority are against us.

It’s signed by herself, the boys and the childminder.

Jumping the Shark


Posted in: Princess, Reading etc.

I emailed herself a link to an article about Malala Yousafzai. She emailed back, type “what does the fox say” into google. It took me a couple of moments to work this out but let me spare you that mental effort: this has nothing to do with the girl from Pakistan. It leads to a youtube cult Norwegian video. Finally, I know what the young people are looking at, although the fact that I know this means that pop culture has moved on.

This is the first time I have written the expression “jumping the shark”. I see it’s been around since 1977. I guess it’s jumped the shark.

Scripture Analysis at Dinner


Posted in: Family, Mr. Waffle, Princess

Herself: Do you know which Gospel story I think is the most unfair?
Daniel: The Prodigal Son?
Me: Martha and Mary?
Her: No, no, it’s the one where the labourers work all day and those who were recruited in the morning get the same as the ones taken on at lunchtime and in the last hour.
Me: But, if it was fair to them in the morning, then why should it not be fair in the evening? What does it matter that the same price was paid to people who worked less? If they thought it was fair in the morning, then it’s still fair at sunset, surely?
Her: No, it’s not. They didn’t know he was going to be such an idiot as to pay the same to people taken on in the last hour or they wouldn’t have thought it was fair. It’s really unfair.
Me: Well, anyway, I think it’s about getting into the Kingdom of Heaven and the idea is if you truly believe and repent your sins and so on, even at the last moment, then you will get in.
Her: Well that’s not fair either and anyhow, that thing about the workers is UNFAIR.
Me: But it’s not…
Mr. Waffle [cutting across]: I think we can agree that Jesus didn’t understand industrial relations.

Glass Half Full


Posted in: Princess

We are wondering about where herself should go to secondary school. At lunch the other day, I was boring a misfortunate colleague on this issue. “What a lovely problem to have” said the childless one wistfully.

First World Problems


Posted in: Dublin, Family, Ireland, Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Work, Youngest Child

As the professionals say, posting has been light. I have found the past month or so demanding as I went back to work and the children went back to school.

During my first week back at work, I found myself slipping out of a meeting with important people to rescue Michael from school where he declared himself (convincingly) to be sick. Mr. Waffle, who normally does the sick child trip, was in a meeting with no phone coverage. I went to school where a surprised and delighted (and crucially, in my view, quite well) Michael greeted me with ecstasy which was rather charming. We went home. In the utility room was the corpse of a mouse which the cat had brought in for inspection. I disposed of it. Mr. Waffle came home and I hared off across town on my bike to my next meeting.

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We have a new childminder, who seems lovely, but we all have to get used to each other. And the children are still flattened from being back at school.

And then, this time of year brings heritage week (a man dressed up as Robert Boyle in the Casino Marino – excellent thanks although herself now wants a vacuum pump for Christmas); the Fringe Theatre Festival (Ashling Bea and James Walmsley – only mildly funny- and The Stoneybatter Strangler – really quite dreadful performed outdoors by a large cast with little talent and a chill wind blowing, mildly atmospheric in places); the Theatre Festival (A Feast of Bones – for children, a bit creepy but herself loved it and Sheridan’s The Critic where I struggled to stay awake for the first half but found the second half alright and the ending superb); Culture Night (where we saw a limited number of things: Tailor’s Hall, St. Audeon’s but had pizza); Open House (by now flagging, we only inspected two premises, one of them very small); and we went to the opening night of the documentary film festival where we saw “The Great Hip Hop Hoax” which was good but the interview with the Director afterwards was even better and added additional layers of context to what is already an extremely odd story; there was a fly-by (sounds more exciting than it was – lots of planes – new and old- flew up the river Liffey at quite dispersed intervals, town was jam packed and the children couldn’t be bothered to get out of the car to look); we went to the Dublin growers’ festival and got the apples from our three apple trees pressed into apple juice and possibly cider (the jury is still out on this last one); and the Princess and I went to Cork for the weekend (twice).

And I broke a molar and had to go for an unscheduled trip to the dentist.

And the boys turned 8.

And, as of today, Mr. Waffle is lame with a horribly swollen and blistered ankle. He is allergic to wasp stings and got stung yesterday. He also got stung the week before last. His parents have a wasp’s nest in the largest tree in their garden. One our children like to climb up and get stuck in.

Is it any wonder posting has been light?