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Archives for July 2015

Holidays

3 July, 2015
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Dublin, Ireland, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess

Herself finished school last Friday. The boys and I soldiered on for Monday and Tuesday of this week. On Wednesday morning we were all on holidays (oh hurrah!) except poor Mr. Waffle who had to go in to the office.

On Wednesday, the Princess and I cycled into town at lunch time to see the Anu Productions, 1916 offering. It still needs work and they described it as a work in progress, to be fair. We might go back next year and see how it looks; we weren’t completely entranced. It is set during and just before the Easter Rising and the action takes place in the back lanes around O’Connell St which, I imagine, are, in some ways, very little changed since the Rising. The meeting place is the Dublin Tourist office. There were a couple of tourists in our group and they seemed to react much better than the Irish members of the audience to the participatory element which is a part of all of this company’s work. Still, I wonder how much they knew about 1916 and whether they were a bit baffled.

In the afternoon we had friends of the children’s around. Due to extraordinarily fine weather we were able to barbecue. The excitement. This lured everyone outdoors and all of the children played in the garden.

The next day, Thursday, it was up and out to the park,

Untitled

then on to library and, after a refreshing tea with Mr. Waffle, on for our annual trip to see the mummies in St. Michan’s. I love the way the graveyard is so quiet and peaceful right in the centre of the city.

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Alas, there was a rough looking bunch of people drinking at the end of the graveyard. One of the disadvantages of urban, edgy, city centre living is that your children are only too familiar with this kind of group. Mr. Waffle took them home on the tram the other day and there was an arrest where they got on and a bloody altercation with ambulance summoned where they got off. I digress.

In the afternoon, it was back on the bikes to go to the dentist – all was well, we now have plaque disclosing tablets which are a source of enormous delight.

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Mr. Waffle had spent the afternoon fetching the car back from the distant suburb where it was being repaired and we greeted its return with boundless enthusiasm. We are all sick of travelling everywhere by bike (unworthy but there it it).

A man is coming next week to sand and varnish the floors. So that he can sand under the bookcases, the children and I emptied the one bookcase this morning and transported its contents (A-H) to the utility room.

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He is going to do the rest himself. I can only applaud his work ethic.

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Then into town to get sandals and shorts. I then made the children go to the Little Museum of Dublin. I think it’s lovely and, also, Mr. Waffle got me a season ticket for my birthday. They found it moderately entertaining. The Princess has been a couple of times already and likes it. The boys were a bit grumpy going in but seemed to quite enjoy it in the end. I saw a one armed bandit and recognised every one of the images from when I was quite small and spent my evening in pubs in West Cork in the summer (not as bad as it sounds). Looking at the fruit pieces every detail was familiar to me. I realised that one I had been a bit unsure of at age 6/7 was, in fact, a watermelon, the knowledge fitting into my brain with a satisfying mental click. I had utterly forgotten my time on the machine (2p a go, I see, good value for the grown-ups) until the moment I stood in front of it today but all of the images came back to me with startling clarity. The inside of my head is a mystery to me.

Michael with Podge and Rodge whom he would adore if I would let him watch them:
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Irish Times Editor’s Desk:
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Herself and Alfie Byrne contemplate St. Stephen’s Green
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Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (she likes him, she reads the column faithfully ever Saturday, for Honor; Michael does not care for him):
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Daniel blowing a trumpet with a model of Nelson’s Pillar in the background:
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The remainder of the day was spent packing. Tomorrow we drive to Kerry. The children are filled with excitement. The weather forecast is shocking.

Insightful

4 July, 2015
Posted in: Ireland

A colleague had an American friend and her family to visit. She had lived here for a number of years in the past; they were visiting for the first time. “How friendly the Irish are!” they exclaimed. She thought for a moment and replied, “Irish people are charming but they are not particularly friendly.”

Greek Crisis: Analysis from our Local Team in Dublin

5 July, 2015
Posted in: Princess

Herself: I’d like to go to Japan [inspired by her aunt’s recent trip].
Me: I bet it’s really dear at the moment; the euro is so weak.
Her: Why is the euro weak?
Me: Well, I suppose, now, it’s the Greek economy.
Her: What’s wrong with Greece?
Me: Well, it’s part of the eurozone and it’s doing very badly for a variety of reasons, so that creates problems for the currency as a whole.
Her: Well, then why don’t the other EU countries help Greece out?

Looks like another voice in favour of debt relief there.

Sharing the Housework: Perceptions

6 July, 2015
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess

I have said before that I am blessed to have a husband with a well developed sense of duty and a clear understanding that housework should be shared by both parents.

I thought I would check over dinner what the children’s view of this was.

Me: What work does Daddy do around the house?
Daniel: The laundry!
Michael: The cooking!*
Herself: The cleaning up after dinner!**
Me: And what do I do?
Long Pause
Me: Well, for starters, the tidying up! I am always picking up things and putting them away.
Michael: But that’s more of a hobby, really.

I think my work may not yet be done here. On a related matter, I was very struck by this post and the comments; worth a look, if you are working mother.

*At weekends
**During the week with the children

Slightly Afraid

7 July, 2015
Posted in: Princess

Herself: I don’t want to go to scouts tonight.
Me: But you really enjoyed it the last time.
Her: But I’m tired tonight.
Me: Alright so.
Her: If you were a Tiger mother, you would make me go.
Me: Are you reading that “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” again?
Her: Yes.
Me: But you’ve read it twice already.
Her: Three times.

Big City Child

21 July, 2015
Posted in: Princess

I was folding sheets with herself on the landing when I heard a coo from a pigeon which appeared to come from the fireplace in my room. Something about the acoustics of the chimney makes pigeons up on the roof sound like they are cooing in the chimney breast. I find it peaceful. It reminds me of the pigeons in the huge lime tree that grew in the garden of the house I grew up in. You could hear them right up on the third floor, cooing softly as you went about your important childish business. “Can you hear the pigeons from your fireplace too?” I asked her thinking how this might also one day be one of her beloved childhood memories. “Yes,” she said “and, I think, filthy sky rats up my chimney.”

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