belgianwaffle

Archives for November 2016

Definitely Maybe


Posted in: Mr. Waffle, Reading etc.

The residents’ association met for their AGM this evening and Mr. Waffle retired as chairman after two years of faithful service. Unfortunately, no one volunteered to take his place. So it is to be considered again at the next meeting. Do you think this will end well?

In other news, it is the end of November. I have made it through another NaBloPoMo. If you have stuck with me, thank you. I have to tell you, I see quiet times ahead on the blogging front in the immediate future.

And, no, I still haven’t done that 1,500 word essay. Thanks for asking.

Percentages


Posted in: Reading etc.

Over at the other Belgianwaffle’s blog (which I nobly encourage you to read, I say nobly, as it is very good and I am very envious of her talent) she often describes herself in percentages. Let me give you my own percentages for this evening:

20% Absolutely unable to come up with anything for a blog post
20% Continuing to avoid writing my essay for this course
10% Nobility
10% Mounting anxiety about lack of Christmas preparation
20% Wishing NaBloPoMo would end
10% Keen to get back to watching “Location, Location, Location” (yeah, ok, judge me)

Tomorrow is another day.

Reading


Posted in: Reading etc.

“House of Mirth” by Edith Wharton

If you are hoping for actual mirth, go elsewhere.  A description of Lily Bart’s descent of the social scale.  It didn’t encourage me to try more Edith Wharton.

“A Dance with Dragons” by George RR Martin

If you like this stuff, it will keep you going.  I am not a massive fan but I find fantasy stories moderately entertaining in general and this falls into that camp.

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” by JK Rowling

It’s a play.  If you can get over that, it’s alright.  Better on stage than on the page, I imagine.

“The Light Years“, “Marking Time” and “Confusion” all by Elizabeth Jane Howard

I am loving this series of books about an upper middle class English family, the Cazalets. The first book begins in the mid 30s and I’ve just got as far as the end of the war.  I am feverishly waiting for the library to contact me and tell me that they’ve got in volume four.  I cannot recommend this series highly enough and don’t know how I managed to miss it until now.

“Vinegar Girl” by Anne Tyler

This is a retelling of “The Taming of the Shrew”.  I like Anne Tyler’s books very much but this one is, frankly, a bit forgettable.

“The Taming of the Shrew” by Shakespeare

I went back and reread the play after reading “Vinegar Girl”.  If you ask me, it’s nothing to write home about.

“Love and Other Man Made Disasters” by Nicola Doherty 

This is a sweet, funny romantic tale for teenagers.  I really enjoyed it; not my normal cup of tea and I should caveat that the author is nearly related to me but that would not make me lie to you.  I am told it would make an excellent stocking filler for the young teen in your life.

“Bedsit Disco Queen” by Tracey Thorn

A surprisingly entertaining autobiography by one half of the band Everything but the Girl.

More Weekend


Posted in: Dublin, Family, Ireland

After mass this morning we zoomed back to the house for lunch and then went off to our interactive theatre or, bus tour, as the less imaginative might characterise it.

Mr. Waffle and I have been to a couple of Anú productions before and this was definitely the least scary one ever. Things started off tensely enough though. Despite our speedy early lunch we left the house a bit late and floundered around trying to find parking.

I took the children and left Mr. Waffle to park the car. The website describes the route of the tour thus:

Starting from Dublin Bus Head Office, 59 Upper O’Connell Street, this 90 minute adventure will travel through the city stopping at major sites including City Hall, Dublin Castle, St. Stephen’s Green, Four Courts, North King Street and the GPO.

Was there any sign of the bus when I got to 59 Upper O’Connell Street? There was not. Was Dublin Bus head office open? It was not. Fortunately, some idly milling people told me that a woman had just gathered up bus tour people and taken them to Cathal Brugha street which is not far away but not exactly round the corner either – good luck with finding it tourists. We managed to get on the bus. But O’Connell Street was essentially closed (the Luas tram works continue – possibly the centre of Dublin will just be dug up forever) so no GPO stop. No North King Street stop or Four Courts stop either. We survived without.

It didn’t really do it for me but the children enjoyed it – it was very interactive and herself and Michael love interactive. I’m not sure that Daniel is so keen but he seems to like theatre a lot anyhow so he was pleased too.

But with the late start and everything else, the tour took longer than we expected and pitched us up in a different location from where we had started. Daniel and I immediately peeled off to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. We quite enjoyed it and Daniel showed an impressive ability to guess all the plot twists. I did not and mocked his predictions until they turned out to be true.

Meanwhile, Mr. Waffle and the others went to Eason’s to spend some vouchers and get a cup of tea. Mr. Waffle’s parents were coming over for dinner but due to a misunderstanding turned up at 5.40 and ended up spending 20 minutes waiting patiently in the car outside our door until Mr. Waffle turned up and let them in and fed them. Slightly tense times in the Waffle household but Daniel and I missed it as we were safely cocooned in the cinema with a family size pack of Malteasers.

By the time Daniel and I got home, the grandparents had, unfortunately, fled the coop. Happily, some Yorkshire puddings were saved for us.

As I type, I am conscious that not a solitary word of my 1,500 word essay has been typed and my enthusiasm levels for beginning are very low indeed. I note that this post is about 500 words and I feel some puritanical motto might apply. I think I will start tomorrow. No really, definitely tomorrow.

Busy Weekend 


Posted in: Family

Mr.Waffle drove Daniel to his GAA match this morning (he won). I cycled into town with herself to drop her to a day long workshop for this representative organisation for young people to which she has been elected. Michael and I leafleted all the neighbours about the residents’ association agm (the chair lives with us, it brings responsibilities).

This afternoon Daniel sang in the choir at the church Christmas Fair. Mr. Waffle and I manned the poinsettia stall (completely sold out, thanks for asking). Midway through the afternoon, I went back to town to collect herself (it went fine, next meeting in January) and she came back to the plant stall with me. We released Mr Waffle who went to visit his parents. The Princess got a free muffin from the cake stall (only fair as she had supplied the sold out brownies). I got it free because they said I was a great reader.” “What did it say? Muffins for sale?” “No,” she snorted, “for my reading at mass.” It’s a small pond but among elderly, religious ladies in the area she is a star.

As I write I am on the bus into town. We are going to dinner with friends and I am meeting Mr. Waffle there. Unfortunately, he was unable to make it back to our house from the distant suburb where his parents live and I am getting there under my own steam. It’s a bit surrendered wife of me but I feel quite daring negotiating new public transport routes on my own in the evening. So far, it’s been fine, you’ll be relieved to hear.

Tomorrow, we are going to some interactive theatre and Daniel and I are going to “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (his sister has already seen it with friends, his father and brother have no interest, so it’s just the two of us). And at some point I need to produce a 1,500 word essay for this course I’m doing. Mild sigh.

Also, unrelated, thanks for the good wishes for my aunt – I told her, she was pleased- she got a new hip today so I hope things will start to improve.

Context Clues


Posted in: Dublin, Princess

In geography (which seems a lot more interesting than it was when I was at school), the Princess’s class are doing a case study.

It was about housing and the teacher showed them a number of pictures of a place she called “Fatima“.  As the Princess looked at these gloomy pictures, she thought, “I had no idea Portugal was so rainy.”

The motto must be, if you’re a teacher assume nothing.