belgianwaffle

Family

Aaargh


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

My brother decided to go to Tenerife for Christmas last year. On balance, I decided that on the first Christmas since our father died, it would not be great to leave my sister to celebrate Christmas alone with our elderly aunt (aunt is not really transportable so her Christmas has to be in Cork). We went to Cork en masse. It was pretty successful from our point of view but I would concede that it was a bit of a squash and a squeeze and, of course, my poor sister had loads of work to do as hostess.

Last year, my brother suggested putting my aunt in respite and having my sister come to Dublin. At the time, I thought it was an appalling and callous suggestion but, I have to say, now I am slightly more amenable. My brother is going away for Christmas again (Annecy, thanks for asking) and my sister has said, firmly but politely, that she’d prefer us to come to Cork after Christmas rather than for Christmas and that she doesn’t want my aunt to go into respite. I wanted to see her face to face for this to make sure that she meant it. I saw her last week, she meant it. We’re going to go down on the 27th.

Meanwhile my sister-in-law in Dublin had asked what our plans were and kindly offered to host us for Christmas day. At the time, I said that I was unsure but that we would probably be in Cork. I met my sister-in-law for lunch today and as agenda item 1, I was keen to share our Christmas news. Imagine my horror when she led with the news that, after some initial reluctance to go away for Christmas, she had taken up her brother’s invitation to spend the day in Wexford with him and his family. We both gasped on receipt of each other’s news, but sure here we are. We have agreed that we will go to their house for a family get together on St. Stephen’s Day which will be nice but not the same.

My other sister-in-law and her little family are staying in London which I totally understand.

So, in summary, I will be cooking Christmas dinner for just the five of us (possibly for the first time ever?). A change is as good as a rest, I guess.

Going Through my Camera Roll


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

I am desperate here. I am looking through my photos for inspiration but, nothing really occurs. Join me in my exploration.

Mr. Waffle and I went to Howth for a walk at the weekend. Mr. Waffle objects to the industrial chimneys in the distance (Dublin’s incinerator and the Poolbeg towers which have something of a cult following locally and really divide opinion), but I find them kind of useful for getting my bearings. Feel free to weigh in on this thrilling topic.

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What a nice photo he took of me but, why didn’t he tell me to tuck in my shirt. I suppose like my mother when I was a teenager, he thought, “Is that the fashion?” This was taken before I tripped and broke my fall by sticking my hand into a gorse bush. I looked a lot less pleased with myself then.

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What is the relationship between Dublin football club Bohemians and Berlin? Bohs are definitely poor but I’m not sure about sexy.

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When I was in Cork last week, my sister gave me a box of old curling photos which she found in the attic. Anyone for an over-exposed photo of my father in Stonehenge in a simpler time from a mass tourism perspective?

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How about myself and my brother? Funnily enough, I made exactly the same face when I collected him from Dublin airport at 1 in the morning the other day. I knew from the moment he was born that he would be trouble and I was not wrong.

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It’s funny, the picture is black and white but I remember vividly the red of that dress. No effort of memory is required for the rug which remained in use in my parents’ house until my father died. It was was in quite good nick too. They really built stuff to last then, didn’t they?

Maybe tomorrow something will happen. Hang in there.

Potato Content


Posted in: Family, Ireland, Mr. Waffle

As you will be aware, Irish people have a special relationship with the potato. Many years ago we were at a wedding where an English man was marrying a Cork woman. He went around the reception telling people in tones of awe, that there were going to be three different types of potato for dinner. How could he not have known that at least two is standard for any kind of fancy dinner.

There are a number of potato related ditties I learnt when I was growing up.

This one about the importance of ensuring your stock of potatoes:

Be ateing two/be peeling two/have two in the heel of your fist/and have your eye on two more.

Sound advice. Also this one which is a Cork special:

Are oo from Cork?/ I am are oo?/How are yer potatoes?/Big and small/How do ya ate ’em?/Skins and all/Don’t they hurt ya?/Not at all.

When I was little and we were ill, mashed potato with a little butter was often offered to the sufferer once he or she had graduated from dry toast.

My mother used to call mashed potato pandy, which I always assumed was a made up childish name never to be uttered outside the family home. Imagine my astonishment when I saw this letter in the paper (part of a long series of letters over several days on the potato).

Here’s another long letter on potatoes. In case you’re interested. And who wouldn’t be?

More of it:

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I regret to say that Mr. Waffle being the child of 60s hippies prefers rice to potatoes and insofar as he likes potatoes prefers a waxy potato to a floury one. It says much for his other virtues that our relationship continues to thrive notwithstanding his poor carbohydrate choices.

Please let me have your own potato related memories.

So soon?


Posted in: Cork, Family, Ireland

Lads, it’s only November 10 and I am out of content. I was in Cork for a couple of days for my sister’s birthday and it was lovely but unnewsworthy. I must say though, travelling to Cork on the train on a sunny Tuesday morning is an unbeatable way to see the country. It was delightful.

I tested two breakfast spots in my efforts to find a replacement for the much lamented Crawford Gallery cafe. The Good Day deli wasn’t bad but the Farm Gate was disappointing and drafty. The search continues.

I saw this sign in the market which shows real enterprise.

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Meanwhile, the Simon Community advertising shows that it understands the Cork mentality pretty well.

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Covid – Some Wins


Posted in: Family, Ireland

I’ve been trying to think about what we gained during the pandemic; I know a lot about what we lost so I’ve been tying to think of some positives.

Food

I got into bread making. My sourdough was a disaster (we will not speak of it) but my sister-in-law gave me a recipe for a pretty foolproof no knead bread and it works for me. You really need to be working at home for it to work because it takes ages but it is very low labour.

I started eating porridge for breakfast. It has changed my life. So filling. So delightful with various toppings. Who knew?

Geography

I now have a detailed knowledge of almost everywhere within a 2km radius of our home. I’ve been really surprised at how much I didn’t know before, small parks and tiny estates. I’m also pretty well up on everything within a 5km and to a lesser extent 10km radius. Old churches, parks, the whole village of Chapelizod, which is just lovely.

I have a much more in-depth knowledge of the island of Ireland having spent a much greater proportion of my holidays there than I ever expected to. The children have been to almost all 32 counties which I am sure will stand to them in some obscure as yet unimagined way.

Neighbours

I got to know a lot more of my neighbours. The neighbourhood whatsapp group was started and although it can be a bit of a mixed blessing, it is, on balance, positive.

Entertainment

I really enjoyed our film nights with the big screen. The children tired of them but at a time when we had relatively little to look forward to, I looked forward to our weekend screenings. I might even get the projector out from under the stairs again at some point.

We became subscribers to the Irish Times in hard copy. I mean, I know we’re a dying breed here but I do enjoy a hard copy newspaper first thing in the morning. Usually the children glance at it on the kitchen table but the other day I saw Michael trying to turn the pages of the paper in the air. I’ll tell you this, if his performance is anything to go by, the art of safely turning the page of a broadsheet newspaper is definitely endangered.

Transport

It’s a slow burner but cycle infrastructure has definitely improved in Dublin. It’s great to feel a bit safer on the bike and I think that Covid accelerated what was already a trend.

Time with my children

This is a bit of a mixed blessing. At a time when they should have been away from home, meeting their friends, socialising, growing up, they were suddenly confined to barracks. On the whole, it was pretty awful for them and I would hate for anything like that to happen to another cohort of teenagers. However, it did mean that we saw lots of them and maybe got to know them better than we ever would have otherwise. I am pulling what I can from the burning building here.

Worthwhile purchases

The hammock and the rocking wooden seat that we bought for the back garden – purchased when the back garden was playing a very large role in our lives – have given us all hours of pleasure.

Money saved

I am a spendthrift but my spendiness is largely in relation to in person spending, it transpires. While I was working from home and not able to buy anything in person, I saved a lot of money. I was surprised, and it’s hard not to sound unbearable here, but it just kind of mounted up. I appreciate that we were very fortunate in this regard but so it was.

Time Out

The money saved in Covid, gave me enough of a cushion to try taking a year out of the work force. That clearly wasn’t the only reason but, obviously enough, it gave me an option that I never thought I had before. And I am loving my time off. It’s amazing.

What about you? Anything positive to report? Anything at all?

Updated to add: How could I have forgotten, the Government has given us a whole new public holiday- St. Brigid’s Day, the first Monday in February – to help us all recover. In perpetuity. Now that is a definite dividend.

Are You Sitting Comfortably?


Posted in: Family, Princess

There’s been something of a clear out of Mr. Waffle’s parents’ house and my parents’ house over the last few years. Herself has taken a chair from each house and they now reside in her bedroom which is a space rich in chairs.

I can’t help feeling that each of them somehow encapsulates something about the families that Mr. Waffle and I grew up in. Mr. Waffle’s parents have provided a rocking chair which they bought when they were living in Costa Rica; my parents have provided a regency striped gossip chair which my mother acquired at auction.

I wonder will herself bring them to her own house someday or whether (very likely) they will now live in a corner of my house forever.

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