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Ireland

Advent Begins – The Season of Waiting

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Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Dublin, Ireland, Mr. Waffle, Princess

Mr. Waffle took Dan to the airport for a fresh Covid test in an abundance of caution (mine). Mr. Waffle got up at 5 in the morning yesterday to book it and then they had to wait two hours for him to take it. Alas. We await hearing.

In continued surprises from Sunday mass, the priest quoted from Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers” in his sermon in a bid to cheer us all up as we contemplate the next Covid variant (how soon before we run out of letters of the Greek alphabet, depressingly soon by the looks of things?).

In England herself says she is feeling a bit better.

I went into town to do some Christmas shopping. No joy really but town was looking very nice with the Christmas lights up.

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Inspired by Emily, I went into Bewley’s for a cup of tea. More accurately, I joined the queue for tea outside in the freezing cold. When I got to the door, I could not find my mask so I left. As I bitterly put my stuff into my bicycle carrier, didn’t the wretched mask fall from between the pages of the paper? I hummed and hawed but went back and joined the end of the queue and waited and waited. A waitress came out to the frozen pundits on the street and said it would be half an hour for a table. I was committed at this stage. 15 minutes later, her colleague came out and said it would be 20 minutes for a table (ok, I suppose) and as they closed in 20 minutes, there was no longer any point in waiting. I was incandescent with rage. I went to the Queen of Tarts, an old favourite of mine, closed, looked a bit permanently closed, I do hope not. I cycled homewards in the freezing cold and stopped off at a local old reliable cafe. Closing and unable to accommodate me. That’s right, a city of nearly a million people and not a cup of tea to be had. I got home having spent nearly two hours trying to get a cup of tea. Snort.

In other Advent news, my sister gave me an Advent calendar in the form of a box of skin and beauty care. As it was the first day of Advent I pulled it out from under the bed. “Beauty lies within” it announced. “Surprisingly frank,” I thought for a moment. Honestly, could they not have chosen a better slogan? I had to ring her up to find out how I was to use the first item I received, I think it may be a bit sophisticated for me and my beauty regime.

The Crown Season 2

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Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Princess

So, back to the dentist to get my tooth fixed. This afternoon he did prep work which involved a fair amount of drilling. At this moment, I have a numb mouth and a temporary crown. I’m back in on December 17 to get my permanent crown. The Friday before Christmas, I rejoice.

In other news, herself appears to be improving, I base this on the reduced communication levels. She has had one of her poems published in a college magazine and is pleased.

And, finally, something else in the good news side of the ledger. I am very, very slowly making my way through a fat volume on the history of Dublin. There was a passing reference to the Worth Library which I had never heard of before. I emailed to find out about visiting hours and I got a lovely telephone call from the librarian, thanking me for my interest and pointing me towards their online exhibitions. Alas, they are closed due to Covid but hope to open up to tours again in the Spring. I am quite excited. Middle-aged thrills.

More Covid

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Posted in: Family, Ireland, Reading etc.

Two of my colleagues have Covid this week. Both fine, thankfully but not loving the general prevalence levels.

Meanwhile my brother-in-law and his family were due to go skiing in Austria for a week at the start of December. Alas, that adventure has been cancelled as Austria is in lock down.

In unrelated news, my teeth having basically caused me no problems whatsoever for the first 51 years of my life have really pulled out all the stops this year. I was sitting at my desk minding my own business when I noticed that a bit of tooth had crumbled off. This was at the site of an enormous filling and it had already been earmarked as problematic but having spent most of October in the dentist’s chair, I was holding off doing anything about it until next year. Until, of course, it fell out of my head. I’m back in for treatment on Friday afternoon. Sigh.

I met a friend for lunch and he told me how his daughter had to do research on Muhammad Ali for school, so she dutifully prepped away, she was on top of the Rumble in the Jungle. She went into school the next day and the teacher asked her, “What were some of the key events leading to Indian independence?” Mahatma Gandhi was who she was supposed to research apparently.

He also offered me this story which he believes to be true. I really hope it is. The teacher asked a child to get a guillotine, off she skips out of the class. She is gone for ages but finally comes back with 15 other children. “Sorry miss, I thought you said the Gaelic team”.

And finally, in the good news category, Emily Bell’s book is in the bestseller list. Extremely pleased by association.

A Grand Day Out

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Posted in: Ireland, Siblings, Work

To be honest, I thought I would be a bit older before this happened; I mean that I would regard a funeral as a social occasion but look, there were extenuating circumstances. My sister came up from Cork late last night. Good and early this morning, we drove out of Dublin to Wicklow to attend the funeral of the wife of my father’s oldest living friend (96 and very sprightly – he and my father were friends for nearly 80 years). The funeral was, of course, very sad for the immediate family. It was a lovely service and both sons gave great speeches.

I was surprised to see a couple I knew in the congregation. It turned out that they were neighbours of one of the dead woman’s sons and, this being Ireland, the husband discovered during the course of the service, that she had actually taught him in school.

We sympathised, we chatted and then it was 11.30 on a beautiful day and my sister and I were both on a day off work and in Wicklow (the garden of Ireland, I’ll have you know). So we went to Powerscourt for a look round and a nice lunch and a long chat. God, I was delighted. You will recall that I was supposed to be in Cork at the weekend but my trip was cancelled due to a late Covid test result. I really didn’t think I would be seeing my sister so soon and for such a pleasant day out.

She dropped me home, tried (and failed) to light the Aga and headed back to Cork. I welcomed the boys home from school and sat down to read the paper. A friend from work called with news that a re-organisation is imminent. He, alas, is being moved and maybe me too for all I know, I will find out more tomorrow. Mildly unsettling.

And in Covid news, it looks like things are going backwards again and case numbers are up. And antigen tests are in. And nightclubs and bars are to close at midnight (to be honest, not a huge deal for me). Alas.