I was talking to my friend the tax lawyer recently. “How many houses have you got now?” I asked. “Only two” she said defensively. “Really?” “Well, surely the one I live in doesn’Â’t count?
Oh good Lord.
belgianwaffle
on 02 March 2006 at 22:04
And yet, I can’t quite sympathise Ms. Mortgage free.
A letter from my father:
“I was amused (not quite the right word) by your account of your troubles with people parking outside your garage today.  I remember your mother’Â’s story. She found a car parked outside the gate when she wanted to go somewhere. There had been a few similar episodes, and she lost her temper and telephoned the guards. They sent a guard to investigate.
It appeared the car was registered to a woman in mid-Cork, some distance away, and she was telephoned and told to remove the obstruction. The car was being driven by her daughter, who had business in [town], but she (the daughter) could not be found, so the registered owner had to make the trip into [our] road and remove the obstruction. Revenge, satisfaction, removal of an obstacle… all very well, if one was not acquainted with the culprit.”
On St Stephen’s day, we ventured up to the Lough where the Princess fed the ravenous birds and it was bitterly cold. The only other people out were some French people. It was quite weird to be at the Lough (which is very Cork) and to have most of the people there speaking French. Mr. Waffle and
the Princess tried to strike up a conversation with the mother and child on the swing beside them but were coldly ignored.
Some of my best friends are French etc. etc. but it is nice to have your prejudices confirmed from time to time.
Later that day, Mr. Waffle and the Princess ran into another group of French people, quite extraordinary. Down in FitzgeraldÂ’s park the next day, Mr. Waffle and the Princess met a little girl from Cork and her father also from Cork. Mr. Waffle wondered what they made of him and the Princess chatting away in French. Then the little girlÂ’’s mother arrived and started chatting to her daughter in Swedish. And finally, when I went to the park, I met a man from Slovakia and his son. At this stage we were past being surprised. I can tell you, there was none of this carry on when I was a child.
on 07 January 2006 at 20:18
Blimey, Cork has become a veritable Babel. We have none of that nonsense in my hometown, Deo gratias.
on 07 January 2006 at 23:30
Yep. Amazing what can change in twenty or thirty or forty years… 😐 
(Homepage)
on 08 January 2006 at 01:22
Good lord, i don’t care what language you speak as long as you’re back. Missed you, Waffley!!
on 09 January 2006 at 10:26
40 Jack??? HJB, yes have just realised that instead of having his own blog he is squatting on mine. Might ask him to blogsit next time I go away and get my money’s worth. Thank you all for welcome back noises.
on 09 January 2006 at 16:15
I make no apologies for knowing how to work the system. Blogsitting affords all the fun with none of the responsibility.
on 09 January 2006 at 23:24
Assuming we all live that long, of course…..
Also I couldn’t be allowed to blogsit on account of tendencies towards irresponsibility.
And besides the ship is sinking.
on 11 January 2006 at 10:00
FT, you’ll be sorry.
JD, yes, the ship does appear to be sinking, am gutted. Are you going to come back, rat?
Dec 15
Cavan Crash – Interview Sgt Jim Greene
He is warning motorists to exercise extreme caution if driving in Co Cavan near Ballinea where more than 5,000 chickens escaped from a lorry following an accident. The chickens have begun to lay eggs.
Friar Tuck
on 17 December 2005 at 03:03
Sounds eggstremely dangerous.
I only ask because this appeared in the Irish Independent on December 8:
“IARNROD Eireann could soon have some competition on the railways, from cross-border
trains, or until a proposed tunnel to Wales opens up.”
I think that I may have been away for too long.
My sons will be baptised in Cork over Christmas thus ensuring for my mother a lifetime of retrieving ecclesiastical paperwork for her grandchildren.
We’re hoping to be more prepared than we were for the PrincessÂ’’s christening. We didn’Â’t know that you needed a candle. When the crucial moment arrived, I hissed at my aunt, ““You’Â’re very religious, why didn’Â’t you tell us we needed a candle?”” ““I thought you knew”,” she hissed
back. Her highness was christened under a night light retrieved from a side altar. Your baptismal candle is supposed to enjoy further outings at your communion and confirmation. That’Â’s probably why they donÂ’t use night lights. We knew that she needed a white garment alright and proudly produced a white cot blanket. We were somewhat abashed to see that the little overachiever being christened at the same time as the Princess had an elaborate lacy number with her name embroidered on it. It was probably vomit free too.
My religious aunt is to be godmother to Daniel. I phoned her the other day to confirm dates
and times and she told me tartly that she has purchased two christening candles. Now, who will buy lacy garments and embroider their names on them?
on 09 December 2005 at 19:13
Bobble, that’s such a relief- my poor Nanny has been so worried about mine and my sisters’ eternity in limbo.
Friar Tuck
on 09 December 2005 at 19:28
Minkle, only infants get a pass. Unless you are a precocious two year-old, your Nanny should continue worrying, not about Limbo, but worse! But back to the baptismal garment, I know someone who makes their living selling handmade ones. It’s too late for flapjack and pancake, but I can put you in touch for any subsequent progeny.
kristin
(Homepage)
on 09 December 2005 at 23:06
My daughter was christened in a haze of high, high episcopalian incense, and my poor baptist mother still hasn’t recovered. She only stood the christening dress because lucy looked so adorable in it, but once the recitation of the saints started, she looked very pale. the event was particularly memorable because my sister’s hair caught fire from the candle she was holding during the procession to the font. the mom of the other baby who was being baptised that day offered to give us the videotape of kera on fire, for posterity. i think she was just jealous that lucy was such a cutie.
on 14 December 2005 at 09:13
Bob, Minks, MB, aren’t you glad that we have FT to sort these things out for us? FT, start your own blog in the new year or face dire consequences.
Kristin, that’s hilarious, superb story.
BHM, I know, I know.
