belgianwaffle

Ireland

Extracting the Positive


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland

Ok, do not judge me but I went through our random cables box over the Christmas holidays and now everything is neatly coiled and labelled and we only have what we need. I am delighted. And furthermore I gave the spare cables away on Olio (a sharing app) and I can tell you, a lot of people seem to want random bunches of cables. Look what I gave away to a good home:

This is not the first time I have undertaken this exercise (the wretched things breed) so more of this fun will doubtless be available in the future.

Random Thoughts from the Aged


Posted in: Cork, Family, Ireland, Reading etc.

My father used to call those grey trousers he wore with a blazer his flannel bags. Does anybody say flannel bags anymore? I tried my children and they looked baffled.

When leaving the dinner table, the expression, “May I be excused?” was widespread in my youth. Has this too gone the way of the dodo?

At mass this morning, they said that the exit hymn is “God’s Spirit is in my Heart”. “What on earth is that?” I thought but once they started singing I found I knew all the words. I was sure, sure, sure that I hadn’t heard it since I was a teenager but the internet seems pretty firm that it first came out in 2002. I am baffled but maybe I did learn new hymns in my 30s? This seems very unlikely but who can say? Then Margaret Atwood was on Desert Island discs and she picked Beethoven’s pastoral symphony as one of her 8 discs. “Ho hum,” I thought, “I wonder what that is?” Yet another musical number Mrs. O’Shea taught the school choir, that’s what, though we learnt it with the following words which I feel Beethoven wouldn’t have approved of: Now winter is passing and soon it will be spring/with daffodils and tulips and birdies on the wing. I also recently heard for the first time in about 40 years “In an English Country Garden” – yet another number Mrs. O’Shea brought into our lives. It’s funny how these songs one learnt as a child can be really evocative.

I’ve been looking at slides from my childhood and although it is a pain to set everything up the images are so much better than the faded brown snaps from photo albums and I now respect my father’s commitment to slides though I was dubious for many years. When I see myself I recognise every single thing I am wearing and I know what feelings it evoked in me, what I loved, what I hated. I am fascinated by this as I am not very interested in clothes now. I wonder what happened to that youthful clothes lover.

I had lunch yesterday with my oldest friend, our parents were friends and as she is a year older than me (something she used to enjoy pointing out to me when we were little, but now, ah, how the tables have turned), I have known her since I was born. Anyway over Christmas she went to a 40th school reunion. “40, 40 years!” I screeched in horror. “That’ll be you this year,” she pointed out tartly. I am shocked. How did that happen? But also, perhaps it’s not as big a surprise as all that.

Thorny Theological Questions


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Princess

Some time ago we had the tale of Lazarus and Dives at mass. You know the one, the rich man is at his table, the poor man at his gate begging. Then they both die and things are reversed – well the rich man is in Hell begging the poor man – who is in heaven – for a drop of water. I think we can all work out what the moral is there.

There is a slightly crazy older woman who attends mass regularly, she tends to walk about a bit but when she perches beside you it is slight purgatory as she speaks loudly and often asks for money (she lives in some kind of half way house near the church, I think). On this particular Sunday as the priest was sermonising away about Lazarus and Dives she sat beside me and asked me had I any money. As it happened I had €20 but that was all I had and I thought, “If I give her this €20 note she will literally sit beside me every time I go to the church ever.” So, quite untruthfully, I said, “No, I’m afraid I haven’t.” It all felt a bit on the nose. I was telling herself later on the phone and she said, “It’s not a lie, really it’s a mental reservation i.e. I have no money (for you).” Did I feel better? Can’t say I did really though I appreciated the vote of confidence.

Reported Speech


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Middle Child, Twins

In a titanic GAA struggle with another local club (we lost), middle child said that one of the opposition players said to them”Gentrification has youse in a stranglehold.” Whether this was a taunt or a comment on their play more generally is unclear but it’s definitely a high calibre insult.

Important Jigsaw Update


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Mr. Waffle, Siblings

I finished the cat jigsaw. I am re-gifting it to my sister. We’ll see how she gets on with it. In fairness, I think she likes the cat more than I do. Certainly since doing the jigsaw. I do feel a bit of an ingrate but I am very grateful for her other gifts including a notebook with my name embossed on it which I forgot in my listing of her largesse the other day so, look, you can’t win them all.

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Mr. Waffle’s cousin and his three very cute Spanish children came to visit yesterday along with the in-laws. We made some further slight inroads into our Christmas cheese supply but we still have a mountain of cheese in the fridge. Michael was a hero with the young Hiberno-Spanish crowd taking them off to play card games in the dining room and saving them from expiring from boredom with the grown-ups where, to be fair to them, they had been politely listening to the very dull grown-up discussion.

I had to leave a bit early to go to a removal. A former colleague of mine has died. He was only 58 and it was entirely unexpected. He went out for a walk on St. Stephen’s Day and keeled over. Bit of a shock all round.

When I got home we had a zoom call with the London relatives which was surprisingly fun given the inevitable Covid memories it brought back. After that Mr. Waffle and I, wringing every minute out of the day, went to the cinema to see Eternity which I am pleased to pronounce quite good though a bit long. My new year’s resolution for 2024 was to see more films which we did. We fell off the wagon a bit last year but we are now back for 2026 (I mean, so far so good, it’s only January 2 we might need to see where we are in a couple of months).

Today Mr. Waffle and I went out to Howth for a walk along with the millions of tourists visiting Dublin (really, if you had time off between Christmas and New Year is this where you would come?). We were all rewarded as it was a beautiful day with spectacular views. If you are interested in these things the conical mountain in the distance in the picture (an extinct volcano, hence its shape), is the Sugar Loaf which we climbed on Wednesday. I’ve said it before and I will definitely say it again, Dublin has many, many flaws but its spectacular location is not one of them.

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We went back into Howth village for a bite of lunch but were thwarted by the huge numbers thronging all the restaurants. I had really not anticipated that it would be impossible to get lunch in Howth at 2 pm on January 2nd but so it was. Annoying. And hungry making.

How is your own new year going so far? Any resolutions?

Christmas Update


Posted in: Dublin, Family, Ireland, Middle Child, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Siblings, Twins, Youngest Child

Still alive. A bit challenging this year. We had my brother and sister on Christmas Eve which was nice but I was starting, alas, to feel a little under the weather. Did 2 solid hours in Dublin’s newly minted Catholic cathedral make me feel better? It did not although the singing was beautiful and the archbishop gave a pro-migrant sermon of which I strongly approved. My brother was beside me and it is hard to believe that he had ever been to Christmas mass at all as he kept saying, “Surely, it must be about to end now.” Herself commented sagely that the flower arrangers etc. still had to be thanked. She was right although the thanks were mercifully less extensive than they tend to be in our local church.

We had exchanged presents with my sister earlier in the day as she was spending Christmas Day with her partner’s family. I always feel she does quite poorly out of this as she is very generous to the children and doesn’t get so much from us. She did not disappoint this year and I gleefully pocketed a blue book voucher and a nice candle and the children got untold largesse. She also gave me a novelty jigsaw which was a blown up picture of our cat. I think it’s going to kill me. And I’m also feeling a lot less enthusiastic about the cat.

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Comparisons are odious but this jigsaw which I received from my middle child was much more satisfactory.

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You’ll see there’s a piece missing. We spent days on our hands and knees on the floor looking for it but finally a couple of days ago we swept the jigsaw into its box and decided the piece was lost. This morning middle child found the missing piece. In a trouser pocket. Was I delighted? I was not.

Back to our chronology here, I felt ok when we got up on Christmas morning and v much enjoyed the present giving (good haul thanks) and receiving. Mr. Waffle does a treasure hunt for the children on Christmas morning and that was great too.

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We were having the in-laws and my brother to Christmas lunch and the children were a great help in prepping and the table looked fantastic; the food wasn’t bad either. All in all pretty satisfactory though I am, if possible, even more grateful to the in-laws who host almost every year. This year they have moved out of their house to facilitate very significant renovations. If you pray to a deity, please remember them in your prayers, they’ll need it.

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By the time evening rolled around, we were all a bit exhausted though we did play one game of 110 with my brother. Wouldn’t say everyone was totally into it.

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I’ve no idea what happened on St. Stephen’s Day. I whined about being ill. The Princess admired the spectacular bruise which the dentist’s butchery had left her with. My brother hit the sales and we put him on the bus to Cork.

On Saturday I was still ill. So sorry for myself. Herself and myself went to look at the antiques shops on Francis Street (all still closed) and had lunch in the Argentinian place on Meath Street. I was exhausted after my mild outing.

To everyone’s horror we realised that we were booked in to see Dublin Gothic in the Abbey that evening. A three hour play about one Dublin building. And two, yes two, 15 minute intervals leading to a total run time of 3 and a half hours. While there were varying levels of enthusiasm when this Christmas treat was booked, I think that it would be fair to say that on Saturday night we all shared the exact same enthusiasm level namely zero. To be fair to the play, it wasn’t too bad but it was too long and we weren’t in the form to appreciate it as we might. It gave us something to talk about and there were some very interesting ideas and funny bits but you know, 3 and a half hours is a lot even when you want to go and you are in the whole of your health neither of which necessarily applied.

On Sunday I felt just well enough for a mild stroll around the Botanic Gardens. Very sorry for myself still.

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On Monday I finally started to recover. We rejoice. Herself and myself and Mr. Waffle had a look at the antiques shops many, but by no means all, of which were open.

Then we went home and she packed and we dropped her to the airport to go back to London. Gutting. I felt very sad. But there you are, this is the lot of the Irish mother. I did it to my mother and she did it to her mother so I suppose we can only hope that some day she’ll move home again like my mother and I did. She’s starting a job and moving flat in January so exciting times ahead and I guess London isn’t so far.

Today my recovery continued apace and we climbed the Sugar Loaf. These pictures give the impression that we were there alone but in fact this was not at all the case and every family in Dublin appeared to be on the mountain having a health giving walk. It was a beautiful day and you could see snow on the higher mountains in the distance and all the way across to Snowdonia in Wales.

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I am delighted to report that I have no plans for this evening. I hope that your Christmas passed off peacefully also and that you are recovering from the inevitable illness of the season. A very happy new year. More blogging in 2026; something for you to look forward to.