belgianwaffle

Ireland

Further Christmas Things


Posted in: Cork, Ireland, Mr. Waffle

I ordered a present from an online shop which had been recommended to me. The owner’s name seemed familiar. I thought that she and her husband may have sat beside us at an arty Christmas extravaganza a number of years ago. This was just as well as I managed to put in the wrong email address on my order. I emailed the helpdesk and said that I thought we’d met. I got this lovely email back:

Hi Anne,Thanks for getting in touch and for ordering with us. I hope X loves her [present]! That was such a great night in Henrietta street. Would you believe we only just moved into our school house 2 months ago [they had been talking about doing up an old school and moving in in 2018]. We had so many delays and I still don’t have my terrazzo tiling down but hopefully in the New Year. Wishing you a fabulous Christmas! I’ll send your tracking number to this address.

It’s a wonderful shop run by delightful people. Have a look. Although sometimes everyone knowing everyone in Ireland can be trying, at times it is absolutely lovely.

I have made sugary orange slices to dip in chocolate and am delighted with myself. I realised this evening that I may well eat them all myself. I don’t care.

Untitled

Today Mr. Waffle picked up the essential annual Christmas publication for Corkonians at home and abroad.

Untitled

I am beside myself with excitement. Obviously, he’s also laid in the RTE guide so that we can record dozens of films which we will never actually watch; a cherished tradition.

Untitled

It’s funny how the TV seems so wholesome now whereas when I was a child it was basically the work of Satan and rationed all year round except at Christmas when a certain amount of decadence set in.

Christmas Update


Posted in: Belgium, Cork, Family, Ireland, Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

So in normal years, I resist Christmas until the weekend after December 8 at the absolute earliest. This is not a normal year. I saw Heather had a post about Christmas songs and I was delighted. Here is a post about Christmas songs from me. I wouldn’t say my favourite Christmas songs as there are so many but here’s a list of some Christmas songs, anyway.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

I really feel that you can’t beat a good carol. This is a good carol. Mind you, so is Angels we have Heard on High. Excellent work all round by the angels.

I’ve gone all out this year on outdoor lights. Even two months ago, I would have called outdoor lights tacky. No longer, people. Herself and myself drove off to a place just off the M50 which was basically a series of sheds filled with Christmas tat one of which, disturbingly, smelt strongly of urine. Nevertheless, we had a great time and bought loads of Christmas lights.

Untitled

We had a street light turning on last night and had socially distanced mulled wine and mince pies outside. Very satisfactory. Herself says that I have turned into Sorcha O’Carroll Kelly who is locked in mortal combat with her neighbours over Christmas lights. I reject this characterisation. However, I can tell you that Dublin is mad for outdoor Christmas lights this year and there is a reason why we had to go to a shed off the M50 to get some.

Untitled

Handel’s Messiah

Long, there’s no two ways about it, but very Christmassy. I have turned on Christmas FM which has a questionable playlist. However, I have recently become aware of Christmas FM carols and classical (or Christmas for the middle aged) and only this morning it graced us with For unto us a child is born from the Messiah. Pleasing. They are also going with Lieutenant Kije by Prokoviev on regular repeat which is, I presume, a bit longer than the bit they’re offering on the radio but I like the extract I’m getting.

We are working on our Christmas orange decorations.

Untitled

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

I think I only heard this for the first time a couple of years ago but I like it. In other Christmas news, my sister-in-law has asked us around to their house for Christmas dinner. I am delighted. It will be festive; my sister-in-law is an excellent cook; the children will love to see their cousins; and I hope it will feel more like a normal Christmas. I am so looking forward to it. Sad that the relatives in London won’t make it back this year though.

I am fond of O Come All Ye Faithful and am shoe-horning it in here even if it doesn’t quite fit given that everyone is basically staying away this year. Sigh. We’ve never done a Christmas round robin newsletter before but Mr. Waffle is actively contemplating it this year. Stay tuned for more details.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

When my father got his triple bypass in December 1985, we thought he might be in hospital for Christmas. My mother was up in Dublin at the hospital with him and my brother, my sister and I went in to my aunt’s house next door to record a Christmas mix tape for him. My sister played the piano, my brother and aunt played the recorder and I sang. I don’t think I have ever laughed so much in my life. The recorder is not an instrument that forgives hysterical laughter either. My father was home for Christmas, so we didn’t need the tape after all which was just as well.

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

When I was small I had a Christmas record that featured this song. When you opened up the album there was a pop-up Christmas scene inside with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the reindeer. I thought it was the most wonderful thing imaginable. My friend and I spent hours trying to write down the full lyrics to this song listening to it over and over again. That was before the internet, kids. I have the record in Dublin now along with a Perry Como Christmas special LP (which I think actually belonged to my friend but which our family somehow ended up with) and I’ve been listening to both of them on the record player and they really remind me of Christmas in Cork in the 1970s. Sometimes on Christmas Eve, I’d go out for a drive with my father to see all the Christmas trees lit up in people’s windows and it was thrilling.

Untitled

Saint Nicolas Patron des Écoliers

I wouldn’t say that this is an absolute favourite tune but it does remind me of living in Belgium when the children were small and whereas many of the nursery rhymes and songs they learnt in French have been forgotten this one remains fondly remembered. Today, you cry, is December 6, did St Nicolas come? He did.

Untitled Untitled

Another Christmas number the children are keen on is Walking in the Air because of the Snowman and every number from the Muppet Christmas Carol which Michael and I watch every Christmas Eve.

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

Along with Gaudete this is a new hymn I learnt in the parish church when we moved here in 2008. Our church has a great musical tradition and it will be very strange and sad not to have a Christmas carol service this Christmas Eve. In general, the choir mistress and I do not have musical tastes in common but I like these ones and Joy to the World and the Carol of the Bells which are staples in the carol service every year.

There’s usually a slightly chilly and damp Christmas market as well where I pick up poinsettias. Again, not a 2020 event.

I have asked the children to find an online midnight mass with hymns which we can go to on Christmas Eve in the house. It’s not really the same.

On a podcast the other day, I heard someone say “We miss each other”. And it’s true, I’m missing not just friends and family but other people and the normal everyday interactions which have largely disappeared this year.

Silent Night

A classic which can be very beautiful and also quite appalling. I am thinking sadly of all the Nativity plays which won’t be happening this year.

I feel very disorganised on the present front this year. Normally, I take a day off work and buy everything in a slightly exhausting but broadly enjoyable trawl through the shops. This year, it’s basically online only which, for me, removes all the spontaneity and excitement. And also, should be done by now but is not so I am feeling regular waves of mild panic. I am half thinking of taking a day off work to sit at the computer and order but my boss, in a Scrooge-like move, has asked us not to take unnecessary days off in the run up to Christmas as we are quite spectacularly busy. He’s right, we are spectacularly busy. Define unnecessary.

Needless to say, not a solitary Christmas card has yet been sent.

Driving Home for Christmas

I’m not quite sure whether we will get to Cork this year. My sister is a bit worried that our descent en masse from Covid ridden Dublin could take out both her and a number of elderly relatives. I’m not sure what to do. I suppose that we will decide closer to the time but I will be slightly heartbroken if I don’t get down to Cork over the Christmas holidays.

We usually have Christmas drinks on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas. Preparation and hosting can make me a bit tense to be honest but I love it in retrospect. Not this year and I miss it. My friend Michael who has a lovely voice and is a born performer often sings O Holy Night in several languages which is a hard act to follow.

Fairytale of New York

I love this song. There’s something about the bitter-sweet nature of it that means that you can hear it a lot over Christmas but it never loses its magic. I’m aware that the lyrics are a bit difficult but I still love it. It somehow feels very appropriate for Christmas 2020.

30 Days hath September, April, June and, Mercifully, November


Posted in: Dublin, Family, Ireland

I’m always completely out of ideas by the end of November. Usually on the 25th I say something about my much adored Nana. November 25 was her birthday and I often think of her around then. I remember the happiest news when I was a child was that Nana was coming to stay for a couple of days. She lived over the border in County Limerick and that was a lot further away in the 1970s than it is today. She was a fantastic grandmother: kind, clever, competent, indulgent, adoring. I still miss her.

And in completely unrelated news, I was walking along the road with two colleagues and an elderly lady wearing earmuffs marched up to us and waved at us shouting, “Social distancing, social distancing, haven’t you heard of social distancing?” We were all a bit baffled. Had we wandered too close to her without noticing? In any event, she seemed well able to protect herself from unwanted advances by the general populace. It was a weirdly unnerving encounter. I don’t think she was mad but she was certainly very angry and forceful.

Cycling home this evening, I ran into a friend and we stayed half an hour at the side of the road on a cold, damp evening chatting. God, we were delighted to see each other. We are sick of Covid.

And on that Covid-related note, I will draw November’s blogging to an end.

Maybe some December blogging will follow but for now, a pause may be warranted.

Weekends Rounded-Up


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

With the 5 km limit on travel and everything closed, weekends have been a bit similar. Last Saturday (i.e. November 21 not November 28, Mr. Waffle keeps saying that the way I say last Saturday is very confusing but I fail to see where the difficulty lies, if I meant Saturday November 28, I would have said yesterday), I went off to explore Chapelizod on my own without children saying it was very dull to be hanging around while I looked at buildings. I found a new way there through the park staying off the main road. That’s as exciting as it got. Some local history: Sheridan Le Fanu wrote a short story about the house on the right in the picture below and Lord Northcliffe was born up the road. His mother was Irish, who knew?

Untitled

I came home via the Lutyens designed war memorial gardens which, in fairness, were looking pretty good.

Untitled

An email arrived from the school threatening dire consequences if students didn’t have face masks. A follow up email some time afterwards apologised for giving out all the parents’ email addresses in violation of GDPR rules.

On the Sunday morning, herself and myself went to the Botanic Gardens.

Untitled

Her Christmas jumper got an outing.

Untitled

For added excitement we saw the actual last rose of summer left blooming alone.

Untitled Untitled

Then, in the afternoon, back out on the bike to Chapelizod with Mr. Waffle and the boys. There are only so many options.

Untitled

Then on to the weekend just past. I have absolutely no recollection of what happened yesterday, we went out for a mild walk, I think. We did not watch the “Late Late Toy Show“. My family are the only people in Ireland not into this. Mr. Waffle and I never watched it as children and our own children never had the faintest interest. My little niece in London watched it and loved it too. Look, I took in five minutes of the highlights: I liked the bit with the singer; the child from Cork and the hospital porter and the follow up; also the bit where the presenter was surprised by a hard to open bottle of Fanta. My cold heart was warmed but it appears we are never going to be a family in Christmas pjs watching this with a hamper of Christmas goodies. Too boring say my loving family. There you have it.

And then today, another trip to the Botanic Gardens also taking in the excitement of Glasnevin cemetery where, it transpires Gerard Manley Hopkins is buried. Fancy that. November is, of course, the month of the dead but I didn’t get to visit my mother’s grave. I might take all the children on a visit if we ever get to Cork en masse again.

Untitled

Very much looking forward to moving out of lockdown level 5 and back to level 3 from next week. Maybe my weekends won’t change a great deal but the possibility of change is very exciting.

Local Concerns


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Mr. Waffle

For ages, there has been talk about putting up gates to the lane at the back of the houses on our side of the road. Progress on this has been glacial. The right of way in the lane was extinguished after years of painstaking discussions.

Then someone insisted that they had to be electric gates so she didn’t have to get out of her car to open them. I am saying nothing but I will let you imagine, gentle reader, my feelings about this car and electric gate enthusiast. Electric gates are a lot more expensive. And they need a power source and more maintenance. More humming and hawing. And most people don’t keep cars in the sheds/garages at the back of the garden and some people who live on the road don’t have cars at all.

Agreement was hammered out that the B&B at the top of the road and student accommodation at the end would provide electricity to power the gates. Another lengthy and painstaking process and though definitely a good outcome, there was still a hefty sum to be paid per household for the actual installation of the gates. I assumed getting agreement on this would take a long time.

So did our neighbour up the road. He is an impatient man and he has tired of waiting. He has taken matters into his own hands. He’s ordered the gates. He’s going to pay €10,000 for them and people will have to give him money to get the fobs. It’s slightly high-handed and I see shoals ahead but, on the whole, I am pleased. As I said to Mr. Waffle, the important thing is that nobody must ever know that we knew in advance.

Will I keep you posted on Gategate lads?

A Judgement on me or the Cycling Advocate’s Comeuppance


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland, Siblings

Last night, I ordered takeaway from the local gastropub. It’s only a 5 minute cycle away. A 10 minute cycle back as we live up a hill. But I was tired and took the car. I had to go the long way round because of the bollards at the end of the road. When I got on to gastropub road, the traffic was backed up for roadworks. I turned off the main road and went by a sneaky rat run but at the end of my rat run, the traffic was backed up forever. I was talking to my sister via the phone on the radio (is that bluetooth?) and after about 15 minutes with the engine switched off, I hopped out of the car to walk up the road to see what was happening. I took my sister off the radio and walked up holding the phone to my ear. Surprise result: the roadworks were holding everyone up at this junction too. As I got back to my car, the traffic finally started moving, I hurriedly said to my sister, before tossing the phone on to the passenger seat “Stay on the line, I’ll put you back on bluetooth in a sec,” and turned on the engine. There was a Guard passing and she looked at me, smiled and wagged a finger. I was fit to be tied and tried unsuccessfully to gesture that I was not talking on the phone while driving one handed. I suppose, really, it was a fair cop though.

Anyhow, I picked up my take away eventually and carried it home triumphantly. I had the “buttermilk crispy chicken” and I had a different vision from what I got which was basically chicken nuggets.

In short, the whole thing was not my finest hour.

Lads, even Homer nods.