• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

belgianwaffle

  • Home
  • About
  • Archives

Princess

Summer Plans

15 May, 2022 6 Comments
Posted in: Belgium, Boys, Daniel, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Travel, Work

A couple of years ago, an Italian friend of Mr. Waffle’s asked whether we would be interested in doing an exchange with her nephew in Rome and one of our sons in Dublin. Covid put paid to the original plan but now it is back and Daniel is going to Rome for a week and we’ll have an Italian teenager here.

I was a bit worried about Daniel flying on his own. I anxiously asked him whether he thought he would be ok and he pointed out to me that he had already flown to Paris on his own a number of years ago which, I confess, I had forgotten. He flew as an unaccompanied minor though so was thoughtfully shuttled about by a bored airline employee. Mr. Waffle is adamant that the humiliation of flying aged 16 as an unaccompanied minor (they have to wear a special label around their necks; they are herded together and most of them are under 12) would be the death of Daniel and that he will be perfectly fine on his own. He suggested that if I am concerned I could adopt his own mother’s technique of approaching someone I like the look of in the check-in queue and asking him or her to keep an eye on my child. More mortifying surely? Your views would be welcome on this issue which is the subject of animated domestic discussion. I am forced to point out that Daniel himself thinks he would be fine.

Daniel doesn’t speak any Italian but he is game for the trip to Rome and I do hope he will enjoy it. I lived in Rome for a while in my early 20s and absolutely loved it. I really feel for my children who have had so many of the normal teenage fun things denied to them but have had all of the angst and then some. Michael has astounded me by announcing that he wants to go on a school trip to Brussels to visit the European institutions. Under normal circumstances, he is not one for travel but the lure of a trip to the European institutions was too much for him to resist. I am not even joking.

Last night we told herself that the day she returns from England and Italian teenager will be arriving to stay with us. She is already a bit tetchy in the run up to her exams and I wouldn’t say this piece of information improved her mood. “I wouldn’t have come home at all had I known that there were to be Italian teenage boys or indeed teenage boys of any nationality in the house,” she announced imperiously. As her own brothers who live here are teenage boys that was always a pretty lofty aspiration, nonetheless, my hopes that she might entertain the Italian teenager (who will be 18 in August so possibly a bit old for Dan) were definitely delivered a blow. She’s hoping to go to Paris for a bit of the summer and if she does I fully plan to visit. Let us hope this will be welcome news in due course.

I have had to delay my year of rest and relaxation by a week or so due to an upcoming work crisis which my boss begged me to stay for. I am not immune to flattery (on the contrary) but given that I am counting the days extra time – and stressful extra time at that – seems a bit tedious. I will now be finishing on June 17 and I cannot wait. On the 20th I am off to England to collect herself staying with friends in England en route. I am thrilled.

Bank Holiday Weekend Round Up

6 May, 2022 Leave a Comment
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Ireland, Michael, Princess, Siblings

We had my brother to stay for a couple of days last week and then my sister and her partner came around on Saturday. Very satisfactory. I do wish my siblings didn’t live quite so far away. Oh well, I suppose Cork is not as far away as it once was. When I was growing up it was a five hour car journey and trains were prohibitively expensive. So better these days I suppose. My brother is coming back this weekend to watch a rugby match so no cause for complaint there really.

Our neighbour gave us rhubarb from his allotment and I stewed it and then made custard. Then I made pavlova from the left over egg whites. Achievement level unlocked. Daniel says this is very appropriate turn of phrase as gaming instructions are often overly elaborate like this: “You have made custard and you have leftover egg whites, what do you do?” Insert warlocks and spells for custard and egg whites and there you go.

On the bank holiday Monday, we went for a walk in Wicklow. It was well trailed and the boys left the house with minimal grumbling in fairness to them. We went up to Eagle’s Crag where we have often gone before.

It didn’t rain much.

Untitled

Daniel stayed with me so that I would have someone to talk to and to give me a pull up the steeper slopes. I am curious about when we swapped roles.

Untitled

We missed herself.

Untitled

La France a Voté

4 May, 2022 2 Comments
Posted in: Boys, Michael, Princess

I am not sure how much more bad news I can take so the results of the French election are welcome. Michael was glued to it and even watched the Le Pen/Macron debate in French. If only I had known that this was what it would take to make him voluntarily watch French TV.

I was messaging my friend in Paris during the election and asked her whether there was any chance she knew of some job that my child could do in Paris over the summer. Sadly, she did not. Her own daughter is back for the summer (she too is studying abroad) and my friend is hunting for a job for her. How glad you must be to have her back “pour l’été” I typed. “Pour l’éternité” Apple autocorrected which caused some mild confusion. I just thought you’d like to know how ineffective it is in all languages. I am driven demented with envy by my husband’s absolutely brilliant Android autocorrect.

Scary

3 May, 2022 9 Comments
Posted in: Princess, Work

I got a third pair of glasses at the weekend. I now have one pair for the car, one for the television and one pair to carry around in my handbag in case I get jumped by an unexpected powerpoint presentation.

Herself when asked for an opinion said, “Scary”. Hard to argue with that. I see big lenses are back. I can’t say I love the result on my small face. Oh well. Everyone will be too intent on following the presentations to notice.

Untitled

Belated Easter Round Up

30 April, 2022 Leave a Comment
Posted in: Boys, Family, Hodge, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Reading etc.

The boys got Foil Arms and Hogg tickets for Christmas. They went with their father and their sister just before Easter and pronounced it satisfactory.

For Easter Sunday we had extended family round and it was lovely. Sadly my nephew was off in Germany with a friend (I mean not sadly for him but sadly for us as it would have been nice to have had all the cousins together) but otherwise we were all there. As the 11 of us sat down to lunch, herself said, “Have we any bubbles?” “Champagne? No,” I said. “Well even Prosecco or Moscato?” she asked. I would like to say that these are English notions but her paternal grandfather never met a celebration which he felt could not be made better by Prosecco so they are probably home grown notions. She did a great job in prepping the table. She’s quite arty; this did not come from me.

Untitled

Dinner – cooked by Mr. Waffle – was reasonably successful although my four year old niece did not eat anything. “You’re not eating,” said Michael anxiously. “Michael, that you of all people should say that…” said her mother. Everyone laughed. Even Michael. He is like his grandmother who really enjoyed small children and was quite fascinated by them. Dinner was a triumph for the cat who after everyone had left the room, leapt up on the table, grabbed the remains of the leg of lamb and made off with it at speed.

There was a rather damp garden Easter egg hunt for my niece. The Easter eggs were small but many and I have never seen her more pleased than when she came in with her bucket of eggs. It was really great to have everyone together again.

The week after Easter, Mr. Waffle and I took ourselves for a walk to Portrane. We went there just as Covid was beginning and it was funny to be there now that it’s – apparently – all over.

Untitled

I went to see “The Secrets of Dumbledore”. Absolutely no one in the family could face going with me, so I went on my own. At the start, Dumbledore outlines how to outwit Grindelwald: we need last minute plans, overlapping plans, confusing plans. My heart sank a bit as JK Rowling is a woman who likes a convoluted plot without making it an essential part of the plot if you see what I mean. It was alright actually but I do think the whole thing may be beginning to run out of steam.

Over the holidays I took herself to the dentist and then we bought her a ball dress. It took a lot out of both of us (far more than the dental visit which was benign by comparison). Part of the problem was that with her sylph like figure most things looked good on her and she tried on a lot of things. We bought this dress in the end. She is pleased. I hope she continues to be as she will have to get a lot of wear out of it.

Untitled

I have discovered that she has become a coffee drinker. I suppose as addictive habits you pick up in college go, it could be worse. It’s always really sad when she goes back to England. Usually she’s quite perky but she was glum on this occasion – which made it worse – as she had upcoming exams and she had to unpack all her stuff from storage. Both of these weighed pretty heavily on her mind. She has on campus accommodation which I thought was terrific but it comes with the not inconsiderable downside that she has to pack up all her stuff in three large boxes for every holiday. She says third years have it down pat and only bring a t-shirt to college. For English students their parents can drive them up and down and help them with the packing but she has to do it by herself. Last time she grabbed some unfortunate random young man to help with her boxes. “Where are your parents?” he asked. “They’re not here,” she said (with a touch of bitterness, I’d say). He thought that her parents were dead and was both mortified and sympathetic until the boxes were moved and the matter was cleared up. I am beginning to realise that from now on holidays will be bookended by happy arrivals and gloomy departures. Oh well.

I trust your own Easter was satisfactory.

Post

15 April, 2022 5 Comments
Posted in: Boys, Daniel, Ireland, Michael, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Siblings

During the week I got a blank postcard with my name and address on one side and a picture of Costa Rica on the back. I was quite baffled. Conversation with my sister revealed the following:

  • She bought a postcard for me and addressed it when she was in Costa Rica in 2013.
  • She never sent it.
  • She brought it home.
  • Her partner’s mother has a friend who likes to send postcards of places he has never been.
  • My sister posted a lot of blank postcards to her
  • The envelope opened in the post box.
  • The post office dutifully delivered the unstamped blank post card to me.

Not vintage content, I would concede, but there it is, this week’s postal mystery unravelled.

Separately, the census enumerator collected the census form. I had dutifully divided the time capsule bit at the back into 5 for us all to fill in a bit. It was on the hall table for herself to add her bit but, alas, she had not done so by the time the enumerator came. I wanted to take a photo of the time capsule as well for…um, not posterity, for me I suppose but it was not to be. I put in as much as I could about family history (I bitterly resent that empty fifth as I had much more to say but there you go); Mr. Waffle put in a bit about us and our cat; Michael hoped that there were people to read it; and Daniel put in a line from a song. I do hope we get to do it again next census.

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 174
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Flickr Photos

2017
More Photos
May 2022
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Apr    
Tweets by Belgianwaffle

Categories

  • Belgium (144)
  • Boys (838)
  • Cork (200)
  • Daniel (585)
  • Dublin (440)
  • Family (582)
  • Hodge (46)
  • Ireland (818)
  • Liffey Journal (7)
  • Michael (573)
  • Miscellaneous (71)
  • Mr. Waffle (522)
  • Princess (1,039)
  • Reading etc. (553)
  • Siblings (198)
  • The tale of Lazy Jack Silver (18)
  • Travel (156)
  • Work (184)

Subscribe via Email

Subscribe Share
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

© 2003–2022 belgianwaffle · Privacy Policy · Write