belgianwaffle

Cycling


Posted in: Cork, Dublin, Ireland

Cork has got a city bike scheme like Dublin and it is extremely convenient for me as I can now zoom into town from my parents’ house. The bikes have cute gears too:

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But what really impresses is the effort that has been put into building up a dedicated cycling infrastructure around the city. There are lots of cycle lanes with a curb to stop cars pulling in with their hazards blinking. There are contraflow lanes. It is terrific. In Dublin, I cycle home from work 5 days a week by an admittedly busy route. It is served by a cycle lane most of the way and I have NEVER completed the journey without having to pull out into fast moving traffic to avoid several cars parked in the cycle lane. I would love to see greater enforcement and dedicated cycle lanes that you would need to take your chassis off to park in.

Did I tell you that I am half thinking of joining the Dublin Cycling Campaign?

Tallow Candles or Problems Which Are Likely to Remain Theoretical


Posted in: Princess

The Princess recently finished this excellent book. In the course of reading it, I found her looking at the IKEA candles on the mantelpiece speculatively. “Do you think,” she asked me “that they are tallow?” “I’m not sure, why?” I said. “Well,” she said, “I was just sympathising with Emily who is trying to decide whether to give the tutor wax or tallow candles; you can imagine the difficulty.” Indeed. She added, “If you are ever going on a long trip into the wilderness and you are bringing candles, you should always bring tallow rather than wax because then, if you are starving, you can eat the tallow.”

Truly, she is a mine of 19th and 21st century information.

Civic Minded


Posted in: Mr. Waffle

The other night, Mr. Waffle was due to go to the Residents’ Committee AGM. “Just try not to be elected chair,” I begged him. Half an hour before the meeting was scheduled to start, the current chair sidled into our hall and begged him to take over. She had been chairing for years, her parents were old and ill and no one else was likely to step forward. I sidled off to the kitchen, head in my hands. Later that evening, Mr. Waffle was made chair of the Residents’ Committee by popular acclaim.

Oh woe.

A New Take on the Nicene Creed


Posted in: Twins, Youngest Child

At mass on Sunday for the first time ever, apparently, Michael listened to the words of the creed.

“I look forward to the resurrection of the dead/and the life of the world to come” the congregation intoned.

“WHAT?” said Michael, “We’re looking foward to the zombie apocalypse?”

Is There Snow in the Mountains?


Posted in: Cork, Dublin, Family, Ireland

You can see the Dublin mountains from our front garden. Every morning for the past couple of weeks, I have asked the (keener sighted than me) children, “Is there snow in the mountains?” Often there is and I would so love to get up there and look at the snow but the rest of the family are less keen.

When I was growing up, my mother would often say, “I love natural phenomena.” I can remember, as a small child standing by the window in the dark after the electricity had been cut in a storm. We had lit candles and I was watching the lightening with my parents and my mother was delighted. It’s funny how you turn into your parents, isn’t it?

Last weekend I was in Cork and when I came back, herself said to me, rather heartlessly, “You should have seen the mountains, it was like the Alps up there.”

In related news, the children and I walked in to school in the snow last week. It was horrible, cold, sleety snow that didn’t stick but they twirled around in it, crowing in delight.

And it was definitely very cold:

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My Talents


Posted in: Middle Child, Twins, Youngest Child

Daniel: You’re no good at directions.
Me: That’s true, I often get lost.
Michael: You are no good at remembering. You often forget things.
Me: That is true also. Can we talk about what I’m good at?
Long pause.
Daniel [hesitantly]: You seem to go to a lot of meetings. Maybe you’re good at meetings?