belgianwaffle

Testing


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland

I sometimes cycle home past a row of very mean little houses which sit permanently in the shadow of a large apartment complex. There are no signs of incipient yuppification on this terrace. No bay trees clipped into circles, no plain white blinds and repointed brickwork. No, there are sad little bits of grass with terrifyingly ugly garden ornaments overlooked by elaborately patterned net curtains. One day, I saw a young woman sitting on a bench in a front garden. She looked dreadful. Skinny, sickly white, dirty, listless and trembling. She was clearly coming off something and she wasn’t enjoying it. She personified in her skinny person the misery associated with drug addiction in the poorer parts of Dublin and there was something scary about her.

How did I feel when I saw her waiting to pick up her child outside my children’s shool? Not very happy at all.

Say Cheese


Posted in: Reading etc.

I met a female politician a while ago. One of the things she said made a big impression on me and I am going to tell you about it. Lucky old you. Delegations regularly come to see this politician and there is usually a photo opportunity. Invariably the men stand up straight, pleased as punch with themselves and make no bones about their inclusion in the photograph. The women don’t want to be in the photograph, they want to be at the back, they protest that they look terrible. What exactly do we deem so unappealing about ourselves? Why do we feel that we are so much less worth being photographed than our male counterparts, who, let’s face it, are not necessarily the best looking people on the planet either? What kind of message are we sending to our children about who is important and who is not? In future, I will be smiling in the front row.

Feeling Elderly


Posted in: Ireland

I took the Princess to see the doctor the other day. The doctor was a lovely woman maybe ten years younger than me. “Hello” she said to us holding out her hand “I’m Deirdre.” Not Dr X? Not even a surname, for God’s sake? I am an island of formality adrift in an informal world.

I will be 41 next month, I think you can tell.

Belated thoughts on Ash Wednesday


Posted in: Ireland

I had one meal and two collations and I was starving all day. I would not have made a good medieval christian. Though I was quite looking forward to hearing them say “Dust you are and to dust you shall return” when they daubed my forehead with ashes. I was to be disappointed though, they went for the very post-Vatican II “Repent and believe in the Lord” which really doesn’t have the same ring to it at all.

I felt a bit self-conscious trotting about my business with my ashes. The catholic church in Ireland has taken a serious hammering of late and it seems to me that there were far fewer people about sporting ashes. That evening Barack Obama was on the news and there was Joe Biden standing beside him with his ashes on. I got very excited, I said to my loving husband “Look, look, he has ashes, I was beginning to think that I was the only person in Ireland with ashes.” He coughed and said “Well, technically, he isn’t in Ireland, of course…”

Always Winter and Never Christmas


Posted in: Ireland

OK, North Americans, look away now. I am sick of this winter. It has run and run and it has been freezing for months. The Alaskans in the children’s school laugh at us and I saw Alaskan father yesterday wearing no coat which means he must be very hardy (he also speaks very good Irish – these Alaskans full of surprises – it’s not just Sarah Palin, you know). My mother says that it is the coldest winter she remembers since 1947 when her February birthday party was blighted by snow. A friend of mine whose mother is from Belfast says that the winter of ’47 was so cold that the snow didn’t melt until May. Bah.

Fear and Loathing


Posted in: Ireland

You may have noticed that it has gone quiet round here. Maybe not. Aaanywaaay, I have not been near the computer at home in over a week and hence blogging has not been possible. I am in dispute with the tax people and I am debating with them by email. I sent off my last salvo a week ago and was too scared to check whether it had worked or not. I checked. It has not. Well, it is unclear whether it has worked or not. The person dealing with our case thinks someone else may have replied to me. I am to forward her various information which I have previously sent her and she will double check. I have done so but I can’t help feeling that if someone else had replied, we would have GOT THE REPLY. On the plus side, she has said that she will put a stop on the bill until matters are resolved so I now feel able to get back online as my gmail is no longer threatening me.

By absolute standards, the sum in question is relatively small and I imagine that the official dealing with us is very bitter at how much of her time it is taking to resolve a matter which will bring in a tiny pittance. However, small and all as the amount may be to the tax people, it is big to us. My sister suggested that we could cancel our summer holidays and this would cover a third of the amount. This is unappealing. Let us hope instead that all will be well. I might start trying to save as well, just to be on the safe side.