Sean's Space

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Dressed and made my bed.  Performed no ablutions.  Met Kevin McGeough in Green-Life driving range at 11.00 a.m.  Forgot to ring Dr Malone’s for the result of my blood test and forgot to leave an open cheque for the coalman (it turned out he did not come anyway today).  Sean Og rang on my mobile at 9.00 a.m. before I got up from bed.  Gavin is vomiting and it would not be convenient for me to stay the night there.  So I laboured all day under the apprehension that I would be too tired to make my way safely back from Dublin tonight.  Kevin and I hit 50 balls each.  €4 for 50 balls.  I had 2 cups of tea buckshee from Gavin Byrne, the assistant pro, and Kevin had coffee.  We had a chat with Frank McDonnell, Kevin’s brother-in-law, who came into the driving range shortly after us.  I returned to the toilet and passed a large solid motion.  Visited the toilet in the nick of time in City North Hotel where I had a sort of anal spasm.  I had beef curry and boiled rice (€12.20).  Worry again because I had to pick some mushroom out of the sauce and about possible consequence filled any empty space in my mind with foreboding for a few hours.  Met in the hotel Seamus McQuaid and a business associate – a young (German?) woman – and wished them a happy new year.  Tooted the horn at them as I departed the car-park.  Parked at Regency Airport Hotel.  Had another spasm in the toilet and sat in the dim bar for a while until Teresa B turned up.  She had soup and coffee, I had cheesecake dessert and coffee.  Teresa paid the bill but, later, before she left I gave her €10 which more than covered what I had eaten.  Looked at the sports pages of The Irish Times.  Paid €4 to the machine in the foyer to "redeem" my car from the car-park of Regency.  Parked in Dawson car-park  Level 1 space 6.  It was not much after 5 p.m. when I reached the National Concert Hall and extracted my ticket from the machine in the foyer.  Exchanged texts with Aisling and she rolled up around 6.00 p.m.  We sat in the foyer for a while talking about money – she has €20 000 saved, her job – she hates it, Paul’s mother – who is sinking into a coma.  Then we moved into the John Field Room where I gave Aisling a €20 note and she bought a ham and egg brown bread sandwich and tea for me and a sort of Madeira pastry for herself and tea.  < €14.  She gave me more than half of the pastry to finish.  The tea was tasty not like the usual dish-water one is used to getting away from home.  Bought a program.  €5.  Good seat on the side balcony stage right.  Was looking down face-on at the clarinet player, Michael Collins, in Mozart’s clarinet quintet.  Finghin Collins played a late? Beethoven sonata.  Wolfgang Holzmair sang 9 Schubert melodies.  The second half was Schubert’s Trout Quintet.  The concert finished at 11.00 p.m.  I thought of death and Paul’s mother at one or two points during the performances particularly at the end.  Walked from the concert hall in my woolly Greenore helmet, my Thinsulate woollen gloves, and my Le Coq Sportif jacket carrying the program.  My step was loose and fit, I felt healthier than at any time during the day, my mood was good.  Parking cost me €9.40 which I paid with my credit card.  Negotiated my way successfully out of the car-park and got home around 1.00 a.m.  Fog from Dunleer on.  Ate two small pears as well as cornflakes and milk.  Washed my teeth before I went to bed.  The house cold when I came in and dead embers in the fire.  Golfing today with Jayne Savage Rosanna liked the lie of a Cobra 7 iron she got on trial from the pro shop.