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North Pole, White Hair, Pitted Olives, Restore Disc

Leave a comment Posted by on April 2, 2010

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Wednesday 31 March 2010

A long and taxing journey to visit Tom and Ita Daly in Slieve Na Mon nursing home on the Gortin Road outside Omagh. Left the house at 09.15 and picked up Dessie. Then on to Glennane using Dessie’s sat-nav where we picked up Dermot Mooney at Upper Lisdrumchor Road. It was like the North Pole around Dermot’s house with snow drifts and soft snow on the road. Tom went out of his room to organise tea and sandwiches for us but it never materialised. Met Ciaran Burke the manager of the home and e-mailed him on my return home. Tom, fit, comfortably and neatly dressed. Ita housed in a room far away sitting in a chair with her hair white and nicely permed with curls. She gave me a drawing and also gave me a drawing to give Dessie. I put the one I got into my journal display book when I got home and rang Dessie to see if he would save his drawing for me. I think I arrived home in Jenkinstown around 16.00, turned on the heat. Put two baked boneless loin pork chops on a plate with some baked beans in tomato sauce and 4 fairly substantial cold boiled baby potatoes. Heated all for 3 minutes in the microwave and cleared everything rapidly using only salt and some real butter. Followed that down with some black pitted olives that Aisling left behind her at the weekend and a generous glass of red from a bottle which Rosanna and Aisling left unfinished at the weekend. Masticated a few Cadbury’s chocolate biscuits as well. Cleaned out and lit the fire in the WEL. Surfed on the Acer site. Could not buy a bag for my laptop because they deliver only in the United Kingdom. I think it is possible to buy a restore disc and there is an approved service centre in Banbridge. I did not exercise this morning but I think I will do a little before I get into bed. Put the red blanket back on my bed last night and was comfortable. Slept well last night and did not want to get out of bed this morning when I got up at 08.30. That is a very unusual sensation for me these years. Usually I cannot lie on. When I waken up I have to get up. Risperdal? I am writing at 22.15 and intend to eat cornflakes, milk, and wash my teeth. I forgot to mention that I bought a brown 6×4 picture frame off Louisa McGourty for €6 on Monday. I mounted JJ’s photo in it and it has stood rather imposingly on the mantelpiece in the WEL ever since. I ate a mature cheddar sandwich with a mug of java for my tea. Then I peeled and ate a medium sized sweet orange. The skin was tough because the orange had been lying there for nearly a week. Is that fruit irradiated to keep it from decaying? Rosanna text’d a few times. She threatened to give up the wine.

Travel

Joys of Spring. Walking to and from Connolly

Leave a comment Posted by on March 2, 2010

 

Thinking

Monday 1 March 2010

Well I think I exercised this morning and I had a busy day. Picked Dessie up by arrangement at McCrystals’ shop at 10.50 and drove in to the clinic. Parked on the opposite side of the road at the hospital gate and the two of us walked round the back. Áine called me “in” for injection almost before I had a chance to sit down in the waiting area. She was in good form and talked freely. A student called Lucy, from Mullingar, there too. 25 mg of Risperdal Consta in the right “side.” We drove round by Meehan’s Garage to County Hall where we had a meeting on the first floor gallery with Ellen O’Hanlon. She was in good form too – full of the joys of Spring? It was a bright sunny day and maybe that helped everyone’s mood. I initialled the form nominating Dessie for election onto the North Louth joint policing committee. The nomination is in order, Ellen confirmed. Heated the remains of the stew in the pot and ate a heaped bowl with two slices of buttered Paco pan. Peeled a Lidl orange but it was rotten to the core. Very warm in the house. I turned down the thermostat in the WEL and retired for a rest. Rosanna gone golfing since morning with McBrearty. Anyway, with some trepidation, I paid €10 for a return ticket and boarded the Enterprise at 17.17 in Clarke Station and walked from Connolly to the NCH carrying a folded black Calvin Klein golf umbrella. I was dressed the same as yesterday except that I wore black patent Clarks and my Le Coq Sportif Tom McNulty jacket for outer wear. Navy Nike baseball cap. My right big toe a little the worse for wear? But I did not pull a muscle and walked all the way back after the Tara Erraught Rising Star 2010 recital. Nicolai Krugel on piano. A comedy of errors as I took my seat, W3. Could find no wallet in my hip pocket? After raising the alarm I found the wallet in my left hand. Drank two orange juices, one before the recital with a chocolate confection and one at the interval. Chocolate €2.50. Juice €3 per bottle. I bought two Mars bars for a total of €1 off an Asian man in Grafton Street on my way back to the station but was still in time to catch the 22.32 train to Clarke Station. Rosanna in bed when I arrived home around 00.10. Frost on the widows of my black Toyota Yaris Strata 2007 when I got off the train. Applied de-icer. €2 to park in Clarke Station yard. €5 for a program. The whole trip probably cost me less than if I had driven myself and it was more relaxed. I spent an hour altogether walking vigorously around Stephen’s Green, Grafton Street, O’Connell Street, Talbot Street, O’Connell’s Bridge and so on taking into account the journey in both directions from Connolly to concert hall. I enjoyed the walking and I was not tired. A red-haired railway worker spoke to me on the footbridge going down to the platform. I told him my son and I came third yesterday. “I saw that,” he replied, “60 was a good score!” I ate weetabix and milk and washed my teeth and got into bed comfortably before 01.00. Anna Dawe, Anna Kiely, Mrs. “Pip” Mulligan, Eileen Curran all spoke to me in the concert hall and also Tara’s granny. “I know your face well,” I told her. Alan Radcliffe and his wife are in Ireland but are moving permanently to Portugal, Eileen told me. 13.10 on Áine’s scales.

Entertainment

Wireless Modem, Eggs, Cheese, Ashes

Leave a comment Posted by on February 18, 2010

 

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Computer

Well I spent today around the house. Young “River” Jordan, the Postman, delivered a Netgear Wireless Modem Router which was addressed to Rosanna. She ran away when he rang the bell but I got up and in my pyjamas and robe. I signed for the parcel. I followed my usual routine, breakfast, made bed, exercised, washed, dressed. The same as yesterday, the same since Sunday. Green expensive collared T-shirt, green/black L Regatta fleece, grey small check slacks, black Calvin Klein socks, black Clarks patent shoes. Rosanna went to golf. I had peace and plucked up the courage to try to set up the wireless modem. Got everything connected. Put in the CD but could not advance. Rang Pure technical support and “Patrick” talked me through setting up the modem on both the Dell (cable connection) and the Acer (wireless). When I was starting, I told Patrick, I expected to sweat blood but the process proved to be quite quick and painless. Patrick advised me to contact Acer because I complained to him that the new computer seemed quite slow. I was delighted to find out later on the web that the Acer technical support facility for the whole of Ireland is in Lisburn or is it Banbridge? I ate two boiled eggs for an early lunch with salt and lots of butter. For tea I concocted myself a meal of cheese-on-toast, pickled onions, 6 cherry tomatoes, a generous piece of raw Stilton. I got my teeth around a bowl of fruit & fibre with milk for supper. Rosanna walked over with me to 19.30 mass. Fr. Murphy applied ashes to the forehead of everyone in the congregation. “Remember, man, that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” I walked in my Bugati long coat over to the far side of the church to speak to Gene Lambe after mass about the “cancelled” anniversary on Thursday 25 February. He was walking towards me. “He wants to see me in the vestry now. That’s what it must be about,” Gene remarked to me and pressed on. Rosanna scored around 22 points, I think, for the 12 holes in the competition. Rosemary Hanratty playing with her scored 26. It’s Banbridge! 

Computers and Internet

Dentures, Mental Illness, Missing Person, Veritas

Leave a comment Posted by on December 29, 2009

Christmas Day, Friday, 25 December 2009

I am writing this journal entry at 22.00 on St. Stephen’s Day and from memory alone. I wrote no notes last night because Aisling, Rosanna and I sat in the livingroom until midnight and swapped some home truths about the Joyce family; Aisling’s predicament; mental illness; Paul’s seamy, clichéd tactics (he discussed Aisling earlier with her mother on the phone); Fernando; etc. I pointed out that while Rosanna overvalued Sean Og and Eamonn she undervalued Aisling and shifted blame and guilt on to her. "Aisling has a problem," Rosanna is inclined to chorus along with Paul. Aisling is depressed and that is the cause of her anger, Professor Rosanna diagnosed. Aisling had slammed doors when Rosanna was on the phone with Paul and the bottom right hand pane in the WEL connecting door cracked under the strain.

Anyway I slept well last night and rose at 7.55 in the dark on a very cold frosty morning. Ate corn flakes and milk and turned on the heat. Then I washed (my face only) and dressed. Underclothes, Le Coq Sportif white T-shirt, cream long-sleeved poplin shirt, red gansy that Leah gave me a few Christmases ago, black 44" slacks, black FootJoy golf socks, tan John Evan boots. Cleaned out and lit the livingroom fire. Wore my navy long Bugati overcoat to mass and my black woolly Greenore cap on my noggin. Carried in my pocket the small bottle of Bailey’s for Ann Murphy. Walked over in the cold crisp frost leaving the house at 8.55. Chapel deserted and securely locked. Walked round the church and had a chat with John Finnegan on the other side. Despite my Thinsulate gloves the cold was creeping in to my little fingers. Walked round the front again and Vera Rice pulled up. She had not seen Eva either. So I went down to Bellurgan with her in her car and we tried rapping the door and the windows of Eva’s cabin. Eventually I got my head slightly in the window of her bedroom. The bed was empty and neatly dressed. So I thought something might have happened Eva last night.

Vera walked ahead of me into the open church. "She’s here in the vestry!" Vera called back to me. Most of the choir was in place already by this time but my usual space inside Sean Caraher was open. I walked around to Ann Murphy and stood beside her. "Have you a bag, Anne?" I asked. She did not react so I repeated the question. Then she turned around and reached for a bag from under the seat at the wall behind her. "That’s the bag I keep the sheets in," she remarked. I slipped the bottle of Bailey’s in to the bag and circled away to my seat. Someone saw what I did and there was a little kee-hoe.

The children sang a few hymns before mass but the adult choir was not called in to action as it usually has been on other Christmases.

· Adeste Fideles

· Silent Night

· When We Eat This Bread and Drink This Cup

· O Holy Night. Mary’s Boy-Child

· Joy to the World

The singing was quite adequate. My teeth almost projected out of my mouth on the first chorus in Mary’s Boy Child which the men alone sang. This was the only real bad faux-pas throughout. O Holy Night was lively and true. I came in fast at the start of the chorus each time so things did not lag. There was a children’s pageant during mass and Christine sang When A Child Is Born from the centre of the church up near the altar. The choir hummed but I did not join in. I thought it was a bit obtrusive. I think the church was not as full as last year. There was a good deal of noise with children crying. I was not as keyed up as usual and but for one mistake and a little unsteady high note in Silent Night I thought I did well. Fr. Padraig Murphy celebrated and he preached a longish sermon which no-one was listening to. He termed the nativity "a shabby scene" i.e. if one interpreted his remarks in a certain way. A brand new crib – built I think by Frankie Duffy’s son – dead centre at the front wall of the church. I gave €10 in a buff envelope marked "My Gift to the Priests" taken from the weekly envelope box.

I relaxed beside the fire and tried to forget the humiliation of the incident with my teeth. Teresa B rang from work in quite good form. Teddy rang, too. Gerardine was working. He told me Claire went in to hospital last night. He seemed to think matters more serious than the impression Teresa B conveyed to me. I tried to ring Jimmy’s house at least once later in the day but did not get through. Aisling rang around 13.00 and said she would be here in less than an hour. I took the call and told her I was delighted but went ahead and ate my dinner alone in the livingroom. Rosanna waited to have hers with Aisling. Soup; turkey, ham, gravy, mash, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, broccoli. I used a lot of cranberry sauce but I could get very little taste off the turkey which I thought was dry and a little stringy. Anyway I had eaten after mass while Rosanna was at 11.30 mass in Ravensdale the remainder of yesterday’s round roast with salt and I followed it down with a little Gorgonzola. Piled the remainder of the brandy whipped cream on a bowl of trifle. Shortly before dark Rosanna drove to Greenore. I brought the packet of 6 oranges I bought yesterday in Tesco. I cut it open with the Spanish scissors before we left Jenkinstown. I ate a Lindt chocolate sweet in Greenore and a Magnum icecream on a stick. Also peeled and ate one of my own oranges. Rosanna drank Baileys. Lisa gave me two framed pictures, one a photo of Gavin, another a traced drawing by Gavin of his own hands and fingers. She also gave me a navy Regatta fleece. I noticed there were no animals with the crib on the table in the hall. It looked elegant but spare. I felt Veritas had ripped me off when I bought it and wondered if it was worth my while to ring them. Text after I got home from Lisa thanking me for the socks I sent down with Rosanna yesterday. I replied concluding, "Love and regards." Rang Og a little later and told him Brian Farrell who rang me this morning had told me to wish him a happy Christmas. I rang Anne from the sittingroom in Greenore. She and Patrick were looking at my picture gallery on a new lap-top I think. I think I ate another bowl of trifle and whipped cream when we came home from Greenore. I think Aisling gained a little courage and insight from my conversation tonight and I felt a degree of self-satisfaction. Rosanna was livid. She threatened to leave. Then she went out and banged doors and brought the new Rossa putter I had given her for Christmas complete with red and yellow head cover in from the boot of her car to the livingroom and returned it ostentatiously to me. She threatened to fling it in to my room and maybe she was going to do that but she crashed painfully into a heavy diningroom chair in the dark in the hallway on her way to bed. I did not enquire if she was all right. In fact I did not open my mouth. It was warm in the bed – much milder than last night – and overstimulated I did not get to sleep until the wee small hours. I washed my teeth before I went to bed. I did no exercise today. Felt a little overweight, stiff and out of condition. Lisa got a new coffee making machine for Christmas and she showed it to me before we left Greenore this evening. Took no siesta today. Sent an e-mail to Joe Crudden before lunch today.

Health and wellness

Goward Dolmen, Dromena Cashel, Spelga Dam, Silent Valley

Leave a comment Posted by on November 22, 2009
Saturday 21 November 2009
· Colours of Day
 
· Christ Be Beside Me
 
· Fill My House
 
· Hail Redeemer

Rosanna contributed a €2 coin to make up the €6 I put in the envelope.  I missed the collection but diverted towards the basket after receiving communion where it lay at the foot of the altar and threw my envelope in.  Fr. Paddy Larkin.  A crash at the tabernacle after communion.  Drove over at 19.10 for 19.30 mass.  Checked the green diary after mass.  E-mailed Silvia with the masses for next week.  Got wet to the skin at Dromena cashel.  Water dripping out of my golf Ping trousers.  Wet all day afterwards despite attempts to dry out.  Lunch in "Daisies" restaurant in Downpatrick.  Lasagne, roasted sliced potato with skin on, rice, small pot of tea.  £7.25 total.  Paid with my MBNA card.  The first thing we saw on the bus tour and field trip from Kilbroney Centre in Rostrevor was Goward dolmen at around 10.45.  Visited Silent Valley and Spelga Dam.  Climbed up the steps to the top of the big dam even though my clothes and cap were still wet.  Looked at the Victorian high cross in Rostrevor and the old graveyard.  Saw the new Benedictine monastery on the outskirts of Rostrevor.  Dessie carried me to and from Rostrevor in his Caddy diesel white van.  I left my black Toyota Yaris Strata (2007) in Greenore for the day opposite Dessie’s house.  Home around 17.30.  Aisling and Paul ensconced in the White Elephant Lounge when I returned.  I took a shower and changed everything.  Used two towels – the second one hot off the radiator – very refreshing!  I got a chicken dinner.  Noel Guinane rang to find out which church the Ann Carroll funeral was in.  Dermot Mooney rang, too, and Dessie.  I was much in demand?  Noel told me that tomorrow’s golf was cancelled.  Relieved.  During the day I was dressed in black Ping long-sleeved golf shirt, navy cardigan, black light Ping golf trousers, thick Rival sports dark green socks, heavy walking boots, Cutter & Buck waterproof jacket which proved to be anything but waterproof, woolly Greenore helmet.  After my shower I put on clean underclothes, white Trinity T-shirt, grey/green/black fleece, 44" black slacks, black brogues and the socks I was wearing all day which I warmed on the radiator as I showered.  I think I ate weetabix and milk before I went to bed.  I washed my teeth.  Manchester United 3, Everton 0.  I think I got up at 7.00 this morning and we left Greenore for Rostrevor at 8.30.

Travel

Milk, Sleeveless Pullover, Concession

Leave a comment Posted by on October 30, 2009

Wednesday 27 October 2009

Up soon after 7.00. Ate weetabix and milk and gave JJ a breakfast the same as mine. He drew and played in the White Elephant Lounge until the rest got up. I went back to bed for an hour or two. Got up before 10.00, made my bed, washed, dressed. Black shirt, black 44" slacks, black Calvin Klein socks, turquoise 3 Irish Open sleeveless pullover, black patent Clarks. Packed for golf. Leah, Kate and JJ went to Town. Rosanna went to golf. She scored 20 points for 12 holes playing in the Winter League. Alan Ratcliffe and I starting at 13.15 played the back 6, then 1, 2, 11, 12. He scored 60 i.e. 48 nett. I finished 4, 7, 6, 6 and scored 52 i.e. 43 nett. We let Shane Leathem and his friend through on 14/15. Alan bought coffee. I sweated even though I took off my cap and my sleeveless pullover. After Alan left I went out to the car for my bag and came back in and took a shower and changed my clothes before I set out for home. Put on clean underclothes, grey Calvin Klein socks, navy 42" golf slacks, Calvin Klein T-shirt, Regatta fleece. Talked to Eric Hynes as I left the locker-room. Called on Dessie. Some of the English bishops were with him yesterday. Rosanna gave me a dinner of boiled ham, white sauce, a large microwaved potato. I also ate two small microwaved Irish potatoes with salt and lots of real butter. Leah, Kate and JJ went in to Dundalk to pick up Eamonn from DkIT around 18.00. They were all to stay in No 13 Oaklawns for the night. Rosanna went to bed early: I spent the evening in the sittingroom. Paid my MBNA bill €581.36 on-line. Booked a ticket for Frederica Von Stade on November 12th in NCH. €54 concession. Rang Aisling before I went to golf asking her to meet me at 17.00 on Friday in Og’s with my cameras. Although it was an exceedingly mild day the heat was on in the morning and also later in the day. Tiring? Text from Kevin McGeough "28 every day" in the Canaries. Replied. Leah left Eamonn in to DkIT this morning. Carried out a virus check on my computer. Washed my teeth and exercised before bed. Grass very green on the golf course.

Games

Labyrinth, Swiss-rolls, Lamb, Eye-contact

Leave a comment Posted by on October 5, 2009

Saturday 3 October 2009

Dessie called for me at 8.30 and we were in time for morning prayer at the RE Congress in The Fairways. It involved a lot of singing. Peter McVerry SJ lectured a Jeremiad on economics. Anti-Capital? Round table at lunch on the connection between parish and RE in the school. Tall dark-haired woman from Cork with a happy face facilitated. There was a woman from Ballinhassig in the group at our table. She knew who I was talking about when I mentioned Liam P Deasy. I consumed soup and sandwiches and drank coffee and a glass of red for which I paid all the change in my purse ~ €5.40. Attended Tom Hamill’s workshop after lunch. Tom managed to annoy Dessie who was totally dismissive of Hamill throughout the day afterwards. Hamill had made a speech and a presentation to Cardinal Daly before lunch. The Cardinal’s 92nd birthday. Hamill headlined the year 2012 for some reason but his workshop from an ideological point of view was a sort of biblical rehash of Peter McVerry’s testimony. A very happy and uplifting workshop followed on classroom strategy. Faith and Food: Recipes for the RE Classroom. Given by Patricia Kieran and Catherine McNally. One tall dark and very Irish, the other the very stereotype of an English milkmaid. We spread a cloth on the floor and put out a spread. I ate delicious purple seedless grapes, nuts, cheese and drank a little grape juice. I also proclaimed the grace and read from the Acts the passage about sharing everything in common in the early church. Paddy Whyte’s brother led the song "This Is the Day the Lord Has Made." Dessie and I had a chat with Brother Whyte in the corridor later. He too was enthusiastic about the workshop. They made a Swiss roll St. Brigid’s cross, butter icing, Christmas log, chocolate icing. Small "coconut" marshmallows in paper "cups." Sweetness = Love of God. Hamill conducted the Passover meal after a 2 hour break. It was long – he was a bit ill-tempered – but the food was lovely especially the mashed potato and the lamb. I took a second helping of lamb and my system struggled to cope later in the night and morning. I drank a few ceremonial glasses of red. During the break before this meal I took off my shoes and walked the labyrinth in the sacred space talking all the while to Dessie. We overlooked the fact that there was supposed to be silence. I also wove my two threads into the hessian cloth with a big-eyed needle. On impulse I bought a crib with my credit card off the Veritas stand. It was marked €150 but the assistant accepted my bid of €130. A Christmas pressie for Lisa (& Og). Wrote too in the "Journal." I sat for the meal at the very end of the table nearest the door. Sr. Rosita opposite proved an excellent conversationalist. The waitresses were friendly and they looked well, made eye-contact and smiled quite often. The manageress said "Goodnight" to me as I exited the hotel. I read through some of the texts for tomorrow’s liturgy when the conversation flagged at the table.

News and politics

Passport, Turnips, Conflict

Leave a comment Posted by on September 20, 2009

Friday 18 September 2009

Up 4.30 but took no shower. Dressed as last night – underpants, black 44" slacks, black FootJoy socks, tan John Evan Chelsea boots, navy and blue vertically striped Polish shirt open-necked, grey small check Kartel 42" sports coat. Ate a packed breakfast in my room. Very sweet fruit juice, a croissant, two pieces of toasted biscuity bread with honey. Spilt some honey on the surface of the small table on which my case rested this past five days. Had washed face and finished packing. Doubts and paranoia in my mind when I went down into the lobby. Surely I had forgotten something? But I hardened my heart and did not return to look. Malachy Doyle had left the room before me so I had not the benefit of a second opinion! That kind of haunted worried feeling stayed with me all day until I opened my case at home around 17.00. The coach left San Vincenzo at 5.30. The usual panic over my passport. I lost it? I didn’t. But I panicked at least once. I booked in along with Canon Crawley. "If we hand in the passports together then we will be sitting together on the plane," he suggested at check-in. The female official asked the question, "Which bag is Michael’s?" and in reply I tapped Canon Crawley’s case quietly with my left hand. The flight was smooth and taking off after 12.00 Roman time we reached Dublin around 14.10 Irish time. The coach pulled out of the airport around 15.15 and reached The Lisdoo around 16.20. I had text’d Rosanna twice and finally phoned her saying we would reach The Lisdoo at 16.15. Everything worked out as smoothly as the flight itself. I had been worried about my case at check-in. Was it over the 20 kg limit? There was no problem. I was worried about it as I waited at the carousel No 3 in Dublin Airport. Again it turned up. I discovered tomorrow that a support wire for standing the case seems to have disappeared from the body of the case. I did not notice that today and don’t know where it happened. It could have been when the case was loaded on to the coach at Dublin Airport. The driver treated my case roughly. I saw him do it and thought he may have damaged the handle of the case. But the handle was alright when I examined it outside The Lisdoo after it came off the coach. Rosanna made a dinner of turnip, sausages, and microwaved potato. Not as piquant as Italian food. A good dinner nevertheless. I unpacked the case and put most of my stuff in the laundry basket in the bathroom beside my bedroom. As far as I could see I forgot nothing and left nothing behind me. I gave Rosanna her present of a pair of rose-scented rosary beads. I later heard her boasting quietly to Maeve on the phone about it. Good atmosphere in the house. Eamonn away home to Cootehall. Although I had been nodding off on the way to Rome from San Vincenzo my energy held up quite well throughout the day. I was a bit too warm in Italy today but I took off my jacket in the plane and was comfortable during the flight. (I also put my coat in the luggage rack on the coach to Dundalk. Canon Crawley on my right in the back seat and Johnnie O’Sullivan on his right hand side.) An odd stab of pain behind my right eye. Head a bit light. Ears sore on the descent. Canon Crawley treated me to a ham and mozzarella panini (€5) and a can of Coke (€2) on the plane. He also to read gave me The Irish Independent which he bought off the flight attendant. He himself concentrated on reading the divine office. I was sitting in 13 F just over the right wing of the plane beside the wing exit and Canon Crawley sat beside me on my left. I went to the toilet for a piss towards the end of the flight but generally speaking my bladder behaved today. I drank nothing in the early part of the day except the small bottle of peach juice for my breakfast. The only other liquid I drank before I got home was the can of Coke that Canon Crawley bought me. I think I checked my credit card account and my bank account. Everything in order. And there was no commission or anything charged on the €100 I withdrew in Il Campo, Siena, on Wednesday. Scanned my accumulated mail. UB credit card came with a €1400 limit! House insurance from UB also came. Both these items seem to have been delivered soon after I left for Rome on the 6th. The house insurance policy takes effect from 8 September although I pointed out to Karen that my existing policy with RSA covers the property until 28 September? I pondered what, if anything, I might do to resolve the issue which definitely does not favour me as it stands. My mistake. When I checked the policy tomorrow I found that cover dated from 29 September exactly in line with what I asked for in the beginning. I turned the insurance over to Rosanna whose name is included in the title of the policy. Dessie has been elected chairperson of Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum. He phoned me around 19.00 and we had a great chat as I sat on my Parker Knoll opposite Rosanna in The White Elephant Lounge. Things are looking up and the portents are good? I was surprised to read my weight (fully dressed) up around 14.07 on the bathroom scales. I took the blankets off my bed and put on a duvet. Could I get the odour of goose feathers in the night? Anyway I retired before 20.00 and got up a few times to drink water during the night. I was too tired to wash my teeth before bed. Had a conversation with Og in the evening sounding a bit slurred on the phone. He had been in Blackrock and the swimming pool with Gavin earlier in the day. Waiting for the coach in Dublin Airport I took Joe Treanor’s details down with my golf pencil and promised to try to locate for him a copy of Aisling’s film "Art/Conflict; 2 x Zones." Chat with Micheal Savage sporting a Mohician as we pulled out of The Lisdoo. We flew Aer Lingus.

Uncategorized

Swine Flu, Director of Fraud, Apple Crumble

Leave a comment Posted by on August 6, 2009

Tuesday 4 August 2009
Up at 9.30 in depressed mood not looking forward to the day.  Had intended to call on Mary Mag after the clinic but did not feel in form. 13.13 on Emmet’s scales.  Had not eaten lunch.  Emmet gave me a description of the effects of Swine flu.  Respiratory failure possible in some cases.  Got an injection of 25 mg of Risperdal Consta in the right "side" off Emmet at about 14.00 and arranged my next appointment for Friday 21 August at the same time.  Left my card with Doctor’s appointment for 7 September with Emmett for a refix because I will be going to Italy on 6 September for 12 days. Was thinking of going to Conlon’s Food Hall in LWSC for an omelette but changed my mind.  Good decision.  Rosanna gave me chicken Kiev, baked beans in tomato sauce, and I also ate two microwaved medium sized potatoes peeled with butter and salt.  The meal saw my stomach right for the first time in days.  Rosanna had been in Town in the morning dealing with the painter in No 13 Oaklawns and she also got her hair cut coloured and set.  My disposition downcast in the morning – feeling bad and I did not know why.  Was it iron deficiency?  Was it dependency on Risperdal?  My head mild and my eyes more relaxed than usual, however. Dressed in tan John Evan Chelsea boots, black Argyle socks, grey T-shirt with green Puma legend, grey small check 44" slacks, EverLast track suit top.  Carried glasses.  Parked across the road from the gate of The Louth and walked to the clinic.  A drugs counsellor sitting in the waiting area in Ladywell.  He was enquiring whether there was an addiction clinic being held today.  There wasn’t.  A young nurse or doctor went "in" after we asked him and came "out" again (rather helpfully) with some information.  He was not sure.  A two page letter from Adrian Stearns, Director of Fraud (sic.), MBNA, upset my equilibrium.  Apparently my credit card number may have fallen into the wrong hands.  So he proposed to cancel my card on August 11 and issue me with a new one in 7 to 10 days from then.  The letter stated that there was "no need to call us" but I was worried about its authenticity for one thing so I rang.  A respondent called "Joe" returned my call and dealt with me as courteously as an old friend.  He cancelled my card there and then and said a new one would reach me in 7 to 10 days time.  A better arrangement?  Anyway I felt better about it.  "You have set my mind at rest!" I assured Joe.  It is surprising how much a simple thing like that affected me.  The injection did not lift my mood very much and I took a siesta from 16.45 till 19.15.  I exercised this morning at 10.00 and I exercised again tonight immediately before I got in to bed at 23.30.  I washed my teeth tonight and having made my bed performed my usual ablutions this morning and applied 1 Million.  Aisling text’d (I did not notice the text) and rang asking me to drive her to the airport tomorrow.  She is to come down from Dublin in the morning.  Ann McParland rang and earlier Kieran McGoey.  The upshot was that Rosanna and Kieran play Ann and Peadar McParland on Thursday evening at 16.00 in the club mixed.  Rosanna was able to open the site for tee times in Greenore with the password Michael McDonnell gave her on Monday night to check that the time for the match was booked.  I think I watered the flowers this morning despite my mood.  Arranged by text to meet Kevin McGeough in Ballymac for coffee at 11.00 tomorrow.  Two helpings from a dish of apple/rhubarb crumble which Rosanna brought over from Eleanor Wehrly’s eaten in the evening also agreed with my stomach.

Health and wellness

Fettle, Backup, Expired.

Leave a comment Posted by on July 19, 2009

Friday 17 July 2009

Felt in very good fettle this morning. Watered the flowers, exercised, dressed in grey check 44" trousers, blue barred Kartel short-sleeved shirt, blue Argyle socks, tan John Evan Chelsea boots. Wrote a letter to Sinead Lally in Louth County Council and enclosed a completed form to register Greenore-Cooley Fisherman’s Association with the county forum. Filled out the Toyota questionnaire which came in the post the other day. Posted both of these items driving Aisling’s Toyota Corolla 1999 down to the shop and around the block. "I drove that car to the shop. It did not cut out," I told Gary Morgan on the phone after lunch. I had rung him in the morning. When I was taking my siesta I missed calls from Aisling and also one from the Archbishop – I had tried to contact him this morning about the mistake in Anne’s telephone number in the IMPERO and CEHG registration forms which we handed in on Wednesday night. Aisling wants to me to bring her car up to the airport because she has to pick someone up in RTE at 9.00 tomorrow and go to Cavan. I agreed. She is due to arrive from Madrid at 22.00. Rang Lisa for back-up in case I had to stay the night in Dublin. She was agreeable and Sean Og rang later. "Why don’t you make up your mind now to stay here tonight and tell us now," he suggested/instructed. "Your mother will be on her own and I may be able to catch the 23.20 train? So I don’t know," I explained. In the event I was in loads of time for the train. Aisling dropped me near Bus Aras around 22.25. I withdrew €100 from the service till in Bellurgan Service Station and got €20 of petrol at 19.55 on my way to Dublin. Paul left the keys under a smooth stone at the bottom of a lamp post inside the gate of Warrenmount Convent. That arrangement worried me all evening but when I rang Aisling at 23.10 as I sat down in the train she assured me she had been able "to get in" without any undue difficulty. "Take it easy tomorrow," I counselled. She has to use equipment tomorrow that she does not know how to use. "Aisling seems to be in very bad form," Rosanna remarked at 00.45 as she drove me home from the station. "She’s looking well, anyway," I commented. She wore a black flared dress and her shoulders were deeply tanned wheeling a smallish bag behind her when I shouted "Aisling" at her as she came round the bend in Arrivals. I ate weetabix and milk when I got home and unsatisfied went on to make a processed cheese and chutney white bread sandwich which I ate with a mug of tea. Rosanna finished off a small bottle of red. My head was not painful today – at least it was a lot better than it has been. I got the feeling on the motorway up near Drogheda the same as I used to get waiting for my Father to come home from work so that I could glide on his bike down to Mary Rose’s house. A sort of mild and happy summer elation. It cost €3 to park the Corolla at level 2 in Block C. The young official at the checkout in Connolly wrote out a €10 ticket for me. He said the return ticket which I purchased for €10 last Friday and which I had with me had "expired." I felt like writing a letter to CIE to see if they would make any kind of restitution to me. I washed my teeth and got to bed before 2.00. Aisling had a dual reason for coming home. Evelyn’s father is at death’s door, and the work she was offered yesterday for tomorrow should pay her ticket. But she has a room in Madrid booked until the end of August and she intends to go back later on for the rest of the summer. Two baked pork chops, baked parsnip, baked onion, fried/baked potato, large microwaved old potato with salt and lots of "butter," for lunch.

Travel

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