Sean's Space

Just another WordPress.com site

I Will Survive


Eye-rolling

Monday 22 September 2008

Attended at 6.30 p.m. a reception in The Fairways organised by the Irish Cancer Society.  Ate some salad sandwiches and some ham and cheese sandwiches < two full rounds in total.  Drank coffee.  Conversation with Tony Lennon – from Dowdallshill a fluent talker on football; Meehan’s garage; Ardee; Dundalk Technical School and the old teachers.  He remembered that I drove a white Volkswagen in those days – the early 70’s.  Tony lives nowadays in Termonfeckin and works with CityJet.  Dorothy, a stout girl, was the organizer.  Phil Hartford of the Gary Kelly centre introduced herself to the audience and Sonya Collier, clinical psychologist, St. Vincent’s Hospital, gave a long and thorough lecture on the psychological effects of a cancer diagnosis.  School girlish – a Louis girl – she is a native of Blackrock.  The talk verged on being a little too long and Sonya, though a good enough speaker, was a little verbose.  A stout cancer patient spoke at the end.  From London she said she appeared to herself to be a third person where cancer was concerned except when it came to the surgery.  I also spoke relating my experience of hearing the Cox girl sing "I Will Survive" at the wedding in Newbridge on Friday.  "I don’t want to say anything inappropriate," I cajoled, but repeated in conclusion the statement, "The person is more important than the treatment."  I was referring to mental illness as well as to cancer.  I was inordinately pleased with myself and I hope I did not come across as smug.  Although I spoke quietly through a wireless microphone I used a selection of clever rhetorical devices and I noticed that Sonya listened very intently.  A good listener – or was she only throwing shapes?  I think she is sincere.  Rosanna left Eamonn in to DkIT in the morning and played 18 holes with Seamus McBrearty and Vincent Tuite.  She scored 31 points and roundly defeated them both.  I think I took a siesta in the afternoon.  Passed at St. Nicholas’ Church the funeral of Ann Clarke (Alan Ratcliffe’s niece) as I returned from Long Walk Shopping Centre where I left the "wedding" film with Louisa in Fuji 1 hour.  "She was 58," Alan told me tomorrow.  She died of cancer.  Eamonn and I stayed up to watch Questions & Answers.  Everything being overshadowed by the slump in world stock markets and uncertainty about the future viability of major banks in Ireland and all round the globe.  Eamonn returned from DkIT on the 6.00 p.m. bus.  The single ticket cost ~ €3, he told me when I asked him.

Vltava, Piddling, Knights, Solitaire


Wednesday 10 September 2008

Sleepy

Eamonn complained that he got very little sleep last night – he did not sleep until 4.00 a.m. and has been having trouble getting a good night’s sleep generally.  However he got through the day and when I asked him after the pastoral council meeting when I came home how he was doing he told me he had a renewed burst of energy in the later evening.  I walked over to the pastoral council meeting at 8.00 p.m. with my ear-phones on and my mobile phone listening to the concluding minutes of the Ireland away match in Montenegro.  0 – 0.  I learned at the meeting that Mary Cummiskey has been in hospital and, I think, she is now in a nursing home in Termonfeckin.  The meeting was ok and I explained what I meant by "family ministry" – support for families in crisis.  I also recited the opening prayer "Come, Holy Spirit."  A small attendance including Fr Larkin who said little.  He smiled when I made a remark about "patronizing the priest," "We’ll canonize you again!"  It arose about a proposal about a special Vocations Sunday which came from The Knights of Columbanus via Bobby Arthur.  Around 10.30 a.m. I left the Louth County Childcare Committee meeting in Ardee Business Park to take a call on my mobile from Alan Ratcliffe.  It was evening before I realized he was ringing from Greenore where I had arranged last week to play with him at 10.30 a.m. today.  So I rang him again in the evening and had to postpone the golf we arranged for tomorrow until next week – because I have an arrangement to meet Kevin McGeough in Ballymac at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow!  There was very few at the meeting in Ardee but it was nevertheless a good meeting.  Patricia Hayes told me about her recent holiday in Prague.  Claire Wood’s son got married recently and honeymooned in Cuba where he was caught in a hurricane but suffered no ill effects.  I was slightly distressed all day because I was unable to remember Bedrich Smetana’s name.  Patricia had mentioned that Vltava flowed through Prague.  Ann Watters is going to Australia soon to visit her grandchild.  I took my 3 metal with me to Ardee with a view to visiting GreenLife DR on my way home.  However Rosanna text’d me in Ardee to say she would like to play golf in the afternoon.  In the event it rained and I never got to strike a ball of any description.  I got through the pastoral council meeting alright but I had to leave the LCCC meeting to go to the toilet.  I also went to the toilet immediately after the meeting in Ardee and sat down afterwards in the boardroom and had a coffee and three Kerry Creams.  I left Eamonn in to DkIT in the morning on my way to Ardee and collected him in the evening.  There was a little bit of a mix-up because Rosanna said Eamonn wanted me in at 5.30 p.m. but he rang me at 5.00 p.m. (expecting me then?).  In fact I collected him at around 5.20 p.m.  Rosanna looked after the fire all day.  A lot of logs, a cold fire, a lot of blow-downs.  Boiled rice and chicken curry in the afternoon and sausage rolls twice in the evening.  Weetabix and milk for breakfast: corn flakes and milk for supper.  Did my exercises early in the morning: again before bed and also washed my teeth.  I was the last to retire in the house around 12.00 midnight.  A couple of comments on "Gavin Maloney Conducts" from an earnest and conventional person signing herself "Reed Note."  Maura Harrington of S2S on hunger strike in Bellanaboy in protest at the pipe-laying ship Solitaire.

Frost, Ripe Grapes, A Lavender Pillow


Thursday 4 September 2008

Sleeping half-moon

The weather was good today and at one point in the early afternoon I sat outside the back door drinking tea.  I was in the house on my own most of the day because Rosanna was golfing in Warrenpoint with Josie Malone and Pat Closkey.  They just missed the visitors’ prize in a three woman team event.  Had a chat in Grafter’s with Pakie the psychiatric nurse.  "You missed your chance," I asserted, "You should have been an Aussie Rules player."  It turns out that he was 6 years in Australia and he was a rules player although not at the highest level.  I told him there was an article in Dundalk LEADER yesterday telling how Brian Donnelly from Carlingford is going out to Australia to play Aussie rules.  Got for €10 my hair cut and my beard and eyebrows trimmed.  A No 1 "blade" all round.  Carried on out to Harvey Norman’s and collected the Fuji S FinePix 100fs that I bought over the phone earlier off Siobhan – the manager of the computer section.  She had lowered the price from €589 to €549 when I asked her for discount or a "sweetener."  I would have done better to convince her to include a "memory card" or something in kind like that instead?  However when I went in she did not come out to meet me in the shop.  A competent assistant named Fiona who resembled in a way Alison O’Neil took my payment (by credit card) and carried out the box which she put in a Canon bag?  I drove back down the Racecourse Road from the by-pass and bought a 2 litre container of milk in Aldi and an aromatherapy (lavender) pillow.  Total ~ €8.  The pillow was great value and I got a terrific night’s sleep because I put it on my bed on top of the main pillow I had been using and discarded the thinner pillow of the two that were on the bed.  Golf crossed my mind but I hung around the house in the afternoon waiting for a call from Eamonn to go in and collect him.  However around 6 p.m. Aisling landed with Eamonn in tow.  A frosty atmosphere between them.  "Aisling is thick because I will not edit her Bolivia film," Eamonn elucidated later, "I have not got the time."  Aisling ate a sausage roll and left for Dublin.  Nearly a half an hour later she rang the doorbell.  Eamonn had left his mobile phone in her car.  She handed me the phone, did not come in and hardly spoke.  I went to GreenLife Driving Range where I hit 38 balls (€4) with the 3 metal.  Conversation with Gavin Byrne about school, drink, buying and selling land and houses.  As I sat drinking a paper cup of coffee.  Washed my 6 remaining teeth morning and evening and also did matutinal and nocturnal "yoga."  Head uncomfortable and sore particularly late in the day.  I ate sausage rolls mid-morning and at lunchtime.  At tea-time I reheated in a bowl some boiled rice and chicken curry and ate it followed by some seedless ripe green grapes.  Later I ate a half a pork pie with a drink of cranberry juice.  I ate cornflakes and milk for breakfast and again for supper.  I should point out that Aisling had spent the day in DkIT teaching Eamonn how to use a high-tech video camera and also helping him with the editing program they want him to use in there.

Sweat, Angst and Paranoia


Friday 29 August 2008


Sweated profusely on the golf course although I was wearing only a T-shirt and vest above my slacks.  Played 6 with Rosanna.  (R,S) 13 (8,4) 14 (3,4) 15 (6,5) 16 (7,6) 17 (6,5) 18 (6,5) Totals (36,29) Shots received (6,5) Nett (30,24).  Did not take a shower and did not "go in."  Rosanna gave me a fried egg, the remainder of the sausages I bought in Tesco last week, some black pudding she bought in McCrystals, and two grilled rashers.  I managed to masticate the meal well enough even though the right side of my mouth (which I am unaccustomed to using) is sore.  Did not take a siesta although I was feeling a bit tired and uncomfortable in the afternoon.  Lit the fire in the evening with logs and a little coal.  Barry had left 2 bags of doubles while we were golfing and, I think, two bags of coal.  Uploaded a few 080808 pictures onto photobucket and stumbled 3 of them.  Contretemps with Rosanna in the late evening over a wedding present for James Crudden.  "I want to get a camera," I asserted.  Rosanna jandered on in her old usual way basically saying I did not consult her – but at the same time making no suggestion herself.  "Get out of my face!" I spat at one point losing my temper and pushed her violently into her chair spilling a half full cup of tea onto the seat.  "Don’t cross that line," I forbade her pointing to a spot on the carpet between her and me in the WEL.  I also opened the blinds on the window.  "You think you can do what you like when the curtains are pulled!" I reasoned.  Anyway I retired to my room around 11.30 p.m. and washed my teeth and did my exercises and got to bed around midnight.  Rosanna stayed up until 1.30 a.m.  Did I hear the clink of glass?  Earlier in the day I fulminated "Eamonn is struggling in the shit: Leah is in great form."  The latter piece of information was relayed to me by Rosanna who heard it from Aisling (back this afternoon from Sardinia).  "It’s like Bobby Arthur," I said with deliberate paranoia, "When everything is going arseways in the church he is delighted."  I tried a number of times to contact Eamonn about his plans for coming to Dundalk.  Eventually he returned on Leah’s mobile my calls but he left me no wiser.  Why should I worry?

Golf and Strawberries

 
Wednesday 27 August 2008

Watered my flowers this morning. Reading the notice board I observed that my 80 had qualified for a tee-time of 8.10 a.m. in the Captain’s Prize.  Brian Farrell qualified very high up on the leader-board with a 73 I think.  He had rung me last week to let me know that he had little hope of playing last Sunday.  I think his name was on standby – but he must have been lucky!  Played 13,14,12 and then the back 6 x 2 i.e. 15 holes with Alan Ratcliffe starting at 10.30 a.m.  My score today 13 (4,6,5) 14 (3,3,5) 12 (8) six to get down from left greenside bunker! 15 (5,4) 16 (7,6) 17 (6,5) 18 (4,N.R.).  Lost 2 balls off the 18th tee on the final hole and did not go back to hit another one.  Alan had 91 gross, 70 nett and won by a k.o. on the last hole.  My handicap is 13.  I took a shower and changed my underclothes and shirt.  Had a chat in the locker-room with Jacqueline Clarke’s son about transition year – he goes into fifth year this year.  Had tea, sausages (2, large), rashers (2) and a fried egg – on the dance floor.  €4.50 total.  Met Dessie Hynes talking to Mihaly Foldesi at the podium in the entrance to LWSC.  Marie McDermott filed the edge off my back left lower molar so that it would not be catching my tongue.  She said to see how I would get on because there was no hope of filling the tooth.  "There is no disease in it," she assured me.  No charge.  "You’re a saviour!" I exclaimed.  Bought a punnet of strawberries off the Byrne girl in Ballymascanlon (€3) and about 2 kg of potatoes which she weighed out in a paper bag (€2).  Rosanna in Greenore playing in the Hogg Trophy – a match with Warrenpoint.  Lit the fire before dark and spent most of the evening on the computer.  Ate some strawberries, drank coffee; and ate a bowl of corn-flakes and sliced banana with milk for my tea.  Greenore won the Hogg Trophy 3 – 2.  The first time since 2002.  Rosanna sank a putt for a 3 on the Pig’s Back for a 5&4 win for herself and Pat Closkey.

Steak and Photographs


Monday 25 August 2008

This was a day that went well for me and in which I was feeling in good form physically and mentally.  In the morning – I was not up very early – I wrote up the minutes of yesterday’s meeting of Greenore Cooley Fisherman’s Association, printed them on two pages and stuck them into the old minute book.  Also sent the file to Dessie.  At some stage during the day I sent an e-mail to Joe Crudden.  Rosanna cooked the striploin steak I bought the other day in Tesco and I ate the bigger portion of it with fried onions and microwaved smallish potatoes with real butter and salt.  Checked the "HowDidIDo" website a few times – but there was no result from the weekend. ???  Rosanna drove me in to Harvey Norman’s in the afternoon in her Hyundai Accent.  I bought two 20 packs of Hewlett-Packard A4 photo paper (for the price of one ~ €19.99) as well as a "bale" of 500 sheets of ordinary printing paper (€4.99).  Also got 5 x 6" x 4" prints made of 080808 photos @ 19c each = 95c.  When we came home I made a further set of 12 x 080808 prints on two separate A4 sheets of photo paper – one sheet of the old paper I had left and one sheet of the "new" HP paper.  Streaks at the bottom of three of the prints on the "new" paper. ???  Put these two sheets into the grey journal display book and tucked the five 6×4 prints into the Pukka Pad project book which I have been putting my handwritten journal into this past few months and in which I filled the final page on Sunday.  Changed the background picture on my PC.  I used an 080808 picture of a boat and the sea viewed from Bellurgan Point.  Refreshing and spacious.  Rosanna went down to Greenore in the evening to meet Pat Closkey who had been playing golf in the ladies’ open.  It turned out – I learned tomorrow – that Mary McGoey won with 37 points.  Rosanna had a chance of going out in the morning – Pat Closkey rang – but she did not bite.  I think her shoulder is sore?  I used a big block and lit a little coal fire beside it in the WEL grate.  Around 9.30 p.m. I drove down to Bellurgan Service Station and bought milk.  2 litres = €2.50.  "I’m going home to get drunk!" I claimed to the girl serving at the counter in Bellurgan Service Station.  "On milk?" she exclaimed wondering.  Alan Ratcliffe rang in the afternoon and I arranged to play golf with him at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday in Greenore.  Put my dentures in a mug of water before bed with a mouldy Steradent tablet.  The tablet did not fizz although the water from the tap was warm but, tomorrow morning, proved to have done its job!

Rathfriland

Prompting Pride in Our Rural Villages

Celebration Event

Wednesday 4 June 2008 at 11.00 a.m.

Rathfriland Bowling Pavilion

Agenda

11.00 a.m.  Registration, Refreshments, Traditional Music Entertainment

11.30  a.m.  Introduction, Ms Pamela Arthurs, Chief Executive, East Border Region Committee.  Welcome, Cllr John Hanna, Chairperson Banbridge District Council, Vice Chair East Border Region Committee

11.35  a.m. Overview of "Promoting Pride in Our Rural Villages," Ms Pamela Arthurs, chief executive, East Border Region Committee.  Viewing of DVD about how the scheme progressed.

11.55  a.m.  Tallanstown "An Example of Tidy Towns Best Practice," Mr Richard Barry, chairman, Louth Tidy Town Committee

12.05 p.m.  "Village Planning and Development Challenges," Dr Michael Murray, QUB Planning Department.

12.20  p.m.  Saintfield "A Rural Village Experience" Mr Gerry Lowe, Chairman of Saintfield Regeneration Ltd.

12.30  p.m.  "Overview of Future Funding Opportunities," Mrs Dette Hughes, Development Officer, East Border Region INTERREG IIIA Partnership

12.40  p.m.  Keynote Address, Minister for Social Development, Ms Margaret Ritchie, MLA

12.50  p.m.  Close, Cllr Terry Brennan, Louth County Council, Chairman, East Border Region Committee.

1.0  p.m.  Lunch

The agenda was followed assiduously.  Lunch was consumed within the pavilion but the speakers were all listened to by the audience of around 100 souls seated in a fully equipped tent in the grounds outside.  There is a wonderful view of the Mournes from the grounds of Rathfriland Bowling Club but weather conditions yesterday were not as good as they have been in recent weeks so the view was restricted. 

The project involved 8 councils and 48 villages on either side of the border. 

Highlight of the project was an adult education course organised by Southern Regional College, Newry Campus (Quayside), in planting pots and window boxes and in the construction of hanging baskets.  The course also involved a bus trip to Scarva and to Knockbridge.  Both of these villages have been considerably enhanced and beautified as a result of the concerted voluntary effort of residents.

The celebration event was a great success, informative and enjoyable.  The DVD was great even if some of the stars in it were old men. 

A fitting end to a marvellous and meticulously organised and realised project.

Annoyed


Monday 14 April 2008

Rosanna left before I got up to go to Dublin (Westmanstown?) to play golf (with Ann McParland?).  I slept late with the heat on and when I got up I washed thoroughly all the dirty delft.  Having washed the pan I fried two large eggs in olive oil and grilled three or four rashers.  Ate all.  Then had some brown soda bread and butter with marmalade and a mug of tea.  Martina McBennett and a student (John O’Reilly from Clones) at 2.00 p.m. interviewed me in Ladywell.  I told Martina I felt at risk and said the way Rosanna was treating me was outrageous.  Martina suggested a stay in The Moorings (or Solasan?) when I said I would like to identify a way to "retreat."  Anyway she said she would talk to the consultant and let me know and I said I would ring the Ladywell contact number if things get too difficult for me at home.  An injection of 25 mg of Risperdal Consta in the right side.  Bought 2 litres of milk and 2 apple Danish pastries in Aldi.  ~ €5.30.  Dr Peter Connolly expatiating in Aldi.  I saw him clearly and distinctly.  How is it that he apparently did not see me?  Ate the pastries with an interval in between and each with a glass of milk.  Drank a cup of coffee and ate four biscuits in Boardroom 2, Ardee Business Park, at about 6.50 p.m. before the meeting of Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum.  Maria Mullen absent.  She has been assigned to other duties.  "The forum has less of a friendly face!" I whispered to Dessie – who had picked me up in Jenkinstown at 6.00 p.m. and driven me to the meeting.  David Jones and Terese McArdle are baby-sitters to the forum now.  Larry McCarthy ("I told Jim about it") fulminating about the "gerrymander" in The Park Inn Hotel where Larry Magnier had been elected as North Louth rep onto the new LEADER/Partnership board.  What McCarthy failed to mention was that he had tried to gerrymander the election himself.  All that happened was that he was less successful at it than the Blackrock denizens.  Jim Cousins (chairperson) said that there had been "complaints" about the election from the candidates.  I hope he was not including me.  I thought the election was conducted meticulously according to the rules – but I kept my thoughts to myself.  Cousins a mixture of bumbling and officiosity.  Extremely irritating.  He tried to prevent the written reports of SPC meetings being circulated.  There were three of mine, one of Dessie’s and one other by Lucy Rafferty (who was absent).  I hardly said a word at the meeting and neither did Dessie.  Phil Conyngham defeated Eugene Matthews in an election to the board of LEADER/Partnership 7 – 6.  The forum had one place on the board in its gift. Cousins would not allow a discussion about the forum web-site when Dessie raised the issue.  My stomach gave me no problems at all today.  The bin out when I arrived home and total silence in the house.  I washed my teeth, did 125 revs of my upside-down bicycling exercise and went to bed before 11.00 o’clock.  I left the radio on to play for an hour as I prepared for bed.  (Wigan 1, Chelsea 1).  I never heard it switch off.  Had made in the afternoon arrangements by text with Kevin McGeough to play golf tomorrow at 10.00 a.m.

Warm in The House


Sunday 30 March 2008

Eleanor Wehrly came over in the late evening and sat and drank some hot port which Rosanna gave her and chatted – Sr Leonie, Mrs. Peadar Hynes, Bertie, etc., etc.  "It’ll never be solved," I concluded about Sr. Leonie.  Sean Og rang on my mobile while she was there – he had 42 points, 1 over par gross, in Ardee today playing with Pat Magee in a fourball.  Pat played poorly, Og said.  Pat was using a new driver.  David Magee and John Ennis who were opposite them had a superior score, I gathered.  I was glued to the radio all day and stayed up to watch the politics program starting at 10.55 p.m. to hear the latest in the Bertie Ahern/Grainne Carruth saga.  Bertie has been silent and all the other players are watching their footwork.  I think Eamonn Dunphy on The Late Late on Friday night called him a perjurer and I think a few journalists repeated the canard in this morning’s papers.  In the afternoon I drove to Green Life driving range and hit 75 balls off the top deck with the Taylor Made driver, the 3-iron and the 7-iron.  €5.  Got the best results when I lined up totally straight and kept my head down and kept the ball back a little in my stance. The opposite to what I have been doing on the course lately.  I was hitting the ball as far, almost, with the 7 as I was with the 3?  Hit a few drives up the bank at the back fence.  Bought 3 pink Pinnacle balls with transparent covers for Rosanna.  €7.  Drank a coffee and ate a Snack and watched Liverpool v Everton on the wide-screen TV.  Rosanna suffering from a chesty cold got up rather late in the day.  Polished my Chelsea boots, my black brogues and also my burgundy brogues.  They were lined up beside my chair in the WEL when Eleanor came in.  Lit the fire in the WEL a.m.  A kinder day than the forecast lead me to believe it would be.  Did 220 bicycling revs before bed and also washed my teeth.  Pain in the front of my head when I bend down or when I sneeze.

Lonely Passion


Good Friday 21 March 2008

Morale and energy was not good in the morning so I went back to bed for another while after breakfast.  Rosanna and Aisling went down to Greenore to see Og’s house which Aisling had not seen till then.  "It’s alright," she said when I asked her later how she liked it, "the garden is nice."  "I have no garden," she said.  Jandering, I said to Aisling in the afternoon (when my confidence had been restored after the 3.00 p.m. liturgy in the church), "She was trying to pretend to Dellamar last night that everything is hunky-dory."  Rosanna was slightly apoplectic, I think, and she muttered with authority, severity and intent, "I’ll deal with you!"  The celebration of The Lord’s Passion went well in the church.  Brian Glynn read St. John’s account fluently, articulately, quietly, without undue emphasis and without any mistake.  The congregation voiced some of the dialogue such as "crucify him, crucify him" and I got a sense of participation abroad.  The choir sang two hymns at the veneration of the cross

1. Were You There?
 
2. The Old Rugged Cross.

I sang the opening bars of 1 as I walked back from kissing the cross.  Ann Murphy started before all the choir was in place – some of us were delayed because of the "Ambrose" effect i.e. people getting up before the choir were done.  The same thing happened at communion too to a lesser extent. 

The choir also sang two hymns at communion

1. Soul of My Saviour
 
2. God of Mercy and Compassion.

Aisling left for Dublin around 6.00 p.m. as far as I can remember.  Although I was slightly euphoric after the ceremonies because they went exceptionally well I became restless and uneasy later in the evening and washed my teeth and did 200 bicycling exercises before bed around 10.30 p.m.  Soon after that I woke from my sleep to hear Rosanna in her room on her mobile to Aisling.  There had been, I gathered, some kind of incident with Aisling’s car.  Aisling was afraid staying on her own for the night I gathered, too.  Rosanna said something about Sean Og?  Anyway the effect on me was to fill me with horror/terror and my sleep was colored all night by the lonely impression I got.  Gerry Woods came into the seat beside me and I asked him if he wanted to move "inside" which he did.  I did not sing at full throttle – all to better effect?  Fr. Padraig Murphy, the celebrant, has an excellent singing voice.  I observed the "fast" eating only a cheese sandwich during the day and in the late afternoon some pizza and garlic bread.  I ate honey nut corn flakes and milk for supper.  In the morning I had weetabix and milk.  Really what I had was four collations – I had no principal meal – and no meat.  Naturally I drank a good sup of coffee and, perhaps, a mug of tea.