Sean's Space

Sunday 5 December 2010.

Well it’s approaching midnight on Monday now so I am not going to try to detail every little item about Sunday. I got up in reasonable time to perform in leisurely fashion my full matutinal routine. It was a bright calm sunny morning and although it was surrounded by snow the house was warm on the inside. Dressed in underclothes, navy Le Coq Sportif T-shirt, green collared expensive T-shirt, non-descript old track suit top, brown patterned braces, black shiny slacks, black Umbro sports socks, black Hush Puppies’ brogues. Rosanna gave me a fine chicken dinner even if the chicken was a bit bland although there was stuffing made with bread and onions. I took my camera and a spare set of batteries in my pocket. Dessie, in his van, took the Carlingford turn just in front of me. I parked at the door of the Tourist Office and went inside where the attendant behind the desk scribbled the letters Q&A on a postcard and handed it to me. I walked gingerly through the village carrying my camera up to the Heritage Centre. Dessie’s van was parked in the disability parking spot outside the chemist’s near the top of the hill just before the corner going to Holy Trinity. I had put €19 petrol in my 2010 Toyota iQ in Bellurgan Service Station and paid €1 for a Snickers Duo. I offered some of my Snickers Duo to Conor Duffy. He declined but Dessie accepted. Dessie ate one piece paying little attention to the chocolate; I ate the other piece and enjoyed it. I was in good form and was delighted to see Dessie and Conor. We relaxed for 10 minutes or so and then Rowan Hand moved us up and we sat on our left in the second row from the front.” “If anyone throws anything at us we will duck and it will hit you,” I said to the psychiatrist in the row behind. Anyway the discussion got going rather turgidly. After a while I made a speech on the subject of “myth.” That livened things up a bit. I chanced my arm later on towards the end and addressed the topic of “peace” drawing heavily on a description of the Agnus Dei as it is done in Jenkinstown. I do not know how much Conor caught on his video camera. Dessie and I pissed against the back wall and then we came back in we pissed in the toilet stage right which Dennis Bradley had, by then, vacated. I took a picture of Dessie and Fr. McVerry in the center aisle. Walked on down to Dessie Savage’s and hung around for the ceremonial switching-on ceremony. The Christmas lights. I spoke to Liam Reilly and offered assistance on the basis that he is the most likely candidate for Fianna Fáil in the next general election. Took 34 snaps. Piddled in McKevitt’s. Sang a verse of Silent Night with the small choir. A stout girl standing beside me with a hymn sheet I could not read because I was wearing my distance spectacles. She seemed amused and pleased with my efforts and her body language and attitude was supportive and good-humored. Dessie later contemptuously dismissed the effort as a “school-child” one. Anyway he spirited me off to his van at the top of the hill let me out at the dispensary car-park turned laboriously and headed for Greenore. I piddled in the toilet at the back of the car-park in the semi-darkness and set out for Seán Óg’s house in Greenore where the heat was not on but everything seemed in order. I made tea and toast in Dessie’s with brown pan bread and jam. Delicious. I ate two slices; so did Dessie. Dessie rustled up a fine feed of chips, big thick salty rasher of bacon, fried tomato. Both of us were in good form and discussed Deirdre Lewis rather lasciviously. And others. Anyway I did not hang about and departed to make a 18.00 deadline home. Parked outside Brian Larkin’s and checked Óg’s again. Heat on. Exchanged a few remarks with Brian Larkin’s daughters who made a fine picture in the lamplight walking with their coats and a dog up the street towards their house. Warm and happy encounter. I forget what I did for the rest of the evening. I ate an orange. Tart. Also ate corn-flakes and milk. Conor Keelan the mayor of Dundalk and Mick Murphy mayor of Newry jointly switched on the lights. Said hello to Sean Ó Roideán and also Noel Fretwell in McKevitt’s. Graham McDowell holed a 20’ putt on the 18^th for a birdie 3 after hitting a tree with his drive to tie Tiger in Tiger’s own tournament. He holed out again, in the playoff, from 20’ to slay the Tiger with a birdie the great man could not match from 15’. McDowell had started the round 4 behind Tiger. I think it was well after mid-night before I got to bed and I did not drift off to sleep until the wee small hours. Eamonn was supposed to come out from Dundalk today but he changed his mind because he had a lot of work to do. I wore my Lacrosse grey jacket round Carlingford and my green woolly Greenore helmet. It was cold. I had a few problems uploading the snaps from my Fuji FinePix 9500 S onto my Dell but got it done in the end. I probably surfed a bit as well, horoscopes, etc.

Sunday 28 November 2010.

Dreadful form 08.30. No exercise. Frost. Corn flakes, sliced banana, milk. The same last night. No golf, Robert Giles informed me when I rang. Heat on all night. Stew for dinner. Drove to Greenore. Panic. Heat not on. Rosanna drove down again & got it on. “Auto” should have been selected on top line instead of “on.” Rosanna drove us in to Oaklawns. Eamonn there! He had a good fire of coal and logs on. I bought bananas and oranges in Tesco DSC. Rosanna bought steak, etc., and ham. Eamonn took a bath in Jenkinstown. Rosanna washed some of his clothes. I set out in my 2010 white Toyota iQ @ 20.00 and left Eamonn in through the snow to Oaklawns with 2 plastic bags of clean clothes. €85bn digout for Ireland from EU/IMF confirmed tonite. 5.8% interest over 7 years? Eamonn trying intently to watch it on RTE1 until frustrated he saw the picture break up. I brought in 2 buckets of coal today – the second one tonite in soft snow. To bed 00.45. Did not wash teeth. Switched off heat. No word from Aisling. 00.10 (Writing in my reporter’s notebook). Going to eat another orange. Ate corn flakes, sliced banana, milk; for tea. Two rounds of brown pan cheese and ham sambos for supper + a mug of java. Put a new cartridge in my old Tesco fountain pen. Working fine. New Leavy reading glasses broken yesterday morning. Screw missing.

Thursday 25 November 2010.

Up 09.00. Weetabix, sliced banana, milk; coffee. Made bed; exercised; washed; dressed, clean white underclothes, Le Coq Sportif white T-shirt, black slacks, brown patterned braces, black and grey socks with horizontal circular bars, black patent Clarks, Calvin Klein top, brown thin rimmed spectacles. ROI Senior Smart Pass arrived in the post. Applied moisturiser to my knees and nether parts a.m. Got a shock when I spied no car at the back of the house. Forgot that I had moved my iQ to the front yesterday to let Aisling out. Baked 2 baguette pizzas. Prepared a plate for them including green peas, olives, sliced tomato, a piece of cold baked breaded cod. Tasty and well-planned. Peeled and ate an orange which was juicy and less tart than the ones I have been eating for the past week or more. Lit the fire in the WEL. Washed up everything including the small bin, the vase in the kitchen, the baking tray, the window sill behind the sink. Swept the floor in the kitchen. Surfed a while. Earlier read the Dundalk Leader and The Democrat. Gerry Adams standing in Louth at the next general election. Pic of Brendan Byrne and family at his son’s 21^st. Breda McArdle one of 3 VEC teachers to retire recently. On tenterhooks before mass. Difficult program of hymns, “Be Still,” “I Watched the Sunrise.” Ann Murphy trying to annoy me? However Catherine Arthur turned up ok although it was at the last minute. 19.30. I was 1^st into the church at 19.07. Anyway I made a few fast entries in the psalm and in Sunrise. Better to keep things moving than to drag? Fr. Michael Woods concelebrated with Fr. Murphy. The usual suspense and drama as a candle was lit and the bell rung for each person who died in the parish in the past year (25 approximately). Tom Roddy spoke to me after mass. Said, “Hello, Angela,” to Anglea McParland as she exited. “Hello, Seán,” she replied forthrightly. Pat Deery took my reporter’s notebook and my green Greenore woolly cap from under my arm and put milk in my tea. I had gone to the toilet for a piddle after mass. Sat down in the meeting room with my cup of tea. Someone came in and took away the biscuits that I had my eye on! Talked to 2 women (sisters?) from Lordship. Then had a good chat with John Quigley. Eamonn, Aisling, Brendan Byrne, Radon, DkIT, etc. Chat with Barney Carroll, Allison and Suzanne at the top of the steps. Very friendly. Talked about Rosanna and Aisling. Barney praised the singing and also praised my car. A little light rain. Made handwritten notes for today’s journal but stayed away from the Dell. Rang Teddy. Lisa asked me in a text to turn the heat in Greenore on tomorrow. Chanced to see Eileen Trainor’s funeral arrangements on rip.ie. 11.00 tomorrow in Ardee. Burial afterwards in Ballapousta. Ireland owes €323bn according to an authentic sounding article on indymedia. Going to eat weetabix, sliced banana, milk; for supper. Ate 2 rounds of barrel loaf mixed grain sandwiches for tea. One cheese; the other apricot jam: + a mug of java.

• Be Still
• The Lord’s My Shepherd (psalm)
• My God Loves Me
• Don’t Feel Separated
• I Watched the Sunrise

We also sang the response, “When We Eat this Bread and Drink this Cup,” as well as an “Amen.” As I said I worried and fretted beforehand but the choir did well tonight after all. Fr. Murphy mentioned the choir and the organist when he was thanking a fairly long list of people involved in the organising and in the mass, including the members of the pastoral council. Well I washed my teeth after putting on my pyjamas and got in to bed soon after 23.30. My mood was upbeat after mass. Wore my grey Lacrosse jacket to mass. Drove over with my reporter’s notebook and Stop Poverty Now biro.

Saturday 6 November 2010.

Up 07.40. Ate 9 or 10 slices of buttered baguette and drank a mug of tea. Made bed; washed; dressed the same as yesterday except that I put on heavy boots. Reached Carrickdale around 09.30 and walked under the road in to the lobby of the hotel for a piss. Deirdre Lewis ensconced there drinking tea and nibbling toast with 8 or 9 others. I went back under the road to join Dessie and Dermot in the car-park on the other side. Sloped off to the toilet in the building beside the car-park. Tables laid for a wedding reception. Anyway 2 Blue Anchor buses pulled up around 10.00. I got on the white one directed by Aude Laffon and driven by Tom Roddy. Visited Roche Castle where I pissed on the way in and again on the way out. We also visited a court cairn and a stone-age burial place – somewhere short of Dungooley cross-roads. I lunched independently in Navan Fort exhibition centre. Chips, carrots, 2 sausages, a bottle of Coke, “15” a sweet desert tart covered in coconut. Got the bill off the manager and paid £4.30 with my MBNA card in reception. The others ate soup and sandwiches followed by tea. It cost them over £5 each. Dessie still complaining tomorrow about the fare. Walked up to Eamhain Mhacha. Saw the goal posts on The Polo Grounds. Sat through a bombastic film about Macha and Cuchulainn. Encounter at the gate with a spear-carrying iron age man and woman. Sat for nearly half an hour in the iron age house with a fire lit in the middle of the floor. We were ferried back directly to Carrickdale. “Snazzy car!” Deirdre Lewis remarked when I rolled down the window of my white 2010 Toyota iQ and stopped to ask her how to get out of the car-park. There were two “pads” you had to cross. Fire still lit. Sliced two cold microwaved Roosters into a pot of beef stew and brought it to the boil. Consumed a bowl. Peeled and ate a Valencia South African orange. Tart and juicy. Was there a little decay near the top of the fruit? Put €4 in the yellow envelope “for the priest” (weekly contribution) and €10 in the navy envelope “priests’ dues.” Drove over. Fr. Tom McNulty.

1. Father We Adore You
2. All That I Am
3. Walk in The Light of God
4. Bind Us Together, Lord

Fans back on. Choir good in unfamiliar territory. I was unsure so I sang quietly. Gave some coins to Sheila Reynolds’ collection for SVdeP at the front door. “I suppose I should be at the gate?” she commented with a little laugh. Phil Sutherland told me after mass that Thursday evening mass is being discontinued. Rose McEneaney rang me before mass and I sent her the links to my photos on SkyDrive and also on Photobucket. She is doing some work on the parish yearbook and wants photos she told me. Before bed-time I noticed an e-mail from her with a favourable comment on the photos on both of my sites (which indicated clearly that she had been able to open both sites). I was chuffed and reassured by that and replied with thanks. Ate corn flakes, sliced banana, milk; after mass. Drank a mug of coffee. Tom Roddy leaned over the back of my seat and spoke to me after mass about the trip earlier today. Maybe I thoughtlessly raised my voice too much. Anyway I noticed in paranoid fashion that Fr. McNulty looked disapprovingly at me as he left the church. I had greeted him with a handshake and a few words about his late brothers, Gerry and Eamonn, on his way in. Ireland made a good attempt at a revival against South Africa finishing only 2 points behind. O’Gara struck a post with a conversion near the end and it bounced back. I think Kearney scored the final try for Ireland and received an injury at the same time. “I think Seán Óg is not that well!” Rosanna asserted. When I pressed her she pin-pointed “stress” and commented on Óg’s fidgety body language. Aisling in Inverin, Dorie told me on the phone. Eamonn in Cootehall (Rosanna rang him at 22.45). “You look well for a woman that is 3 000 years old!” Dessie remarked at Navan Fort. I took doubles out of the bin as an alternative to getting coal out of the bunker. Stoked the fire. Cold today; but a colder night expected. John Cunningham and Finbar Oakley pulled out of our line. Paul Smyth pulled in. Finbar pulled back in tomorrow morning. 22.50 (note in my reporter’s notebook where I detailed the day’s events). I washed and flossed my 5 ½ remaining teeth and brushed my dentures before I went to bed. I did not carry out any floor exercises today at all.

Sunday 31 October 2010.

Got up at 8.20 and put all the clocks in the house back an hour (7.20). Ate weetabix and milk. Cleaned out and lit the fire. Made my bed. Exercised. Washed. Dressed; fresh boxers, vest, yellow/cream shirt, green light woollen pullover, black “legal” slacks, grey sports socks, black patent Clarks, grey braces. Wore my black woollen Greenore helmet on the golf course and my Cutter and Buck jacket. Cold at the start but I was sweating by the finish. Tee’d off at 12.20 with Len Hennebry in the 2-man 14 hole scramble. Robert said at first we could not take part in the competition because we had no “opposition.” I made the case that it was a scramble so we could mark our own card. “If it were a 3 or 4 man scramble there would only be one card,” I reasoned. He relented and I put my €6 down. I had Lisa’s trolley and battery with me in the car so this saved me the price of a club trolley. I bought a pot of white coffee at the end. €2. Len and I carried on after the 14^th to complete the course. The golf was not spectacular but I won 3 of the final four holes and halved the 17^th with a 6. Made 4 on the last against a stiff breeze with a chip and a putt. 4-iron approach landed right of the bunker level with the flag. It was lying nicely on good grass. Not a difficult chip. Dr. Malone, Noel Guinane, John and Seán Murphy in the match ahead of us. Paschal (14) and Noel (11) came 3^rd with 46.75. Len (12) and I (15) scored 51.25. Took no shower in the club. Silence reigned in the house. Rosanna sitting stiffly at the fire in The White Elephant Lounge reading a magazine. I took some lukewarm Tagliatelle out of the pot and sliced a piece of red cheddar onto it. My mouth was dry so I ate a few pitted olives and drank a glass of dilute “orange.” Washed my teeth, took a shower and put on clean pyjamas and I am typing now on The Dell in my pyjamas, black robe, white Reef flip-flops. 21.50. A few bangers over around Wehrly’s. Majella called earlier with Liam in Ninja costume and mask. Trick or treat. I took out my purse and deposited a €2 coin in his bag. Majella in good form and Liam happy. I ate four slices of “buttered” Tiger bread before I went to golf. Rosanna went to bed early without breaking her silence except to say to me the battery of the trolley should be put “on charge.” Wrote to Gabriela re the conference. The university wants opinions. Sat up late until after midnight until a scan finished on the Acer. “No issues found!”