Lent, it's a catholic thing

Well-not really, as I know at least one (for want of a better term) non catholic who does the lent thing. Oh if you have ignored the heading that opening will mean nothing to you-which actually might be an advantage for yous.

Sooooo it’s that time again –the whole self sacrifice that it is “our duty” to carry out /endure/enjoy whichever way you see it. Despite being a very weak catholic I take the lent thing very seriously-I’ve been told that pubs are very empty during this period as so many people give up the drink. Sometimes I would make it tough-not because I enjoy the suffering I see it as a challenge to test my will power.

I actually see lent as a man made thing to help us give our failed new year’s resolution a second go-why not? Makes sense,it usually starts in February-good time as any to have another bash.

For anyone who does not know about lent-it is a six week period up to easter. Something to do with the 40 days and 40 nights Jesus spent in the desert, Oh when I was a kiddie I was always taught to bow my head when I say the word jesus-so if you see somebody bang his head,foot,drop a cup and they scream “JESUS!” and they bow their heads, chances are they’re catholic. The lent period starts with Ash Wednesday-were we more or less acknowledge we started as ashes (so much for my biology lessons) and we return to ashes.It ends with Easter –where we acknowledge that Cadburys are ripping us off again-crummy selection boxes at Christmas and now easter eggs-filled with the sweets we leave to the end at Christmas. Naw-course not –it’s the whole resurrection thing innit? This whole 40 days/nights thing is a kind of mistranslation as far as I know the original translation was “a long time” sooo jesus’s fasting time in desert could have been 4 or 24 hours. And the great flood could have been 100 years.

I usually go off :-sweets (candies) biscuits (cookies) crisps(potato chips) and sometimes chips (fries). See how I cater for my friends in USA-I’m bilingual. This I am also including coconut fingers, turnovers, coffee and maybe Facebook. One year I decided to go off meat-and it proved really hard, I even had nightmares at the start. I remember one where a particularly attractive girl form a car avert came up to me with plate which had a big juicy steak and golden brown chips and  said (in her sexy French accent) “Gérard-you can have this-or you can have me-choose.” And I said “No competition Nicolé.” And grabbed the plate and ran off to a table.

One year when I went off the sweets I manage to stay off them for 3 years.

In Ireland we have a tradition were we can “break the lent” on St Patrick’s day-I mean we HAVE to drown the shamrock-don’t we? I don’t do this,this is for wimps I say. Some people will argue that jafa cakes are not biscuits,crisps are not sweets and find many other excuses to –for want of a better term-bend the rules.Which is why I specify what I am off. I remember as a kiddie my mother told us that Sundays were not lent-I remember at the stroke of midnight on Saturday night my sisters would get stuck into the sweets they had be hoarding all week, and spend most of Sunday munching on their hoard.

A woman at work goes to mass every morning before coming into work-and would always try to encourage me to do this-but this is bringing religion into lent-can’t have that. What next? They’ll be make a religious thing out of easter and Christmas next.

I might do a report on the lent thing-the coffee thing could be a struggle as I treat myself to a coffee on a Friday-part of my Friday treat thing I do. I might bend the rules and check in on face book on saint Patrick’s day for 5 minutes. To see if I missed anything-or not. Munching my final packet of crisps as a type this-unfortunately could not get my beloved red tayto-had to make do with a very close 2^nd best.So off we go




http://youtu.be/jDe9rvQRHEI

to think it i rejected her for a plate of steak and chips

note

 I am going to talk about a theory I have.And,  I have a little bit of something or other to prove it actually may be correct. I have this belief that if I were to disappear off the face of the earth on Sunday evening apart from family and work nobody would miss me. I once noticed that with a couple of friends it was always me that was doing the phoning to see what the craic was. So I decided that was it, it’s up to them to phone me-as they never did. I mean, they know where I am, and how to get hold of me. I have not heard from them since I made this decision- and that was about twenty years ago. One of them only lives about 6 miles from me, and I have not seen him since that plan started. Obviously they weren’t the friends I thought they were. But I really do believe that if I was abducted by aliens,did a disappearing act or something the only ones who would miss me would be family and work.

I was reading one of those self help books, and an exercise had a question-If you were told you only had one month left to exist on this world –after the usual stuff like saying your goodbyes and getting the technical stuff sorted-it asked you to list the things you would do. I realized that I would do nothing, I wouldn’t even tell anybody-just go to work as normal, and hopefully the day I cease to exist would be at the weekend-bet on Monday x-factor or strictly would still be the main talking point over my demise.

Was reading a couple of articles in one of them healthy living mags –“outdoor fitness” and there  was an article about an Australian and his Bucket List. He had 100 items in it-and has got me thinking about doing something similar. I don’t think I’ll make the 100 like he did-so some suggestions would be welcome. That is if anybody sees this.

new year-new something-def not me

Thought I’d put together another blog. I think this time last year I did a new year’s resolution thing-was somewhat a disaster-so this year I have taken a Calvin (he of Calvin and Hobbes) approach and just don’t bother-a few other of my role models say, in some form or other, that expectations lead to disappointment –so don’t expect anything. Being a pessimist is also an advantage-expect the worst, and when the worst happens it’s no surprise, and if it turns out good-it’s a nice surprise.

One of last year’s list was to stop lending money to family members-well this failed major. I seemed to lend more and also let a couple of loans go unpaid. It’s just me I like helping when I can.

Another that failed miserably was to find my smile again-so this year I’m trying a couple of books and am thinking about counseling or going on a weekend course-which is in Dublin, in august-I think. Unless someone in that line of work confirms these courses are wastes of time. The website is nlp.ie I know it’s not cheap-but I need to do something.

I have this thing in me. When somebody says something it often triggers a joke that I know, which I can sometimes fit into the conversation and nobody realizes it is a joke until they hear the punch line. I have a pretty sharp sense of humour –but I think it’s not as sharp as some people make it out to be. I’m not bad with the trivia either-I can talk about forgotten bands and their members and projects some members have done. Same with tv shows and movies. Sometimes I wish I could use this storage method for work related stuff-but as I type this epistle I’m thinking-no. Getting a laugh/groan, a “good grief, that’s right-I’d forgotten that” is much better than rhyming off an email about a change in work thing we got last week.

Not sure about this year’s cycling holiday. Someone from our –for want of a better term, drinking group, wants a reunion and has got a date sorted. He had a vote on this (between 5 people) and his final report looked like something you would see on those election night shows on TV –I was expecting pie charts and graphs (I did actually say this to him-think he used to be an accountant,figures). Although she was not included in the census, I told the lovely Carolyn –she is keen to do the final choice, even though she did this last year. In fact she told me this before the voting was even suggested. ANY WAY much that I liked Carolyn , and the Kitty Club(in that order) (is it obvious Carolyn sees this?) (we had a kitty for the drinks in the bar-any money left from one night was carried over to the next) I would like to meet more new people this year. And the date is in July-my normal holiday time is August. There is also a couple or three other things this year. There is a proposed Scottish cycling trip in march/April-just a group of 3 (or 4),the NLP course thing I want to do is in late august-unless I find a similar one sooner, I would like a big trip this year,july is an awkward time getting off-it is a very popular holiday period.I would like a walking holiday for a change. If I should do a big holiday it would be later in the year say October. Maybe Amerrykay? Would be nice if I had someone to take with me-but that’s another story. Oh yeah-there’s a wedding in September, over by Liverpool-might have a sore leg then-once again, another story.

So that’s it-anybody know anything of them courses-or should I just do the sitting down and talking with a counsellor or somebody? Where’s Barmy Brenda when I need her?

Normal service will be resumed as soon a possible

This blog has been sponsored by the number 5 and the open and shut bracket.Sorry Marni-no photos-I think-and as always too lazy to spell check,read over etc-maybe next year

OH remember the letter I sent to the photo mag?well it was printed. The photographer defended what he did by saying that, when it comes to advertising it’s the finished product that counts-BUT he agreed with me to a point. The following month there was two “from many” letters reacting to my comment-disagreeing with me and defending what the photographer did. Now,wait till you hear this. The mag commented to these letters by saying that the winner in their recent landscape photographer of the year competition had be be disqualified as he did the very thing I wrote about….i rest my case-by the way I had to do a copy and paste to add this on-but that’s not the same.

So What Next?

I do a yearlyish savings thing. I have a money box that can only be opened with a tin opener. In the box I put £1 and £2 coins. What I do is,  £1 coin a day and when I get £2 coins in change they go in the box-no matter how many I get-they go in.Be it one or four-they go in the box. It usually takes just over a year to fill it. So it amuses me to feel the weight of the coins increase. The money is used solely to treat my self to stuff-just I don’t need-just want. New toys I suppose. Bad thing is, as I was getting near the end I got a bit obsessive, I decided to put in any pound coins I had daily, and I was breaking paper money just to get £1 coins to put into the sealed box. The box was opened last week. My total was £630 (that’s about  $1012) Now, not much more than that could get me a good long weekend far away in January-which gives me time to save more. Big question now  is what to treat myself too? I’ve a few ideas:-the new photoshop elements 11,a kindle,a personal radio, a weekend in Galway,Dublin,London; a photography course where I learn camera raw properly , maybe get some sort of language lessons? Any ideas? I keep talking myself out of a trip to America-I almost had one planned this year-but talked myself out of it.

That’s one of the problems of getting older-you keep convincing yourself that you don’t really need anything-or want sometimes. Getting older is a bit of a rip off. I remember as a child I thought it would be great being able to drive-you get in the car at night and drive for miles and miles until it’s daylight. With the cost of petrol now-now a good idea. In fact I hate driving. If I did not need to drive,I would not have a car.  The whole staying up late thing is not as good as the child me thought-I now know the main reason my parents hounded us off to so early was because after a day’s work and looking after us THEY were shattered-and they needed time to relax. And I’m not even a parent.

So the biggish question is what do I do with my vast collection of coins-well I am gradually putting them into a savings account and when it’s all in the building society account I will decide then what to do with it? Any ideas folks? I am tempted to use the £30 bit on £10 scratch cards just to be extravagant-but then I am too sensible to do that.AND Elements 11? Do I REALLY need it-elements 9 is still pretty good, but 11 has got the bit for movies and my new camera can do movies-so it looks like I’ll be getting E 11.

I’ve noticed I have a new follower/reader here-feel free to make comments and/or give me ideas on what to spend on.And it’s GREAT to see you there!

The rambles are more local now-but still great craic. It’s my turn to lead a walk this weekend. I know where the walk starts, but after that I’ll just make it up as I go along.Part of route depends on weather too.Pictures are from Sunday’s walk. Incidentally halfway across the misty moor I broke into song and sang “Memories” Actually the word memories is all I sung as that’s all I know from that tune-no doubt I got strange looks from my group. I made up for it by telling them the story of when Idi Amin was training his army he made them do the goose step. When asked why, he said “What’s good for u geese is good for Uganda .” And with that I’ll go-still want suggestions on what to treat myself to.

a wandering whatever

I’ve been labelled a globe trotter this year. I have not really gone that far but I have been moving about a bit-and I’m hopefully not done yet. If somebody gives me a big enough kick up the proverbially derry aire I could be pushed into going abroad in November or January. But we’ll see.

I’ve kind of threatened a summary of my travels….so far. I’ve already done the Irish Cycling Safari one where I met the lovely Carolyn. What’s happened since?

The Glover Challenge.

This was a particularly tough walk.Took us 12 hours to do something like 14 miles over a few mountains in Donegal.Weather conditions were very chanrable.We met nobody, and in a way this was great-the whole solitude thing. I managed to get separated from group for a while and this was scary, the whole alone in the wilderness thing. Despite it’s toughness and enjoying it emensly this is something I don’t think I’ll do again-as a complete walk.Parts of it most definitely-but all of in one go….no.

Lessons leaned here-have a spare glasses case in rucksack-when it is misty rain-glasses are a hinderance-much better clear out of focus, than can’t see a bloomin’ thing. Oh! And when I got separated, I luckily still had a phone signal-a whistle is much better-got one now.

My next trip was a cycling trip in Scotland. This has been planned for a few years and this year it finally got off the ground-despite a kind of falling out. This was with the friend who got me into the cycling thing, and nurtured my love for the outdoors and my general fitness level. During the trip something’s he said made me realise how much he valued our friendship, kind of surprised me. He actually apologised for something that happened some 7 or 8 years ago. I told him that, that was water under the bridge and I had forgotten about it-that’s what friendship was all about. We had great weather on this trip saw some scenery I can only describe as Nirvana.Racey looking landlady in our B&B and a few really challenging climbs. The day we left this haven countryside we had rain of somewhat Biblical proportions, roads were flooded-there was no way we could have cycled in that weather-so, something was most definitely out to make sure we had a good time.

Ben Nevis had us leaving home for the ferry at the unwelcoming time of 4:30 am. The hotel we stayed in had its own leisure centre –so I went prepared. Despite being very comfortable the hotel’s food portions were miniscule. The climb up The Ben (I can call it that now) was relatively easy.Well after the glover , it had to be. What I didn’t like was the crowds of people coming up AND down.We started our walk at 8:30 am, so I don’t know what time the others started. It was just a track up and down.The summit was very misty with quite a few people doing Usain Bolt poses-not me.

Took me about 3 ½ hours to get to the top-actually did not need the lunch that I brought with me. On the way home we were in no mad rush so we stopped to get a few scenic shots and views before getting to the ferry. 

 

So what next? We asked ourselves –we done the highest in England,Scotland, Ireland and Wales-to be honest I don’t care –as long as the craic is good, the air is fresh and there’s not hordes of people blocking the way.

No idea what I’m up to in November/January.But want to get away somewhere. Need a new passport though-and that’ll mean having to shave and wash properly for the photos.

Things in general for me are pretty crap at the moment, but when I summarise my blessings –after the obvious first 3 –I can ride a bike, I can read a book and I can pee standing up. What I have done so far this year makes me smile-the little things that happened on these trips make me laugh-even though nobody but those on the trips will get the joke, like the waitress in the hotel on the Ben Nevis trip who scolded us for taking extra rolls for our soup-without asking; or the waitress in the restaurant on the Scottish cycling trip who cleared our table by instalments-I fit looked like we had finished she was down lifting the plates, as soon as the utensils had left our hands.

Any way I KNOW what I have to do to get my life in some sort of order again it’s just taking that leap of faith or whatever terminology is used.

Incidentally the mad Donegal woman now in Dublin I met last year emailed me to tell me she is considering moving back to Donegal.AND she has been sending texts the odd time-her humour is as almost as warped as mine –or is it the other way round Having a friend like her around could keep my spirits up. Oh and Carolyn keeps in touch too-her stories of her travels make me smile too. A return rubber band fight in 2013 is possible

 

clare burren and carolyn 2012

Holiday 2012. I am back with Irish Cycling Safaris. I’ve been holidaying with this group since 2000. Some years I have done doubles with them-so obviously I like them.

And legend has it that friends of Ernest Hemingway bet him that he couldn’t write complete story in six words.To cut a long story short-he did, and believed this was his best work . What did he write?..”For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn.” Why am I telling you this? I have no idea. Think Hemingway would love Twitter. F Scott Fitzgerald, on the other hand would love Facebook. Wished I could do this blog in six words-“Cycling Holiday.Met Carolyn.Magic Time”

Right where was I? Oh yeah-are you sitting comfortably?

This year the holiday was the Clare/Burren one-oddly enough I have met some of my favourite people on this one, each time.This is my third time doing this particular one:-great pubs,great music,great pubs,great scenery and great pubs.

It starts in Ennis.There was a big group, 21 I think it was. After dinner the whole bonding thing quickly started.There were 3 others there I met last year and it was a kind of planned reunion. An American woman called Carolyn was singing at the end of the dinner table-with a rather large songbook.

The next day our destination was a place called Spanish Point-which was basically a beach. There was a village near to it called Milltown Malbay-which is famous for being the village in Ireland with the most pubs per head.

Our lunch spot was in a little village called Creegh in a pub, that did not have a license for soup. YEAH! Outside there was a sign saying “sandwiches, tea and coffee” The coffee was instant as I saw the barmaid sending a child out to the shop to get another jar-as the rush was on!

The sandwiches were:- cheese, ham, cheese and ham, and ham, cheese and onion. Oh! The special that day was ham and cheese. The craic in pub that night was great. The American woman Carolyn responded great to two of my one-liners, so I decided to home in on her for my jokes, and our little drinking group got a new member-Christina. One member of the group kept calling her Chrisitne and it was amusing getting him to remember her name .I suggested that we call her Martha,saying at least we would have the last letter right. I then decided that the next day we should all call her Martha to confuse everyone else.

Next day weather was not great and that was much the way it would remain for the rest of the week. The next day the target was Doolin-which is famous for the trad music. We had lunch at a lovely seaside town called Lanhich. My room mate and I decided that we would give the Cliffs of Moher (which are used for the Cliffs of Insanity in the movie “The Princess Bride”) a miss as we saw them before and wanted to do a boat trip round them instead-but the weather got bleaker,we gave the cliffs a quick look and got to Doolin to find out that the ferry was cancelled AND we got to the b&b before the guide-so we could not change.Oh! in lunch place at Lahinch I was explaining to rest of table how bill was sorted and halfway through I realised I was talking too fast for them, so i stopped-apologized and restarted. Night in pub was eventful. The dinner pub was packed and food orders had got a little out of control, and people who came in after us were getting served before us and orders that had no owners were appearing. There was a great group playing and despite the crowd the talented Carolyn was up jigging, must admit I was scared I was going to be kicked by her. Joerg and I decided to go to another pub-think a 3^rd person came too-but this pub was dead compared to the first one and one of the items on their menu was spelled wrongly (I think-must check it out).

Next day the weather was, well worse-and this was the  day that we caught our first glance of the magnificent Burren. But when you see the pictures-when I get them sorted, you’ll see how bleak it was.Lunch was in the famous Lisdonvarna,had a pretty good seafood chowder there. Joerg and I were pretty keen to get to hotel to get showered and have a couple of Irish Coffees.

Craic in pub that night was great. I got singer to do “Teenage Kicks” Carolyn was in her element here and was dancing all night-she even did a costume change and got the singer to do a Spanish type song and she was up there,fan in hand,rose between her teeth giving it all she had.And good it was too.

Next day was rest day and some of us booked a guided tour over the Burren.The guide was a local person, and halfway through the walk one of the members of my group said that it was only because they were getting use to my talking could they understand some of what he was saying. I told them they were lucky we were not in Cork as they can do a full sentence as one syllable. One of the American’s in our group approached a woman in the other group and said to her that she looked like the woman who played the barmaid in cheers and she said that, that was because she WAS the woman who played the barmaid in Cheers-no kidding the very same Rhea Perlman-unfortunately I did not get a photo or a chance to talk with her. Walk was great, but sudden heavy shower we all got soaked, I had to get my trousers dried out in drier in hotel.Carolyn and I had planned to go up to see the Ailwee Caves but we were recovering from walk-and we lost contact- so we/I  decided to give it a miss. Pity as I was hoping the two of us could get lost in the cave. Great night in pub-packed.Carolyn sung and danced.

Next day weather was a bit better. Billy the guide took us to a round fort and gave a most interesting and informative story about it. Then we saw the Poulnabrone Dolmen-thankfully not that many people about, so got some good photos.

THEN on route was the Burren Perfumery-the smell here was overwhelming, but despite that, the grounds outside were most relaxing.It’ll come as no surprise that the men in group could only withstand 5 seconds of the aroma inside the perfumery.We were staying in a very picturesque village called Kinvara-the owner of the place we were having dinner was not the most socialable and was a bit annoyed when I asked for the full menu as opposed to the abridged version on our table. That night due to a little chaos the group got split up –and I managed to withhold Carolyn from singing and dancing –but she did have an elastic band war in pub- and despite what she says-I won.

Last day weather was great.Three of us got a bit diverted-well Christina the Swede said she was good at map reading and knew where she was going-and Richard and I did not want to argue-turned out the route we took was wrong,but when guide came back to find us, told us our new route was better than the official one. We passed the Father Ted house that day. The craic on the last night was great. In pub Carolyn sung and danced and a local girl did a great version of “Me and Brownie Magee” and “Caladonia”.

I had stayed on a extra day in Ennis-and coincidentally so did Carolyn-she asked me if she could spend the day with me as I was going out to Bunratty to see the castle and folk park. We had a great time together and the day just flew in.That night we could not be bothered “dining” so we just got a sandwhich and a bottle of water from Dunnes and sat on a park bench and had a great chat-about life and  things. We looked for a pub with music-found  a fairly quiet one –and Carolyn sung and danced-unfortunately she did not bring her dancing shoes. We met a Thai guy from USA who said that he was in Ireland checking out his Irish roots-and he sung and danced with Carolyn. I couldn’t as I had a sore leg. OH! apparently his Mother is Irish.

I walked her to her Hostel-then she walked me to my hotel and walked back to hosel on her own (ha ha only joking).

Next day we spent a couple of hours walking round town before making our way to bus station-Carolyn had to walk on almost every wall she saw-did not fall in river-drat! At bus station we had an elastic band fight, and deservedly got strange looks from other people in the general area.And I won again.

THEN I was off to Galway –caught the start of the Arts festival-in heavy rain I watched a  spectacular parade-my little compact camera drowned-but survived, I think.Missed Carolyn during Parade as she would have loved it.

Tuesday headed back home-great holiday! And Carolyn got up and sung and danced.

For the record this was a really good group-or I say strange? as they got most of my humour. Questons? Fire them at me. And Caroyln sung and danced.

hooray it's a holly holly day

You’know I know it’s a fact of life that we all get old. But it’s a little disheartening when you realise that the rock idols,even sex symbols of your youth are now pensioners. Paul Mc McCartney and Paul Simon being 70, I can handle that-but Patti Smith 65? I bought the new PIL cd –and great stuff it is too.There was a dvd of the band in concert along with the cd. When John Lydon came on stage he had a pedestal, with the set list and lyrics on it. After he drawled a hello to the crowd he puts on his reading glasses which were hanging round his neck.Now if he had come on stage actually wearing the glasses, I could have coped with that. But the way he put on the glasses reminded me of a grandparent putting on his/her glasses to read a birthday card received from a precocious grandchild. And I think I read today that Harrison Ford is also 70. Don’t think I can watch “The Empire Strikes Back” in the same way again now.Patrick Stewart is 72 I’ve only known him from Star Trek-so THAT I can handle.

Off on holiday tomorrow-cycling in the Burren-hopefully I’ll get a chance to do some hiking there as well-so will have to be careful when I start my packing tonight.And wondering what I can chance leaving behind. I’ll be doing my traditional scratch card buying game as well. Might cheat a bit this year and start the run when I get off bus in Galway. And as always I’ll promise myself something different next year-but I never do. There are 3 people (at least) that I met last year.And I am wondering how many others I may have met before. Any how a good time will be had by all.Everyone is saying to me that they hope the weather is good. To be honest I don’t care, I have noticed that the craic at dinner/pub at night seems to be better after a very wet day.And anyhow booking a holiday in Ireland is easy-but am saving for something special next year DV

The Neurofibromatosis thing that I have seems to be getting a bit of publicity on tv recently.The people that have been on have a much more advanced condition than I have, so I have been counting my blessings and realise I am so lucky. If I were to have children the chances of me passing this on is 2 to 1. So maybe my bad luck in the love/romance thing is actually a good thing.Because if I were to pass this on to a child and it turned out as bad as the 2 people I saw on tv, then I could never forgive myself.

So it’s the holiday this week.Hope the craic is as good as it was last year.Going to visit Galway for 2 days after the holiday is over.

Some of my favourite blogs have been absent from the site for a while-but 2 of them are back. And I’ve discovered a new one, about a 21 year old girl who has had a stroke. I WAS following one called “366 acts of kindness” –but stopped that as it was excruciatingly twee. It was actually funny in a way-but groannnn.

Take care folks-AND too lazy to spell check and all that.