The very first time daddy brought us to see a round tower it seemed to touch the sky and you needed a rope ladder to reach the door which was a long way off the ground. The window holes were like slits and had no glass in them, so it must have been very draughty and dark inside. A round tower was like a round room and it was not as wide as our house. In my head it seemed only as wide as our toilet, well that was the smallest room in our house (separate to the bathroom) and I needed to get things in proportion.
I seem to remember being told then that round towers were originally built to protect our ancestors from raiders such as Vikings.
My childish mind worked overtime when I thought about it. To begin with I was small for my age when I was young, my father and uncles were all over 6ft tall. If they were standing when they spoke to me I had to look a long way up to see their faces. When we were near the tower daddy didn’t reach the bottom of the door. I hoped there would be no more Vikings. I didn’t want to climb up there.
Anyway, if we did manage to get inside how could we all fit? Maybe I would be lifted up onto someone’s shoulders. The round room went way up to the sky remember, so there would be lots of people standing on other peoples shoulders! What would I do if a heavy person was standing on my shoulders? It would be terrible if their feet were dirty and smelly. Again I hoped there would be no more raiders.
What brought this on?
You may well ask!
At the weekend I went out for a walk in the sunshine and on my travels I saw this round tower:
In 1866 James Chaine, the son of a prosperous linen merchant from Co Antrim, bought the Larne harbour with a down payment of £9,000. He repaired the existing pier and quays and had them extended and developed a rail link to the Port. In 1871 the Larne and Stranraer Steamboat Company was formed and a new paddle steamer the Princess Louise commenced a regular service between the two ports on 1st July 1872.
A mail route was established in 1875 and a trans-Atlantic service between Glasgow, Larne and New York began in 1873. Using the renowned State Line vessels, this service continued until December 1889 and many hundreds of emigrants left Larne to start a new life in America.
James Chaine died from pneumonia in 1885 at the age of 44 and as a mark of respect the people of Larne and district raised funds by public subscription to build the Chaine Memorial Tower which dominates the entrance to the harbour.
My birthday is past and Christmas is a long time away so what am I wishing for?
I am wishing for time…. not my time, but yours!
Now I know you are busy and time means money and the song tells us -
Yes, money makes the world go around, the world go around etc.
But what good is money if you kill yourself working?
What good is money if you have no one to share it with?
Alice at My Wintersong pulled up at a stoplight, it was a reminder that we all need to pause and see real life or smell the roses. Then I came to my Toyboy Rowan with a similar message. It made me think…
There was nobody more hard working than my Jack. He was busy from the minute he opened his eyes in the morning until he lay down in bed at night. I had to talk to him! He was retired. It was time to take things a little easier and enjoy life. I didn’t want to look across the table some day and wonder who the strange man was. I wanted to spend time with him afterall that was why we had married. We made changes, we had a day out each week, sometimes it was walking on a seashore or in woodland, chatting away to each other or at other times walking hand-in-hand enclosed in companionable silence.
I no longer have my man across the table or to hold my hand, but I do have wonderful loving memories of the time we spent TOGETHER!
I am glad we made that effort.
If you love someone, give them the most precious gift you have - TIME
As a friend of mine says ‘None of us are promised tomorrow!’ So start sharing now.
Crush biscuits. Melt margarine, milk chocolate and syrup over a low heat. Add beaten egg and simmer for 1 minute. Mix in crushed biscuits and whole Maltesers. Press mixture into a Swiss roll tin and leave to cool. Melt white chocolate and spread over biscuit mixture. Crush remaining Maltesers and sprinkle over the white chocolate. Leave in the fridge to set. Cut into squares after ½ an hour, but before the mixture has set.
“Bring to your consciousness those memoriesof the things you’ve seen and the places you’ve been over the last twenty-four hours.Now select a one-minute sequence of eventsand try to replay it over and over again in your mind.”
Here’s one minute in the life of Grannymar
Brrring, Brrring!Brrring, Brrring!
Off come the rubber gloves as I reach for the phone.It is twenty past one in the afternoon and my face is bursting into life as a smile stretches from ear to ear even before I say hello.
“Hi mum!The flight was on time and we have just landed at Heathrow.”
“Elly! It is wonderful to hear you and know you are back this side of the world” I say.“Did you have a good week?”
Elly goes on to give me details about her week in Arizona, in 30 seconds flat.I hear about work, her colleagues, friends and the good people I refer to as her American Family.She passes on their good wishes and tells me their news.She needs to change terminals so I let her go as she promises to call me later when she reaches home.
Elly is as effervescent as she always was, and I hope she never changes.
It is no different now to those far off days at the school gate, when my five year old little bundle of energy put her hot little hand into my frozen one, and told me at breakneck speed, all the stories and secrets of the day as she skipped along by my side on our journey home from school.
So thanks to Jeff I have had double pleasure, re-living the phone call and the sound of Elly’s voice, while remembering that hot little hand encased in mine and the close bond we have between us.
April 11, 2008 at 7:38 am
· Filed under Bills, letters
The post yesterday brought my annual rates bill.
In Northern Ireland money for public services comes from a) our share of the UK’s central tax revenue and b) the contributions we make through the rates. The latter is again split into two parts, the reigonal rate and the district rate. In the year 2008/09, as in previous years the reigonal rate helps pay for services such as the health service, education and water (including sewerage). The proposed changes and addition of seperate Water rates take effect in April 2009. The District rates pay for services provided by the local councils such as leisure services, refuse collections, building control and environmental health.
With the bill were three items:
1) a booklet with information about the rate bill
2) a leaflet on how to get help for those on very low income
3) and this:-
The crest on the right is for PSNI (Police Service for Northern Ireland).
The idea is good to inform people on ways to protect their home and belongings, but I wonder how many little old ladies were unable to sleep last night?
A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing in a small New England town where Paul Newman and his family often visited. One Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take a long walk. After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone. She hopped in the car, drove to the centre of the village, and went straight to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor.
There was only one other patron in the store…Paul Newman… sitting at the counter having a donut and coffee.
The woman’s heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact with those famous baby-blue eyes.
The actor nodded graciously and the star struck woman smiled demurely.
Pull yourself together! She chides herself. You’re a happily married woman with three children. You’re 45 years old… not a teenager!
The clerk filled her order. She took the double-dip chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the other. Then she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in Paul Newman’s direction.
When she reached the car, she realized that she had a handful of change, but her other hand was empty.
Where’s my ice cream cone? Did I leave it in the store? Back into the shop she went, expecting to see the cone still in the clerk’s hand or in a holder on the counter or something. No ice cream cone was in sight.
With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman.
His face broke into his familiar warm friendly grin, and he said to the woman…
The pound sterling is used in Northern Ireland with individual notes available from all the major banks acceptable. This can be confusing for the visitor as not only will you find English notes in circulation but also Sterling Bank of Ireland, First Trust Bank, Northern Bank and Ulster Bank and Scottish Bank notes along with occasional Bank of Isle of Man all of which are accepted in general exchange. This can mean up to half a dozen different notes of the same denomination.The picture below gives you a clue of what to expect.All the notes shown are £10 Sterling.
Northern Ireland has had its own distinctive banknotes under provisions of the Banknotes (Scotland and Ireland) Acts of 1845.Following partition a special Act of parliament – the Bankers (Northern Ireland) Act 1928 – was passed to allow trading in sterling but using notes designed for Northern Ireland.Since then famous faces and places from the province have adorned the banknotes.Traders in Great Britain often turn the notes down; they do not have to take them as they are not legal tender over there.This is something seldom mentioned or recognised here in Northern Ireland.
I read somewhere a couple of months ago that some £1,607 million of locally-issued banknotes were in circulation on 24th November 2007!To avail of this privilege, an issuing bank must lodge enough money with the Bank of England to cover the value of its banknotes, but only from Friday to Monday.On the other four days of the week these funds, known as note-covering assets, can be invested elsewhere.Investing the money raises around £45 million a year for the four banks together.
At the end of January this year The Treasurer decided that this gave the banks involved an unfair advantage over other institutions, as well as cutting into revenues. The Treasury proposes a Bill to oblige all eight of the Scottish and Northern Irish banks to back their own notes with Bank of England notes at all times. That would also hand supervision of the arrangements to the Bank of England, rather than the Revenue Commissioners who now police them.
If this happened, the banks would not be able to invest their note-covering assets during the week.The result will be poorer service for their customers. It will, for example, take away the banks’ current incentive to offer ATM withdrawals of their own notes free of transaction charges (fees are currently zero because the banks want the float from non-interest-bearing notes in circulation).
Under the present arrangements if a Northern Ireland bank collapsed during the week, its money would become worthless.The banks are not commenting on the proposals at the moment and have until 23rd of April to make their views known.New laws to put the proposals into practice are expected later in the year.
Roy from Irish Taxi has regaled us daily with tales, good and bad, from his hours behind the wheel.Now K8 the GR8 has joined the fray.I was beginning to think that I was missing something here and finally I discovered what it was.
You see, I thought that all Taxi drivers just sat around waiting for the likes of me to phone on a whim, and ask them to take me from A to B by the shortest route and in five minutes flat.It has worked well in the past, so why should I change my mind!
Well the other day I discovered what it was all about… is it any wonder that Roy is thinking of a career change?
I can just see Roy and K8 tripping around the M50; it surely would clear the traffic. Just think when ‘real dancers’ take to the dance floor everyone else fades into the woodwork…
CEROC is a modern partner dance that takes moves from many other popular dances such as Ballroom, Salsa, Latin, Hip hop, Jive and Tango.The classes are aimed at people with no dance experience and two left feet.There is no need to enrol on a course, simply turn up when you can with or without a partner.
Since the early 80’s CEROC has developed its own unique style which is easy to learn and great fun. Besides this, it’s a fantastic way to keep fit and a very sociable way to spend an evening. One of the other great things about CEROC is that there’s no need to come with a partner. Our teaching method means everyone changes partners during the class.
All CEROC nights starts with a class for beginners lasting for 45 minutes. Each dance is demonstrated and then the Taxi Dancers move among and partner the ‘learners’ while repeating the moves.Then there is a short freestyle session followed by the more challenging Intermediate class which lasts for 30 minutes, then the DJ takes command of the freestyle session. This is an hour and an half of pure uninterrupted dance where you can improve your dance style and soak up the atmosphere.
Now I wonder…I don’t need a partner… Do you think there might be a few T…….
Melt the butter and fry the liver, bacon and onion until tender. Put in food processor with the liquids and seasoning and blend until smooth. Grease an ovenproof dish and pour in the pâté mixture. Stand the dish in a container with an inch of water. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 1 hour.
