Grannymar

“Are you free on Thursday?” was the question asked.

“I am not sure; I would need to check the diary. Why?” I asked.

“You might like to join us for afternoon tea!” was the answer.

I hesitated.

Afternoon tea involved tea, scones, small pancakes & cakes. Butter, jam & cream also play a part. People who know me well leave aside a plate with an unbuttered scone. Invitations to a new group can cause a problem. I soon discovered that the scones were halved, buttered and topped with a layer of Jam and then a great big blob of whipped cream. Cakes were filled or decorated with a butter icing or a generous layer of cream. Some people were affronted if I didn’t partake of their efforts. I know at least one hostess who half scraped the butter off a scone and then presented it to me. Come on now, that is like picking the nuts out of a Marathon bar and handing the remainder to someone who has an allergy to Peanuts!

Playing for time, I asked a couple of questions about the Thursday afternoon event.

“Oh, it is a meeting of The Minus One Group!” the lady said.

“Minus One” I queried. “I never heard of Minus One”!

Minus One was a group of widows who gathered once a month for a chat over the tea. I promised to check my calendar and get back to the invitee.

I made discrete enquiries and the more I heard, the less I liked the idea of Minus One! I was in the early stage of widowhood at the time. I knew many widows and they seemed to go everywhere in groups of three. For some reason they never went anywhere alone, and seemed restricted to the type of events they attended. I was never into girl only living, I grew up in a male world.

I did not want to go through life like a jug with a broken handle; I wanted to be treated as an independent person in my own right. My husband died; and whether I liked it or not, I was alive and the one left to face life alone. If I was to live as long as my mother and grandmother before me, that would be at least another thirty years. Being alone was certainly no picnic, but I was determined to rebuild a life for myself. I was preparing to return to the workforce and to find new outlets and interests for my long hours of emptiness.

I broke the handle of a jug the other day and it reminded me of Minus One. I wondered…. if I had gone along for afternoon tea on that Thursday how different would my life be. Would I be blogging today or have made and met so many new friends both virtually and in person? I am glad I took the road I did.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” ~ Randy Pausch

Are you a morning or a night person?

As my father made his way into the bathroom each morning when I was a child, he was fond of saying “Give me a man that can sing in the morning!”  I am not sure when this habit started as my father was not a singer.  I think it was his way of saying that he didn’t like grumbling children who were only half awake.

In all my working years I was out of bed and wide awake before 6am each day.  I loved an early journey to work.  The streets were quiet and the people around at that hour were always ready to greet you with a smile.  Later when the day warmed up the folk I passed either kept their heads down or grunted a greeting.  More often than not it was a complaint about the weather being too hot, too cold or too wet!

I grew up in a household where bed before midnight was the norm.  I suppose I did go through a spell when I stretched the boundry to pass the midnight hour.  Now in the autumn of my life bed calls earlier.  Although I am a very bad sleeper I like to climb into a warm bed and stretch out my weary limbs and relax.

Do you wake and sleep easily?  Have you a ritual to start and end the day?  Tell us about it.

I was sitting in the bath last night having a long soak after a busy day. Suddenly, the words of a song came flooding into my head and the long handled back brush was transformed into a microphone:

For Dublin can be heaven
With coffee at eleven
And a stroll in Stephen’s green
There’s no need to hurry
There’s no need to worry
You’re the king and the lady’s a queen
Grafton Street’s a wonderland
There’s magic in the air
There’s diamonds in the lady’s eyes
And gold-dust in her hair
And if you don’t believe me
Come and meet me there
In Dublin on a sunny Summer morning
And if you don’t believe me
Come and meet me there
In Dublin on a sunny Summer morning

I could hear Noel Purcell’s gravelly rendition of the song and it brought back memories of walking up Grafton Street hand in hand with my granny. I knew where we were headed; because once we passed Switzers I could smell the coffee. Mmmm!

In those days Bewley’s was a double fronted shop and in one window stood a large coffee bean roasting machine. A man in a brown shop coat supervised and controlled the machine. Under the window was a large vent or extractor fan and the smell of roasting coffee invaded the street. One lungful of that aroma and you were hooked. The marketing men back then sure knew what they were doing!

Grafton Street has changed since those far of days and so has Bewley’s. I hear there is something special going on there right now and hopefully next week while I am in Dublin a trip can be arranged…..

A photography exhibition started yesterday, yes at Bewley’s of Grafton Street and it will run for 2 weeks. It’s a celebration of Fairtrade Fortnight and there are images of people who work on the Fairtrade farms that supply Bewley’s.

Entrance to the exhibition is free.  Anyone can drop in and check it out.

• Bewley’s is giving away a free trip to Nicaragua including flights, accommodation, and guide.
• Bewley’s is also giving away free afternoon treats for two every day throughout Fairtrade fortnight.
• There are also some rather stylish bags to be had made out of hession sacks used for coffee.

It’s incredibly easy to win the afternoon treats… all you have to do is visit the Bewley’s Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bewleys/60778327564#/), become a fan, and post your answer to the question on the wall and you’re in with a good chance to win!

The exhibition started Thursday 12^th February and runs until 8 March.

The competition to win afternoon treats for two at Bewley’s is from 23 Feb - 8 March.

With thanks to  Maryrose Lyons Brightspark Consulting for the photos.

• Looking for money in a hurry.
• In a public toilet with automatic doors that insist on opening and closing all the time.
• In an elevator during a power cut
• In an aircraft when the engines fail, and my wings are at home on the kitchen table!
• On a sinking ship when I can’t swim.
• Sitting in a chair along the wall of a Day room accompanied by fellow inmates, as the TV flickers and blares, only watched by empty chairs and the smell of yesterdays cabbage assaults my nostrils.
• Standing up in a hammock in a gale force wind.

• Wrote letters every week on Basildon Bond note paper, using a fountain pen, Quink ink and blotting paper
• Baked bread and cakes every day
• Washed, starched and ironed shirts
• Ran up the stairs two at a time
• Wore a hat and gloves to go shopping
• Changed her clothes and brushed her hair before my dad came home from work in the evening
• Spread butter an inch thick on her bread. Ugh!
• Wore nylon stockings with a suspender belt
• Collected Green Shield trading stamps and pasted them in a book.
• Solved maths problems in her head

Alan in Belfast wrote about the high point of a Northern Ireland’s summer season, or the Marching Season as it is known. You can catch up on his posts here and here.

He mentions the suggestion that it should become a Cultural Tourist Event.

Before the 12th becomes a Cultural Tourist Event the Powers that be in Tourism and the Orange Order need to step back and take a long hard look at what happens as part of the twelfth of July celebrations.

OK Alan, as a native you have some idea of how it evolved and what it is about, but as a visitor coming in raw, what image do enormous bonfires of stolen pallets and tyres from motor vehicles producing palls of acrid smoke and surrounded by people who seem to have fallen out of a pub, do to sell the province?

This Video is from 2007 but will give you an idea of how a Bonfire is built.

Up to about five years ago a field that bordered my land was taken over and a bonfire built and burned there. Trees on our property were hacked when wood was scarce, but we could have told them, if they bothered to ask, that fresh branches are to damp to burn. Nobody ever asked our permission to chop the trees or place the fire right behind our bungalow. The field was way below us so we had a ringside view of all that went on. Naturally no thought of our feelings were taken into consideration. The drunken squalling that supposedly was the singing of ‘The Sash‘ (one line repeated endlessly) was an insult to any occasion. The fire burned all night and indeed smouldered for nearly a week covering our bungalow and gardens with a layer of soot and bits of half burned tyres. The whole place reeked of burning rubber for weeks and needed to be hosed down on the morning of the 13^th.

I have watched 12th Parades both live and on TV over the years. I am sorry; but in my mind a parade is marched with military precision in time to a band. What I witnessed over the years could in no way be called marching but rather slouching along with participants waving to everyone they know. It would be impossible to march properly anyway, as each lodge was preceded by a band, and each band thumped a different attempt at a tune.

The Belfast Telegraph give a flavour of this years main Parade in Belfast.

Alan’s description of what happened at the field further shows that the whole thing is a sham and an insult to Queen and country, as are the Flags that appear all over the countryside at the end of June and are left there to rot and decay all year long at the mercy of the weather.

Marches will take place are regular intervals from now to the end of August across the Province, often culminating with a church service. During my years as a Church Warden I was involved in preparing for and greeting the Orange Men. The church hall was opened for the band to off load their instruments – large drums etc. Regularly the band members stayed in the hall for the duration and quite a few of those who did enter the church were unfamiliar with service or the hymns chosen by the Orange men themselves beforehand.

New Drawing Boards are needed!

I remember as a youngster my father lecturing my brothers and me about having respect for ‘The Flag’, no matter what country you were in. The place for flags are public buildings and they should be removed (never touching the ground) before sundown. The greatest insult is to have a flag with a rip or tear in it. Painting flags on faces or wearing shorts made from fabric that looks like a Union Jack is way off the grid where I am concerned.

Well my Dears, I had a test of survival last night! The power went off at 8.30pm. I checked the trip switch in the garage and then heard neighbours opening garage doors so I knew I was not the only one affected. The Electricity Board informed me that the break in service was due to vandalism and it might be midnight before it was restored. Some young bucks were letting off fire crackers earlier, they actually sounded like gun shots! One hit the local electricity sub-station for our estate so we were all left in the proverbial dark. Looking out the back windows the rest of the town was all brightly lit.

My computer went black just as I was answering an email and thinking of a post for today. I unplugged and checked that candles and lighters were where they should be. Fortunately I keep a plentiful supply of candles; I often light one for friends who are going through difficult or stressful times. I light the candle and think of the person or people for a few moments while looking at the flame and then let it sit and burn for the day, checking at intervals that it is still alight and trim the wick

Thankfully it was still bright and warm at 8.30pm, so there was no need for heating or lights. I went to check on elderly neighbours one of whom had been discharged from hospital in the afternoon. Not being happy with their candles (the tall narrow variety, easy to knock over) I came home for some sturdy nightlight holders and night-lights, thanks to Elly and IKEA, and my spare lighter. They are so much safer for unsteady hands.

I went to my bed early leaving one light switch and the bedside radio on. I listened to the radio on my mobile phone for a short while and soon drifted off to sleep. The radio and light woke me at 1.30am. I made a warm drink and checked the house to make sure that everything was in order. Snuggling down once more I slept until 4am. That’s a good night sleep for me, although I never get up at that time. I allow the body to doze as I listen to the radio and occasionally I SLEEP as I did this morning, waking at 8.30 with a thick fog wrapped around my brain. It is clearing….I hope!

Normal service will resume tomorrow.

As I walked the mile down the hill to town the other day I suddenly became aware of the passing of time. I managed to reach my destination without talking to a living soul! I was not trying to avoid people; it was that I saw nobody on my expedition. How life has changed over the past 31 years.

The journey once I leave my small estate has more houses now than it had when I first arrived in this town. One side had houses all the way, some set back from the road with the boundary marked by high walls, and further along a long terrace with postcard sized front gardens. These gardens were so small that I actually remember seeing an old man regularly cutting his square of grass with a large scissors! An opening led to a small Housing Executive Estate where on a sunny day the women stood at their front doors chatting. The once green area on the far side now sports apartments, townhouses and a small estate of semi- detached houses before joining an old terraced row that faces directly onto the street. There are more cars now, but where are the people?

In my early married life there were always people about no matter what time of day it was. The early morning saw folk walking briskly to work and children sauntering along on the way to school. Later women armed with shopping bags hurried to find the fresh bread, vegetables, meat or fish for that day’s main meal. Everyone had a word of greeting as they passed, some stopping for a chat or the opportunity to share the latest gossip, or perhaps dig for a fresh snippet of news. Every second shop on the main street was a ‘Home Bakery’ but they never heard of fresh cream in those days or of a Coffee Shop.

The town has changed over the years as has the world. Every other house has a satellite dish on the roof, a car or three on the drive and every modern convenience indoors, yet you seldom see the occupants. With modern day internet it is possible to purchase every bite we eat, every stitch we wear and everything we need for living, pay our bills and deal with the bank all at the press of a button. There is no need to go out.

Now if the worst happened (and everyone in the South of Ireland is prepared, we know that, because the Irish Government has sent out books of instructions on how to cope with all eventualities) how long would you survive if trapped in your home?

I did a test and should last for:

Created by OnePlusYou

What about you?

Update: If you click on the link go to the bottom of the page for the Quizzes.

We all need good news these days.

Today I had Mail, snail mail and email. One item each and neither brought a smile!

The snail mail came in a brown envelope, you know the type, A5 size with a window to show my name and address. Turning it over the return address was the one that gives us all the shivers: HM Revenue & Customs.

Worry not it was my annual PAYE Coding Notice. It gave my new tax code payable from 6^th April for 2008 -2009. I devoured the printed word on the letter; well you need something to concentrate on while masticating on muesli and it reminded me that there are two tax bands:

• 20% on £34600
• 40% on anything over £34600

The first point should read 20% on income up to £34600.

In plain English that means that for my half-crown in taxable income I pay the same rate as Joe Bloggs who earns £34,599.99! Simple yes, but is it fair?

Now for item no 2 my email. This little beauty arrived:

Security Center <service@yahoo.com>

to

Date Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 8:20 AM

Subject Unauthorized Activity

Dear valued PayPal member,
It has come to our attention that your PayPal account information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service.
However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension. Please update your records on or before February 24, 2008.
Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.
To update your PayPal records click on the following link:
http://XXXX.XXXX.XXXXXXX/icons/cgi/ (altered by moi!)
Thank You.
PayPal Update Team
Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, PayPal will periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements.

Very kind, I hear you say of PayPal to remind me, but the problem is I DO NOT Have a PayPal account. I never had a PayPal account.

I seldom shop online, call me old fashioned, but I like the feel of the item in my hand before I part with my money.

The last time I purchased anything over the internet was my Moo Cards last September. They had an option to pay by Credit Card or by PayPal. Not having an account I used my Credit Card.

This email was not the first purporting to come from PayPal. I received one back in November.

For those of you who use this method of payment, take note and take care.

I thought it was Sunday and the Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas. A day for wise men to remove the decorations of the festive season.

Since I have no wise man to assist me I undertake the chore myself. Most years I wait until the evening and while listening to some music I gather all the boxes, tissue and tape in one place. I had all the boxes at the ready early today and then something unusual happened - the Sun decided to shine. The garden was still white with frost but I had the urge to stretch my legs.

Wrapping up well I headed out taking my camera with me on the off chance I might find something interesting to snap along the way. Heading out I encountered large icy patches on the paths and roadway. Turning the corner I was aware of hazards of a canine kind, dog turds everywhere. I looked about but there was no sign of Grandad or his golf clubs anywhere. I doubt if his swing is strong enough to reach these parts from the Wicklow hills.

Since the river winds it way through the local park and it is low lying and prone to flooding, I headed up the town to the square. The window of the Paper Shop had a shock in store for me. I went inside in case I was hallucinating, but no my eyes were not deceiving me!

All along one wall were these!!

Valentine’s Day Cards

Now if that was not enough when I got near the cash desk I saw these!

Why, oh why, are we not allowed to have a few normal interludes in the year instead of rolling spendfests?