Personal Columns

“Don’t ask me how I am.  You are not in the slightest bit interested in how I am”.

“What do you mean?”

“You said to me, ‘Good morning.  How are you?’ and you didn’t even realize you had said it.  We ask people questions to which we expect no answer.  In fact, we would think it odd if people started to answer.  If I had started telling you how I was, you would think I was strange”.

His warning about not answering questions had a lasting impact.

“Do you know…

Ireland

There was an easterly wind that would have cut through you to add to the inner chill that attends presence at a funeral.  Walking to the car park, it seemed winter had lasted forever, the last warm day barely in memory.  The lunchtime news brought a political iciness to add to the wintry mood of the day: George Lee’s resignation.

Maybe Vincent Browne sensed something in the air, writing with prescience in yesterday’s Sunday Business Post:

Look at George Lee. He was doing a hugely valuable national service as

…

Spirituality

In a virtual age, there is still nothing like having something on a piece of paper.  Having only a couple of hours to spare this afternoon, the debate about which newspapers to buy is quickly resolved.  Buying the Irish Times and the Financial Times costs less than a pint of beer and they can be kept for days to come, unlike the pints, which are very quickly recycled. The Best Beloved, who never has a clue how much there might be in the bank, buys the Financial Times in order…

Ministry

“Will you miss Dublin?”

“Of course”.

“How do you feel about moving to the country?”

“My roots are in a deeply rural community.  I worked for seven years in a deeply rural community.  I can stand in the middle of a farmyard and feel at home”.

Perhaps that sense of belonging owes as much to morale as to place.  Farmers may be quiet and conservative, but in Ireland the church is a central part of their lives.  They will be there in all seasons, week in week out; they might…

Cross Channel

Rugby never entered the consciousness most of the year.  It was an amateur game, without a great fan base that seemed dominated by public schools and Oxbridge.  Across the Bristol Channel, it was different: rugby was the sport of working men, it went with images of the valleys and the sound of male voice choirs.

For a few weeks each year, names from the other side of the Severn Bridge would fill the commentary on the matches watched on our black and white television.  There was a poetry even in…

International

Lazing on the settee, watching Egypt beat Ghana 1-0 to become African football champions for the third time in a row, there was a lesson in African politics.

It seemed odd that the tournament should have been played in Angola, one of the poorest nations on Earth in terms of human development.  Go to Google Earth and type in ‘Luanda’ and look at the place.  There would have been considerably greater priorities in the country than providing stadia for an international football tournament.

FIFA’s insistence that governments not be allowed…

Church of Ireland Comment

A colleague from former times used to tell of meeting a young couple about their impending marriage.  A serious man, he was very diligent in his preparation of couples and talked at length about the meaning of the marriage vows and the changes married life would bring.  At the end, he looked at them and said, “Now, have you any questions?”

The young lady looked at him and said, “Yeah, my ma asks are there gratings in the church floor because we’re having high heels and they can get stuck…

Monologues etc

A Hyacinth Bucket character encounters a distasteful scene

Really, it wasn’t nice. It wasn’t nice at all.

I was just saying to Leonard, my husband, that it wasn’t nice. Leonard has just retired as an important civil servant and he knows about things. He agreed with me, “Not at all pleasant,” he said to me. “Not the sort of thing that decent people like ourselves should have to see”.

You’d think the Government would do something about it, wouldn’t you? I mean to say, if this sort of thing started…

Notice Board

From ‘Hurt for Haiti’:

Hey Folks!

On Sunday, 21st February, we are holding a massive event in aid of our brothers and sisters in Haiti who are in such despair.

We have a huge day planned with some top entertainment on hand. The venue is The Bentleys Complex- all the upstairs and downstairs rooms AND The Brazen Head next door. It’s going to be a great day out and for a great cause.

We’re gonna kick off around 3 in the courtyard with Jon Kenny and Mike Finn on hand…