Friday, February 21, 2003

Quiet isn't it? One of the oddities of this experiment has been watching my interest in writing for the blog form ebb and flow. Or rather flow and ebb. Suddenly, after the first rush of excitement it seems a little flat. Perhaps it would be best to listen to what my mother told me. If you've nothing to say, say nothing. 3:36:32 PM  What Say You? []

Thursday, January 2, 2003

E. Nesbit Newsflash I promised to keep you up to date on any news regarding E. Nesbit's work or actions. Given her death some considerable decades ago, this has been a pretty easy task. However I now have something to report. BBC Radio Four have an adaptation of The Magic City available to hear on their website using Realplayer. Stars David Jason (Del Boy) and Pauline McGlynn (Mrs Doyle in Fr. Ted). And obviously, a number of children. This was one of my favourites of her books. I got a big illustrated hardback copy from the library, and remember thinking this was how books ought to be. Hurry to hear the play by the way. It'll be gone by next Monday. 12:25:26 PM  What Say You? []

Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Four wheels bad, Two wheels good In my neverending, and to date fruitless, quest to avoid becoming an egg-shaped man, I have bought myself a shiny new bicycle. My previous bike has been a sturdy warhorse since my Confirmation, but like all good things, I feel it has come to its end for me. Being a pernickety kind of person, and the kind of child who went home from fingerpainting classes with no paint on him at all, it has been kept in quite good condition. However the relentless forces of entropy cannot be denied forever. So when I got a puncture a few months ago I took stock. Of my five initial gears, I had only two remaining, and one of those only worked if I kept my thumb wedged in the little gear leaver to stop it slipping back to its default gear. Also, the weight of the bicycle may have exceeded that of the rider for much of its life. So rather than repair, I repurchased. I found that in the great number of years I had been away from the bike market, awesome changes had swept over it. In particular an entire new category of bike had emerged- the comfort bike. I am in favour of comfort, particularly when it is my own, and I decided that this warranted further study. Sure enough, these bikes had all the wholesome goodness one would expect. Mudguards, carriers, but also such exotica as front wheel and seat suspension. I was entranced, and found what I was looking for (at nearly o75 less than everywhere else) in City Cycles in Parnell St. A blue Raleigh Pioneer 160. I have since been commuting to work and despite my horrible levels of unfitness, I am greatly enjoying the feeling of gliding through the traffic, and drifting over the holes in the road. 4:20:30 PM  What Say You? []

Monday, December 23, 2002

No Crime Lord of the Year Award this time, then 'Asked by agents if he had anything else to tell them, Cusack responded: "Yes, I've got monkeys in my pants." ' [[ t e c h n o c u l t u r e ]] 3:14:14 PM  What Say You? []

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Chocolate Goats Reading back over yesterday's posting, I realise I should have made it clearer that it was the ice cream which I was recommending that was Vanilla flavoured. Not the Goats themselves. Sorry to anyone misled on that. 7:50:07 PM  What Say You? []

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Oilean Chleire Cape Clear takes wraps off Web services suite. New version includes enhanced security, messaging [InfoWorld: Top News] [[ t e c h n o c u l t u r e ]] Those crafty Gaeltacht types will stop at nothing. First they hang around off the coast of Cork, then they come up with this. I spent a number of very formative Summers on Cape Clear. Let me tell you two things. That hill doesn't get any easier to climb. And you should have the Vanilla Goats' milk Ice Cream when you manage to actually get to the farm run by the Ed Harper, who's blind, if memory serves. 10:11:00 PM  What Say You? []

Sunday, December 15, 2002

Of great interest EU clinches expansion deal. The European Union prepares for the largest expansion in its history after fraught negotiations in Copenhagen finally produce agreement. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] For the first Nice Treaty vote in Ireland, I voted No. Here's why The second time around I voted yes. I haven't written the article describing why yet, because I'm still mulling over it. But the main reason for my Quimby-like flip-flopping on the issue was the moral case for ensuring that these countries get a chance at the same opportunities Ireland got. 11:52:19 AM  What Say You? []

Friday, December 13, 2002

End Chapter One "Forgiveness? Forgiveness follows atonement." -Voice of the Faithful spokesman on Newstalk 106 last night. Abuse scandal forces out Boston cardinal -BBC News I think this may be the start of something long term. The question will be whether the rich-world Catholics can effect a change on the Church as a whole, or whether the Vatican would prefer to cut its losses and preserve their clerical power by ignoring the demands for change. And anger is still building here in Ireland too. I wonder if Cardinal Connell has any worries about his own job tonight. And given how the courts finally broke through the fog of claims of Canon Law secrecy to reveal Cardinal Law's failures to act against child abusers, do you think C. Connell will be happy to see the state inquiry gearing up on the horizon? 11:53:51 PM  What Say You? []

Monday, December 9, 2002

Meanwhile In Boston Meanwhile, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, cancelled his participation at Sunday Mass, amid growing calls for his resignation over his handling of the scandal. The cardinal's spokeswoman told the Reuters news agency that he had left Boston and was currently in Rome. BBC News I have nothing to hide and have done nothing wrong. I admit I've made mistakes but, having learnt from them, I am now the least likely person to do the same thing again. There is no reason for me to stop doing my Perk-Filled job. This is why I must now hide from my congregation and flee the country on the occasions when the heat is turned up. I am sure you can see that this is all for the best, in this, the best of all possible worlds. I urge you not to pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. 12:39:05 AM  What Say You? []

Wednesday, December 4, 2002

More Editorial Difficulties... Here, an enthusiastic and very polite contributor from the US sent me in a lighthearted piece on the good-natured frenzy, which is the start of hunting season. He painted a picture of cheery, family trips into the woods. People took their holidays to take advantage of the season; they drank beers and had something to talk about with their neighbors. They painted their camouflage designs on their cars, faces, children. It was an amusingly jolly tale. We were even assured that the animals had long since left, so there was no point, or harm, in all this activity. I couldn't print it. The notion of using a gun as a central part of your community[base ']s leisure time isn[base ']t just alien here in Ireland (and in most of the EU) but is anathema. We[base ']ve seen the kind of lasting problems that occur when you get a community used to thinking of guns as a normal part of everyday life. But at least they weren[base ']t seen as fun things to do. So I wrote back to the contributor and he took it well, given that I[base ']d said that guns and the death penalty both were the main pieces of evidence pointed to n Europe by people who wanted you to believe that all Americans are bloodthirsty savages. As I say, he took it well. And he sent me a different piece on moonshine. In my defense, I did say I said that if he wanted to address the gun question directly, I[base ']d have an open mind about running it. And he said he might. I just couldn't run a piece that took guns being good for granted. 5:45:27 PM  What Say You? []

© Copyright 2003 Simon McGarr. Last update: 21/2/03; 3:37:09 pm.