GOTCHA

I RECENTLY bought the Young Wan a new ipod and the sound level has not only been driving me nuts and can be heard via her ear-plug plugged ears from the next room, not to mention from outside the house, but must also be doing damage, serious damage to her ears.

It has been one of those times where I know she pacifies me and turns it down before slowly and surely turning it back up again.

Her last ipod had the volume set and I could not remember where or how I did it, but I discovered it this evening. So the maximum volume has been turned down by a third and I locked it with a combination number, one she doesn't know! I am actually laughing to myself that she didn't get there before me. Excellent and thank god for that.

Photomeet anyone ? (Dublin - May 17 or 18th)

Claire, John, Phil, WillKnot, Darragh and I were twittering the other day about another Photomeet. Are you interested? The date we agreed on is in two weeks time, May 17th or 18th. As for where and what so far we have a blank page and are open to suggestions.

As with the last time, this is open to anybody who wants to come along, learn a little, have some fun and meet with other snappers. We may even do the 'how many pics have we taken in total' game again...

So come on let me know if you are interested and if you have any burning photography desires that we may satiate that weekend (ie any ideas on what we could do). Leave any thoughts in the comments. You can also check out images from the last photomeet we did during the Irish Blog Awards weekend.

Yer man strikes again

ONCE AGAIN yer man strikes and once again very timely indeed. Bye bye Bertie.

Jesus Christ

I saw this on the news yesterday and just thought 'HOLY GOD'. Apparently this ritual helps the children grow up strong and healthy and apparently no child has been injured while being dropped off a tall building onto a white sheet. I imagine at the least they will be a little clingy afterwards ;) Mad.

RM colum April 4 - Picking the Leaving

RMcolumn April 4 - Picking the Leaving

THE TIME has come for the Young Wan to pick her subjects for the Leaving Cert. As important as this is the preparations into it all feels a bit hit and miss to be honest. Aside from the fact that reaching this stage is urrghh, I can already feel the pressure of LEAVING CERT EXAMS starting to rear their ugly head.

I found the pressure of the Junior Cert dreadful and it was only once it was all over that I was able to give a half sigh of relief, the full sigh didn’t come until the results arrived in September. And the thought of two more years of constant fretting about how much work the Young Wan is or isn’t doing leaves me absolutely cold.

Of course the Young Wan was also under pressure but at times you wouldn’t have known it at all.

So now we are at the choosing the subjects stage and the proceedings were kicked off with a parents meeting in the school during the week.

Oh God don’t get me started on parents meetings; the fact that they are held during the day is one of the most ridiculous and lazy things I have ever heard in my life. I have the utmost respect for teachers, I think they have a very hard job, but take a fecking night and talk to parents, believe it or not some of us work and believe it or not it can be hard to get time off work to attend this things.

And in some cases I am quite sure if a parent can’t make it there would be some who think they are not interested in their child’s education.

The Young Wan’s parent teacher meeting this week started at 12.30, so I was in work a couple of hours before I had to leave. It was due to finish at 3.30pm so it is not even a full morning or a full afternoon, it was half and half meaning that I was only in work for about two hours that day as there seemed little point in trying to head through all the traffic to get back into work for the last hour/half-hour.

I am lucky that I am allowed the time to do this, flash back to a couple of years ago and another work place and that would not have been an option at all.

Anyhoo back to the meeting; we sat there as each teacher got up and in English and Irish and explained about each of the subjects.

“Biology is the study of living things…” When I heard that or something similar, I thought ‘shoot me now’ but I sat on and listened to all the different subject descriptions, how much work they have to do and then my ears pricked up at the mention of a lottery.

All the chosen subjects have been placed into three lines with about three subjects in each. Each student has to pick one from each line but nothing is guaranteed. So far two of her preferred subjects are on one line ruling one of them out. That in itself was bad enough, but I understand that.

However it turns out because so many kids are in her year there will be a lottery for some of the subjects. And most of the year seem to be leaning towards biology which is one of the Young Wan’s best subjects and now she will be competing in some nonsense lottery and may not be able to take her best subject!

I understand the school is understaffed and doesn’t have enough teachers to cover all the subjects but if she doesn’t get subjects she has more interest in and is better at I will seriously be re-evaluating whether or not she can stay at that school.

After all surely it is also in the school’s interests to have their students get the highest results they can, but maybe that just makes complete and utter sense to me. I’ll keep you posted…

RM column March 28 - Fashion Full Circles

RM column March 28 - Fashion Full Circles

IT IS funny how fashions come back around. Back in the 1980s when I was a teenager I would have never thought that flares would come back, they were the ultimate bad taste item from the 1970s; how on earth would anyone ever want to wear them again.

Then I thought the same thing when standing in a train station in Manchester in the late 1980s and saw some teenagers walking by in some crazy flared trousers, I couldn't help myself I laughed out loud. They were back, and with vengeance and are still to be seen in one shape/style or another how many years on from their come back.

Of course there are lovely things that come back, such as the sleek and sexy 1940s or parts of the hippy 1970s but at some stage everything comes back, no matter how much we think it never will. Who would have ever thought the 1980s was a fashion time that would be revisited with all those garish colours, back-combing and shoulder pads; yet we have seen puff ball skirts and some of the worse things being recycled in the noughties.

Some of it looks even better than it did 20 years ago, some of it is well eh better consigned to the wardrobes of the past.

From slagging me as a bit of a hippy in my teens, the Young Wan has gone turnabout and now there have been loads of clothes I see the Young Wan go mad over which I had worn something similar as a youngster.

Over Christmas Nanny bought the Young Wan a waistcoat which was practically identical to one I had in years ago. I had many at different stages and the one the Young Wan has came from a man's suit just like my favourites did.

We went even further. From I was 13 to eh a near grown up, the most coveted item of clothing was a man's tuxedo jacket. My pal had a fantastic silk jacket, it was black with this beautiful navy silk lining and we all borrowed it at some stage or another.

You never felt cooler hitting the town than when wearing this jacket.

So now the Young Wan has the waistcoat, all she needs is the tuxedo jacket and we would be like twins at the same age.

She hasn't worn the waistcoat yet because she was waiting to get a large white shirt to wear under it. But she came in with one tonight. She also came in with skin-tight black and white pinstripe jeans and coloured hair extensions.

During the hour and a half it took her to get the dishes done, she had back-combed her hair madly, put in the green, electric blue and pink extensions; and I can't help but think when she gets the waistcoat and shirt on she will look just like Russell Brand, a female red-headed version. She is better looking of course, but still she will look like Russell Brand. I'm eh so proud.

RM colum March 22 - Smokin...

RM column - March 22nd - Smokin...

JUST a few weeks ago I wrote about psychic moments in our house and there have been even more but none so mad as one I am about to tell you.

Over the weekend I took the dog out for a walk out to the shops. About three or four streets away from our house I was walking along and looking down I saw a box of matches and a well-smoked cigarette butt sitting neatly beside it and I knew it was the Young Wan; there was no question about it at all in my mind.

Earlier that day when doing the laundry I had discovered an empty wrapper from a cigarette box and up until that moment of looking at discarded rubbish on the street (being a litter bug is another crime to add to all this but probably one for another day) I had wanted to just wait and see if more evidence presented itself.

And walking along the street I found it.

I was pretty dumbstruck walking onto the shop. Seriously was it not mad to pinpoint rubbish and know it was herself? But I just knew.

So whether rightly or wrongly I went home, went straight to the Young Wan and told her what I found, how she was not to tell me it wasn't her - I knew it was, and how because it was Nanny's last night with us before travelling home I was not going to push it. She was being given a by-ball and the best thing she could do was to stop it, to take the get-out clause I was throwing her.
I told her I was deciding to pretend that I didn't find what I had otherwise Nanny's last night would feature shouting and yelling, the gnashing of teeth and a generally yeuck atmosphere that I could just do without.

Unfortunately teenagers sometimes fail to see the bigger picture. However she did listen and didn't even try to say it wasn't here but her eyes were the size of saucers when I told her.

And did she learn, not in the bloody slightest.

The next day after leaving Nanny to the airport, we headed back to the house before heading into town to buy her the new phone she has saved up for through babysitting. Sitting on the bus chatting away I noticed something gold and shiny shoved into one of her pockets and I reached over and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

Before she knew it, the Young Wan was dispensed back onto a bus home. I was absolutely livid.
And it didn't stop there, oh God no there were more incidents.

Sometimes and I really don't understand the smartness of this move at all, but like a rat backed into a corner, she feels like she might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb and on she continues putting the two fingers up to me.

So we have had a week of the constantly updated grounded calendar, the confiscation of personal items, shouting and a-roarin and some talking. Peace would appear to have been restored and compromises have been made.

I am not stupid enough to think that she will stop trying to smoke, far from it. But what else can I do, I have spoken to local shops which is something I just didn't want to do and well all we can do is wait and see. I will write again about the responsibility of shops and those friggers who think it is okay to go into a shop and buy alcohol and cigarettes for young people, but that is a whole rant in itself.

Garden update

WHEN I moved recently into our new house with a little back yard, I could not wait to get growing in the little back yard. And I've gone a bit mad but I am loving it. I have written about this already and figure this is a good a place as many to chart my progress or lack of here, you can read my first post from March 30th here.

The first thing I did, even before we moved in was plant bulbs in pots but I left them too long before transporting them outside and they began to grow. So I left them out the back in the new place over the winter and up they came again which has been a lovely surprise as I had completely forgotten what I planted. I have had beautiful blue flowers which I cannot remember at all what they are, the tulips are coming up now and I have really enjoyed the beautiful crepe-like flower, again no name there sorry.





Come spring I began sowing seeds in earnest and spending too much money in the local Woodies and so far I have planted tomatoes, carrots, sugar-snap peas, courgettes, kale, various salad leaves, spinach, strawberries and all from seed. I also bought a berry bush, mini crab-apple tree, rhubarb as well as a cucumber plant.

Most things came up pretty quickly between the heat of the house and the cracking little greenhouse everything except the tomatoes which have only in the last week put in an appearance. The following images were taken last weekend and things have even come on so much since then. I will include the before photographs just to give you an idea as well.

Tomatoes, carrots and sugar-snap peas...







Even since this was shot last week, all the tomatoes have come up now and everything is looking great. I have also planted some sweet pea flowers which I hope to guide up a trestle to grow with the sugar peas and the runnerbeans I'll be planting next month. The sweetpeas are doing brilliantly and are in serious need of being planted outside, unfortunately until I get the 'stuff' moved from the other corner, there is little I can do except hope they don't give up the growing ghost.






Meanwhile in the greenhouse...







Salad leaves, spinach and sunflowers.








Berry bush





Not everything has done well though, the pots below were doing great and then I went to the States and the Young Wan, who became a mini Dermot Gavin, I think beat these to death with the water spray. I do have other chives and coriander happily growing away in the greenhouse though.



More again soon, as I said things are coming along even more since I took these pictures last weekend, I'll update again later in the week. I am also documenting this on Flickr.

The Young Wan gave a talk...

THE Young Wan did a talk in her school this week about how good Transition Year is and how much she has enjoyed it. The evening was for held for the third year students and their parents to tell them all about the forthcoming Transition Year and they had three students talk about their experiences, one of whom was herself.

Just listening to her tell me about it, it sounds like she did brilliantly. I am VERY proud of her. If she keeps going on this vein I won't have anything to write about her or in my column ;) I asked her to tell yourself about the evening and over to herself.

Howya? Well tonight i was talking in front of the whole of third year =S <----That described my stomach before i went on,and of course i had to go first just my luck, but it was fun when i got into it :D.

See i wrote a really good speech before hand sitting in my friend's kitchen with her adorable kittens sweep and simba (Who spent half the time clawing his way up my skirt onto my knee).

I was really quite happy with it, and relaxed on the bus back to school. All the parents were going into the hall when i went to look for it...Yep you guessed it i lost it and had to rewrite it again, I wasn't a happy hippo i'll tell you that much. So anyway i finished it in good time with the principal's fancy pen :)

So we listened to them blab on for a good bit and then the fourth year coordinator called me up first, I was a bit shakey at first but i got into it quick enough and i was comfortable after a while, I was telling them about all the courses we did and the courses i enjoyed and what being in 4th year was like. But i didnt know how to end it so it kinda went like *ehhhh......Tadaaaaa?*

That got everyone laughing :)

So yup i'm quite pleased with myself at the minute

Isn't she great ;) Well done Honey. (Ooh and this is post number 700)

As promised a flash of the Blurb books

AS per a previous post when I said I would show you the books I ordered, here's a snippet. And the Blurb books really are wonderful, really beautiful quality and I am delighted. I suspect I will be ordering more before long and the Young Wan has already put in an order for her 18th. In fairness giving her something memorable has been on my mind for a really long time and maybe this is it. If you have been thinking about doing one, gowaannnn gowan gowan. They are beautiful.

I gave the first one to its owner and I hope she is happy with it. The Galway one will have to be delivered in person, I so want to see her face when she sees it. I showed it to another pal and she thinks our pal will cry... Now that is a reaction I want to be one and one of the few times I ever want to make a friend cry.

My lovely flowers

These beautiful flowers have given me weeks of pleasure, I think they are on the wane now, but wow aren't they just beautiful. I'll post again shortly on my little garden's progress shortly as things seem to be going great. I'm delighted with it all.

Spotted in the Tribune

I SPOTTED this in the Sunday Tribune today...



I caught this last night when LUCY KENNEDY not Davina McCall stayed with Samantha Mumba and it was fairly good. A couple of weeks ago I saw her with Senator David Norris and they were filming for this so I'll be sure to try to catch that one. Anyway that the typo of the day so far.