Teenager responds to emo post

I RECEIVED a lovely email from a reader in response to my last post which appeared in The Echo this week. I'll let her do the talking.

Hello!

Hi this may be a wierd e-mail but i just had to say thank you for the
article written in this weeks "the echo" about the emos!
what i'm thanking you for is clearing up what an emo is! i'm a self
confessed emo although without the black hair unfortunity born blonde! my
parents i think a bit worried by the term emo when i first told them about
it but after reading your article i was happy to see people writing about
the posative qualitys in emos as i am usually slagged in school saying i cut
myself and that i want to die this is all false and thank you for showing
the creativity in emos!

that might have been wierd but i really and truly had to say thank you

by the way my name is XXXXXXXXXX i'm a 14 year old emo in third year

Glad to help! And I am even more delighted that I have tangible evidence that someone is actually reading the column.

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RM September 21 - Is your child an Emo?

I borrowed a paragraph from a previous post to use in this column, so you may have read part of it before, apologies!

THE phrase ‘Emo’ is one that has been popping up in our household a lot over the recent months.

You may have heard it yourself if you have teenagers. It would probably be in conversations which sounded something like this ‘ach they are nothing but a weirdo Emo!

It probably shows my age because to me the person who would be called an ‘Emo’ is actually what the majority of us would recognise as ‘Goths’ with a liking for emotionally-charged punk rock music. You know the type, the kind of music that has you banging the wall yelling ‘turn that down’.

Emos is short for emotional and the best person to explain Emos is the Young Wan herself, so over to her.

I am not an Emo before I start explaining. Right an Emo is yes you guessed it another label. An Emo is someone who has black hair short usually and a side fringe that covers his/her eye. They are suicidal and cry all the time. They listen to bands like Bullet for My Valentine (which are the only good Emo band in my opinion). They write poetry and aren’t very good at talking so they express themselves in their own way which is grand but they take it over the top. I have nothing against Emos I have friends who are very Emo but I wouldn’t like to be one. Some idiots would use it as a insult but really it is pretty unimaginative. Emos (as in the real ones not the wannabes) are usually quite artistic. Anyway Emos are good listeners and are nice people in general so if you see one on the street give them a hug. But be warned you may get a punch.

So how do you spot an Emo. Well they will often sport greasy black hair with a long heavy fringe, wear children’s t-shirts, sporting horn-rimmed black glasses and they feel no one understands them.

While being an Emo sounds like the epitome of teenage angst it is not always doom and gloom. If you read anything about them it is normally concerning their propensity to self-harm and other such negative details.

But this is a mass generalisation and has no real basis in truth. I wrote recently about research into Goths which show that Goths are a very accepting and non-violent group as well as being high achievers academically. While Goths and Emos are two separate groupings there is more than a little cross-over in our house.

A British national newspaper recently had an article on Emo and self harming and the Young Wan was all annoyed. The paper claimed Emo is a celebration of self-harm. I have to say that is utter nonsense.

The article went on to say “If this environment is coupled with the psychological traits of self-pity, introspection, self-dramatisation and hormone imbalance, you have a fully-fledged Emo, even without the small T-shirt and black hair.”

Surely that just describes the vast majority of teenagers not a new and foreboding Emo cult.

So to any parents out there who may be worried because their child is displaying some of the characteristics described here, don’t worry. Okay your child is going to look a bit scary for a few years, there may be some door slamming and shouting. And there will definitely be some loud music. All of which is nothing to worry about, is it?

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Phone locking, wasted deals and tidy bedrooms

SOME of you might remember that I decided to finally get the Young Wan a mobile at the end of the summer. Unfortunately she has so far not been very clever with her dealings on it.

For example, I have decided that I would give her €20 a month for credit and no more. So if it is gone by a day tough, she will have to wait four weeks for a top up.

I thought that would teach her to be a bit frugile with her credit. And in fairness it is only one month into this, that will come a few times after wasting her call credit. But I also bought her a Meteor phone because a lot of her pals have them and they offer more than other phone providers.

For example if you sign up for a free text service you can top with €20 and for a month text other Meteor users for free until March 2008. So today she went off with her money and before she had left the shop she had texted someone.

Unfortunately we hadn't yet signed her up for this freebie so she has just wasted money really. Arrgggghh.

We hadn't yet registered her for this yet because she had locked her phone and didn't know where she put the puk code. Anyway she is registered now so she'll have to wait until next month.

She is currently tidying up her room so she can get to the launderette to do the weekly wash, do you reckon she is hankering after more money?

I should have also reported on the bedroom. It was finally done and cleaned (bleached no less) from one side to the other. When you open the flat door and come in you are struck by the sheer amount of light coming from her room because all the piles have been lifted and the floor shines. And in fairness while it has already gotten messy since, she has also been tidying up after herself every couple of days.

What brought about this dramatic change. I'd say the fact that it gleamed for the first time in a year had something to do with it. Not to mention the fact that she can find things has also helped and it is a much more pleasant place to be. Course the lure of maybe being slipped a few quid has also helped. But I am not under the seriously misguided notion that it will stay like this, I am for now happy for it to be clean.

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Busy busy mum

IT HAS been a busy two weeks for me so it has been sparce on the posting front (sorry Boliath who has given out to me) and I can't see things getting any calmer so I have to be a more deligent blogger and slot in more time. Unfortunately I think my four-year-old laptop is about to kick the bucket.

I had planned to maybe get a new laptop after Christmas but it is looking more and more likely that I should upgrade before then. The modem has been acting crazy and is very frustrating being in the middle of something when the modem disconnects itself.

On top of all that I have spent two days out of the office at a conference, two days at a photoshop course, one day at the ploughing championships and the rest of the time catching up on the normal day to day work things. I have about 700 pics to process most of which will go on Flickr and I was going to go into work today to do that and then I saw the rain and I aint for moving. I'll probably go in tomorrow and use work's faster internet connection to upload everything which I will release onto Irishblogs bit by bit over a couple of nights by marking from private to public, depending on the laptop modem of course.

I also need to do some picture cleaning on the laptop. Since I switched over from my Fuji Finepix to a Nikon D50 the amount of space on the laptop has seriously dwindled. I have been meaning to buy a hard drive to transfer all my pix over so I will probably do that this week. I am hoping that will make some difference to the speed of my laptop if nothing else.

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RM September 14 - Collateral Damage

Just catching up on a couple of Red Mum columns and promise to resume normal posting asap. I should also mention though I think I have already that I have completely messed up on the posting dates and cannot work out how. So the dates on the posts are actually the dates submitted and not the date they were printed, ah who cares anyway. Here you go...

Collateral damage

I made the mistake this morning of going into the Young Wan’s bedroom, I say mistake because I have only been looking into it from a safe distance outside the door. And I was floored, it is an absolute vile cess-pit of mess.

Bear in mind she was supposed to have it spotless so her pal could stay over. I thought I had a good bargaining tool because the proposed sleep-over was happening on a school-night which is a no-no normally.

How and ever she appeared to get stuck in and at times was surrounded by piles of stuff. Little did I know it was all nothing more than a cosmetic exercise with lots of shoving things into every crevice possible just so she wouldn’t have to put it away properly.

Have teenagers no shame?

A pal said to me when I was telling about the sleep-over that teenagers wouldn’t notice mess anyway. I don’t know about that, I hope it is true.

Currently you cannot see the floor, there is make-up everywhere, clothes everything and things that I do not know what they are everywhere. This is a room that was supposed to be finished yesterday afternoon and it looks worse than it did before.

Her pal was celebrating her fantastic results in the Junior Cert (well done) by staying with us rather than traipsing around town with the half-dressed 14 and 15 year olds. And they had a lovely night watching DVDs and eating sweets, quite the opposite scenario to what was played out all over Dublin where drunken and vomiting teens seems to have been the norm. I can only hope this time next year when herself is in the same position, ie getting Junior Cert results, that we can agree on similar celebrations.

The deal was the Young Wan’s pal could stay over only if her room was done once and for all. This latest battle of the bedroom began about two and half weeks ago. I am starting to see it as the 17-day war. And I am losing.

The pal stayed over and I only saw the extent of the collateral damage this morning as I forced to delve into the room to find the house keys, my set. The set which the Young Wan told me she had left for me before heading off to school.

When I left for work I realised the keys were no where to be seen, hence the involuntary decision to go into her room.

Of course I didn’t find them. How could you find anything in there, it is impossible.

I did discover what I presume to be a rubbish bag because it had rubbish in it; it also contained a PE shirt for school, a halter-neck belonging to me and other bits and bobs.

Throwing good stuff away or indeed throwing my stuff away is not an isolated incident. Unfortunately this has happened before so I am more than annoyed this has happened again particularly seeing as how I specifically said ‘do not do your magic tidying where you throw good stuff out please’.

I don’t think I have any bargaining tools left, other then confiscating her ipod until the work is actually carried out. I have already barred her from her mobile for two weeks and we are only one week into that ban.

Hhmm that is an idea! Maybe if I promise to give back the mobile early on condition of the room being cleaned thoroughly and then inspected by me, do you think that will work?

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RM September 7 - Teenage courting

The Young Wan went a-courtin

Would you believe the Young Wan has two boyfriends on the go at the moment? Here I am single and she is courting two keen young men, go figure!

There is the wee fella she met before finishing school for the summer and the other is a holiday romance she had under the watchful eye of her Nanny while in Turkey.

Part of me thinks ‘Jaysus you are only 14 this is all a bit mad’ the other part thinks in true Oprah-style ‘You go girl!

The holiday romance involved a Turkish boy who tried to give her his number when he met her and sensible Young Wan promptly handed it over to her Nanny.

Then Nanny was approached by the lad’s uncle who asked if they could go on a date. Nanny agreed but only under her watchful eye.
And fair play to the lad who sat on a date with the Young Wan and her Nanny not far away.

Since she has come home from holiday he has been texting her like mad telling her he loves and misses her, I suspect she will get fed up with it quite shortly.

The other lad she knows from school. He knows nothing about the Turkish boy who in turn knows nothing about Dublin boy.

And she loves the attention and why shouldn’t she?

It is frightening just how old and grown up she looks at only 14 years old. I know I didn’t look older than my years, I looked younger.

It is something that I find funny when people think we are sisters. The typical thing we get is in cabs when the driver will say something like ‘are you out for the night girls?’

The Young Wan also loves this. I think she thinks this is a step closer to getting out for the night.

I suppose in one way it is.

During a trip to Tesco over the weekend she was chatted up by men she said were about my age and seeing how anyone over 20 is old I will take that with a pinch of salt. Anyhow one fella was messing telling his mate he wouldn’t go for another drink. As the Young Wan passed by his friend asked her if he should go for one. And she said yeah. Only he said he wouldn’t without her.

And she laughed and said ‘that would be lovely only I am 14 but you should see my mum. She is about your age and looks like me only older and taller. Apparently they wanted her to send me down!

Maybe that should be my tact, to have my daughter find me a date. But I am not sure I would trust her judgement, although it could not be worse than mine…

One of the best things about all this is the confidence it is giving her. Teenage girls and I suppose boys too have a hard time during these turbulent years so any injection of confidence in themselves has to be welcomed.

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RM August 31 - Cost of back to school

Well the holidays are nearly over and all over the country parents are heaving a sigh of relief, or are they? Small mortgages are being taken out to cover the cost of school books and uniforms, not to mention schools fees or voluntary contributions.

So parents aren’t sighing at all.

When the Young Wan made the transition from primary to secondary school I was floored by how much it all cost.

Her uniform cost an arm and a leg. The coat alone cost €60 and it all had to be a particular coat from a specialised shop.

Then there were the books. We had a list to get as long as your arm. And it felt rather like owning a car, not that I have but I imagine.
You know if your car breaks down, it doesn’t cost €20 to get fixed, no, not at all. You are more likely to be forking out either your week’s wages or a large percentage of your month’s wages.
The books were costly. There were few costing around the €10 mark, but there were many costing €40+. I spent hundreds. What is worse is that you should see the state of them now two years on, I could cry. They are dog eared, battered, graffitted on and are generally a disgrace.

I turned down the school’s recommended art kit, I would compile that myself. And I refused to buy the calculator and other stuff like that.
But I still spent a fortune. The whole thing cost more than a grand. I am still paying it off on my credit card. And now I have to get more books, more bits and pieces for her uniform. Whoever said education is free here is a bloody idiot.

While those who are on social welfare get some help towards uniform costs, it is inadequate to say the least. What do they do if they have a couple of kids in secondary school? The mind boggles.

The Young Wan is now going into third year, or Junior Cert year, and I am absolutely dreading it. I am dreading a year of constant nagging to do homework. I am dreading a year of nagging over studying or her organisation (or not) of notes. I am dreading it.

But I have taken some action. I am organising grinds because she lacks confidence in maths and hates science, so any help along these lines will be gratefully received by both of us.

We are also planning more fun activities because from Sunday to Thursday she is mine, she will do homework and study, nothing hectic but she will do a little from September if it kills me. The weekends are hers to do with what she likes. We have enrolled her in a drama class – she will absolutely love it. We are looking at guitar lessons. Basically I am looking for things to occupy her, for her to have fun and meet new and lovely teenagers who are on her wavelength.

For now though she is still on holiday and loving every moment. She has been on wee dates all under the watchful eye of her Nanny. How uncool is that, to have a date and have your Nanny in the background. And fair play to her she didn’t think of grumbling at all, she just enjoyed her date with the little fella who kept telling her how beautiful she is.

So now after all that she has to come home to dirty Dublin, start a tough school year and I am sure she is dreading coming home. But I cannot wait to see her, the flat has been far too quiet without her. So roll on the year, let’s get cracking.

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RM August 24 - Turkish Delights

SINCE my honey, the Young Wan, has been away in Turkey with her Nanny we have been keeping in touch by the phone and through instant messaging on the internet. Great fun altogether.

She is having an absolute ball and is as good as gold helping out her Nanny in the café she runs. But she is not at all looking forward to returning home to Dublin.

Course it is an exam year for her with the Junior Cert and neither of us are looking forward to it. Seeing all the celebrations and commiserations of those doing the Leaving Cert who have just got their results gives the shivers at the thought of the year ahead.

I am determined to get her into a study routine from day one, just a little each night. ‘Sundays to Thursdays you are mine, but if you study the weekends are yours to do what you want with’ I have told her. I hope she gets it.

We recently got her report and it wasn’t great at all. Most say her grades do not reflect her ability. I didn’t need to read it on her report to know that, after all some of you may remember in a previous column where I spoke of her (non) attempts to study. One of which involved lying on the floor sleeping with a book covering her face.

The way I figure it is that a little each night will lessen the amount of work she will need to do in the run-up to the Junior Cert. (Even typing that is making my stomach go.)

I intend to get her grinds in maths more for the confidence factor, she thinks she is no good at maths but if you do not work at it do not be under the illusion that it should come to you automatically, it will not.

I reckon that an hour of one to one attention with a grinds teacher should be worth a 14 year old’s feeble attempts of studying for the week. I also think that money permitting I might try to get science grinds to but maybe just every fortnight or so.

But for now she is enjoying the Turkish sun and her much-needed holiday, Nanny is not enjoying beating the fellas off her.

Nanny spotted a young Turkish boy chatting her up and giving her his phone number. Fair play to the Young Wan because she came straight into her Nanny and gave her the number.

Then the boy’s uncle asked Nanny would there be a chance that the boy would be able to take the Young Wan out on a date.

Nanny went okay but only if take place in the café and nowhere else.

So he came along and told her how beautiful she is and how he loves her, the lad seems to have fallen hard and what he doesn’t realise is that my darling agreed to the date because she fancies his mate.

Ah the fickleness of teenagers, don’t you just love it.

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RM August 18 - Teens and the internet

Recent research has shown how internet usage and internet dangers has grown dramatically for our teenagers/kids over the last couple of years.

Consider the fact that 96 per cent of children use the internet as polled by the National Centre for Technology in Education site www.webwise.ie. Then consider that one in 10 use some kind of instant messaging programme such as MSN, Google Chat or Skype. (If you do not know what these are, go look on the internet and find out.)

One in fifteen of those surveyed say they have met someone in real life whom they met on the internet. In 2003 that figure was one in 23. That is some jump and in a very short period of time.

Of those one in 15 – 11 per cent of the nine to 16 year olds surveyed – said they met someone they first encountered online who tried to physically hurt them. ALL those incidents of physical and verbal abuse were carried out by an adult who pretended to be a child.

This information alone surely should be a wake-up call for parents.

Anyone who thinks their kid is equipped to deal with people like this, who think their kids are going to recognise this, is seriously deluded.

The statistics show that a serious amount of our kids are, by their internet usage, putting themselves unwittingly in danger.

I recently read arguments from people who used the analogy of riding a bike to explain their point how parents should not be worried about their kid’s internet usage.

Their point was that children can get hurt on a bike so is this a reason to forbid kids from riding bikes?

As cute as this comparison is – for me it is just that, cute. For a start you wouldn’t send your child out on a busy main road to play on their bike in the same way that nowadays we make our kids wear helmets so they do not crack their skulls on pavements or whatever.

It is no different with the internet.

There is no doubt the internet has transformed so much, from how we communicate with each other to the endless learning opportunities for young and old alike. And I think it is great.

But like everything it has its dangers.

What I found shocking is that 50 per cent of parents had not talked to their children about the children’s activities on the internet.

I can understand that.

I am in my mid-30s, computers and the internet have been part and parcel of my whole working life. I have always loved it and as a result have probably pursued more knowledge on it than has been necessary for my jobs.

The technologies of the internet have always fascinated me and for many other parents I know this isn’t the case. I had my daughter young; many other parents in my daughter’s year at school are at least 10 or more years older.

For many of those parents the internet is a weird world they have no idea about.

They maybe can send an email but beyond that amounts to massive amounts of confusion and just not being able to get to grips with it all. They just do not know and in some cases have no inclination to explore the internet because it feels a world beyond them; it is the classic generation gap.

I have had all these internet danger worries with my own daughter concerning Bebo as some of you may remember from previous columns and I think I have bored her to death with it all but I do believe she has listened to me.

Ach who am I fooling she is only 14. She is not able to deal with the wiliness of someone who is intent in dubious dealings on the internet.

She is starting out on the internet and along with her email she is mad about u-tube, any internet time she has spent has been looking at music videos though this has all been done with me in the room.

I do hope though I have given her important information along the way.

Parents need to arm themselves with information. If you know nothing about the internet, with September coming now is time to look at those local community education classes.

What are you waiting for? Find a course on computers and the internet, consider that a challenge from me.

Go on the journey, learn more and arm yourself with information. You will be pleasantly surprised and it will bring you closer to your kids (whether they like it or not). And let me know via email how you have gotten on.

In the meantime if you are worried about any of the issues I have raised; make a start by going to http://www.webwise.ie and check out the advice and information there.

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Another post on strange searches

IN THE last week the top keyword search here has been regulation knickers with some 14 searches. No accounting for taste really! Of course the visitors have been drawn by something I wrote a year ago.

The Young Wan's favourite phrase 'my eyes have been replaced with muffins' has also figured as has someone searching for 'junior cert partys on the 15th Sep 2006 in Dublin'. I hope the searcher does well in the exam results tomorrow and has a good and safe night celebrating!

Other funny phrases include 'lazy eye emo fringe'. I remember being a teenager myself and visiting Tawdrey (a regular visitor here) in hospital and being acousted by an old dear who kept telling me how lovely my hair was, how like Veronica Lake it was, but that I would give myself a lazy eye so I should clip it back. I think my response was probably something like 'yeah yeah'.

One other bemusing search is 'footballers shorts and knickers in soccer history'. Wow sounds fascinating to me. Do tell us more...

To the person searching the phrase 'mum are weird'. Yes we are but we know grammar, mostly anyway. And to the person looking for 'names to use as your Bebo name' choose something not akin to you and safe.

And all that is only from the last week, there was also 'the sesame street beetles', 'red dog hugh red muppet', 'I'm going to the zoo', 'maybe I am red', 'how to annoy mums' (don't tidy your room)

I should do a post sometime soon on the strangest searches since I have been tracking them.

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He he, look, that says EMO

THE LAST weekend before school started the Red Mum household headed off for a last summer holiday weekend in Spideal and as always we had a ball.


Ehm theres some cows in the garden - check out the young farmer in red shooing the cows with a tennis racket. He is only two.

At one stage the Young Wan spied a couple of petrol stations that made her laugh heartily. I didn't manage to get the camera out in time to capture a pic of my own so I have borrowed these from Meg on Flickr.





And if you are wondering what I am talking about check out this previous post from the Young Wan on what an emo is.

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Early morning pix

I WAS up too early the other morning, I’m not a morning person really. Thankfully the camera didn’t seem to mind.

I have to say the early morning full-moon of the night before looked so big and splendid but did not translate well in the pix I took. Another time maybe, with a tripod and long lens!









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Two halves of a memory

I WAS thinking recently about how funny or poignant it can be when two people can have different memories of the same incident. It happens all the time. But I recently remembered something I hadn’t thought of in years until my father was sick and he told me how he remembered when I got my first dog.

I was about seven to eight years old and I had been promised a dog for a while. I do remember going on and on about it, I saved bones from the Sunday dinners for it when in actual fact what felt like a lifetime for me was probably only the gestation period of a dog.

Then we went to pick up the dog, my Daddy and me. I remember picking a little black and white puppy and holding her the whole time and my Dad trying to cajole me into picking another one. But I had picked her and that was that.

That’s what I remember then one day during the summer my Dad was ill he told me his memory of that day.

I had apparently decided to use a method to choose my new pup. I put my finger out and wiggled it on the ground. One little black and white pup climbed over all her brothers and sisters and made her way to my finger which she licked.

That was my mind made up; she picked me so I picked her.

My Dad passed away at the end of that summer so remembering conversations like this is particularly special.

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Overheard in Dublin

I WAS out with my pal walking her teething and sometime-cranky ten-week-old baby in an attempt to get the poor baby to sleep.

We passed an apartment complex where we heard one of the occupiers before we saw her.

“No I ordered an Indian, an I N D I A N! she said in a loud D4 accent.

When we turned the corner we saw this woman arguing with a fast-food delivery fella who happened to be Chinese.

“We ordered an INDIAN not a Chinese!

This went on for too long, the poor fella was just trying to deliver her Indian takeaway.

We moved on before we could hear the ending, no doubt she was just hilarious.

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On the Young Wan and the doggie

I STARTED this post with the Young Wan writing random things about our doggie and then realised before I do that I should actually do it about the Young Wan and finish with the doggie. Although Honey the dog is part of the family, she is not top of the pecking order so it is over to the Young Wan;

On the Young Wan:

• She is an absolute stunner, I know all parents think this, but it is true.
• She listens to music that make my ears want to bleed.
• She has lost countless numbers of my CDs as well as scratching and ruining them.
• Her approach and easy nature with all sorts of people is something to see indeed. She is amazing.
• She makes me lovely cups of tea at the weekend.
• She is very funny.
• There is perfectly round oil stain on our high ceiling from when she threw a dollop of butter up there. I didn't find that funny at all.
  
• She also talks a lot of teen rambling nonsense.
• Sometimes her make up is too heavy and then other times I think WOW I can’t let her out of this flat.
• Her room is currently the biggest kip in the world, seriously it really is.
• When she was three she emptied our bean-bag and pushed the polystyrene balls around every corner and nook and cranny of the living room, I kept finding them for months.
• She could say I love you from she was under a year old.
• She has always been an affectionate and loving child.
• She is silently stubborn.
• She thinks I am a pain in the arse.
• She is a great reader except for the fact she often reads Harry Potter over and over and over again.
• At the age of 7 to 8 she had a reading capacity which matched 12 year olds according to school tests.
• She is very quick minded and smart.
• She is a wanna-be goth.
• She hates me saying that, which makes me say it all the more.
• She is a lot of fun.
• She is a great travelling companion.
• She has travelled much more than I have.
• She has two boyfriends on the go at the moment.
• She speaks Irish, I don’t.
• She loves YouTube.
• She is growing up too fast.
  

On the Doggie

• When we are having dinner she does this mad roll around the floor bending about the place move while making all sorts of doggie noises, she stops and then looks at you as if to say ‘aren’t I really cute?
• When she wants to get up on a Saturday morning as you are trying to have a lie-in, she will sit right up at/on your head touching your nose with her nose.
• Sometimes she has a complete small dog syndrome and barks like crazy at big dogs walking past.
• She has regular wars with our cushions and pillows, I think she wins.
• She knows a couple of tricks including roll-over, walking on two legs, burling, give me five and we are working on more.
• When she thinks she is going to get a lovely treat and you say ‘sit’ she gets all excited and does all her tricks at once in record speed, it is so funny.
• She will sit and let kids pat her too hard, pull her tail, slobber over her because she loves being loved by wee people.
• She loses all rhyme and reason around footballs. When she sees people playing with one she will howl, pull away hard, go mental to play too.
• She has burst every ball belonging to my pal’s kids and I should say a couple of pal’s kids. Once again sorry!

• She can’t swim but she kinda likes the sea.
• When I am not home she apparently runs to the window with every bus that passes.
• She recognises suitcases being packed and does not like it.
• She isn’t too fond of her travel backpack but associates it with going to a beach sometimes.
• She loves the beach.
• She can get travel sick.
• We get the best welcome home in the world ever, every night.
• She loves apples and will play with it like a football, take a bite and play some more.
• She would play all night and all day if you let her.
• She loves chasing pigeons.
• When she is allowed to sleep with me she will force me somehow away from my side of the bed while I am sleeping.
• Sometimes I wake up in the morning and she is lying with her head on the pillow beside me.
• Her hair/fur is everywhere, everywhere.
  

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The last 25 songs played on my ipod

I have to update my music. This is the last 25 songs played on my ipod and they are mostly oldies but goldies.

1. The Cure – Friday I’m in love
2. The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon
3. The Jam – That’s Entertainment
4. Erik Satie – Gymnopedies
5. Beautiful South – Old Red Eyes is back
6. Talking Heads – This must be the place
7. Ash – There’s a star
8. Pulp – Something Changed
9. Neil Young – Only love can break your heart
10. Ash – Candy
11. Lloyd Cole – Forest Fire
12. U2 – Beautiful Day
13. Stone Roses – [Song for my] Sugar Spun Sister
14. Fun Loving Criminals – Scooby Snacks [Schmoove version]
15. The Church – Under the Milky Way
16. The Las – There she goes
17. Lloyd Cole – Rattlesnakes
18. One Dove – Breakdown
19. 10CC – Dreadlock Holiday
20. The Beatles – One after 909
21. The Beatles – A Day in the Life
22. Beautiful South – Gold as Gold
23. Violent Femmes – Blister in the sun
24. Dolly Parton – Here you come again
25. Daft Punk - Voyager

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Everyone everywhere knows what size their feet are, it is official

CAN someone tell when shoe shops stopped measuring feet? Seriously does everyone, whatever age, know their shoe size?

Apparently so according to Clarkes on O'Connell Street where I went in last week to buy the Young Wan some school shoes.

In we went to Clarkes, after all they have a reputation of good shoes and we browsed and saw two or three pairs of acceptable school shoes that we could both agree on.

Course we also had help from Boliath and her young son. But back to the story when I asked the woman working there if she could measure my daughter's feet and she said sorry we don't do that.

And I went what!

She said no we don't do that, you'll find most shoe shops don't do it anymore.

And I went again (only a little louder much to Boliath's despair) What!

It was at this stage things became a little bizarre for me. The woman said do you not know the size of your daughter's feet?

Things were starting to really annoy me now and Boliath was already thinking defuse this situation quick.

I said I am going to invest in a pair of school shoes and I want to know that they fit properly. I was also thinking but didn't get to articulate I was so mad that of course I know a ball-park figure of what size her feet are BUT I would like to know for sure.

The shop woman (who was about 20) looked at my daughter and said you are about 14? I'd say you are about a 6 or 7 and sure you have stopped growing at this stage.

Ehm no darling she has not stopped growing, I know her feet are about 6 or 7, I would like to know for sure.

It was at this stage poor Boliath brought into action all her best peacekeeping abilities. She started picking up shoes saying arent these lovely? These are nice, try them on?

While doing this she tried to make soothing noises to me, while I glared and wanted to go elsewhere and spend my money.

I mean come on, they didn't even have one of those standey-on thingies which measure your feet. How much room do they take up? Can a store not even hold onto one?

So against my better judgement, despite Boliath's best efforts to make me feel otherwise, I bought them. It was more about getting out of town quickly, we had all had enough.

When we got outside Boliath told me she tries to be calmer about these kind of things and she wouldn't let it annoy her and sure didn't that approach get me my shoes?

Don't get me wrong I wasn't shouting and roaring, I believe I was asking legitimate questions in a shoe shop which doesn't measure feet (I am even laughing at the absurdity of that statement but how and ever).

I just feel that I have given out good money to a shop that doesn't tick the boxes in customer support and also talked to me in a pretty appalling manner.

I was up in Belfast earlier in the summer and had my pal's three-year-old's feet measured during the summer in another store, no problem at all. It seems that when they are older and only able to get shoes in adult stores that they are not worthy of feet-measuring anymore.

You live and learn.

But thanks anyway to Boliath whose visit home brought me no end of pleasure! Can't wait until the next one.

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