My father is 89 today. I feel about 89. So we have that in common. He is unimpressed by having reached this vast age. “If you live long enough, it will happen.” I’m a bit impressed all the same. Happy birthday, Daddy.
Family
More Birthday – Normal Service Resumes Tomorrow
Mr. Waffle and I went for a birthday walk in the mountains today. It was an absolutely beautiful day as you can see from this photo taken in town at 9 this morning.
Unfortunately, my pictures from the mountains do not do the day justice. But never mind, I will make you suffer anyhow.
Before:
During:
[Sore knee from skiing – Andorra ’96 – coming back to haunt me somewhat during the ascent along with pulled calf from tennis match on Friday night. This is what happens to the elderly.]
And the view from the café afterwards:
.
My 5 year old niece has just called me because she remembered it was my birthday – that’s the kind of dedication we like to see in young children. My father and aunt sent cards. I got lovely presents from family members. Lots of people emailed. This is the first birthday, though, when I haven’t spoken to my mother because she is just not well enough to talk to me. She is, however, the person who taught me to continue enjoying birthdays as a grown-up so I am sure that she would be delighted that I am still celebrating with enthusiasm.
Here is my cake.
Here I am, nearly 45, and still alive
That line comes from something. Can I find it in the richness of the internet? I can not. I thought it was from “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” but it’s not. I offer you:
I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
So, tomorrow, I will be 45.
This is what it is like to be 45.
1. I can feel a draft. I am constantly saying, “Close the door!”
2. I really wanted an airtight biscuit tin for Christmas. Nothing says Christmas like an airtight biscuit tin.
3. I bought a new winter coat from Windsmoor.
4. I rely on my children to make me aware of the latest internet viral video. In fact, are there videos any more?
5. I love to stay in with a book or the internet. In Chesterton’s short story “The Strange Crime of John Boulnois”, John Boulnois says “.. sitting in that chair with that story I was as happy as a schoolboy on a half-holiday. It was security, eternity–I can’t convey it… the cigars were within reach…the matches were within reach… the Thumb had four more appearances to…it was not only a peace, but a plenitude.” I am not a cigar smoker but I know what he means. Incidentally, to my knowledge we have three copies of the Fr Brown short stories in the house. Could I find one? No but the internet provided.
6. I love being on my own.
7. I love BBC radio 4, I really do. Not as much as my father who has, for as long as I can remember, had it on all night – very loudly – on his bedside table, but a lot. Even stupid old “Money Box Live” and “You and Yours”.
8. I find music in pubs VERY loud.
9. When I see teenagers, I frequently find myself thinking variants of what is that child wearing/she’s a lovely looking child, if only she would wear some nice clothes/is that the fashion, I wonder.
10. My parents are old and, alas, ill. I love my siblings and enjoy spending time with them. Even my extremely annoying brother.
11. I find a basket on my bicycle really handy. What is the point of dropped handlebars? Cycling makes me feel slightly smug.
12. I am not always sure what day of the week it is offhand. Or what age I am. I can usually make a good guess.
13. My children have reached the age where they can largely entertain themselves but they still love me.
14. I like to go hill walking with my husband.
15. I feel stretched in all directions; work is busy; home is busy; my parents are old and live 250kms away. In the evenings, there is always a pile of domestic administration awaiting my attention.
16. I like home improvement shows on the television. You wondered where the audience was for those programmes; your hunt is over.
17. I generally only see my friends at my bookclubs and at lunch.
18. I book my holidays 6 months in advance.
19. I like classical music in the background as I eat my breakfast and read the paper.
20. I like to do things in the garden.
You may wish me happy birthday.
Biblical Catastrophes
As I write there is a code red storm sweeping the country. It’s been a little unimpressive here in Dublin but talking to my sister in Cork, she said that she had never seen anything like it. Her office, north of the city had no electricity, no water (fun) and bits of the building blew away. On the 30 km drive back to the city, she passed 15 (15!) trees which had fallen on to the main road and were being chopped up to let traffic past by heroic council workers. She’s now safely at home.
And then Cork was battered by floods recently as well. To be fair Cork is always flooding. Corcaigh, the Irish for Cork, means “a marshy place”. Hey, building on the flood plain didn’t start today or yesterday. But still, I was on the phone to a colleague in Cork and he said, “I’ve got to leave now because the flood waters are rising” which was quite dramatic, I think you will agree.
Also, we have lice – only one of us so far but where will it all end?
Do you mind if I say something to you?
These words rarely bring good news. I am tired of acquaintances and, indeed, strangers, telling me to wear a helmet on my bike. It is hard to rehearse the pros and cons of this argument with a passer-by. If people would stop telling me that my handbag will be stolen because I have it in my basket, that would also be welcome. During a lifetime of cycling, including in rough parts of the city, no one has ever tried to pinch my bag and nor have I heard of anyone ever having a bag stolen in these circumstances. Do me the credit of thinking that I have considered the risks and it’s a chance I am prepared to take. Or as I say to my nearest and dearest, “Have you idiot-proofed that suggestion?”
The other day, as I was shepherding the children out of our local cafe, a woman approached me, “Do you mind, if I say something to you?” I tensed up. “You have a lovely way with your children.” This is quite the nicest thing a stranger has ever said to me. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose.
Do share the most annoying thing that people say to you.
Stuff
My siblings pressed upon me a random collection of children’s books which they gathered up at our parents’ house in Cork. They included the very popular Krazy annual.
This is a source of fascination to our childminder as it dates from the year before she was born.
There was also an illustrated “Bible for Children” which my mother used to read every night. My brother repeatedly begged to hear about the plagues, so there was quite a focus on locusts and rivers of blood in our bedtime stories which is, I feel, unusual. It was funny to look through the old and very familiar 70s pictures. Herself picked up the book and read it through. At the end, she announced that the Bible should be over 18s. She doesn’t approve of the story of Bathsheba. Indeed, who would?
