I have a friend who, very reprehensibly, forwards these kinds of email. Clearly, I always delete them while making a tutting sound. One arrived today and I deleted it and forgot about it until I got home this evening. I found three letters from the revenue commissioners announcing that they had reassessed my tax returns for 2004, 2005 and 2006 and telling me cheerily (in light of the state of the exchequer) that they calculated that for those years I had an additional liability of €6,000. 6 months of this kind of luck could beggar us.
Ireland
The Epitome of Cool
Myself and Mr. Waffle went to see the Saw Doctors on Saturday night. As we were going into the Olympia, two young men about town were passing. We were happened to overhear a snatch of their dialogue. “What’s on?” “The Saw Doctors.” “Ah, that old shite.”
The Saw Doctors have been around for about 20 years. They have a particularly Irish flavour to their music and very funny lyrics. Mr. Waffle maintains that the further you are from rural Ireland the more you will like the Saw Doctors. He is a bigger fan than I am but his friend from Fermoy (not a fan) is married to a Londoner who is wildly enthusiastic.
They attract a bizarre demographic. Sitting in front of me was a bald man of about 70 wearing a suit and tie and a fáinne. Beside me was an older gentleman wearing a baby blue v-necked golf jumper. He was accompanied by a young man of 17 or 18. They both knew all the words of all the songs. The concert also boasted a couple of children and loads of 20 somethings.
The Saw Doctors themselves are not as young as they once were. When they sang about leaving “the Christian Brothers’ school“, I couldn’t help thinking that it’s been a very long time since they left the Christian Brothers’ care. That song, about emigration, is topical again for the first time in 20 years so maybe the Saw Doctors are due a serious revival. Again, when they sang “Red Cortina” (remember the Cortina?) and mentioned “Christmas party 77”, it was clear that a large part of the audience wasn’t even born in 77 let alone meeting a first love (though a significant minority would have been 20 years married in 77). I’ve been humming it all week. What’s great about the Saw Doctors is that they sing about a very specific Irish context. Their songs really couldn’t have been written anywhere else – I mean, take for example the one about baling hay.
Apparently they’ll be back in Dublin in February, there’s something to look forward to.
Weekend round-up (late for every event so only appropriate that this is late too)
Friday night
7.00 – Arrive home from work
7.30 – Leave for 50th birthday
2.00 – Stumble into bed
Saturday
9.30 – GAA. Herself refused to play and the boys drew the line at hurling. Michael got lost. Not a success.
12.00 – Lunch
2.00 – Horseriding for children in the Dublin mountains. Their kind aunt got them vouchers. They absolutely loved it. I spoke to a mother on the sidelines. “Three children riding, it’s going to be bread and water for you from now on.” Hmm. They may have to contain their enthusiasm.
4.00 – Work thing for me.
Sunday
13.30 – Lunch at a friend’s house
16.30 – V. pleasant walk in the war memorial gardens at Islandbridge
18.00 – Arrival of Hodge.
It’s getting closer
First it was in the school; now it’s in her class:
Oi done da
That is how my son Daniel now says, “I did that”. He has a very good ear for languages and for music as well. While the others still sound broadly the same, Daniel has now completely adopted the demotic lingua franca of the playground. I had no idea that bringing up my children in Dublin was going to mean kissing goodbye to grammar.
Lisbon II
The Irish people will be voting again on the Lisbon Treaty tomorrow.
I asked the Princess what she knew about it. It has been omnipresent, so I assumed that she must have some views. And she had. She had seen this poster and this one. I was fascinated that the yes campaign’s posters didn’t seem to have registered with her at all (and they were plentiful). There has been some fun had with posters on both sides, if you are so minded you might like to see the mocking posters which have been dreamt up such as these, these and this.
It’s been an interesting campaign. My personal highlight was watching Michael O’Leary and Declan Ganly debating on the television. This was fascinating as it was the reverse of what usually happens. Usually, the no side says something. And keeps saying it. And keeps saying. The yes side leaps to the Treaty and seeks to refute the no side comment by reading out chapter and verse. The net effect of this is that one retains the no side’s argument and the yes side’s counter argument is ineffectual, however, right it might be. Michael O’Leary did not know the Treaty in any detail. He kept repeating three things: 1. I live in Ireland, pay my taxes here and have created 1,000 jobs here; 2. Lisbon allows us to retain our Commissioner and 3. the ECB is bailing us out of the current banking mess. Ganley kept quoting the Nice Treaty on Commissioners and so on but it really didn’t matter as Michael just kept on making his three effective points. It was interesting to see the no side’s tactics being used against them and, much as Michael O’Leary irritates me, I have to take my hat off to him
So, just in case there was any doubt, I’ll be voting yes tomorrow (did I or did I not discover only this week that social insurance paid in another member state goes towards dental benefits here?) and keeping my fingers crossed.
