Michael (sarcastically): Oh yes, no one in this family is known for ped-ant-ry.
Herself and myself in unison (immediately and unthinkingly): Pedant-ry
Princess
One to Watch
They had a tea for the former principal in the school today. Herself made a cake for it, organised the collection and made a speech. Daniel sang a song (very good his sister tells me and she is not one to praise him unnecessarily). Michael sat in the hall waiting for it to end.
“Did anyone else make a speech?” I asked. “Well, I gave the main speech for the students but we gave everyone on the student council something to say except one guy from second year who always misses the student council. He missed when we were giving out the speaking parts and he turned up on the day insisting on speaking but we said no,” she explained.
When all of the speeches had ended the little forbidden second year bounded on to the stage and said, “I have no notes but what I say comes from the heart…” As herself said bitterly to me, “He made the event and he made the rest of us look bad with our notes.” He is officially her nemesis.
Nà Bheidh a Leithéidà ArÃs Ann
The principal of our children’s primary school retired at the beginning of September. There was a big party for him and parents of past pupils were invited to attend so we went along. It was a lovely evening and I was impressed by how all the teachers remembered us and asked after the children. We said to the principal how happy the children had been in primary school and what a great operation he ran and he said, “Oh yes, even herself though she was in one of the most difficult classes we ever had in the school.” This was news to us but she got on fine anyhow, I suppose.
The former principal is from the Kerry Gaeltacht (his mother was a great friend of Peig Sayer’s – of course she was) and he went to secondary in St Brendan’s in Killarney. The principal of the children’s secondary school was at the retirement gig also having retired himself this summer. He went to St. Brendan’s as well, in fact the primary principal was a prefect when he started there. All of the clever boys in the Gaeltacht got scholarships to go to secondary school in St. Brendan’s (this was before free second level education was introduced in 1967). A former colleague of mine went there also and he described to me how, the boys from the Gaeltacht never spoke Irish to each other in school (even though the school taught Irish and was very supportive of Irish) but only started speaking Irish to each other again on the bus home at the end of term. There is something very poignant about this.
The new principals of the primary and the secondary school are both fluent Irish speakers but both of them learnt their Irish in school. There are fewer and fewer native speakers and it’s not quite the same, is it?
Parent-Teacher Meeting
We had our parent-teacher meeting for herself this evening. Her English teacher was wildly, extravagantly enthusiastic in an evening of general enthusiasm. Even her year head who, in previous years, has perhaps been a bit more sceptical pointing to both her limited appetite for PE and her tendency to be late for school as things which might be considerably improved, was entirely positive. Herself tells me he no longer has her for PE; he’s obviously given up on the timekeeping. This general enthusiasm is all the more notable as her hair has been dyed a faint but definite shade of pink in open defiance of the school policy which stipulates “natural hair colours” only. Where will it all end?
Today’s News
We had meringues after dinner. “Everyone can have a meringue,” I said. “Do I have to?” asked Michael. “I love the way Michael regards a sugary treat with the same level of enthusiasm that other children reserve for boiled cabbage,” said his sister.
Herself has got her hair cut.
The dentist had another look at Daniel’s possibly dead front tooth and is almost certain it’s dead but wants to see us again in a month. Sigh
Dress Code
Herself objects to the school uniform. It is not beautiful, I suppose. It is grey (for boys), blue and navy (for girls) and serviceable and comes with a navy anorak (both sexes). The school uniform policy is strict and parents and children alike are always being reminded of it. Herself is testing the boundaries of the policy in imaginative ways such as by, for example, wearing her own jumper over the uniform and then removing it during that part of the day observed by teachers (almost all of it, I understand). She has an exciting belt which the school authorities objected to. She has been known to wear make up and dangly earrings.
Mr. Waffle feels that the other day, she made her most daring move yet. He drove the children into school as it was raining. He saw them entering the school building. He noted that herself was saying a cheery good morning to the principal while wearing her fake pink fur coat purchased in a second hand shop in Talbot Street. The principal appeared to accept her non-regulation coat without question and she sauntered on. I wonder will she break the Christian Brothers?
