October 9, 2012
Riverrun
I saw this talk about the Liffey on youtube and I thought that it was fantastic. If you live in Dublin, you should watch it too.
I love rivers in cities. In Brussels, they covered up the river in the 19th century. I really missed living in a city with a river. My husband always says that Dublin turns its back on the river and he’s right. I cross over the Liffey most days and I almost always pause to look up and down the river. And now I’m going to take a photograph every time.
Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth
Her (cannoning in to me on the stairs): Ow, I’ve been stopped by a wall of flesh.
Me: Is this how you refer to your mother?
Her: Yes.
It is early in the morning, Michael is woken for school by his father. He looks at his parent blearily and says, “You are amazingly annoying in the morning.”
Observing the Proprieties
Michael: Will I have to go ON MY OWN?
Herself: Oh no, you would never be allowed to go unchaperoned.
She’s working on her first novel and it’s set in 1801. She has been doing research. Do you think I am making this up?
Letting Go – A Bit
The Princess got the bus home from school alone the other day. She managed it without difficulty. And she was absolutely delighted with herself.
When I was her age, I was frankly not delighted to get the bus home from school as it was a dreary part of my routine [not so much the bus ride really but waiting forever for it to arrive]. But when I was her age there were a gang of unaccompanied children getting the bus home every day. Furthermore, on my bus route the chances of meeting alcoholics or strung out junkies was close to nil. Her bus route on the other hand does offer these options from time to time. On the other hand, people are kind and she is sensible. I asked whether anyone spoke to her. “Yes,” she said, “the bus driver asked me whether I was on my own and a nice woman talked to me when I sat down upstairs.” What you might expect really.
This daring action was inspired by Mr. Waffle who felt (correctly) that she was well able for it and I was sustained by thoughts of this woman who described her child as being “ecstatic with independence” after riding the New York subway. Well, that’s how my girl felt too though I don’t think that she’s ready to tackle the NY subway just yet.
You are My World, My World, My World
Michael has started to keep a diary. He writes in it every day. Entries tend to be on the short side. Last week I couldn’t collect the children from school on Wednesday as I usually do. He read me his diary entry for that day: “Mummy didn’t collect us from school.” I was home a bit early on Thursday. His entry for that day was “Mummy was home early from work.” No one except my children will ever love me quite like this.
Age related query: Will that Communards song be stuck in your head all day now?
