Apparently I am sick

Head Rambles Posted on by 11

Yes, I’m still alive.

But, it seems only by the skin of my teeth.

They incarcerated me because I had a raging infection. This was news to me but their machines don’t tell fibs. Allegedly.

After a few days they decided that they had fixed the infection but while doing their infection tests they discovered something wrong with my liver.

After doing scans, x-rays and more tests they decided my liver was fine but my kidneys looked a bit dodgy.

You guessed it! My kidneys are grand but my life is now in danger from an errant gall bladder. They are going to stick something big and bulky down my throat next Tuesday.

I wonder what they’ll find?

No stomach ?

 

Let me out

Head Rambles Posted on by

Once again, I’m under siege.

This happens every now and then and it is a mighty pain in the arse.

Some film crowd – I don’t know who – have taken over the place and the village residents are not only persona non grata but are actually banned from the village.

It is really annoying when the council [for they apparently are the guilty party] auction off the village as a film location with little or no consultation. Unless one has one’s ear to the ground the first notice will be little notices plastered around the place saying the village will be shut, with diversions in place. I doubt the businesses get much in the way of compensation either.

Naturally I have stuff I have to collect in the village today. Before that I have one of my many hospital appointments [Rapid Lung Section? What the fuck is that?] so have to find my way through the back roads to get there.

Worst of all there is a nasty rumour that Disney are back next month. The last time they were here they caused chaos and mayhem for weeks. The film – “Disenchanted” – bombed at the box office which has a nice touch of Karma about it.

i wonder if I’ll visit the coffee shop this afternoon?

Maybe I’ll just plough my way through their barriers and become an extra?

 

The Irish thing

Head Rambles Posted on by

I do not understand the Irish Phenomenon.

On a global scale, we are a tiny island stuck out in the Atlantic to the west of Europe. Coming in from outer space you’d be lucky to find us at all unless you had a damn good satnav The entire island would comfortably fit, multiple times in most other countries.

There are only a few million of us. The population of the entire island is less than that of many of the worlds cities. If they accidentally stuck our population into a table of the world’s major cities, we would be way down the list. I just did a check – there are 80 cities with a larger population than all Ireland. Tokyo alone has seven times the population of this small island!

So why does Ireland have such a massive influence on the planet? Saint Patrick is being celebrated right across the globe as I type. There are parades, green floodlights on world famous landmarks and Chicago is even turning its river green. I would imagine that a hell of a lot of the worlds revelers don’t even know where Ireland is, yet they still celebrate “Irishness”.

The remarkable thing about the whole phenomenon is that I don’t know of any other national holiday that gets worldwide attention. Does the world go mad on Bastille Day? Are there worldwide parades to celebrate American Independence? No. National holidays come and go and the world ignores them, but not Paddy’s Day. That has to be celebrated from New York to Sydney, from Dublin to Dubai. Just for one day, everyone seems to want to be Irish.

Even outside Paddy’s Day everyone seems to know the Irish. It always amused me that in France I would walk into a shop and stumble out my pidgin French. I would be greeted with mild hostility and a flood of the local dialect in return. I would slip in that I’m Irish not British and instantly I am best friends with the shopkeeper who suddenly speaks fluent English.

Don’t get me wrong. I am proud to be Irish. Amn’t I directly descended from one of the great High Kings of Ireland after all?! I am Irish first and foremost and then a citizen of the World. Under extreme torture I might even add being European.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir.