And the blind man cometh forth
I happened to be up and about at around ten.
My mobile rang with an unknown number but I answered it anyway. It was the bloke who is supposed to be calling here at eleven to measure up our windows for blinds. His problem was one that doesn’t surprise me – the fact that our townland has two different spellings The vast majority of us use an “o” in the name but the Ordnance Survey uses an “a” sometimes so therefore leading to a dash of ambiguity. My caller wanted to know which of the townlands I lived in, despite having my post code and the fact that “both” townlands are in the same place. I assured him that if he ignored the townland name he’d be grand.
Then VGF turned up early and parked across outside our gate as she always does. This could pose a problem as there is nowhere else to park when visiting our gaff.
Sore enough, the phone rang again. My new found friend wanted to know if we were part of the new-build [I wasn’t sure what the fuck he meant by that] so I asked where he was at present. Apparently he had found the lane and was lost [in a small lane?]. I explained that he was within spitting distance and on the right track, literally. I also mentioned that our gate was already blocked and he would have to find somewhere else to park.
I was sending off a few emails at the time on the laptop, so I switched to the CCTV view. I watched a large white van with the company name emblazoned drive very slowly up the lane past our gate. A couple of minutes later it crawled back down again. I thought I had better go out and rescue the driver. Sure enough he parked right at the end of the lane in a spot which would make the road very dangerous as he was not only parked at the junction but also on a blind bend. I shrugged. Not my problem.
A bloke carefully exited the van. He was ancient. Now at my age, everyone is young but this bloke looked about ten years older than me. I told him he was at the right place and he wheezed a bit while he caught his breath. He then proceeded to adorn himself with a large case, a telescopic ruling rod, a small step ladder and a notebook. He wheezed his way up the lane. Frankly I didn’t know if he was going to make it to the Manor as the wheezing got progressively worse.
In the Manor he met with VGF who of course knew him [this is Ireland after all]. So they chatted for a while while he caught his breath between wheezing and coughing.
So he measured up the place while I followed him around in case he dropped dead. One can’t be too careful with old folk?
After he left I made some comment or other to VGF about his breathing and how worried I was.
“Ah he’s grand. It’s just that he probably got through about forty or fifty fags before coming here.”
Fair play to him.
A sort of interlude
While the world attempts to rip itself apart, life in the Manor continues peacefully apace.
I may have mentioned my new little hobby? I confess that the memory continues to play tricks and one feature is that I can’t remember what I have scribbled in the past. In fact I will probably forget what this is about before I finish scribbling.
So, before I forget, my new “thing” is to make stuff out of plywood. I have previously constructed a little marble-run which is great fun [little steel balls shooting around troughs and spirals before arriving at the start where they wait their turn to start the journey again]. I also have a little telescope which is not only attractive but it actually works [it came with a set of lenses so it’s not all ply].
My latest project is a bugger. It contains well over a couple of hundred parts which all have to be assemble in sequence. The project requires endless patience and attention to the minutest detail in the instructions. It also pays to have strong nimble fingers, as all the parts have to be pressed together using a fair amount of force. There isn’t glue in any of the models and it all relies on incredibly precise size of each piece.
What is it? Well, I’ll leave it up to you to decide. If it works, it should be quite spectacular, but that “if” is a big one. Any one piece that is slightly out of position could cause it to fail but it will still look impressive.
I still have quite a way to go and the next bit is possibly the hardest. I like to do a bit at a time and only when I feel like it. I have no idea when it will be finished.
As Herself says – it at least keeps me out of trouble?
The other side of me
Contrary to popular belief, I do have a serious side.
Not only that but I am actually very quiet and reserved, generally speaking. I like silence. When I’m with a friend I’m not one who has to fill any gaps in conversation by rabbiting on about something. I am very happy with companionable silence. Back in the glory days of the Irish Blog Awards I used to meet with quite a few fellow scribblers and generally they were often apparently disappointed as they expected someone who would have them in stitches constantly., and all they found was a quiet somewhat bemused dullard.
I think I annoyed quite a few people with my little brain fart yesterday. I could tell that from a brief glance at the star thingy. I know that rating thing annoys a few, but it does give me a little insight into people’s opinion. I’m not going to apologise except to say that I rarely venture into world politics because they are of little concern to me. I cannot influence anything so all I can do is shrug and carry on with my own life. If war breaks out anywhere then there is fuck all I can do about it so unless a cloud of radioactive dust is heading in this direction, I will just carry on with my normal life.
My big problem, as I have stated before is that life here is very constant. There are moments when something upsets the calm waters of a quiet life such as digging up the lane to stop floods [thereby making the floods worse] or gangs coming in to rip out my windows. The really exciting event this week is that I have an appointment with a bloke who is to come here and measure the new windows for blinds. I am currently blocking Herself’s window by wedging the old blind into the frame and propping it up with a pair of crutches. That is a nightly routine I could do without.
So there you have it. A boring old fart who desperately tries to find the lighter side of life.
And once again, I have nothing to scribble about today.
Here we go
I have a regular routine first thing in the morning, [or whenever I get up].
I suppose my routine is different from anyone else’s but that’s by the by. It usually ends though with firing up the laptop to see what’s going on in the world, and in particular to see if World War Three has broken out yet.
This weekend the Jews and the Arabs are bringing us closer to the brink.
I don’t comment much on international spats. For a start there are so many, what with the Russians and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, North Korea determined to fight anyone now that they have the Bomb and China getting restless over its territory. The world is not a happy place and learning from the first two World Wars it doesn’t take much to light the fuse.
The Hammas attack back in October was a bit brutal and I don’t blame NuttyYahoo for being pissed. No one would blame him for striking back, but killing 33,000 Palestinians in revenge and leveling the entire Gaza Strip is a little beyond a reasonable measured response? All that has done is to swing world sympathies to Palestine and against Israel.
The problem with Israel is the United States. For some reason, presumably the Jewish lobby, the US seems determined to stand by Israel no matter what. This of course gives Israel carte blanche to be aggressive towards its neighbours, and in particular the Palestinians. It’s like the young bully in the playground who can bully whoever he likes because he has a big strong brother in a senior class who will always support him.
Then of course NuttyYahoo lost the run of himself. He was over confident. He attacked what is technically part of Iran. Now Iran has hardly been good buddies with Israel for ages and would love to have an excuse to launch a few bombs, and here was their chance.
So what happens next? That’s anyone’s guess. Both previous World Wars started with relatively local spats and both ended up with millions dead across the planet. Is Israel going to apologise to Iran and stop bombing Syria and Lebanon? I doubt it. NuttyYahoo is emboldened with success [or a mental aberration?]. He had the US and the UK helping him defend against the Iranian attack which surely must make him feel invincible?
I shall tune in tomorrow with closer interest.
If there is a tomorrow?