First off thanks to everyone who has voted for me. According to the Irish Blog Awards site there has been over 1000 votes cast in total so far and one of those lucky people will receive a Samsung s500i i-model phone for their trouble. Voting is still open but today, the 17th, is the last day so if you like what you see here, and you fancy your chances of winning the phone, follow this link and cast your vote.
He was smiling… That’s right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. Hell, if they didn’t know it ‘fore, they could tell right then that they weren’t a-gonna beat him. That old Luke smile. Oh, Luke. He was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he’s a natural-born world-shaker.
A year and a half ago I met Paul Newman. OK, well he walked by me, but he was really close and I’m pretty sure he looked at me (I would have been hard to miss at the time). He was wearing a pair of sunglasses that hung down from his ears and around his chin in a way that only Paul Newman could make look cool. I imagined going up to him and shaking his hand and telling him how much I loved Cool Hand Luke and how Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid was one of the all-time great films and I imagined saying it in such a way that I would stand out from all the millions of people who have repeated similar sentiments to him over the past forty odd years and he’d stop and look at me with those still vivid blue eyes and immediately we’d become fast friends. But I was eight months pregnant and the size of a mini cooper, my feet were swollen so large that even my flip flops were too tight and I was convinced if I managed to waddle up to him my nerves would cause me to go into labour before his very eyes, so I sat and sweated and watched him breeze by.
It was the hottest day of summer in 2004 and Paul (yes we’re on a first name basis now) was over visiting Barretstown Castle for their annual open day. Barretstown is one of his Hole In The Wall Gang Camps and every time you buy a jar of his Caesar Salad or Beer Marinade the proceeds go towards this wonderful organisation. It’s a place where children with serious and terminal illnesses can go and just be kids and have some “Serious Fun”. They get the chance to play and laugh and take part in activities that healthy children take for granted and all in the most beautiful setting. There are rooms and buildings for theatre and art and sports alongside medical facilities where they can continue to receive treatment for their illnesses. There are also Bereavement Camps where families who have lost children to cancer or other diseases can come and spend time together and with other families in similar circumstances.
The children and their families attend Barretstown camps from all over Europe free of charge. The wonderful people who work as camp counsellors do so on a voluntary basis as do many who contribute their time in other ways. Even so, it costs about 3350 Euro for one child to come and enjoy ten days in the castle so the fund-raising aspect is a huge job. My aunt Helen is one of the full-time fundraisers working there and she has been a part of organising some amazing events (including the open days) to keep bringing in the funds. This year one of the big events is the Brazil Challenge which is ten days sponsored trekking in the jungles of South America and I’m hoping to be going with them. Did I say hoping…I meant I will be going (got to think positively). The big challenge happens first: the raising of 5000 Euro in order to secure my place. Enough money to send one child to Barretstown.
I’m not the most outgoing of people, my shyness has stopped me doing a lot of things in life, including going up to Paul Newman that day and introducing myself. So fundraising isn’t going to be easy for me. I have some ideas: a table quiz in my parent’s tennis club, bag-packing in a supermarket, car boot sales…I’ve also put a donation cup on this site, it’s in the sidebar at the right hand side of the page. I hope that if you can, some of you who read this site might be moved to help Barretstown out, either through sponsoring my walk or in some other way (they’re always looking for volunteers). If you’d like to donate but prefer not to use PayPal please get in touch with me and we’ll work something out: My email is gingerpixelATyahooDOTcoDOTuk. Either way I’ll keep you posted as I prepare to get myself in shape (ha!) for the long walks and muddle my way through the fundraising.
I don’t get into Dublin city centre very often these days but on Monday night I made the trip in for a birthday party. On the way home I passed Conn’s Cameras and had to do a back track to lustfully gaze in the windows at all the pretty camera toys. Most camera shops I’ve seen in Dublin are the dingy variety and they never have quite what you’re looking for in stock. It’s always a case of them having to look it up in one of their giant catalogues and order it in for you. All I want to do is have a look though and if they had to order it in well then I’d feel like I had to buy it. So, the next day I made yet another trip into Dublin and made straight for Conn’s.
OK, Cahony has tagged me for Fiona’s meme. This is where you all get to see just how little I know about politics:
Gender: Female
Age: (1-18; 19-30; 31-45; 46-60; 60+) 31-45
Nationality: Irish
Country of residence: Ireland
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Do you have a disability?: No
How would you describe your political philosophy?: I guess I’m all over the place. In some things I’d be conservative, in others quite liberal. I like to think I take each issue as it comes and that I don’t come down on one side or the other just because it would be the acceptable Conservative or Liberal viewpoint.
Level of education (primary; post-primary; third-level; graduate; professional): Third-level
If you were to vote on party lines which party would you choose (Ireland)?: I never vote for parties here. I would vote more for individual candidates or independents and not worry about their parties. To be brutally honest I don’t know what the difference is between any of the Irish parties and I don’t think I’m alone in that.
If you were to vote on party lines which party would you choose (UK)?: I voted Labour when I lived there and probably would again.
If you were to vote on party lines which party would you choose (USA)?: I would be more likely to vote Conservative but with the present administration I’d have to rethink that.
Where do you stand on the EU?: It’s been great for Ireland and it paid my way through college. Other than that…shrug.
Did you support the invasion of Afghanistan?: No.
Did you support the invasion of Iraq?: No.
Do you continue to support either or both of those conflicts?: I don’t know much about what’s going on in Afghanistan these days so I don’t know about that one. I think the Iraq situation is a big mess and it wouldn’t be solved by just withdrawing and leaving them in it.
What do you believe is the single biggest issue facing Irish politics?: Overcoming all the baggage of years of corruption and becoming truly accountable to the Irish people rather than the sort of old-boys club we’ve had in the past.
What do you believe is the single biggest issue facing European politics?: erm, pass.
What do you believe is the single biggest issue facing international politics?: Terrorism in all its forms.
Are you, have you ever been, and do you ever wish to be involved in politics in a party political manner?: No, never, I can’t see it happening.
Who would you have voted for in the past US Presidential Election?: Probably would have voted for Kerry just because I would never have voted for Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney.
I don’t think I’ll tag anyone with this one, I’ve been thinking about my own answers since yesterday and it’s embarrassed me that I don’t have a clearer understanding of Irish political parties. If there was a general election tomorrow I’d have no idea who to vote for. If anyone who reads this blog feels the urge feel free to do the meme and let me know. I’d love to read your answers.
Picture the scene: A brightly lit church hall on a Thursday evening in January. Outside the weather is freezing cold but inside the walls are dripping and the air is thick with the tang of B.O. and talcum powder deodorant. The noise is deafening: Stomp, Stomp, STOMP! Stomp, Stomp, STOMP! Like cows stampeding in time. A voice is screaming above the herd, “One, Two, Three, HOLD! One, Two, Three, HOLD!” while fifty women stamp shoulder to shoulder trying to keep up. Have you stumbled upon the marching practice of the territorial army Special Pudgy Unfit Division? Nope, ‘fraid not, it is instead the Salsa-Slim class I signed up for in the spirit of “Trying New Things and Meeting New People.”
I admit I had something different in mind when my mother rang me up and suggested we take this class together. You know that BBC ident that usually comes on just before Eastenders with all the couples salsa dancing each wearing some item of red clothing? Or, even better the tango dancing one where all those lovely skinny dancers are sliding their legs around on a cobbled street in the rain? Well, that’s more like what was playing in my head when I rang the booking line and paid my 100 Euro.
Tomorrow night is the fourth of ten weeks and I’m already chalking this one up to experience and resolving to just have a laugh. I don’t like to be mean…buuuut (don’t you love when people start sentences that way?) I have to wonder how some of the ladies can find the coordination to walk out of the gym in a straight line, never mind day to day activities like turning corners and standing up out of chairs. Four weeks in and we’re still going over (and over and over) Left Right Left Pause . I mean, I’m no Ginger Rogers or anything but Left Right Left Pause is walking isn’t it? On the bright side the only two songs on our instructor’s CD seem to be Lou Bega’s “Mambo Number 5” and Ricki Martin’s “She Bangs” so it is rather fortunate really that the sound of a hundred left feet drowns the music out.
We Irish just don’t do Latin passion.