A Different Kind of Build Up

Having not felt the festive buzz upto now it is starting to creep in finally. This year is different for many reasons; we wont have a tree, or turkey, or freezing weather. But mostly granda wont be at the christmas table. I'll miss shouting into his good ear over the carols while perching a flimsy pink christmas cracker crown on his head. I'll particularly miss seeing him asleep in the chair (with crown still on) flanked by an empty whiskey glass and a box of roses.
But everything marches on. In spain (granda's spiritual home) the entire and complete macalister clan will toast him; his life, his sayings, his highs and his lows. The legacy he left us.
There couldn't be a more perfect way to celebrate this christmas and new year. In its difference; it is home.

A Comfort

From The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa

'I often wonder what kind of person I would be if I had been protected from the cold wind of fate by the screen of wealth, and my uncle's moral hand had never led me to an office in Lisbon, and I had never moved on from there to other offices to reach the tawdry heights of being a good assistant book-keeper in a job that is about as demanding as an afternoon nap and offers a salary that gives me just enough to live on.

I know that had that non-existent past existed, I would not now be capable of writing these pages, which, though few, are at least better than all the pages I would have undoubtedly have only day-dreamed about given more comfortable circumstances. For banality is a form of intelligence, and reality, especially if it is brutish and rough, forms a natural complement to the soul.

Much of what i feel and think I owe to my work as a book-keeper since the former exists as a negation of and flight from the latter.'

A Month?

Don't really know what happened there ... how did a month pass by in a couple of days?! By my new time measuring machine it will be christmas 2012 in approximately three months.
November consisted of a lot or reading and a visit to london, sickness, continued sickness and now the snow. The snow has its charms but its charms are running out. Driving to work everyday at a snails pace is taking its toll on both my time sheet and my sanity. Bring on the thaw. But I dont think im ready for the headlines that will replace the snowy ones. Will be doing my best to avoid news of the budget because right now I have a job and my car starts in the morning and while I still have the sniffles it ain't the flu.
So I will continue to hunker down with the fire blazing and a book in my paw and continue to ignore the 'real world' for as long is physically possible.

A kind of a day off

Found myself in the city centre on some work related errands mid week last week. Most of which were to be done on the north side of the city. In need of a quick snack I ducked into the Epicurean Food Hall (abbey st/liffey st).
Whatever happened to the epicurean food hall? I remember wine, bagels, fresh salads, good coffee, great people watching. What I got was a run down mostly closed down space with big screens showing football and a few students and more buffets than a spanish resort sea front. What a fall from grace. Luckily La Corte is still there so I had a panino and ran away. I ventured slightly further down abbey st and ducked into the coffee shop 3FE (in the Twisted Pepper). I've never tasted anything like it before; coffee with actual accents of fruit and dark chocolate. I recommend it for the novelty. I ordered a Macchiato which was delivered to the table and the milk was poured in front of me with a 'just say when'. Pity about the actual site though, grungy and dirty or maybe I'm just not cool enough.
Why are we so hard done by for culinary delights on the central north side?

Audience with John Banville

An Audience with John Banville
Wednesday 20th October / 7.30pm
The Library, Farmleigh

has been reschedueled : it is on tonight, monday 08/11, at 7:30pm in Farmleigh.

Autumn in Clontarf

Having missed out on autumn last year I'm particularly enjoying it this year. Last year I went from the stifling allergy inducing heat of Ha Noi to the heaviest snow fall in a decade in Beijing. So this year the colours seem particularly vivid to me. I'm also throwing myself at autumn's culinary mercy and have been making stews and soups to feed an army. My new slow cooker obsession couldn't have come at a better time.
These were taken yesterday:

At the party

After my hangover from hell a few weekends ago my drinking volume has gone down considerably. Well make that pretty much ceased. It definitely has its advantages: it's kinder on the wallet, the waist line and the 'day after'. Sometimes though when your not drinking and your out and about conversing in pubs and parties you realise that being at the receiving end of a drunken conversation isn't always that much fun for the non drinker. Although its all worth while when you can just step outside, back into your car and drive yourself right to your own front door for free (I'm not including petrol/insurance/tax in this equation).
Anyway was at a party the other night where my roomie went off for a smoke just before we left. This left me sitting by myself for a few moments. Not having a few drinks on board I wasn't encouraged to go chatting to more drunk people just as we were about to leave. So I sat looking out the window for a few minutes taking in the halloween mayhem on the streets. Being one who is prone to writing a few words every now and then I'm not averse to spending time sitting in my own thoughts no matter where I am. And here in lies the crux: what is it that makes other people so uncomfortable about seeing a woman by herself?
A friendly enough guy approached and suggested I come over and join his group. I said oh thank you but we're just leaving now, and then a little exasperated, he said 'don't isolate yourself, just come over.' What a very bizarre thing to say. Isolate.
Maybe its because I was sober and other people weren't. Maybe its because I didn't really know anyone there and I was sober. Maybe I was indeed feeling a bit off kilter. Or maybe, just maybe, I don't mind spending a few minutes by myself while I wait for my friend.
Isolate. How strange to use that word.