Hopefully this will be a better effort than the last time. Several of the keys on my parents’ keyboard take a good whack to actually work and it throws me off. I’m hitting mine too hard now and have to make up for that too but that should go soon. Also, I can’t figure out what it is, I think it’s the refresh rate but the screen hurts my eyes and I can’t use it for very long so all in all it’s not very good. When the writing frame of mind is fading, it’s a real killer.
When I came in late on Saturday night, it was close on 5.30 after the hour forward and well I was really tired (I fell asleep in the cab on the way home) and I had been drinking for most of the day. I wanted to blog. I had things to say, I even made a note of things to type out about. Of course when I came to try the next day there was just nothing there.
All in all it was a good weekend and then some. I’m quite glad to be back in touch with a few people and had a fairly good time with my family and as usual some interesting and some enlightening conversations with my dad.
This has been another one of those entries. I started it a long time ago and now I’m coming back to it. It has ended up being a rather shit day. Long story short, the kitchen flooded, there is a problem with the water in the building and none of it is good. So someone coming out tomorrow to look at it, the person we had tonight was an emergency on call and can’t help with a building wide problem, he does not know enough about it. Just great. So we just left it and have to hope it will be ok.
Anyway I picked up some of The Frames back catalogue, it was dirt cheap at Euro prices compared to the £17 for a single album over here. I got 4 for close enough to that price. Anyway the first track from For the Birds; In the Deep Shade is really lovely and I’m going to listen to that a couple of times as I type this out.
I have no idea what’s changed. Looking back on Dublin, there was one person who was always very important to me and has been for over 10 years. I don’t think that one was a major secret, I know numerous people knew and I’ll just leave that one at I fucked up very badly and continued to do so and well that’s that. There was of course more than one, so here is the story of another. Well it’s not really cause I’m never doing to tell you lot that but here is some of it anyway.
Then there was another girl who was just one of the gang. I know I’ve mentioned about our Saturday nights out in Dublin here before. A group of us, basically sci-fi geeks who met over things like that met up, had some food and went to the cinema. It was a weekly thing and man I could probably go into pages on that one if the mood struck. Anyway it ran for years, literally years, I don’t think I’m far off in saying we did it for 5 years or so. Anyway we all ended up drifting off but there was a core group of 6 or so the whole time and then some blow-ins. I don’t remember how we all met, there was of course some of the friend of a friend and there was just people that we met and got on with and brought out. Man, back then other halves rarely made it a second time, not that most of us had ’em really. I very famously brought one along for a while but that’s a post for a whole other time and indeed a whole other me.
Anyway it was some of the people from that group that I met up with on Saturday night. One of them, Jean is the girl I got in touch with about 8 months ago and met the last time I was in Dublin. We were fairly close for a while (not like that children!) and I honestly don’t remember why we lost touch. I suspect an argument of some sort timed at when we were both moving around and dealing with things in our lives and so it just happened. Suffice it to say I’m fairly happy to be in touch with her again.
She was the one who I was meeting on Friday afternoon who said to come along again later that night and meet up with Liz. Honestly I really wanted to, but I was fairly hesitant. I think it’s fair to say I always liked Liz, but it’s certainly not fair to say we saw eye to eye all the time, most of the time we didn’t. Me and her use to have some real fights every now and again. I had sent her an email a while ago when I managed to find an address but never got a reply. As it turns out it was a dead address and she seemed genuinely pleased to see me and we chatted fairly late on Friday night over lots of drinks and agreed that we had argued over shit and all grown up since then. So she more than falls into the failed to appreciate category. We all ended up back at hers after some drinks in town and anyone who opens the cd player, see’s that it’s Jeff Buckley and then just hits play is allright in my book! The silence in the room as Hallelujah came on was just great.
Anyway we went out again on Saturday night as Jean and Liz had arranged to meet the other two from their group of girls in the gang, Mary and Emily. And ya know, it was a good night and I don’t know what’s changed but things have and well that’s really that. I don’t know, but sitting there chatting and everything else and despite some concerned looks and texts from Jean and Liz who I had told the full story to the night before, there was nothing. I did zone out for a while and it wasn’t for any real reason other than being tired and thinking. So for a change I’m not going to be dwelling on a girl and will however point out that there is nothing at all wrong with her as certain people assumed automatically earlier.
Speaking of being tired. Saturday morning, I cannot remember being as hungover as I was then. Friday I had met my dad for lunch at 2.00 and gone to the Porterhouse. We had 3 pints in there (if not 4). Then I met Jean for coffee. She had to run off to a work dinner for a couple of hours so I bought myself a paper (I really need to get Irish papers more) and sat at the bar in Messer Maguires read it. That was another 3 pints and then we went drinking for the evening. It was a full 12 hours of boozing and it showed.
Saturday, I had a ticket for the Ireland vs. Scotland Rugby match in Lansdowne Road with my dad…and free food and drink beforehand at a minor event thing the tickets came through. I had a couple of drinks there but it was well after 2.00pm before my stomach had calmed down enough. ‘Twas a bit of a waste.
My dad said something interesting on Sunday night when we were chatting which I thought was a good comment for here. We were talking about my little sister, Katie. I had gone for a drink with her earlier in the day so we could have a chat and I could see if she would tell me anything about college and that or if I would get what was the standard “I don’t know”. I was commenting that I didn’t get that and that I thought she was much improved on answering questions and information had to be dragged out of her a lot less. He agreed with me but then commented “Well, look at my three children, none of them are very forward” and it’s very true. Not much more information coming from any of us ever!
By the way, I’m aware that I’ve already covered some of this. It’s working better for me now and so I just went with it. I feel like keeping on but I don’t know what else I want to get down here.
I’m not in touch with many from the group mentioned above. It fell apart rather spectacularly at the end. It had been unravelling for a while, I don’t think it was anyone’s fault, I think it was everyone’s fault. We all just grew up a bit and were pulled in different directions by the fickle mistress that is life. Looking back, we agreed we had good times and we agreed that all of the fighting was over silly things and these days we could see ourselves sitting down and catching up with almost everyone. Just the one notable exception there, I wonder if any of you can guess who that is. I don’t think you would be surprised by the answer but anyway.
I have a quiet month lined up. Have to book some tickets for Glastonbury next week and that’s really it. Work only rang me once last week so I’m hoping for it to be a quiet one tomorrow. I’ll guess I’ll find out soon enough. Alex is staying home to look after letting the plumbers and that in here, I offered but ’tis handier for her I guess.
I found my copy of O, more precisely my sister gave it back to me. I should head to bed now, you should click through this: