“I’m waiting for the calm as the storm is getting under my skin
I’m trying to fix the hole in my head where the rain gets in
It’s dripping in my ear and it don’t sound funny
I’m gonna take you out when I get some money
We’re trying to get it back to the promised land”
Noel Gallagher
When I was supposed to be writing this I was doodling a treasure map for the Treasure Hunt we’re having on Saturday out in Rossmore Park as part of our free old style school sports day, which no longer features the three-legged race, bizarrely, because of insurance. The sack race is going ahead, but on no account can we have a three legged race. And the insurance broker actually laughed when I said we wanted to include a ‘Slip&Slide’ relay challenge. I wasn’t speaking to her at the time, but I could tell from the email that she had snorted some of her latte out her nose at the thought of my temerity in thinking for one moment that we’d get insurance cover for a ‘Slip & Slide’. And, no, of course I don’t know for a fact that she snorted latte out her nose, but I like to think that she did.
And yes, I do know that a Treasure Hunt isn’t traditionally an event during an old style sports day, but then neither is Human Ten Pin Bowling, nor River Bingo , but we’re in Monaghan and , well, we do what we like here in the True Centre of The Universe….as long as we can get insurance cover…and permission from the Council…and a permit from Coillte…and approval for our Event Management Plan.
Everyone likes a treasure hunt.
Sometimes I can write something and forget about it for years and then randomly come across it and read it twice to make sure that I’d really written it, and not just quoted it from somewhere else. While trying to make sure that I hadn’t written about Raspberries versus Strawberries before I went checking and came across this bit from March 2020 :
“Everything is connected.
To each other, to everything they see, across time, we connect the dots. Maybe we are the dots. I am definitely a dot.
Sometimes the briefest moment between people, or even a thought , that seemed fleeting or insignificant can return , maybe as a flicker, maybe as a flare.”
I particularly like the ‘maybe as a flicker, maybe as a flare ‘ bit.
Coming across a brief instant like that cheers me up. Especially as after many attempts I’d finished a book of stories about the Drumlin Giants and sent it to several people who have always given honest assessments of previous things that I’ve written…and no one has replied…after a month.
And while I was supposed to be doodling the treasure map, with clues that so far feature Unicorns on lily pads, blackberries in a beard, wigwams, tree pearls, and disco ducks, I went to the sauna in Holywood with my Soulmate and had a dip in the lake.
As you may have noticed , I always start my weekly blog with a song lyric and this week’s is Dead in The Water by Noel Gallagher. He wrote this song on a Sunday evening in 2015 in Dublin and was in the 2FM studios the following morning to record an interview and a song to promote his album at the time. While they were tuning up and chatting , and before he thought they were recording, and catching the pianist by surprise he sang this song in one take. And immediately asked the 2FM sound engineer to wipe it.
He forgot about it and never recorded it again.
The following year when they wanted to release a ‘deluxe’ version of the last album, they had no b-sides to include and someone on his management team remembered the song in Dublin and they rang the engineer to see if he’d kept a copy. He had, and he sent it over. Noel said to put it on the album as it was , that he couldn’t improve on it.
It’s never appeared anywhere else , except as that bonus track on the deluxe version of his second High Flying Birds album.
But it’s a firm fan favourite.
In the last chapter of the book that nobody loves , I wrote this passage :
Sonny had had a very busy week. He was doing pool exercises one day, he was riding a pony the next , and the day after that he was have exercises and stretches with a physiotherapist. He was very tired. This was one of the nights when Sonny was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Soon he was in a deep, deep sleep, dreaming…
Sonny was walking along the river Muireann in Rossmore Park when he heard a loud groan. It was a very loud groan. It was such a loud groan that the trees all around the path he was on started to shake and lots of their leaves fell off. This groan was so loud..
“I GET IT ! IT WAS LOUD !!!”
Gosh we are in a temperamental mood today , aren’t we Dear Reader ?
Sonny ran up the path to see what was causing this commotion and there he was, Rocky , the tallest Drumlin Giant , stretching his arms above his head and jumping up as high as he could, letting out a loud groan each time he jumped.
“What are you doing ?” Sonny asked.
“Oh , Hi Sonny ! I was trying to stretch and jump as high as I could to see if I could touch the moon.” He stopped what he was doing and sat down on the ground and held out his Giant hand in greeting. ”My name is Rocky, pleased to meet you Sonny. The other Giants have told me all about you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Sonny replied, before asking “Why are you trying to touch the moon ?”
“Why not ?” Rocky replied.
Sonny thought for a moment, and then smiled. “ I like to do things that people think I can’t as well.”
“I know” Rocky said “ That’s why all the Giants are so proud of you.”
“Can I ask you a question ?”
“Of course Sonny.”
“What are you the Giant of ?”
“A Giant of ? I’m not sure that I understand the question ?”
“Well, Banba guards and protects the Park, Big Ross saves children, Roddy made the lakes, Spike helps people, Dagda feeds people, Aoife and Druid save people, The Morrigan tries not to eat people, Ailinn heals people, Muireann controls the water, Thoth imagines great things, and Medb-Michael inspires people.”
“Oh , I see. Yes, I get you now. I connect everything.”
“Connect everything ?”
“Yes.”
“To what ?”
“To everything else.”
“You connect everything to everything else.”
“Yes…and no.”
Sonny made the face we all make when we are puzzled “Now I don’t understand your answer.”
“Everything is already connected to everything else. I simply try and remind people of that, and on occasion try to help stop some of the connections to everything else. You see ?”
“No, not really.”
Rocky looked around and picked a leaf from an Oak tree and handed it to Sonny. “That leaf is like a little factory. It’s green because it has a wonderful thing inside called chlorophyll, and it converts sunlight to energy and food for the tree. This oak is near Muireann’s River, the tree’s roots absorb her water. The tree uses the water , food, and energy to make acorns. Birds ,badgers,squirrels and wood mice eat the acorns and spread the seeds so more oak trees can grow. When an oak tree grows it provides shelter , food, and a home for many types of birds, bats and insects. Lots of flowers and plants can only grow in the shade of an oak tree, like bluebells. And when an oak tree falls in a forest it can become like a giant hotel for thousands of insects and fungi. The wood from an oak tree has been used for thousand of years to help build homes, castles and ships. And some of those ships have taken people from Monaghan to wonderful places and amazing adventures. So just in this little leaf that you now hold in your hand there are connections to nuclear explosions in the sun creating light, rain and water, rivers, Muireann, birds, bees, badgers, squirrels, insects, nests, flowers, fungi, houses, castles, Monaghan, treasure ships and….”
“Did you say treasure ships ?” Sonny said excitedly.
I told you everyone likes treasure.
I really must get back to that map…200 kids hocked up on free slushies and ice cream, wait for no man.
Oh yes ! Raspberries !
This morning , after checking on how low the river Muireann is AGAIN, despite all our efforts to dam it up for the model river boat race on Saturday…did I mention that already ? Anyway, it’s still challengingly low. I then collected Dominic in Old Cross Square and we went to Scotch Corner and pooched through a mountain of empty plastic bottles and trays to find material for model boats…because despite asking folks to make the models at home, people will arrive on Saturday thinking that we will have material there for them to make them then and there…we deserved a coffee.
Dominic had mentioned that Kevin, the owner of Genesis café had been interviewed by Oliver Callan on RTE during the week, so we went there.
We had coffee and some damn fine scones.
The scones came with raspberry jam.
We both agreed that raspberries are vastly superior to strawberries.
I said that raspberries can take me out of myself and transport me through time.
Dominic said that Pollock’s raspberry jam is the nicest he’s ever tasted.
He’s a treasure.
So are raspberries.
So are you.
Toodles,
Paul
P.S. This is amazing, and so are you.
