Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Courtney Barnett
Kurt Vile
The Pillow Queens
For Those I Love
That’s a list of artists that, in order, I had tickets to see live, but didn’t , due to either cancellation , or Covid-19 concerns. I’d bought 16 tickets in total , was refunded for half and gave away the other half.
I was going to write about each artists connection to Monaghan…what ? …Oh, Nick Cave’s connection to Monaghan ? Didn’t you know that Charles Gavan Duffy , Young Irelander, founder of The Nation, ended up as Premier of Victoria in Australia, where he helped a German immigrant, no less that Nick Cave’s great -grandfather ??? I thought everyone knew that !
Anyway, I changed my mind.
I started to think about the things I did in 2021 that I wouldn’t have , only for where we are. When life gives you barley, and water from Poulaphouca Lake, send it to those clever chaps in St.James Gate I say !
I started and , again, failed to finish a ’30-Day Plank Challenge’. This is a tradition I am happy to continue with.
Despite living for the last 18 years in between two dairy farms, I learnt more about dairy farming in the last year than I thought was possible. I also bought the Irish farmer’s Journal more times than my entire family and entire ancestry ever did….or will.
Fell in love again with my Soulmate. ( Not that I’d fallen out of love…but you know sometimes when you forget your own complacency, and you see her , catch a glimpse, smell her perfume…or that way she might look at you…and BOOM …you’re … 17 / 18 again …and you’re seriously punching above your weight…and every single song on Fab Vinny’s MTUSA speaks directly to your core…and…and …. you’re incredibly lucky… )
I bumped into , and photographed a hiojeous amount of incredible folk in Rossmore Park.
I came up with a marketing campaign called ‘Patsy Says’ based loosely on the Katherine Hamnett inspired Frankie Goes To Hollywood early Eighties phenomenon. I should , like Frankie, have pushed it harder.
I met Paddy Furlong, my old neighbour from Clane…you mean Paddy that used to take his rabbits for a walk around the estate on a lead ? YES ! Paddy that nearly had a heart attack that night he checked your house when you were away and Jake’s photo-sensitive ‘Big Bird’ , at the moment Paddy switched on the sitting room light in our darkened house, greeted him with “Peek-a-boo ! I see you !”, yes that Paddy ! The Paddy , and his MUCH better half , Barbara, who after only knowing us for a few months, gave us their £3,000 first time buyers grant to tide us over a difficult time ? Yes !
Ran a virtual half marathon in the snow with Gareth and Chris.
Met an entrepreneur called Roxy.
Didn’t murder Pasta.
Found an old MicroDisney album.
Discovered that Glenn, the most intuitive graphic artist I’ve ever met , and I are both great Elbow fans – “Two, four, six, eight, Paul & Glenn’s love of Elbow was very great! Great meaning large or immense, we use it in the pejorative sense”
Made a card for one of our Other Other Sons, Barra in this case, celebrating his 21st wonderful year with us. How is it possible that one curly haired chap can inspire sooo much giddiness in others, simply by his presence. I love that … could we bottle it ?
Fell in love again with my Soulmate. ( Not that I’d fallen out of love…but you know sometimes when you forget your own complacency and you see her ,actually see her…, you SEE her , the way you did, the way you do when you peel back all the other stuff that gets in the way, catch a glimpse, smell a perfume…or that way she might look at you…and BOOM …you’re … 25 or so again and you’re living together in Fairview, and you cook for each other, she’s a superstar on Grafton St., and you constantly embarrass her in front of all of her cool friends in Lilly’s and the Pod by asking when are they playing the ‘slow set’…)
I start to appreciate cats on a whole new level. Some , Tuna, are nicer than I could’ve imagined, others, Pasta, confirm all of your basest fears.
I make another birthday card , for another MonkeyHead United team member, this time for Caolan, the guy , the guy you know in your heart of hearts , when the chips are down , and there’s no where else to turn to , will have no platitudes..he’ll have the actual answers.
Somehow I’m in a WhatsApp group called Mon Hollywood Greenway , which started with an exercise motivational vibe , but quickly elevated into a gourmet picnic exercise, with old family pudding treats at the end, and warm custard…invariably followed with a discussion on what borderline pornographic shows were now available on Netflix…
Thanks to an Monaghan Town Runners ‘ lock down’ inspired exercise, where we were to time ourselves for a 5k at the start of the month, and compare it to our best time at the end of the month, I ended up running uphill through Rossmore at the beginning of the month , and downhill from the water tower in Corcaghan to Threemilehouse crossroads at the end of the month. We out ran barking dogs, we were GODS !
I photographed a lot of old buildings about the place. They once meant everything to someone.
I fell asleep in the bath.
My SoulMate power-hosed the living daylights out of 18 years worth of stuff that had bever been power-hosed in Lisbane.
Drank outside in the glorious sunshine, on our recently power-hosed patio, with my darling daughter Robyn, and our Other Other Daughters Aoife and Tori.
Collected rubbish around the block with my SoulMate.
Was filmed in Rossmore by some fancy pants people from Dublin.
Received a handwritten poem…old school ..in the post.
Fell in love again with my Soulmate. ( Not that I’d fallen out of love…but you know sometimes when you forget your complacency and you see her ,actually see her…, you SEE her , the way you did, the way you do when you peel back all the other stuff that gets in the way, catch a glimpse, smell a perfume…or that way she might look at you…and BOOM …you’re … 30 and you’re having a panic attack outside St.Dympna’s Church on the morning of your wedding…which is odd in so many ways…because you’d designed the front of the bulletin for the re-dedication of this very church a few years earlier, but only because your third cousin Carl was away in that London.. and you’d had a very nervous whiskey fuelled argument with two very nice priests about whether a church , that had been dedicated, ever needed to be re-dedicated ..and while they were arguing , you noticed that your very ornate lettering of ‘Re-Dedication’ had two ‘t’s in it…but now, you think you’re about to die…because you went to The Squealing Pig last night, left at 2 am , went home and played pool with your brothers in the garage until 4am…and then you see her…and everything’s GLORIOUS
Launched ‘Rossmore Revels’ , and ‘Ballybay Mix’
Got a signed ‘For Those I Love’ print !!!
Made a card for the most brilliant writer that ever , ever came from Monaghan…Damien Owens ! It was a beautifully poignant card…in which I reminded him that he was now 22 years older than Daft Punk ….
My parents danced in the rain…Mam wore a pink fleece, Dad wore Skechers…
We ran the DKIT 10K virtually through a historical route , crossing the old GNR railaway line, the Ulster Canal, Drumsnatt Church, and the burial place of Oscar Wilde’s half sisters, with the bestest peeples, which we ended with a dip in Holy wood Lake !
I skipped…briefly.
I became a member of the NUIG Anime Covern…and got a hoodie !
I won a water balloon fight against my nieces , Hannah and Caitriona , out the back of Mum & Dads.
All the kids were at home for Darkness Into Light this year so we walked around the block together, before , during and after dawn.
There was a birthday that involved a number of ’64 Zoo Lane’ themed cards in which the giraffe , obviously, admitted to being a communist.
We ran around Bragan together , stopping to allow a God’s Horse to pass… none were travelling that fast to interfere with each other’s progress .
Fell in love with a Puca. Remembered a story about a Monaghan Puca and , STILL wonder why Aidan won’t let it come to it’s natural home ?!?
In between lockdowns , and after vaccinations, got to meet our arch-nemesis Pete again !!!
Got to be a Sanctuary Runner again !
Attended Glastonbury…virtually …but no less drunkenly…
Our whole family was at home and my flame haired Slytherin goddottir joined us. Oddly , Tuna , our nice cat is attracted to Eimear, but Pasta , the evil one, stands off….professional etiquette ?
I have bounced on Freddie’s trampoline more times than I’d have liked, but fewer times than he’d have liked. But we’ve had great Friday lunches together and between us we have determined what’s really important.
I’ve had pints in Corcaghan with Robyn and Aoife.
Jake came home for my birthday.
Robyn & Elliott were at home and available to repaint Granda’s garage !
Fell in love again with my Soulmate. ( Not that I’d fallen out of love…but you know sometimes when you forget your complacency and you see her ,actually see her…, you SEE her , the way you did, the way you do when you peel back all the other stuff that gets in the way, catch a glimpse, smell a perfume…or that way she might look at you…and BOOM …you’re … 30 and praying for greenlights as you tear though Dublin at 2.00AM to get to Holles St. to have your first child …and you try to reassure her ….and she takes your warming reassurance on board and says…lovingly…”YOU HAVE ONE JOB… DRIVE… FAST !!!
I have swum in the sea more times this year than I ever, ever have before.., sorry , quick qualification, in Ireland ! As kids , we went on two holidays to France , and stayed in tents with Kelleher’s Camp-O-Tels near La Rochelle. We lived in the sea.
We climbed Cuilcagh and drank Champagne !
I went on a poet’s retreat ! I thought it was a writer’s retreat, and only signed up because Colm Keegan was one of the organisers, but , anyway , it was ….do you know when something just strikes a chord, and it stirs your soul… like Simple Minds ‘Don’t You Forget About Me ‘… Yes ! From The Breakfast Club ! Yeah…like that.
We have family gatherings in Rossmore when all of the present ‘McKenna/Clerkin/ Bond grand kids can fit in Dagda’s Cauldron of Plenty…no, this is not a fevered dream… there is an actual cauldron in Rossmore..
I start to mow my neighbour’s lawn.
This might not seem significant to anyone else, but when we moved into our house,18 years ago, our neighbours quickly surmised that I hadn’t a clue/desire/initiative/will to do anything with the scene of rubble that we’d moved into. Kieran , and Christopher, his eldest son, levelled, raked , and sowed our lawn/garden/5-a-side pitch…Over the years I’ve tried to repay this great enterprise by subtlety introducing Chrissy to decent , honest -to-God Indie music…but I’m afraid to say that my best efforts have failed. He has fallen for a girl from The Filth, aka Meath, and ….I can’t quite bear to say it, but , DESPITE appearing in Italian and US Vogue, she has almost worse taste in music than he has… I mow their lawn , wearing my headphones, listening to The Pillow Queens, CMAT, Fontaines D.C…hoping that somehow, some way , it will seep into Tattinadonagh….
I got to take Anne Gildea to the Guthrie centre in Newbliss.
I ran with the Sanctuary Runners.
Fell in love again with my Soulmate. ( Not that I’d fallen out of love…but you know sometimes when you forget your complacency and you see her ,actually see her…, you SEE her , the way you did, the way you do when you peel back all the other stuff that gets in the way, catch a glimpse, smell a perfume…or that way she might look at you…and BOOM …you’re … living in Belfast , having wrestled your SoulMate away from her true place to follow your whim…and here you are…rushing to leave Jake to the creche at the back of the Ulster Hall, so you can take your Soul Mate to the Royal… and you know that she REALLY knows you, so the only reason she asked you to take Jake to the creche at the back of the Ulster Hall , was that she could organise everything properly for Robyn to arrive… which she did.. and I took my SoulMate to the Royal, and Robyn arrived in all of her glory…OH MY STARS ! And then I was , gently , reminded to go and collect Jake from the creche at the back of the Ulster Hall , so that he could meet his sister.
In July there is a ‘yellow’ themed party in McKenna’s for Robyn’s friend, one of our Other Other Daughters, Tori, and I squeeze into ‘Four Seasons Total Landscaping’ tee shirt that I’d bought for Jake , and Jesus H Christ do I have nipples like bazookas or wha ?!?!
I swam in Holywood with my SoulMate and my Best Friend Ger.
The Morrigan is revealed in Rossmore Park ?
I swim in Silver Strand with my SoulMate and my Best Friend Ger, and our kid , Jake !
We, family Bond, holidayed in Doolin. It was wonderful ! Yes, there were near death experiences, but they shouldn’t distract from our overall enjoyment /reminiscences…
We went to see the Fontaines D.C. play OUTDOOR in Belfast in August. In years to come I do think that this will be a seminal moment in their history. They were the headline band, it was their day…b the crowd knew all the words to all of the songs…and hey didn’t know them , they KNEW THEM ! They felt them.
I met a man called Gerry McMahon again. Whenever I think I can’t do something I just think of what Gerry has done and think…
I climbed The Devil’s Ladder.
We climbed Slieve Donard !
We, foolishly, high on our achievement of having climbed Slieve Donard, swam/shrunk in a Slieve Donard river pool on the way down. I swear to Everything That You Hold Sacred, you can possess my testicles…if you can find them in their eternally shrinking Baltic pool.
Leaving our daughter off to her first proper year of ‘away – from – home’ college experience was weird and wonderful… mostly weird to be honest.
We went out to Clifden and saw an amazing ….
I held a distressed swan in my lap !!!
I ran and walked around Monaghan with absolutely AMAZING people. They sometimes just nodded acquaintance, smiled, grunted acknowledgement of my presence , and never knew how important that tacit human touch may have been. Thank you.
I swam in Holywood with my SoulMate and my Best Friend Ger.
Ger is a bad influence on all of us.
Fell in love again with my Soulmate. ( Not that I’d fallen out of love…but you know sometimes when you forget your complacency and you see her ,actually see her…, you SEE her , the way you did, the way you do when you peel back all the other stuff that gets in the way, catch a glimpse, smell a perfume…or that way she might look at you…and BOOM …you’re … in a maternity ward in Belfast , and it’s , unlike the wonderful chaos of the others, supposedly controlled, because they’d spotted something in the scans.. and despite everything.. even though you pretend to be gormless and clueless, this is different…you shouldn’t have to have MRI scans when you’re hours old…and you take control for a change…for a moment…and you do…and INSIST that somethings not right.. and they listen…and then you realise that’s what it’s like for her all of the time.. and he’s OK , and the midwife asks you how you spell Elliott , and we know how to answer, because , the day before he was born I’d bought a book with all of the best names ever and my SoulMate had already decided on Elliott, and we’d discovered that there were lots of variations of that name , but Elliott seemed to have the maximum amount of letters allowed and he, in our limited experience of ‘him’ being ‘him’ , deserved that at least.
I ran quite a bit.. and , maybe appreciated it a bit more.
A while back, honestly don’t know when we started, but through the ‘ons and offs’ of lockdown my brothers’ John and Stephen ,and I meet every Friday morning for breakfast in Kinga’s Café, and we have the luxury of discussing everything and nothing. I cherish those moments.
I did Pilates…or Pilates was done to me…
I fan girld the Gazelles.
I have climbed
I have taken my Dad to both a Museum AND an art gallery…. AND he has stood longer and stared harder than I have at many, many wonderful things.
I have taken my Dad to see these things whilst my Mum has been exploring ways to traverse the Multivesre.
I have taken my time.
I have stopped rushing.
I have taken the time to appreciate all of the simply AMAZING people that I am fortunate enough to have in my life.
And yet , I don’t.
Within a moment of normality, all I’m concerned with is the most recent pettiness….
Fell in love again with my Soulmate…we were out for a walk, and for a very brief moment , I’d stopped to look at something in a hedge , and she’d carried on , and even though she was only a little distance ahead , I was convulsed with a fear that I couldn’t catch up. And then she looked back , and everything was alright again.
It’s only love.
All of it .
Everything.
It’s only love.
Toodles,
Paul
