Blur This week has been a series of deadlines for Preventable Surprises, for quarterly performance reports, and for the NICRAS annal report. Monday night I was too tired to go to choir. I went swing dancing Tuesday night and Wednesday David and I had dinner at a restaurant where I had
Fav Foto Maysie hasn’t been feeling well, so I stayed close to home today and, among other things, went through photos on one of my digital camera cards. This is my favourite so far: My mom thinks she’s hysterical, and sometimes I agree. She does this thing where she starts
Swinging Today I hiked with the Dynamos, a MeetUp walking group, for nearly two hours at Crawfordsburn Park. I talked to one person the whole time--usually I try to meet several people. But she’s really interesting--a Dubliner who spent her working life in England and has recently retired
Good news X 2 This afternoon (1:44 pm to be precise) I got an e-mail inviting me for an interview for a job I had applied for in London. The interview is at 2 p.m. next Friday. One week away. I will receive a writing assignment at 5pm on Thursday (my
The limits of patience While today was nominally a work day, I took two hours out of the middle to run errands. First up, a trip to an industrial site in Dunmurry, where I collected maybe 20 bags of food for a refugee agency. Second, I called in at a pet store to get
Botanic Before I met my friend to see a film the other day, I had a really good meal at an Indian restaurant then walked to Queen’s Film Theatre. It was a beautiful, sunny evening and, when I came to a fork, I couldn’t decide if I should take
Visa, part two I got a letter on the 10th from the Home Office demanding seven documents by the 20th. Given Easter hols, I had five business days. The letter stated my visa could be denied if they weren’t satisfied with the information I provided. Today I overnighted a package to the
The Handmaiden Have you ever gone to a film expecting to see one thing and then seeing something entirely different? I thought I was going to see The Handmaid’s Tale, a film adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopic look at a patriarchal power grab--so timely! Instead, I saw a Korean
Backlog April: 12. Today’s big accomplishment was elevating a new website for Preventable Surprises. It reflects Raj’s work more than mine. I did what I could to clean it up around the margins but deferred to Raj on the overall design. It’s his baby, not mine, after all.
Tom & Marshall I’m going to keep on the woe is me theme. My neighbour Marshall, whom I visit on a regular basis for tea and a chat, is selling his house and moving somewhere smaller. He’s lived next door for 29 years. He has a right to downsize, of course,
Visa trouble I met today with Mimi Unamoyo, an amazing lawyer from the Congo who is leading an integration project for refugee women in Belfast. And she’s doing an LLM at Queen’s. I’m working on an annual report for the integration project, basically a list of all the things
P.S. I spent about five weeks developing a website for Preventable Surprises using a platform called Weebly. The head of P.S., Raj, didn’t like my prototype site. I’m not offended by this b/c I’m not and never have claimed to be a web designer. He hired
Choices David and I were both in town this weekend, which means a deadly level of productivity. I could zoom in on any of a number of things or just keep a broad focus. I’m going with the latter. We spent the first few hours moving furniture, books, and artwork
Belfast Film Festival "... represents a showcase of 130 films and events, celebrating talent from 35 countries around the world.” I made it to my first film last night and the festival ends in two days. Whatever. The film was called Cameraperson. It was a melange of the work of cinematographer Kirsten Johnson,
The Noise of Time The book, by the way, was The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes. I had suggested the title, which meant I would lead the discussion. Hence my eagerness to read it. It was an imagined biography of Russian composer Shostakovich during three periods of his life. It is the story
Apptitude I have never downloaded an app to my phone. It’s a basic phone that I use for calls and texting. I have tried and occasionally succeeded at using the phone to check something on the internet, but so far I have managed just fine without apps on my phone.
Return to reality One more photo of Culdaff beach. Yesterday started perfectly. I took two of Julie’s classes at U3A (University of the Third Age), one on mindfulness, one on yoga. I got a look at my future--Julie gave me a tour of the U3A building, where there are language classes,
Mind the Gap After we hiked around Fort Dunree yesterday, we drove through Mamore Gap to Carndonagh, where we had lunch. "Near the summit of Mamore Gap a number of holy relics can be found – a holy well devoted to St Eigne and a small alter of statues are the centre point
Driving Miss Casey Julie is working all weekend, so I suggested to Ian, her husband, that we should do a day trip to Donegal. He volunteered to drive so I got to drink in Donegal, like a thirsty sailor fresh in port. We started at Fort Dunree at the mouth of Lough Swilly.
Former Pupils Association My high school is celebrating its 400th anniversary. I attended the annual former pupils lunch with 114 other students, including classmates Cathy and Jennifer: The lunch started at 1 pm and the last former pupils left at 10 pm. I left at 8 pm--I just don’t have the
Derry Days Today I had workers at the house who installed a wood laminate floor (in between four smoking breaks) while I did chores and worked on Preventable Surprises stuff. Tomorrow, I leave for Derry for the weekend. I took a lot of photos over the weekend (I’m writing this on
Post Truth Society Yesterday, Theresa May triggered Brexit. And with a phalanx of fossil fuel executives standing behind him, Trump gutted the Clean Power Plan, Obama’s attempt (against the will of the Republican congress) to bring America in line with the Paris Agreement. These are parallel tragedies. The gloom and doom over
Hadski's I met a woman called Sophie on the hike last weekend and we decided to go to dinner at a high-end place called Hadski’s in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. I was really excited because I never eat out at a restaurant, a very expensive habit here. While the
Swinging I skipped a few days because, in recalling them, all I remember was cleaning and painting on Sunday, and swimming and working for Preventable Surprises on Monday. I remember today’s highlight. I took a swing dance lesson. It’s been nearly a decade since I went somewhat regularly to
ABC A is for Andrea, who led the MeetUp hike I went on today with about 50 people. B is for Bosco, her loyal dog (at her feet in this photo). C is for Cavehill, one of the mountains that overlook Belfast. You can see the city in the background from
