Mountains at Sea
by the Rambling Man

If each of your peaks was a mountain, or even a hill;
A rugged, growth covered peak where families brought their guests
to gaze at some city below;
Then it would surely be the grandest range there was to see. At sea.

If each of your peaks was a mountain, or even a slope;
That the sunlight dusting its top, might stay with for more than a moment,
as it moved through and away.
Then they would surely be the most sparkling slopes there were to see. At sea.

If each of your peaks was a man, or even a child;
Each man and each child, never knowing the same shape more than the once;
As they marched in and up and out and back again;
Then it would surely be the grandest race there ever was to see. At sea.

And if atop but one of your peaks stood me,
And gazed upon this range, this slope, this race;
As they flowed, never ending from where I am now to where I had been;
without stopping, even for a breath, however calm.
Then it is surely the grandest sight there is to see. My sea.

* Please excuse the abject sentimentality of this effort !

Gosh the bloggery rate has just been appalling of late … I just don’t have the time.  But I shall persevere.

Anyhoo, thought I’d give some readers a heads up on something to read if they aren’t reading my blog.  At the moment the young ‘un is at an age where her attention span is growing everyday and so can be plonked in front of a Winnie the Pooh DVD for an hour or so while the parents get some well earned sit down time.

And so it was that Sebastian Barry’s World War 1 novel, called “A Long Long Way” came into my hands - its a harrowing story (still only half way through) about a young Irish soldier in the trenches of Flanders.  It switches between his experiences of war and his experiences of home and the ultimate dilemmas this causes him.  When he is home on leave, the 1916 Rising kicks off and we get somewhat of a perspective of what it might have been like from the British side (”the British” in this case being heavily populated with Irishmen who happened to answer John Redmond’s call to volunteer for WW1).  Some of the soldiers didn’t know what was going on - the reader is screaming at them going “It’s the Easter Rising silly !” but of course, the Easter Rising was an unknown event really until after it happened.  “Are you a German ?” asks the books’ protagonist, after one of the Irish Volunteers had been shot in front of him … amazing they way we now know what went on and think that to the ordinary people the British were the agressors …

It also has connotations for today’s political situation - we think of 1916 as being this big uprising and the foundations of the state and so on … but was the story on the ground different in 1916 ?  Was the uprising popular among the ordinary Dubliners ?  This novel gives a different perspective - how history books can change the fundamental thoughts of a nation …

I’m not finished it yet but I can’t read it quick enough.  Barry’s prose is amazing - the kid of writer you aspire to be.  I can imagine an aspiring author reading prose such as his and then giving up writing completely - “That’s exactly how I wanted to say things like that” sort of a deal …

Class video this - gives an all new perspective to Facebook !

Appalling bloggery record of late !  I know - I don’t like it either … keep the faith … trying to make time.

Senseless, gutless and so very sad … you just never know what’s going on with people …

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fears-children-drugged-before-blaze-1361774.html

A brief introduction to Kiwiana … those funny things that the Kiwis say that makes you stop and go “Huh?”

2 per day I reckon - this one might run and run …

To give your ferret a run - means to have ones way with someone …

To pack a sad - means to cry or become sad or grumpy …

http://ramblingman.myjalbum.net/Alcatraz

The Poppy
(Ne Gelincik)

by the Rambling Man

In my hand I hold a poppy
Not of stem and petal made,
but of linen. Red, and brittle,
like the sands of Suvla Bay and lives that hung to
roaring cliffs at Hell’s Spit.

Silent stones now lie where many men once stood;
Adorned with flowers, each with a tale to tell, of woe.
But once alive as you and me, and more;
Their history tells of a battle brave,
but men who fell, and those that never were thereafter,
stay silent in their grief. They know and we do not.
Poppy fields now cover soil, that once needed no flower to flow red;
and dark.

Ari Burnu, Gaba Tepe and Gallipoli - names we now all know
but at the greatest cost and yet the worst,
indeed, “We shall remember them” and think what might have been.
For they are fallen. And will remember no more.

The wind that moves the poppies carries far the heartbreak;
and moves through silent stones that lie
where many men once stood.

So I never usually reply to those multitude of silly requests people send on Facebook but yesterday I got one developed by an ex-pat in England and thought what the hell so I gave it a shot … it said it was scarily accurate and so it was !!

“Which Irish player are you ?” was its title and I’ll let readers Facebook each other to actually find out … suffices to say I am my fellow Waterfordonian (nearly) the bould John O’Shea …

Here’s what Faceboko had to say about Sheasie and me …

You are John O’Shea

Now where on Earth did they get that idea ?

Continuing with the theme of things that tickle us in NZ - all in a good way …

• the way they say “kaaysssh” when they mean ‘cache‘.
• Pukekos … you got to see one to know … pr. Poo-kee-cos
• the way people thank one another for riding in a lift with them … even though everyone gets in and out at random floors and nobody might know anyone !
• the (slight) stigma people have about not packing their own bags in the supermarket - so much so that they won’t even shop there !   Come to Ireland folks … you’ll have to buy the bags first and then pack them yourself !!
• Sushi with pizza strapped to it !
• Free parking

South African, Trevor Immelman has just won the US Masters at Augusta, to become the first South African to win that competition since Gary Player in 1978. He shot a final round 73.

He wobbled a bit towards the end, putting his approach on the par 3 16th into the water, but held on to win by 3 from Tiger Woods.

Well done to him - it’s hard to lead from start to finish and he deserves it …

PS - Would whoever wrote or edited this piece on the RTE website about the above golf tournament, please edit it, correct the spellings and repost … for the love of Jaysis, you’re the national broadcaster and a supposed pinnacle of telecomunications !

So we’ve been in New Zealand over a month and I’ve been seriously neglecting my blogging … suppose it comes with the territory of not having time to scratch myself in my new job !

It’s the little things we like … take for example, the (too) many times we’ve had to go to the doctors and hospital since we’ve been here … the health service, compared to the mess in Ireland, is just wonderful ! And we’re not even residents yet, let alone citizens !!

Take for example, the viral rash the baby got the other day … we walked in to the GPs surgery - they always have 5 or 6 docs on at the clinic … you go in and they have you on record … and guess what ? It links with the hospital records and any other doctors records you might have visited …. and as they assess and treat you in the room, they are looking at your history (on some new fangled device called a laptop ??) And so they knew what Anabel had and what to do …

And the cost ? NZ$ 5 !! thats €2.75 !! and thats about 20 times cheaper than at home where just to start, it’s 55 to get in the door ! And the medicine was free, the wait time less than 10 minutes and the staff friendly !

So there you have it Mary Harney et al. it can be done - and because it was a walk-in clinic and not just a lone GP in his office somewhere, most Kiwis don’t even rate that service !! The more we experience here, unfortunately the more we see what a mess Ireland is in terms of its infrastructure and services. There are things that are better and worse in both places, but in those important things like primary medical care etc. New Zealand is streets ahead.

Just a pity its not “home”, because home is where the heart is.