It’s Monday morning, the last day of our break in Cabo Roig, in the Costa Blanca area of eastern Spain, and when we drew the curtains for the final time, (not too early in the morning), it was as if we were looking out the window in the good old Emerald Isle.
For the first time during our holiday it was grey and miserable and the rain was hammering off the normally bone-dry roadway. It shows what a horrible person I am, because in a perverse way I was delighted to see it. Now it wasn’t solely to spite all the holidaymakers who were arriving that day, but it was more to make it easier for us to say goodbye. There is nothing worse than leaving beautiful sunshine behind you, when you know that, in all probability, you are going back to wet, cold and windy weather.
Funny enough, this time the shoe was on the other foot and we were being told that we would be going home to our own tropical weather. Sadly, I am writing this on the Tuesday morning after getting into Dublin Airport after midnight last night and it’s spilling rain outside. It’s cold and miserable and somewhere along the line the promised heatwave seems to have been sent elsewhere.
Anyway, it’s good to be back and because we were lucky enough to have no telly for the entire duration of our holiday, we were totally protected from all the hopping and trotting as our politicians managed to cobble together some sort of Government.
Now, as yet I have no idea as to what sort of arrangement they came up with, but I can tell you it was very pleasant to never have to look at Enda or Michael or Joan or any of their long faces for a full couple of weeks.
I was figuring out what makes life so different when people are away on holidays and I think it’s just that, for a week or two, we forget all our troubles and our worries and we completely relax. It’s amazing in the pubs how people who would normally ignore all those beside them, talk to everyone and anyone and you make friends (at least for a night or two) with strangers, who wouldn’t look twice at you if you were at home.
However that’s it for at least another year!
Great events in King House
There’s an amazing couple of events coming up in the historic King House in Boyle over the next two weekends. On Friday night next, the 13th May, as part of Roscommon County Council 1916 Centenary Programme of Events, there is an amazing show – The Count, The Countess and the Tommy – which is an evening of the songs of the great Athlone tenor, John McCormack, taking place at 8 pm in King House.
International soloists Simon Morgan and Lisa Lambe, who have performed all over the world, including a recent appearance on the Late Late Show, are the stars of the show and not only is it a fabulous night’s entertainment, but it’s also free. It’s also part of Myles Duncan’s Paths to Freedom centrepiece which is a unique package of lectures, presentations and shows, remembering the Rising, a full hundred years on.
The following Friday there is a full day of lectures, talks and all kinds of different events, details of which I will give you in next week’s piece.
However, this Friday make sure you get to King House and you will have a night of unbelievable song and music. Tell them I sent you and you probably won’t be let in! Only joking, but maybe don’t mention me!
Have a peak at Peaky Blinders
While on holiday recently, friends of ours over there gave us box sets of Peaky Blinders, a series that I can honestly tell you I had never heard of.
I am now totally hooked on the events involving the Shelby family. If you haven’t seen it, start looking at it right now. The only thing is – maybe be careful if you have a squeamish stomach, there can be rough stuff in it.
Our own Cillian Murphy, right, is the main character and his performance is absolutely riveting. It’s said he went off the rails a good bit the last few years, after the Wind that Shakes the Barley, and let’s hope this new success puts him back at the top of the acting tree. On watching this show, he deserves to be there.
Well deserved honour for Minister Denis
Finally for this week, I have just learned that Denis Naughten has been named Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources in the new amalgamated Government, and in my unbiased opinion, it’s a well deserved honour. He has always struck me as an intelligent, genuine, hard worker and coming from the stable that he does, it’s no wonder.
He does what he can for his constituents and I am genuinely glad to see him take his place at the top table and let’s hope he gets a long run at doing a job he appears to be eminently suited to.
