I’ve been sober for nearly two years now. To the dog on the street that doesn’t mean much. Every day you wake up feeling pretty good and go to sleep feeling pretty good but tired. This existence is like a retirement home for recovering crack heads – Nice and easy in the middle. ..soft pastel colours and nice people saying nice things. Your condition is solid and you suffer no paranoia and no early morning pangs of regret. There is nothing to fear. There is an abundance
Philosophical
How to grow old gracefully
They reckon that turning 18 is a milestone. They believe that hitting 21 is another. Stumbling over 30 years is meant to be the beginning of the end. But I have just hit the weirdest age of them all – 35.Thirty five years old…my God. I don’t want to sound like a boring old twat, but where did the years go? I still feel like my teen years are just behind me. I still act as though my twenties are still to be lived. But I am now closer to my forties than any other decade. I have reached middle age territory. I have lived for more years than Jesus did. Or Kurt Cobain. Or Jim Morrison
Viva La Revolution
Where do I begin? My absence from blogging has been caused by number of reasons. I have been searching for some information on the interweb. I have been disseminating. I have been scouring the globe for news about the revolution. You see, there are many hands and feet getting involved now. They are all walking together and they are going in the same direction. I am part of this revolution in a very
The Butterfly Effect
Everybody needs a “leg up” from time to time. Of course the “leg up” is not to be confused with the “leg over”, but we all need that too! A “leg up” means to help someone to be more successful. It is a simple, concise image and it evokes a quick, physical remedy. It means that you go out of your way to try to improve another persons’ life. It could be the smallest of gestures or the writing of a fat hefty check, but the result is the same – you improve someone else’s existence. The result of your actions is a better world for someone else. Whether you like it or not, at some stage in life you will be called on to give someone a “leg up”. You may not be fully aware of it at the time, but there will be moments when you could make a tiny bit of extra effort and help someone change their mind, which in turn helps them make a better decision in trying times. Although we are not conscious of the chain of events which follow our actions, at some point we must accept that what we say and do can have a positive or negative effect on someone. Do you want to be responsible for giving someone a “leg up” or a kick in the arse?
An Irish queer
Back in the sixties, the Irish playwright Sean O’ Faoilain remarked that an Irish queer is a man who prefers women to drink. He hit a few nails on the head with this wry observation. The mentality of the Irish man is that your strength and toughness are defined by how easily and readily you consume alcohol. Being a ladies’ man without getting blind drunk and shagging the ugly fat chicks in the process, is not something which is regarded as “manly”. How you handle the “pint” is also a point of acclaim and a veritable badge of honour. You will hear in hush tones in quiet old pubs how Paddy Hughes can “put away” sixteen pints of the black stuff and ne’er a bother on ‘im. We are suspicious of men who cavort and charm, while only sipping on a glass of champagne for two hours. And more to the point, what sort of a man drinks champagne?
Porn, passion and porter
The Irish man is a puzzling creature. We baffle people sometimes. We confuse ourselves most of the time. We love to have a laugh at our own expense or anyone else’s for that matter. We have a wild streak which is natural and honest. We take life relatively easily and carefree. As a Paddy with a piss potation problem, I know how we love to celebrate everything with booze. We love to lacquer the various trimmings of life with gallons of intoxicating liqueurs. Sure our Taoiseach (Prime Minister) is a booze hound of Boris Yeltsin proportions.