lazy 6 December 2008
SUCH a lazy day of reading, watching TV and wondering if I have a cold or if the chemical niff in the house is causing these massive sniffles. I did something I haven’t indulged in in ages which was get a fish and chips takeaway for supper. Happily (I think) it wasn’t as fab as all that so I won’t be hankering after more over the next while. The lad who served me did a brilliant ‘salnvingar?’ that I am sure staff have to practice saying to get just right. Anyhow, I got news that my new cooker is arriving next Thursday morning so I can’t wait to get back to proper cooking again – it would be nice to think I might get to try it out before I cook the in-laws their Christmas dinner…but who knows on that front…It won’t be pork that’ll be the trial dish, that’s fairly certain, as the Irish government is recalling all pork and pork products over possible contaminated feed. It’s frightening that there is still so much opportunity for toxins to enter the food chain. And, we had a roast only three nights ago here in the house, so I am feeling poisoned now (nothing to do with the top night out last night, of course). And we did have a fab time in Odessa – many laughs, drinks, and me not really saying goodnight to anyone as my alarm bell went off as we were exiting and I knew I had a limited amount of time to get home before the system crashed. In Odessa, Ukraine, my Husband was up till 4 in the morning, no less, a most unusual occurance for a man who has become quite abstemious and tends to get up early to do his Russian homework. Speaking of which, I am way behind with my own and should tackle into that now…but I’ll probably have another lovely sleep instead and deal with it in the morning..night-night all!
this night 5 December 2008
Well, the Husband is in Odessa and I’m going to Odessa in a little while and yet we shall not meet this night. How so? I hear you ask, in some astonishment. Here’s how it is – he is in Odessa, Ukraine, with the rest of the staff of the agency where he works and the abandoned partners, and half of the accounts department (Clare, who could not go due to prior commitments), are having dinner in a restaurant/club of the same name in Dubbalin’s Towin. We are going to, as our great leader Eddie Bannon has pronouced, ‘mank the shit out of Christmas’. I like a good mank, it seems – or Eddie certainly tells me I do and have done and that’s exactly what I fear…I rather suspect I have had many’s the good mank but have now no recall of them, nor never did (if you catch my meaning). I shall try to be good and moderate as the builders will be here at 7am as usual and me having a hangover won’t stop the work (thank goodness). I shall report all after the event, such as I remmebr it. Already I know there are plans to email photos of us in action to Ukraine tonight with captions like ‘Odessa is lovely this time of year’ and ‘Wish you were here’ (though we’ll probably look like we wish no such thing…)
I have that Killer’s song going through my head incessantly – ‘are we human or are we dancer?’ – but in my head it’s ‘are we human or are we chancers…’
extra detail 5 December 2008
I should have said in the blog about the tragic balloonist that he was so far ahead that the Belorussians were not expecting him or the other competitors so soon into their airspace and so his early arrival was the unfortunate catalyst for the tragedy that unfolded.
things 4 December 2008
The Husband has come home from The London with 2 visas to Belarus. While beyond he heard a horror story from an associated Theatrical Agent about her uncle, a balloonist, who was shot down and killed by that same country for ‘invading’ their airspace, although he had all the requisite papers and was showing them to the helicopters as they circled – his crime? he was the leader of the balloon race by a long way and first to arrive in the airspace – they presented his widow with a Belarussian flag along with their sincere apology though I can’t see that being run up her flagpole in tribute, somehow.
My Russian teacher, Alina Kisina, opened her exhibition in Edinburgh tonight – hope that went well – keep an eye out for it you Edinburghians or visitors to that Great City.
I have the Bad Bag today and had to do an article about my typical daily diet for a newspaper – couldn’t quite concentrate with any great joy on health matters and good eating while feeling dickily thus…
october 3 December 2008
SO! did a full day of talking to the press about OCTOBER the new play coming in Feb 2009 in Dublin. Victoria Smurfit – she of being generally fabulous and star of TRIAL AND RETRIBUTION on tv – is also coming out to play (HURRAH!) and, damn her!, is back into her skinny jeans just 3 weeks after having her latest kid! She’s admitting to a (uk) size 10, can I say size 8 MAX! Anyhow, one of the fab things today was that she was all tall and thin and blond and I was all short and dark and roundy and we looked like one got one set of genes from the family and one the other set which is BRILLIANT (and often accurate) casting for sisters and of course bound to cause problems within a clan and that’s what the play deals with, essentially, that ‘i love you now here’s a big slap cos i hate you too’…amongst other things. It’s also got a bouncy castle on set – nuff said – plus I have never been on one and CANNOT WAIT for a go!
We were walking along earlier when I spotted that Vic was also wearing really great killer heels and we both agreed that these should not be known as anyone’s ‘fuck me sandals’ or ‘fuck me shoes’ but my ‘fuck YOU shoes’.
medley 2 December 2008
Did some Christmas shopping today – on a budget – not TOO depressing as there weren’t TOO many peeps around BUT already the shop I thought would solve a lot of problems is sold out of the things I wanted most – probably a good thing, too, because those things were all the ones I would have been tempted to keep for myself (that happens EVERY year – I buy things I’d like for others then cannot part with them and so the cycle of spending continues)
Got a copy of THE CAT magazine (winter edition) from Cats Protection and on page 7 is Yours Truly talking about The G – no pic of her as she is NOTORIOUSLY protective of her privacy and image ( she says SHY but I think she fears catnapping, and not of the usual afternoon kind, if she were more easily recognisable). She is quite pleased with what’s been said about her in the mag though (phew!)
Booked joiners today, both of whom SWEAR to be out by Christmas, though one has admitted it’ll be 23rd before he vamooses – grand as long as he does, work done, client happy.
Got a wee tour from the Builder of what’s already done (veh veh nice) and he also WANTS to be gone by the big C.
In other words we are all in agreement there = great.
Had a Russian lesson today where it turns out I cannot say the word FILM in Russian properly – apparently my L is too hard…holy MARY if I can’t even say a word we SHARE what HOPE is there for the rest of the language? (and don’t even get me started on the Russian…do you see? do you see what I did there??)
Will stop now as have been awake since 5.30am after the WORST ‘sleep’ ever so am a bit MAD. We have a Press Day tomorrow for the new Fiona Looney play OCTOBER (on in February, Olympia Theatre, Dublin) with a full day of interviews, chat and PHOTOS and if I look anything like today that last bit’ll be a DISASTER…
One last thing, though – isn’t it hilarious that (from a distance and not living or visiting there and all respect and commiserations with those who do) Venice is FLOODED! How can they tell???
exploitation 1 December 2008
It’s amazing what you can see when you are trapped and have no control over the tv. In fairness, I am a married woman so I know what that’s like – e.g. my Mum in Law rang me on Saturday to ask who I thought was on their way out of the ballroom dancing show on BBC and I had to explain that HER SON was watching rugby at that time so the tv was not mine…also our remote has been locked into a room I haven’t seen for 5 months now (of which I was fond and sat in every night) so we have been hostage to laziness some evenings when we couldn’t be arsed to lean (a long way) further over the room to change channels. But, tonight, it was all courtesy of the G who was ON ME. There was a programme on Irish tv about exploitation of immigrant workers and WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! a cafe that Himself loves, and which is recommended in all the guide books as a great breakfast etc spot, was one of the exploiters! MOST interesting. The G looked most smug as I rang him (he’s in London’s Glittering West End this night) and spread the news…That creature is GOOD, damn her!
blin 30 November 2008
Apparently Boris Yeltsin, in his heyday, once got Bill Clinton’s name famously wrong and called him Blin Clinton. Blin, as you may know, is the Russian for pancake – as in blinis etc. Now there is a pancake chain in Kiev, Ukraine, called Blin Clinton’s – you gotta love that (and I guess it would have been a gulag-going offence in the bad old days…)
Watched Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander tonight on the Beeb and I thought it was very, very good. I enjoy the books (if that’s the word – they are a brilliant detective series but grey and low key in all the best possible ways). He is probably too young and so on but SUCH a good actor that I thought he made the character his own. The rest of the cast were impeccable too. It’s tremendously and stylishly well made. I will tune in to the 2 other full length features coming over the next weeks.
Strictly Come Dancing (also the BBC – hurrah) is getting UNBEARABLY exciting now…
I think I may do some Christmas shopping tomorrow – the thought FILLS me with dread…I still don’t like the whole Yuletide festivities thing but I must say the weather is perfect for it in Dublin right now – it’s those cold, bright, crisp, dry days that are a pleasure to be out in if you’re wrapped up tight. Not SO great being in a house with many, many draughts cos it’s not finished but I’ll stop right now before the whinging takes hold of me…3 more weeks, 3 more weeks , 3 more weeks (if I say that often enough it might happen…) all together now – 3 more weeks!
nudes 29 November 2008
The Mammy brought home a variety of nudes while she was an art student. They were mostly female nude studies. She’d festoon the walls with them – I suppose she was ‘confronting her image’ as the late Loughlin so urged. My teenage brothers were MORTIFIED and would only then open the front door a sliver to their friends in case they also saw the ‘art’ our house was draped in…course they might have been keeping it to themselves too – I remain unconvinced that a teenage boy wouldn’t be secretly thrilled that he could observe the naked female form ‘legitimately’. Doesn’t seem to have harmed either of them anyhow. We still refer to the drawings etc as ‘the nudies’. I have a feeling there’s a whole tranch of them in our attic – a lot of the sculptures are in the back garden and I look forward to getting my hands on them in the fullness of time.
sculpture 28 November 2008
I’ve just remembered that The Mammy used to make fibreglass sculptures when she was a student (same time as me and the bros were at second level) This was all under the tutelage of the lovely Loughlin Hoare who passed away recently and who I wrote to you all about. Anyhow, those were early days in the art department of Galway Regional Technical College and they learned from their (many) mistakes as they went along. (I’ve asked her about the pong and she says I’ll certainly know when the offending shower tray goes in). I recall our bath at home having a fibreglass representation of a female torso in it for a LONG time. Herself was trying to soak it to see if that would loosen the mould that still clung to it long after she had supposedly released it into the artistic community. Then she heard that a suede brush was a hardy thing and might be just what needed to slough off the mould so we were charged with ‘having a go’ at the torso after any bathroom activity. (Strikes me that we mustn’t have washed properly for some weeks around then). Anyhow, nothing could shift the bits of mould and in the end she sprayed the thing gold and hoped examiners would think it’s roughness all deliberate and some gritty comment on female sexuality in seventies Ireland…