Ghostbusters

 

Being brave girlies, Helen and I set out on the night-time ghost walk of Mullingar, given by Ruth Illingworth. Maybe we hadn't thought it out fully as both Helen and I would be returning to an empty house afterwards, but regardless we set off.

It was a fabulous talk and if you ever get a chance to go on one of Ruth's historical talks, TAKE IT!

We learned about the gory history of the court house and the jail ( which is now the Arts Center)

Poor unfortunates were held in cells in the basement of the Court house to await their fate. If found guilty they were brought via tunnels under the road to the jail. They were then hanged publicly outside the jail, providing entertainment for the baying crowds. So of course you would expect some disgruntled spirits to be still hoovering around.

Helen and I both did several shows in the Arts Center. We were well aware of the resident ghost. The current dressing rooms are on the site of the cells and we knew enough to never be in the dressing room on our own! Never saw the ghost but I never took any chances!

We also learned the story of the haunted window. It overlooked the execution site. It seems that the owner of the house was looking out the upstairs window at one hanging when the window sash fell down and killed him instantly. His face was seen peering out of the window on several occasions. In fact the window was boarded up for many years.

We then marched on to the haunted bridge which crosses the railway. Legend has it that the railway master was killed by a disgruntled employee that he fired. He crosses over and back to this day.

I think the sight of twenty people standing at the foot of the bridge frightened the disembarking passengers more than any ghost would!

Onwards to the cathedral. One poor ghost was a caretaker who was poisoned by strychnine in a slice of Christmas cake! Keep that in  mind for future reference!

There were many more fascinating stories about supernatural events, so many that I think there must be more ghosts than live people in Mullingar!

After it finished I headed home. I managed to get a great night's sleep, Haven't heard from Helen yet! I hope she's okay :)

Time Flies

 

As i was clearing out my classroom I came across this photo of the time Dad came to talk to my class back in 2004.

I had Third class and we were doing interviewing techniques in History. One of the assignments was to interview an older person. Not all of my pupils had grandparents to interview and the days of sending them off to find someone to interview were long gone! So I brought my dad in to answer their questions.

Dad is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. His store of general knowledge was vast, his mathematical prowess was ahead of his time and his problem-solving was second to none.

The saddest story he ever told me was about his last year in Primary school. Back in those days very few students went on to Secondary school as it was too expensive. Every year a scholarship was awarded to the best student in Sixth class to allow them to further their education. Everyone agreed that Dad was a dead cert for the scholarship but alas it was awarded to the headmaster's son and Dad started a carpenter's apprenticeship. I wonder what Dad would have achieved if he had been given the chance. 

But Education's loss was the construction industry's gain.

And let's be honest, he earned way more money as a builder than he would ever have done as a teacher!

Anyway he was delighted to come in and talk to my class. 

I have to say I was SO PROUD of him. 

Without any training he had them eating out of the palm of his hand. He regaled them with stories from his school years. About how they had secretly changed the hands of the clock so that the master let them home an hour early. They were terrified going in the next day but nothing was said. When they got home they realised that they had spent an extra 2 hours in school, the master having secretly changed the hands on them!

He told them about life in Ireland during World War 2, about how the Germans had bombed Dublin by accident and how the elephant had escaped from the zoo!

They were amazed to discover that you could buy twenty sweets for two pennies back in those days.

I also found the letters that the kids had written to him to thank him for his visit. I did have a little cry for myself.

"Thank you Mr Lynam for coming to our class. I thought that you were very funny especially when you told us  when you changed the clock. I will look forward to doing that but shhh....don't tell anyone ( I mean Ms Noeleen). I can't believe you remember all that stuff. Wow you have a great memory.

And this one, that proves it's never too late to start again.

"I think you should become a teacher."

This reminds me of the poem The Village Schoolmaster by Goldsmith.

And still they gazed and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew.

Choir in a pub

Here is the latest photo from Pubcór. Do you recognise anyone in it......first on the left!

I love being part of music whether it's listening, singing or dancing. There is only one tiny problem, while I can dance I can't sing very well. That's the reason why I've mimed my way through many's a musical including the rehearsals. But I just love the sound of people singing in harmonies. I miss that, but I would not have the confidence to join a choir as I feel that my croaking would put off the people around me.

Enter...Pubcór, which translates as "Choir in a pub"!  Sounds good already.

It was set up by an old friend of mine Bobby Harpur and Sabrina  O Reilly, the concept is quite simple but genius. If you're interested in singing ( and according to them everyone can sing.....this was before they met me!) , you get together with a group of like minded people in a pub. I went to St Mary's GAA club in Leixlip, an old haunt of mine. In a 90 minute slot the group will have learned and performed a classic in three part harmony. It is done in a totally relaxed and fun atmosphere, hey, there's even a beer break in the middle of it. Also it isn't as big a commitment as joining a choir. Each evening is self contained, there is one complete song learned per session, so if you can't go on one evening, you can go to the next and you haven't missed out. We did  "Nothing's going to stop us now."

 Next meeting is....

Date: Thursday 8th December 2022

Venue: Leixlip GAA Hall, Green Lane, Leixlip, Co.Kildare

Time: 20.15 (8.15 in old money)

Song: TBD

More info on their website www.pubcór.ie

I LOVED IT!

December

Silly Cow

 

After a full-on week at Carter on the Costa us four foot-weary soldiers made our way to Alicante airport for the flight home. Due to horrendous thunderstorms back in Ireland all Irish flights were delayed......by FIVE HOURS.

But it could have been worse, they could have decided to fly through all that thunder, lightening and turbulence! NO THANKS!

We were starving so we went over to Burger King to get something to eat (before our diets which start on Monday!!!)

I stood staring blankly at the screen that you tap and prod to make your selection and then I went inside to await my order. When my number came up, I went to the counter. I looked at my covered cup and asked the server

"Milk?"

I can't understand why in other countries they haven't realised that of course Irish people put milk in their tea,

He looked at me in amazement and started waving his hands about and saying something in Spanish.

I remained calm and repeated

"Milk, please."

He shook his head and gesticulated again, refusing to get what I asked for.

I thought it was due to the language barrier so I replied once more in my best Spanish

"Milk? Moo...." just in case he didn't understand me.

He flapped his hands wildly and then went off to serve the next customer.

I was too tired to argue so I took my tray and returned to my seat, vexed at his rudeness.

It was only as I was removing the lid from my cup that I suddenly remembered.

I HAD ORDERED A DIET COKE!

Of course he had thought I was mad for wanting to put milk into it

AND I HAD MOOed AT HIM!!!

My Honeymoon

 During my research I discovered that there are several stages to Retirement.

#1 Pre-retirement. This is the year before actual retirement when you plan for your future, Research has shown that people spend most of their time planning for their financial future and very little time on what they will do with their time. Yet in the first few years of retirement nearly all problems experienced by people are due to their mental health and not their financial situation.

Not me! My motto is...

Don't plan just on having enough money to last you the rest of your life, but rather 

Plan to have enough life to last you the rest of your money! 

#2 The Honeymoon phase. This is where I'm at at the moment, that warm, fuzzy phase when the world is your oyster and life is ticking along perfectly. I figured that if I'm in this phase then the least I can do is to actually go on honeymoon!

So this was one of the ideas in my jar of wishes...

So myself and my sister Geraldine, our brother Finian and his wife Marese headed off to 

Carter on the Costa, where 500 Country Music fans head off to Spain to have the craic for a week.

I know some people who would think that this is their worst nightmare but for my musical society friends, just let me explain

"Think of an AIMS weekend....... only for a week and in the sun."

It was one of the best weeks of craic I ever had.

Morning started with and all -you-can-eat breakfast. Then out to the pool area where you could either just sit and relax......

 Or if you were feeling energetic you could take some dance lessons.

And you know how I love me a bit of dancing!

After a bbq you could join in a seisúin by the pool or head off on a tour or walk by the sea or any feckin' thing you wanted to do!

Calpe is a beautiful place.

Then it was time to get ready for the night-time activities. All-you-can-eat dinner was followed by the night's entertainment. Yes the main act was Nathan Carter, but there were also three other acts on each night, including Irish country, American country, Traditional, comedian, hypnotist. There was something for everyone.

After midnight the music and dancing continued to the wee hours of the morning. The police did call to say that there was a complaint to say we were having too much fun!

There's no such thing as too much fun.

Me, trying unsuccessfully to join Ceol!

Of course the main man was Nathan Carter.

I had a week of eating, drinking, sunbathing, music, dancing and most of all, laughing.

So I can now officially say

I'm a Culchie.....and proud of it!

Week 25: One Year, No New Gear

 I know I haven't posted this in a while but I am still on track, In my effort to save the planet I am shunning fast fashion (and even the slow one) and wearing all that's in my wardrobe.

With my retirement thrown into the mix I did use my monthly emergency purchase to buy my hot pink trouser suit. I went out with a bang!

So now I am into week 2 of retirement. For the first couple of days I was lounging around in sports wear

without actually doing any sport!

and lots of leggings and comfy clothes.

Think of what we wore during Lockdowns....

AND WE ALL KNOW HOW HORRIBLY WRONG THAT ALL WENT!

So after a couple of days I began to dress properly. I then encountered Problem #2

A huge part of my wardrobe was actually my school wear- "nice" dresses, skirts, tops etc. And it's really something that I won't wear as a civilian! So a bit of tweaking will be needed if I'm to see the year out.

I discovered that a furry gilet makes lots of "transition " pieces. Oh, look at me , being all fashionista,

Mental Health Day

 I recently joined the Raharney's Women's shed group. For Mental Health Day we organised a cake sale and a chance for a cuppa and a chat.

So the night before I put on my pinny and set about baking something. Now my go-to recipe is for healthy, low cal Oaty Banana Buns. Really tasty, even if I say so myself!

What can I say, I was on Operation Transformation not The Great British Bake Off. That's as good as it gets.

So this morning was spent selling tea and cakes, and having the chats. We raised over 360 euro for Mental Health. 

Keeping it in the family

 Here is an adorable picture of my grandniece Beth in her new jersey.

Now, she is technically not a Lynam, she is on the Murtagh branch of the family tree. Neither is she from Raharney, but she wears our club colours with flair.

Dad's building company started sponsoring the local GAA club many years ago.

Have to be honest and say it was probably due more to the O'Boyle half of  the partnership than to the Lynam part!

None of Dad's children (that includes me) or grandchildren were ever sporty enough to tog out in the jersey on the pitch. Here's hoping that the new generation of great-grandkids will have more sporting prowess than we did!

A jar full of wishes

 

Over the past few months I have been writing down all the things I want to do on a note and putting it in a jar. It includes little things, big things, silly things, and crazy things!

So anytime I'm beginning to get in a rut or getting bored I am going to just pick out a challenge/wish and

 JUST DO IT!

Once a chorus girl, always a chorus girl.

 While doing my prep for retiring I read a lot about mental health. One piece that stuck with me was

To be happy, do more of what you love."

Well that seemed pretty obvious to me> But on thinking about it I found that I was spending waaay more time doing things that I HAD to do rather than those that I WANTED to do.

I figured that the Honeymoon period of my retirement would be the perfect time to focus on that, so I wrote a list of all the things that I had enjoyed doing in my life and coming in at first place was

DANCING!

Not a surprise really. My earliest memories are of learning to jive and waltz around the kitchen with my siblings. Seeing as Mam and Dad were beautiful ballroom dancers we were naturals!!!

Then another big part of my life is LMVG where I was a chorus girl for many years.

A front line dancer, I hasten to add!

During Lockdown I did classes with Dance Yourself Fit online. A bit like Zumba, only every routine was based on a particular dance like samba, jive, salsa, 

cha cha CHAAA, tango etc.

So when I heard that real, in-person classes were taking place in The Downs I set off eagerly.

I was exhausted and in a bucket of sweat....after the warm up! But the music and routines were so fab I kept going. I couldn't believe it when the hour was over. 

So here I am at the end of class, posing and smiling, ever the professional......... I wish!

Definitely beats chair aerobics!

Time to Bloom.

 One of my little girls gave me a lovely orchid as a leaving present.

I sent a photo of it onto her Mam to show her that it is now standing in pride-of-place in my new room.

Her Mam replied.

"A is very impressed with your array of lipsticks and brushes. She now wants to know if she can get a make-up table when she is a teenager!"

I replied

"Oops, sorry. If it makes it any easier, tell her I didn't get mine until I retired!"

How it's going so far.

 People are asking me

"How is retirement going?"

Well in all fairness I'm only two days in and am going through the "Honeymoon Phase" when I'm still on a high after the weekend and all is going swimmingly.

I'm waking up at the same time as I usually would for school, but the feeling that I don't have to get up is priceless.

The first time it really struck me was when I realised that I could make pancakes for breakfast....on a Tuesday! happy days.

So I dug out my Operation Transformation recipe for Cinnamon and Yogurt pancakes with fruit and honey and sat down and savoured every single morsel. 

No horsing Weetabix into me as I raced out the door.

Feeling all relaxed I headed to the sitting room to look at a bit of Ireland AM, another thing I could never do. I sat down and was immediately presented with an item on ....Chair feckin' Aerobics.

Now I know its great and so important, but I am just peeved that every article I look at about 

Things to Do in Retirement has chair aerobics at the top. I know that sometime down the line I will be hard pressed to do chair aerobics but not just yet. I just feel it's wrecking my buzz and draining my enthusiasm when I see it.

Then a horrible thought struck me.

"Is this the universe's way of telling me to cop the feck on to myself?"

My new career....style influencer!

 Little did I know that when I broke my "One Year, no New Gear" ban in order to buy myself something new to wear for my retirement, that I would influence so many people.

Here was me on Thursday just before my retirement mass.

Then after a fab night on Friday, I was relaxing on my couch to watch Strictly.

First up was Shirley wearing......a pink trouser suit.

Just when I thought I'd reached the pinnacle of my influence I tuned in on Sunday night to get the results, And there, sporting another fetching pink trouser suit was.........ROBBIE WILLIAMS!

People have been asking me what I'm going to do with my free time, so now I can say

"I'm going to be an influencer!"

Gone too soon.

 I was up bright and early to head to Kilclonfert to meet my cousins that I haven't seen since Covid. It was for Adam's 7th anniversary mass.

7 years? Where did that time go?

So please bear with me. I am going to repost what I wrote at the time. It is as relevant today as it was back then.

It has been a week since the tragic accident that took Adam's life and it still doesn't make any sense.
Adam was my cousin's son and one of the nicest young men that I have ever met.

He certainly packed a lot of living into his short nineteen years of life. Much has been said of his sporting ability. He played for the Offaly minor football teams in 2013 and 2014, Tullamore rugby club and also represented Leinster and Ireland. I can still hear Jeanette tell us
"My son is playing rugby for Ireland".

What Irish mother wouldn't burst with pride to be able to say that?

To see his teammates stand shoulder to shoulder around Adam's grave last Wednesday would break anyone's heart. The 2000+ congregation who gathered in and outside the cemetery sang "Ireland's Call" as a tribute to a young star who was not permitted to reach his full potential. I, for one, will not be able to listen to the opening anthems of Ireland's remaining games in the  rugby World Cup as it will be too painful a reminder.

From listening to and reading the tributes that have been pouring in, it is obvious that this was only one aspect that made Adam such a wonderful human being. Phrases such as "cheeky grin" "always smiling" "helping hand" "made my world a better place" abound in bucketfuls.

Adam was training to be a teacher. From my many years of experience in this area I can honestly say that he would have been a fantastic teacher and enriched even more lives than he already has.

Last weekend Adam was home from college. He had given his Mam a voucher for dinner in her favourite restaurant for her birthday and in typical Adam fashion had told her and his Dad that he would drive them into Tullamore and more importantly collect them later. He then went off to help his neighbours on their farm. A split second  meant that he would not return.

No one deserves to die in tragic circumstances but I believe that some people deserve it less than others. I know its dreadfully wrong of me, but when I think that last weekend there were young fellas of Adam's age who went out doing drugs, drinking and driving, starting fights, mugging old people for extra cash yet they survived the weekend unscratched and will probably go out and do it again this weekend , I get very angry.
  I suppose that's one reason I could never be a god, I don't understand their reasoning.

But anger doesn't solve anything. There are no right words to say to comfort his family, as it was such a wrong thing to happen. I did find this anonymous poem as I went in search of something that would make any sense of this situation. It's the only thing that gave me the teeniest, tiniest sliver of comfort.

Young Life cut short
Unknown

Do not judge a biography by its length,
Nor by the number of pages in it.
Judge it by the richness of it’s contents

Sometimes those unfinished are among the most poignant

Do not judge a song by its duration
Nor by the number of its notes
Judge it by the way it touches and lifts the soul

Sometimes those unfinished are among the most beautiful

And when something has enriched your life
And when it’s melody lingers on in your heart
Is it unfinished?
Or is it endless?

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Let the fun begin!

 The day finally arrived.

I have been preparing to retire for a year, both financially and mentally. But suddenly after 37 years I was driving the road from Raharney  through Ballivor and onto Baconstown for the last time.. It was surreal, though I admit I won't miss driving on that bog road in the frost and snow.

Then tonight I headed to The Hamlet for my retirement dinner. I had asked my sister if I could stay in her house as she lives nearby. She said of course, she was heading out for a Chinese meal with her friends. Eleanor a teacher from school was to pick me up there.

I arrived at the house to just find Michael my brother-in-law. He stammered and stuttered a bit and said Jacqueline was gone out. I waited a while and then got a bit worried. I rang Eleanor to see where she was. When she answered I could hear peals of laughter in the background. It seems my sisters and brother were there as a surprise for me. However so was Eleanor! They had gotten their wires crossed and each thought that the other was bringing me. So everyone was in the hotel....except for the main person....ME! Thankfully my niece drove me over in time for the party!

I had a brilliant night. There was dinner, drinks, a photo slideshow of my life and career, presentations, gifts and flowers. It was like a funeral.....only I was there to hear all the nice things that people were saying about me!!!

The best part was the past pupils and parents who called in to the pub afterwards to wish me well in my retirement.

It is the sign of a good night when the barman drops you home at 5.15am. God, that hasn't happened to me in years.

Today I've realised I've run out of vases :)