In my humble opinion...

 I was coming out of town* the other evening and I decided to go to the cinema.

* Mullingar, not Dublin!

I wanted to go to see The Banshees of Inisherin. I had heard mixed reports about it, mainly Marmite ones.

You either love it or hate it.

I have seen Martin Mc Donagh's work before and yes, it is not everyone's cup of tea. We went to the Gaeity theatre to see The Lieutenant of Inishmore a few years ago, the lead being played by a new and upcoming young actor called Paul Mescal, and I loved it. Yes there was a part where there were various body parts shrewn around the stage after a visit by the IRA. There was a group of American tourists in front of us and another party of English tourists beside us. The writing was so clever and comical  that it was a very funny scene but I was stifling in the laughter because it was a case of

I really shouldn't be laughing at this........but it is funny!

The second reason I wanted to see it was because of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. I think that their relationship in In Bruges is still the most authentic and moving relationship in cinematic history ( well, at least of all the films I've seen!!!) So I wanted to see if they could replicate it.

And boy, did they! It really got across the point that the breakup of a platonic friendship can be every bit as heart-breaking as a romantic one, sometimes even more so.

I am on the team of I LOVED IT! The relationship between the two characters, the claustrophobic island community, and the wild and rugged landscape all came together to create a dramatic masterpiece. I am well aware that other people will have hated it. But that's the beauty of drama. There is no such thing as a wrong reaction to it, every reaction is correct and valid for each person.

I think one of the reasons I got so caught up in the sense of loneliness and isolation of their lives was because I was the only person in the cinema! 

Experiencing the panoramic views of the cliffs, sea and rugged landscape made me feel like I was living on the feckin' island myself!

Well I suppose that one of the quirks of going to the cinema at 4.30 on a Tuesday afternoon!

 

Burst my bubble

 I had a reality check today.

Baconstown Girls were playing in the schools' football final in Navan. I headed along and went to play my admission at the turn-style.

The (older) lady behind the counter looked at me and asked

"Which admission do you want? Are you an OAP?"

I nearly fainted from shock/ horror.

She realised she had said something wrong and said,

"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure.

I paid my money, and entered the grounds, vowing to look up aesthetics clinics on Monday!

On a more positive note our girls won. Congratulations!

Bless me Father, for I am about to sin.

 I returned back to my school this week to sub for a teacher. It was a surreal moment when I was getting ready to go in on Monday, I thought all that was behind me!

Anyway I had a great week, catching up with my colleagues and doing all the fun lessons that I loved!

The teacher of First class told me this gorgeous story.

She was talking about "saints" with her class of six year olds and they were naming as many of them as they knew.

"St. Patrick" "St. Martin" "St. Anthony" and "St. Nicolas".

"Lovely. Now can you name any lady saints?"

There was silence for a moment and then one of the little girls put up her hand.

"I know......MS. NOELEEN!"

My work here is done :)

If I am to achieve sainthood then this is my mantra

"Serve the Lord with laughter"    by St. Padre Pio

"Without music life would be a mistake."

 I have many suggestions in my jar of things to do during retirement, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

This is the idea I drew out recently

Listen to all my CDs.

I am immediately aging myself as yes, most of my music is still on CDS.

Anyway I have started on my quest. The first thing I had to do was reunite all the CDs with their cases! First thing I noticed was that I have a very eclectic taste in music. Some of the artists I have no idea who they are now!

I have listened to several of them already. Its true what they say about the greatest memory retriever being music. So far I have been transported back to my days on the beach in Abu Dhabi, and nights in the American Bar. I also opened all my bootleg copies that I got in Hong Kong!

I have rediscovered some fabulous songs that I had forgotten, discovered lovely ones that I never listened to before, and some ones that I never want to listen to again.

I can see many nights of musical interludes in front of a cozy fire while listening to the wintry wind outside.

 

I love me an auld costume!

 Recently, at my retirement party, they had a lovely powerpoint presentation of photos of my life! It was then that it dawned on me

 I love an opportunity to get in costume!!!

Thankfully there is one costume that there is no photographic evidence of...

One  Halloween in the early days, before mobile phones, I was driving to school dressed as a nun for dress up day. Of course my car had to break down. A lovely old couple stopped and proceeded to say

“Oh sister, we wouldn't normally stop to help a stranger but we feel we have to help you.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell them I wasn’t really a nun in case they would jump in their car and drive off. 

He got the car going and asked if I would say a prayer for them instead of any payment.

 Suffice to say that when I got to school that morning, I got the WHOLE class to pray for them!