I try to go walking in the evening and when I do there is a blackbird who sings my way down to the cross roads and along towards my cousin’s house. Always up in the trees, always there day time and evening. Then for the first time he broke cover and I was able to stand and watch him . Here he is to prove it against a blue sky even though it was almost ten o’clock at night.
I have used a lot of my lockdown time reading and watching films on my invaluable little iPad, thank goodness for this branch of social media although WhatsApp has been a blessing to see family faces as we talk and the incoming news on Facebook is also vitally important.
The news just lumbers from one dreadful event to the next, last night’s stabbing unfolded as I was listening to 5Live and Stephen Nolan and the phone-in eye witness reports were chilling. Facebook is filled with videos of police brutality in America and Trump would be funny if he wasn’t so tragic. Our ‘lock down’ has eased but with it comes the fear of an increase in the number of people contacting the virus. Sometimes it difficult to look ahead because it is so uncertain especially as I’m being given the run around by Asda home shopping, what a nightmare. The people I talk to are great, polite and anxious to get my account sorted but somewhere in the system there is a glitch so I’m told every week that I’ve missed my slot. It’s like being punished for something you didn’t do! Because we are locked in this is supposed to be a priority slot – as my dear father in law used to say, ‘divil the bit of it’!
With the exception of Normal People, bottom of my time-filler list has been television, and radio isn’t far behind. Now I have rediscovered books and despite the relaxation of social isolating I will still continue to read and turn my back on cheap, often violent television programmes so, with my new regime, books are top of my list once again, like Burned by Sam McBride. The inside story of the ‘Cash for Ash Scandal and Northern Ireland’s Secretive New Elite’. I had read about this tremendous book and it was on my back burner so to speak so having time on my hands I swiped the pages with incredulity. Was this real or was Sam devising a blockbusting film script? Sadly the dishonesty, the deceit, the lying, the cheating and the incompetence is all there in black and white and as the judges say on TV the results are in and verified. A detailed, complex story well told and easy to read. I recommend it. Sam puts a list of who’s who at the back and this is useful to keep tabs on these ignoble characters at Stormont.
The world is filled with goodness and corruption.
I like having Netflix suggestions and I’ve just finished ‘Shitte’s Creek’ which is really funny and has lots of episodes, they just go on and on and get funnier and funnier and the mother Moira Rose is hilarious.
Lovely to hear from Candy Devine this morning with a story about Michael Caine meeting John Wayne. Wayne tells Caine he’ll be a star someday and gives the advice not to wear suede shoes. Why? ‘Because someday you’ll be taking a pee in the gentleman’s urinals and the guy next to you will recognise you and turn to you and say you’re Michael Caine aren’t you and pee all over your shoes’. A very funny clip from a Graham Norton show. Thanks Candy you started the day off with a smile.
I recently watch Sinatra All or Nothing at All, (excellent), Jeffrey Epstein (boring) Anne With An E (brilliant) The Greatest Showman (didn’t care for it) The Darkest Hour (made Churchill look foolish) Vicar of Dibley (top of the list) Brexit (story of Dominic Cummings great background) Catastrophe (naughty but fun)
Paul Simon Gracelands (interesting) plus so many more I can’t remember the titles. With television being the pits at the moment hooray for Netflix and Prime Video and of course 5Live on the old steam radio!
The Most Eloquent Man In The World
I wish I could tell Frank Delaney what I think of him. I can’t because sadly this man I called friend died in Connecticut in February 2017 at the age of 74. Born in Tipperary, destined for a job in the bank, thank goodness he soon caught himself on and turned instead to a successful career as a broadcaster with RTE and BBC, a prolific writer, a raconteur and a wit with a voice like honey. He was also a kind man with a great insight into people and their lives and this has shown in his writing throughout his lifetime. I knew of his Legends Of The Celts, Betjeman Country and A Walk in the Dark Ages and notably Ireland. Many will remember him as the presenter of Omnibus the BBC’s weekly arts series, and of Poetry Please; he created the weekly Bookshelf programme for BBC Radio Four, interviewing over 1,400 authors. His acclaimed 1987 BBC series The Celts, examined the origins, growth and influence of Celtic culture in Great Britain and throughout Europe, it was broadcast in 40 countries and spawned a popular companion best seller book.
I say all this as a preamble to the novel I have just finished. In Pearl, Nicholas awaits the arrival of his friend Antony at the Savoy Grill but he’s late for their lunch, in fact he doesn’t turn up at all. Nicholas orders a glass of champagne, a successful architect he enjoys his pleasures but he’s soon chilled when a package is delivered to the table, inside the box a silver knife – a brand new Stanley knife and a note: For You.
So begins an adventure.
We meet a brilliant black international footballer known as the Black Pearl, we experience modern and horrific football hooliganism, enter the world of neo-Nazi terrible and traumatic events. Frank has woven a thriller that is hard to put down, his attention of detail is remarkable, powerful descriptive writing as he visits the village of Oradour-sur-Glane where in the First World War 642 of the locals, men, women and children were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company. Although it’s Nicholas who is walking through the ruins, it’s obvious that the author also visited his village and was deeply moved by the events of 1944. His research is detailed and he certainly has a way with words.
I recall at the height of The Troubles, this man from the deep south with an accent to match, had to make his way from uneasy north Belfast back to Ormeau Avenue so he waved down an empty ‘out of service’ bus and talked the driver into bringing him into Belfast; not only did the driver oblige, he left Frank right to the front door of the BBC. That was typical, he was a hard man to say ‘no’ to, he beguiled his way to opportunity and as a result he was one of the most successful broadcasters and writers to come out of Ireland at that time.
He left the UK in 2002 for America where he continued his career. One network broadcaster called him: “The most eloquent man in the world. We kept asking him back to talk about books, Ireland and even soccer because no one could make more of a ceremony out of a sentence.”
His passion was James Joyce, so much so that on Joyce’s 125 birthday Frank walked through the New York streets, complete with a soap box, to Madison Square Park and stood atop it and read aloud from Ulysses! And he had a most appreciative audience.
Now I’ve discovered his fiction writings I will enjoy reading them during these unpredictable times when a little escapism is required and why not with the most eloquent man in the world!
The highlight of last week was receiving a copy of The Diary of a Young Naturalist, the writings of 15 year old Dara McAnulty and next week I will be recalling the day I walked with this extraordinary young man in the Forest Park at Castle Archdale on the shores of Lough Erne and saw nature through his eyes. A day of tranquility and wonder I’ll never forget.
Light years away from todays unrest with statues being hauled down all over the world. Putting up additional plaques giving the other side of the story, how these men made the money they gave to towns and communities wouldn’t satisfy the activists who like to get out there and do damage in front of tv cameras. Golda Meir had a word of advice:
