Packing to go away for a few days is something of a nightmare to me, throwing things into bags hoping the essentials are there. But it’s nothing compared to unpacking when you come home – well for me anyway. Can’t find my pills, can’t find a pen, where is my toothbrush? Eventually they will all turn up, I hope. The other thing about coming home is the news, in Donegal it’s easy not to turn on the television and too far away from a shop to get the papers. The wireless isn’t on much, it’s all reading, painting, writing and walking, good company and great craic. Then you come home to Floods in Turkey. Fires throughout Europe. An earthquake in Haiti, record temperatures in Sicily. The dreadful shooting spree in Plymouth and another near Regent’s Park.
Young Jack Wooley the Irish taekwondo Olympian brutally attacked in Dublin last night when up to a dozen men and women started attacking people in the street just after midnight. The fears as Taliban enter the Afghan capital Kabul and the American diplomats scurrying off in helicopters. Everywhere you turn there is terrifying news. What to do?
Hundreds of men and women had one answer, strip off and get on your bike. Yesterday they started cycling from various points and met in central London and why? They were protesting on ‘oil dependency and care culture’ and to celebrate the body positive. Will it make a difference? It certainly excited the press photographers and so the message has reverberated around the world so they have made their point.
I was saddened to read of the death of singer songwriter Nanci Griffith at the age of 68. She was special to me for one song, From A Distance. I first heard it sitting in a tiny back yard of a house in Khartoum, capital of Sudan. With a sound engineer and a film cameraman we were sharing a melon with the volunteers working with Concern and it was emotional as we’d experienced so much pain and fear together during a couple of weeks of filming. Then one of the party began singing and the words just left me in tears. I used Nanci singing From A Distance at the end of the resulting programme and I know from the reaction of Ulster Television viewers they felt the impact of what she was saying. It illustrated the horrors of the Hutu/Tutsi war the results of which became even more distressing when I filmed in Rwanda the following year. The words of that song haunt me to this day. You will find it on You Tube and it’s worth searching for as it relates to our current situations as much as it did then.
KING OF THE SWINGERS, A GOLFING VIP
John Linehan loves his golf and he’s prepared to suffer for that elusive hole in one. For him it’s been well worth it despite what I believe is ‘false news’.
It is said that you can’t believe everything you read in newspapers. That is proved by a recent report by Shaun Wooller health correspondent for the Daily Mail. ‘Lack of evidence’ that hip and knee ops actually help’ the heading shouts out. Yet another expensive study this time suggesting many common bone and joint operations ( hip replacements and knee repairs ) may be no more effective than physiotherapy or treatment with drugs. Really! Listen to this. Researchers at the University of Bristol claim that ‘shoulder rotator cuff repair and lumber spine decompression trials found no benefit of surgery over non-operative care’ The full report is published in the British Medical Journal. I have had two knee replacements and where I couldn’t bear the pain when I moved as bone would grind on bone; now I am grand. My inspiration was John Linehan who has a very physical life as May McFettridge every year in the Grand Opera House and on the golf course. I was moaning one day about my painful knees ‘Get new ones’, he told me, ‘look.’ And with that he danced round the restaurant proving that new knees give you a truly positive outlook on life.
This Week He Confirmed His Decision
“The best thing I ever did. That first knee was eight years ago and I had no hesitation in getting my second knee operation last month. I threw away the crutches inside a couple of weeks except when I’m going out, so healing was fast. However, you have to listen to the advice about exercise, to get full movement. The surgeon said he did 50% and it was up to me to do the other 50%.”
Important to keep the tendons stretched and strengthening the muscles and John’s aim is to be leaping around the golf course by Captain’s Day!
He reckons, as do I, not possible without surgery.
Last year it was my shoulder. Things went wrong and the pain was unbearable. Rotator cuff operation recommended. Now, a year later, I’m as right as rain. No amount of physio or drug taking could do that, of that I am quite sure.
I’ve no doubt that there are bone and joint problems that can be dealt with without surgery but suggesting that hip, knee and shoulder operations bring doubtful relief is, in my opinion, just madness.
Pain Relief In A Packet
Recently researchers in Australia came up with the earth shattering information that muscle relaxants prescribed for lower back pain can reduce short term discomfort but ‘too small to be meaningful.’ Oh Yes? Oh No! It may be mind over matter but a couple of Paracetamol and a nice wee cup of tea eases away a lot of discomfort in my life.
Oh To Be Young Again.
What would I do differently? I’d learn an instrument, preferably piano, and I’d make every effort to become a jazz singer. In my day that wouldn’t have been easy but this summer a number of talented young people have been selected to work with artists who have reached the pinnacle of their professions, to be mentored, to learn, to experience and to fulfil their dreams. ’21 Artists for the 21st Century’ is part of this year’s Centenary programme and aims to encourage culture to thrive.
Actually there are 34 participating in the initiative, individuals, an ensemble of actors and one collective of five singer-songwriters, selected from schools colleagues and universities. All disciplines are involved, music, theatre, film, poetry, choreography and photography – and street dance. This intrigued me, it has the sound of freedom about it, the rhythm of life, colour, music and energy. Think Michael Jackson or the dance group Diversity who won Britain’s Got Talent and you’ll remember the furious tempo, the footwork, body popping and hiphop, you certainly have to be young and fit for this form of dance. It has its roots in 70s America when young people had no where to go to improvise informal dance so they turned to open spaces like parks and the street to play their music and strut their stuff.
The local student concerned is 20 year old Rhys Devlin from Larne. His mother is a choreographer so he has grown up with music and movement and he has now set his heart on a career in dance.
“There are a lot of ways to go in dance and this scheme is a valuable way of exploring. I’ve been an Irish dancer for 17 years and a street dancer for 6 years and now I devise choreography for other dancers and teach street dance as well as performing and competing in various championships.”
He was an all-Ireland street champion and a three-time All-Ireland Duet champion alongside his dance partner Zara Janahi, with whom he has recently organised the online dance event FORGE. Their dance crew ADC are also Multi-award champions in Ireland, making it to the United Dance Organisation WORLD championships in both 2016 and 2017, being placed 3rd in the world in the Quad category in 2017. I’m impressed and looking forward to hearing more.
His mentor, Omagh born Robby Graham, artistic director of Southpaw Dance Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, specialises in mass movement production with a cast of hundreds. He will be working with Dylan on choreography as well as developing body movement. “Something to look forward too.” Although they have started working together it will be next month before all the artists and their mentors come together to share their experience at the Lyric Theatre and the Ulster Hall.
JUST SAYING
Final thought. I wonder why the cyclists weren’t arrested for affronting public decency! Bottoms up and enjoy your Sunday.