Exciting day. Formula One never grabbed me until this week. The race last week was mesmerising, didn’t understand why one leader let the other pass in a race to the finish but there is obvious method in their madness. Here we go at one o’clock and the lead up this morning on 5 Live is setting the screen well. Who will win? I bet the bookies are busy!
I posted this blog mid week by mistake and I might well be publishing it on Saturday however I will be back in the rhythm of life soon! What with delightful men clearing out the gutters, a visit from daughter and two dogs, out for a safely distanced lunch on Wednesday and son downloading the covid passport plus plus plus I got totally mixed up in the story I was blogging! It’s very easy to get mixed up these days, it seems we have fallen back into the pattern of being so worried that when possible we just stay at home and one day drifts into another. I will only know it’s Sunday because last night (or if you’re reading this on Saturday tonight) was Strictly but then again here it comes tonight (or tomorrow night) so what day is it in reality. What a panic!!
Remember the days when we were carefree. My happiness was a packet of Olivier cigarettes costing 2/6d and a full tank of petrol in my old Wolsey car – costing about 10/-. The world was my lobster, I could go anywhere, see anyone and not worry about a thing. I’ve been working since I was 17 (not yesterday) and so always had a few shillings in my pocket, lived at home but always paid my mum for my keep not realising she was stashing it away for the day I got married. I saved sixpences in a Dimple Haig bottle and `I think it held something like £25 which was a real fortune and it was for my wedding dress but when my mum handed over her savings it paid for the dress and more and my savings were just for me to spend as I liked. Putting away a couple of sixpences a week soon mounted up, not so easy today as we all know and it’s getting worse. Savings are depleted and there is genuine concern about the future, the cost of gas, electricity, food and fuel. There won’t be any extras for the little things that make life colourful and fun. I had a note from faithful friend Houston Marshall during the week and it made me think of the days when I first worked in Ulster Television and at the end of a happy day I’d walk down Ormeau Road along Linenhall Street to the City Hall. All in stilettos! (The bunion came later). These were such special evenings especially in the late autumn, the sky always seemed to be cloudless and a beautiful turquoise, the starlings were swooping round the city hall, ducking and diving and filling the air with their cries of delight. Standing at the Downview Avenue bus stop waiting for the 64 to come along, people would be striding out for home often, like me, to get something to eat and head out to some gathering, maybe in topical terms, a party. There were plenty of these because we were all late teens and early 20s we worked together and played together and many of us met and married our colleagues. And sometimes there was the chance to observe history – the lamplighter with his long pole reaching up to turn on the gas mantal and fill the darkening air with soft light.
Hi Anne. Thought you might be interested in seeing this. I am telling everyone about this!Painted by someone I worked with years ago He’s called Eoin McGinn paints under the name of Emic .It’s called the Lamp Lighter and is on a gable wall at the church in Ballyhackamore on Upper Newtownards Road It really is worth a visit. Houston.
Not such happy news followed, the greed of big business and the underhand dealings of Boris Johnson.
13.06 Tuesday 7th December 2021. This arrived and it’s terrible.
Hi Anne. This is urgent. Today Shell is due too start blasting extremely loud shockwaves into the Wild Coast of South Africa – a fragile and beautiful ecosystem that is a vital whale breeding ground. Each shockwave in this ‘seismic testing’ is louder than a space shuttle launch and local whales, dolphins turtles and seals will be subjected to this excruciating noise every 10 seconds for five whole months in the whale mating season.
Last week campaigners forced Sheel to give up plans for a new Cambo oil field in the `uk. But its destrtuctivesearch for new oil and gas is never ending – despite scientists warning that the planet can’t cope with even more fossil fuel pollution. But all is not lost. In their thousands South Africans are fighting back against Steel. Coastal communities environmentalists and concerned members of the public have all joined forces to stand up to Shell.
Sign the petition at: action.greenpeace.org.uk > leave-whales-aloneShell: leave the whales alone! – action.greenpeace.org.uk
CLOWNS TO THE RIGHT OF US
And as for Boris Johnson and his ilk. Words again fail. Someone is very twisted in his house hiding the facts of the parties or gatherings or whatever that were held last December when so many people were going through the worst time in their lives living with covid (I won’t grace it with a capital) or breaking their hearts about those they love fading away in hospital, alone except for the exceptional staff giving them as much comfort as possible. Johnson tries to sneak round the truth, double speak it’s called in 1984, Orwell’s disturbing look at a future which is steadily coming true. Someone recorded and leaked the video of that unfortunate woman practising her press conference egged on by the others in the room and then giving her emotional apology – a scape goat do you think? I do. A diversion from what was going on behind the scenes, interesting that apparently Dominic Cummings was still weaving his web at that time. I just hope someone is looking after Allegro as her distress seemed very genuine to me.
Will there be a lockdown? It’s thought not as it would put people off voting for another Johnson win in the forthcoming election never mind the health dangers.
One thing I would like to know. We know how many people have died in Northern Ireland as a result of covid, often combined with another illness, but how many people are there here who don’t have covid. It might balance things up and give a little hope to know the percentage, dear knows there is little hope at the moment. I hear people say all this will come to an end but the longer it goes on the less this opinion is voiced. Of course it will end but then we thought that over a year ago. Of course it is important to keep wearing masks and washing hands. Of course it’s wise to avoid big crowds. Let’s be wise before and after Christmas and right into the New Year and for however long it takes. There are many people suffering not only from covid but from poverty, loneliness, depression – spare a thought for those who are afraid and unhappy. This time next Sunday Christmas Day will be over and we’ll be heading for 2022. If we can share what we have with others, keep in touch with friends it will be a good start. Find a food bank near you and subscribe.
Isn’t it hard to believe we are two weeks into December all ready? The party season we used to call it, offices and shops festooned with early decorations, little Christmas trees brightening up corners and an air of anticipation. The air of anticipation is now one of worry and concern, when you turn on the news or open a newspaper, despite what Boris Johnson says, the thought of a happy, free, fun filled Christmas slips away. But for children’s sake we must keep the beautiful spirit of Christmas alive.
And it’s not just the doom mungers at work, there are very real sadnesses to address and as I type the wind is blowing, the big laurel bush in the garden is in a frenzy and it’s cold and wet. And I think of those men, women and children in the camps in France trying to squeeze on board an inflatable boat, soaked to the skin and shivering, clutching their children not known their fate only that they have to get away to a safe place to make a new home, travelling perhaps for months, leaving their families behind, their homes and possessions, their pets and their parents.
So when we are faced with closures, disappointment with cancellations and frustration with Christmas shopping, stop and think, by an accident of birth, you are not jostling for a place on a tiny inflatable boat en route for the English coast or worse.
Take The High Road
Once upon a time High Street Holywood boasted a seven bed hotel, beside it a bar, a restaurant, a petrol pump and a Guinness bottling store. The Belfast Hotel was the half way point between the docks in Belfast and Bangor town, ladies and gentlemen travelling by coach would rest at the hotel to break their journey and the men driving their horse and cart made the bar their place to stop for a drink and a bit of craic as they made their deliveries.
Lynch’s Bar was a landmark, a smoking room off to the right, pool tables upstairs and Granny Lynch in charge. She owned the bar and the men folk in the family kept it and all the other services going. Muriel McGowan is now 100 years old and delighted that her grandson is keeping the family name above the door of the latest business venture. No longer a bar or a hotel but a cafe with a stylish air about it.
Joe McGowan has named his cafe Lynchpin, once the smoking room of the hotel, (no smoking allowed today!) next door is a laundrette where once the restaurant was bustling with diners.
Hospitality is obviously in his blood. At only 31 years of age he’s been involved in catering since leaving school, first at Newcastle Catering College and then onto London and the Anglesea Arms in Hammersmith where as a commis chef he honed his skills and learned his trade. He worked as a butcher with the famous Kerryman Jack O’Shea, a tenth generation butcher from Cahersiveen with shops in Knightsbridge and Brussels where he specialises in grass fed Black Angus cattle bred in the South West of Ireland. Working with O’Shea brought another aspect of catering to Joe’s attention, the importance of satisfying your customers and managing your staff. But then so did his days of fish mongering in South Kensington, going to the market at 5 a.m. and serving the discerning customer in the shop. This man has a thirst for knowledge which then took him to his most recent job in London setting up three cafes for a family business based in Brighton.
Sitting in his neat little cafe in Holywood, opened only two months ago, his enthusiasm is infectious, his clientele in the mornings is mostly women taking advantage of meeting together when the children are at school but there’s no shortage of gentlemen enjoying their late breakfast and for me an added attraction was a couple of seagulls circling outside bringing a taste of the sea inland to number 49 Main Street.
All was going well for Joe but he was restless, he wanted to expand his knowledge and to travel so between his other jobs, he spent five years in New Zealand and Australia where he learned the art of Australian style coffee, he doesn’t tell me the secret but it involves a lighter roast of bean and steaming the milk plus plus! He benefited in another more practical way however, he met chef Ethan Jerrome. They worked well together and when they came home, Ethan to London and Joe to Holywood, it wasn’t surprising that they decided to go into business and it has turned out to be a good partnership and with Joe’s wife Abi looking after the administration, business is thriving and the future looks bright thanks to Joe and Ethan and their vision of good food well cooked .
The Art Of Management
Joe has learned his craft, learned to manage people and he leads by example; he likes responsibility, he’s happy in his skin and likes his staff to be happy within themselves too.
“I will tell the truthful, be open and honest in my house, if it isn’t right I won’t serve it and I will explain to the customer. We have a small menu with everything prepared ‘in house’. Our basic Brunch Menu includes vegan and vegetarian dishes, Avocado on Toast, Veggie Hash Benedict and a Ham Hock Mash and of course out special coffee menu.” And something new – the Gobble Dog – it involves turkey sausage!
At the moment Joe welcomes customers from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday but he has big plans to open evenings in the New Year and a drinks licence in February. No wonder his Granny is proud of him. Watch this space on Holywood Main Street.
More at Lynchpin Holywood Home.
I’m just realising that these are the last two weeks before Christmas. So I wish you a time of family, of warmth and happiness, of sharing and caring as we approach this important time. If you’re feeling stressed just think of the warm weather to come and the chance to go for a walk in the sunshine, cut some flowers in the garden or to get on your bike again! Happy days.
