My Inner World

Back from holidays. Rain-filled holidays.. Leave it to us to go on holidays to a country that had been experiencing a heat wave right up until the day of our arrival, only to turn extremely wet the day after we land!
We ended up spending only two full days on my parents' boat. I don't care how big, when it's bucketing down, a boat is NOT the place to be!
Also, me and my mother in the same confined space for longer than an hour or two is asking for trouble. We seem to be hell-bent on misunderstanding each other. To take each other the wrong way.
When I see her, I see me. How I used to be before I met Paddy. Seeing everything as an attack. Snappy. But deep down, meaning well. Paddy and his family let me see that this is not the way a family should function.
My mam and I are not close. She has once said to be that she did not want us to be too close because she lost her own mother when she was in her twenties and that was incredibly hard for her. She did not want me to go through the same thing. She thought a bit of distance would be a good thing. So, for better or for worse, that is what we got, distance. I tend to be able to talk better with my Dad. He was rarely at home when I was growing up. He was always at work and if he was at home, he would be behind the PC for work. We had a very toxic relationship right up until me leaving for Ireland.
My mom was always the one that worked on maintaining contact between my brother and I, and them. Ironic, that now I feel closer to my Dad than to my mam.
I can see her trying SO hard. Having such a hard time with what that waste of space of a brother of mine has put her (them) through. And I wish I could make her feel better. I wish I felt more for her than I do. I love her, she's my mam. But that doesn't equal being close emotionally.

It was lovely to see my friend again though. I deliberately kept the list of people to see to just one. She is my very best friend and I love her, and her three kids, to pieces. She came to the boat for a day, and she and I went to dinner at Humphrey's and to see a movie (extremely so so, a bit of a no brainer. Kind of like Chinese food for the brain) one evening. Spending time together like friends do, is rather exceptional for us. We thoroughly enjoyed it!
If, When I pass my test at the end of the month, we are driving over to Galway when she comes over! Going to go see these:

And in the evening enjoy some of this:



And this:



Can't wait!


Right, better get back to it in here.....

Paddy's mother, Paddy's brother, Paddy and I went to see "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"

The movie is set in 1920's Cork, Ireland, when the English still occupied Ireland. The main character is a doctor, who initially wants nothing to do with the resistance. Then, after seeing one too many acts of savagery from the British on his way out of the country, he changes his mind and joins his brother in the IRA. The Irish Republican Army has a very bad name now, but then, the aim of the movement was very sincere and and, truth be told, needed.

The movie shows the horrible way the British treated the Irish. It makes you sit in your cinema chair with clenched fists, wishing there was a "Black and Tan" who's lights you could punch out!
At the beginning of the movie, there is a wake. The grandmother in the movie is singing in the tradtional Irish way (sean-nós). The auld biddy's voice moved me almost to tears. Her acting in the movie was outstanding all the way through. She looked and acted like she was plucked straight from the 1920's.

The acting in the movie was so natural that you felt almost like you were watching a documentary. They pull you in to their cause, in their want and need for a free Ireland. When the British make a "compromise", one half of the IRA decides to accept. The other decides to stick with it and inch towards total freedom. The brothers end up on opposite sides. The human element of it is striking.
I was told that a lot of the lines in the movie were improvised. To me, this shows the connection the actors have to this subject. They feel it.

Living in Ireland I have found that the subject is still very much alive with the Irish. Paddy’s great great aunt was slapped in the face by the Black and Tans on the street.
Paddy’s father’s girlfriend’s grandmother was a baby in the 1920’s. The Black and Tans burst in to their cottage in the mountains. She was asleep in her bassinet when they put a gun to her head and told her parents that they would shoot her if they didn’t give them the information that they were looking for.
There are stories like this in almost every Irish family. Every Irish person I have ever met, has a strong opinion regarding the British occupation. “The Troubles” are a part of Ireland that has caused more heartache and sorrow than you could possibly believe.

I liked this movie so much because it’s a genuine portrayal of the times. It shows the life of “normal” IRA soldiers in the 1920’s. We all know about the big leaders, about things that happened in Dublin. The men, woman and children that worked towards getting the British out of Ireland came from all layers of society. Seeing their fight portrayed was moving.

If you have any kind of interest in the Irish and their history, this is a must see.

So, I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday afternoon. I had not seen the first one so did not really know what to expect. I really enjoyed it! It was funny, had a nice pace to it and the special effects were well done.
The one thing I didn't like, just like when I went to see Harry Potter, was the amount of kids there.
The movie is rather 12A. Which means that you have to be at least 12 years old to see it, or be accompanied by an adult.

THERE WERE KIDS THERE AS YOUNG AS THREE YEARS OLD!!!

The poor little tikes! There are some scenes in the movie that would be profoundly disturbing for children so young. A little girl in the corner started crying when Davey Jones' pirates came on to the screen, but do you think her parents shifted? Nope!
The family next to me had a little cop on at least and left with their three kids. (Still too late in my opinion but at least they did)
When the lights went on, and everybody got up, I saw a father with a littlie boy asleep on his shoulder. The boy can't have been a day over three years old.

What are these people thinking? I remember my foster brother letting us see Gremlins when he was meant to be minding us. I was about 9 or 10 years old and I was terrified for weeks! I would not let my mam turn of my lights at bed-time and could "hear" things under my bed every night.

I say to Hell with Parental guidance. If you are not the stated age. You should not get in. Parents or not. If parents do not have the brains to think, then someone has to keep the children's best interest in mind. My heart broke for those kids. Crying, or worse, not saying anything but whimpering softly because they did not want to upset their parents.
What is wrong with these people? If you can't get a child-minder: WAIT FOR IT TO COME OUT ON FLIPPING DVD!

Poor, poor kids.