What We Have, We Hold

Up to Enniskillen for the weekend, one of my favourite towns on the entire planet, and not just because it is better half's birthplace. You haven't lived until you've sunk a pint of Guinness in William Blake's on a Saturday afternoon (although, sad to say, that's exactly what I was doing when news came in of the Omagh bomb). Better half's family have strong connections with this part of the world, anyway, including our 5-year-old godson and his twin brother, always good for a story or two, although this weekend I showed their mom how to access Counago & Spaves, so this may be the last of them.

It was a flying visit, so only two fleeting images left their mark amid the chaos of the lads' devilment. One was that of godson's brother kneeling up at the dining table on a wooden bench with his trousers round his ankles, eating his lunch with one hand while, to put no too finer point on it, manipulating himself with the other. How I envied him the experience. I'm lucky to get that once a year.

The other was our godson, Joshua, being chided by his mother for picking his nose, to which he responded, without irony, "I wasn't picking it. I was putting it back up." Well, why waste it?

Returned home yesterday afternoon to discover that Labour have upped their game. In our absence, they had delivered an East Meath-type newsletter, a two-sided A4 leaflet detailing their candidate's ideas for the Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington area. I assume Labour has produced similar leaflets for the entire East Meath area, an assumption I make on the basis of the paucity of the ideas presented, although these might just indicate the party's lack of knowledge of the area. It's only at election time that this sort of ignorance and lack of genuine concern from the parties becomes really apparent, because they try SO hard.

It was the turn of the Greens to turn up at the train staion this morning, albeit lower-profile than Labour were last week. I suspect the Green Party is lacking in the henchmen department. All I saw was a female hippy in a kaftan and a bloke with a woolly hat on. True to stereotype if nothing else. The leaflet they gave us was the same one we got through the letter box last week, so maybe they had a few left over. Not very eco-conscious, that, surely?

Looking forward to the final four-day blitz. Which party is going to pull the rabbit out the hat and surprise us?

That's a rhetorical question.