I'm en route to the city of Dreaming Spires (as Matthew Arnold called Oxford in his poem Thyrsis) today, assuming the Belfast-Liverpool ferry did it's thing correctly. Actually although they call it the Belfast-Liverpool ferry it doesn't actually port in Liverpool, but across the Mersey in Birkenhead. Maybe that's splitting hairs (probably not to the locals, though). Anyway, it's a daughter-dad only week, which will be a bit special. It's her last week as a teenager and Missy is none too happy about that - she's not relishing the whole 'adult' thing at all, she says. Responsibility, having to deal with 'stuff', sign official documents and so on. I get it. These days it seems there's more officialdom that ever to deal with. I don't remember it being like that when I was 20, but perhaps it was and I just blocked it out, ignored it.
This is a shot from a while back, when I was wandering around Derry. It's not a great print at all, but I liked the wording on the election poster and the people underneath give it some interest, even if they are somewhat lost in the shadows of the murky winter light:
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| Aontú, (Unity) party poster in Derry, 2023. |
Aontú are a small party across the whole island, but they must be well-funded, given the size (and number) of their election posters. A quick online search indicates they stand for rather an odd mix of idealogy: anti-abortion, Irish republicanism, social conservatism and soft Euroscepticism. They lost my vote on that first one alone.
Stormont, the bastard, doing nothing again. Whoever he is. But maybe doing nothing is better than what the two lads in the poster want to do.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a good father-daughter week. I don't think I became an adult with responsibilities until I got married at 30. Before that I was a student and then I worked at places in Korea that took care of housing and everything for me. All I had to do was sign contracts and show up to work. And foreign teachers in Korea usually don't have that many things to do besides teach.
Haha spot on, Marcus! Stormont is the name of our local government in Northern Ireland (it's a Big House in Belfast). Our local MPs haven't sat for over a year now, as one of the largest parties withdrew over opposition to Brexit protocols. The whole thing is a shambles and there is no end in sight.
DeleteSounds like you were well looked after in Korea! Here in the UK housing is rapidly entering a full-blown crisis. Rents are soaring in most cities and you need a small fortune (and two decent incomes) to remotely consider buying anything. Property in and around Oxford is exorbitantly expensive.
Oops. 'Stormont' sounded like a family name to me. Amazing that the party is allowed to withdraw. In a proper job they'd all be fired. Politicians all over the world seem to have the maturity levels of ten-year-old boys.
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