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Ireland 2014
#61
THE CODA

[Image: city-1.jpg]

If the trip were a movie, I’d have to be the villain of the piece. I’m the cranky caregiver standing between my parents and happiness. I’m still waiting to have ungrateful carved on my tombstone.

It was acknowledged by all that the parents couldn’t have done the trip without me. They probably couldn’t have done it with either of my siblings, too just because of the difficulty in shifting so much luggage. Although, that’s why you give tips to porters.

I did feel bad for my father as he had less energy as the trip wore on. In the beginning he would shake off my efforts to help him up the steps outside cousin Natalie’s house.. Towards the end he was actively seeking my assistance. His recovery after collapsing into the chair in Natalie’s living room seemed to take longer and longer.

On the other hand, he was genuinely happy to see all his Irish friends despite how few remain. I think it would have gone better for him if his hearing aids hadn’t proved problematic and he stopped wearing them. But in the pictures with Brendan, Noel, Hugh and Lilly, he smiles a lot. And his fervent ‘God Bless You’s” that he gave on every departure seemed heartfelt.

The devil car on our second trip to Boston was the nadir. First off, if you aren’t driving, you aren’t the one in control. That’s a terrible position to be if if you are used to being the one in charge. Then you combine it with sitting crushed in the back seat of a too small passenger car and you wonder if things could get any worse.

There were even a few milliseconds when I felt bad for my mother. I know, hard to believe coming from me. Most of the time I just wanted to scream and scream some more at her. But occasionally I would look at her position and feel sorry for her. She was on a trip with a son who obviously didn’t like her. If she wanted anything done, like getting groceries of finding a paper, she had to hope someone would do those things. Although asking my father to get things done usually worked.

I know I would hate it if I were to lose my self sufficiency. It is one of the root causes of my disagreements with my mother. I do things myself. She is always looking to have things done for her.

At the end of the trip, my parents did thank me for all I had done. I was still angry from the last plane flight so I was less than gracious in my response to them. I think they even hinted that I should help them on their next trip back to Boston in the Spring for my mother’s 60th college reunion. I told them to take Stephanie. I even had my father convinced to let Stephanie and Mom go by themselves so he could have a break. My mother said that wasn’t going to happen.

I was also asked whether I had a good time. That’s tricky. It kind of comes down to the city of Limerick and whether or not I actually like going there.

At one point in trying to figure that out, I likened the trip to visiting the canal walk. If you don’t look closely, it’s a beautiful walk in green along a slowly flowing river that is peppered with ducks, swans and herons. But if you look at it closely, you see all the trash and debris. Which is an apt metaphor for the entire city.

There were many things I liked about Limerick. I like the historic old buildings. I could sit in my hotel room for hours watching the tide go in and out on the Shannon while cloud formations constantly changed in the sky. I took more pictures of swans than anybody would ever want to look at.

But it’s also grimy. There are pockets of extreme poverty. And there are probably gangs of people you would rather not associate with.

It might be just a big nostalgia trip that I wallow in, going back repeatedly to the same spots to photograph them. For this trip I made an album of those photographs which I will now have to update with the new photos of the same things.

The one thing I did regret was not seeing more of the country, investigating places I hadn’t really visited before. Originally, that was my plan. I had it mapped out to visit Cork and Waterford. But on the first day, I realized I couldn’t ditch my parents long enough for those trips. This was their trip and they needed me around. So, I resolved to explore the local area that much more deeply.

Even with that, there are still things I want to do in Limerick. They now offer kayaking on the Shannon between the Thomond and Sarsfield bridges. I tried to do it on Sunday but the tides weren’t right. I was also going to have a guided walking tour through the medieval quarter but my guide decided to take the weekend off.

I enjoyed immensely my epic river walks and can’t wait to do them again. I still don’t have the definitive picture of Quinn Abby. Although that might never happen. I think the beauty of this trip is that it left me wanting to go back, as if I still had things to do there.

I’m already checking the calendar for 2016
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#62
I still want to go to Ireland with you and Cindi as guides.
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#63
2016
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#64
I want to get T to the Hill of Tara someday. And I want to make a pilgrimage to the Guinness brewery.

And then, of course, there's London...

Good coda, Greg. You are one of the few DOOMers that still have both parents. I imagine that coda will become very meaningful to you when that changes.
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#65
You can't get us killed, though. There's a 2017 total eclipse in Idaho that I'm going to whether CF goes or not. He pooh-poohs eclipses.
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#66
You might tell CF that plenty of evidence exist to prove that Eclipses do happen.
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#67
What was it at - 3AM? Yea, I got up for it. And yea, it was totally fogged over. Mad
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#68
I saw that lunar Eclipse during the dog walk.
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#69
Greg Wrote:The parents were hungry and agreed to walk to the Jack Ryan Beggar’s Bush pub that was just out the back door through the car park.
Woah, Jack has a pub too? I had no idea.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is an action vehicle for Chris Pine. I like Chris. He's my new fav over-actor. Think Capt. Kirk. I wish he had overacted more in this one. It would have been much better. He came off flat. That's weird considering it was directed by Branagh (HP factor 1 - Professor Lockhart) who is a Shakespearean-trained over actor (the best kind of over actor - think Capt. Picard). Costner is good, lending some gravitas, but all of his best lines are in the trailer. Keira isn't nearly as cute when she's not using a Brit accent. She's actually kind of annoying when doing an American accent. The action is mediocre. Pine runs around acting like some sort of super programmer but just makes rather obvious observations (think Admiral Ackbar). There are some nice shots of Russia, which was kind of cool as I doubt I'll ever go there personally. But it's one of those espionage films where they bend time - there's no way they could achieve all that they do against that ticking clock. You can't fly from Russia to America to bust the mole terrorist in that little amount of time. You can't break into a high security building in that little amount of time. It's all in the trailer. That little amount of time is all you really need to see. Very disappointing.
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#70
They also sold the house brand of whiskey 'Jack Ryan'

I keep thinking I should see this movie. Then I think life might be too short and getting shorter.
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#71
If you do see it, just remember, I tried to jump on this grenade for you.
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#72
Things will have to get desperate and tQ will have to be out of town.

More Chris Pine singing Agony is what I say.
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#73
Actually, I renege. You should see it. It'll give us something more to chat about here. It would be really funny if you luv it. Then we can pester each other. Like old times. Like the Denny's days.

But I suspect you won't like it. No swordfights. No bollywood numbers. No hallucinations. Oh wait, those are my barometers. There's one set - the evil office lair - that's kinda cool. Maybe you will like it.
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#74
About things being in the wrong place, Mr. Movie Review.

Entertainment Weekly Wrote:If your blockbuster is in need of a charming, handsome leading man, Chris Pine is who you’re looking for. Between his sweet-singing Prince Charming in Into the Woods and his obnoxious, cocky kidnapping victim in Horrible Bosses 2, Pine appears to be this year’s unexpected lucky charm.

But even though he’s had an incredible year, he, like all of us, still has a few regrets about 2014. Namely, about January’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

During an interview with Moviefone, Pine revealed that the film – which was intended to kick off a rebooted series à la Star Trek - was one of the things he feels most disappointed about: “That’s one of my deep regrets, that we didn’t totally get that right. It’s a great franchise and if it’s not me then I hope it gets a fifth life at this point. It’s just great. I love the spy genre. I hope it’s done again and with a great story.”

Unfortunately for fans of Pine’s interpretation of Jack Ryan, whatever that “great story” is, it won’t feature him. When asked if there were more of Jack Ryan’s adventures in Pine’s future, he admitted, “I don’t think it made enough money for that to happen.”
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#75
Cuz that grenade I already jumped on for you.
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