Now I will keep the first HT of the New Year short. I know you are only gently getting back into full flight and you have probably read enough about the happenings of 2011 through exhaustive coverage on TV and in the Media. I am currently working on some upgrades to the site and will also change the format for you over the next couple of months. You know what they say about ‘familiarity’ !!!! Although the ‘happy marriages’ (see those two words CAN be used together !!) of so many of my friends (and Jo and me of course) suggest that I could probably stick with the current formatting and you would still love the Blog !!
So ‘gentle’ is the theme of the week. But before that just one important ‘housekeeping credit’ for 2011.
To my DEAR DEAR friends at Etihad what a Wonderful airline you are. And on this occasion it is the ENTIRE team right up to the COO in Abu Dhabi. Another wonderful showing recently which resulted in me being given a special invitation into the FIRST CLASS lounge at AD airport. And what a wonderful experience that was. I could comfortably ‘live’ there !!! And don’t you all go around thinking that my heart and words can be ‘bought’ – in this case all the credit is deserved. And particularly to Justin, Teresa and Alan in the Dublin office.
Anyhow with Emirates commencing their direct flights to Dublin next week (from Dubai), I can now irreversibly confirm that I will be staying (for life !!) with the ‘cousins’ in Abu Dhabi. Even if it works out a lot more expensive for me – taxi’s from AD to Dubai Marina cost Euro 50 each way. But I guess sometimes the better things in life cost that bit more.
Interesting that the Middle East now have three of the worlds 5 best airlines – Emirates, Qatar and Etihad. All are a different class.
Now I better get off my knees and onto some serious journalism !!!
Now I promised not to go into ‘repeat overload’ of the year just completed but lets hope that 2012 will not be as ‘Globally changing’ as 2011 was. Who would have thought when one woke up on January 1st 2011 that the next 365 days would have – a) the leaders of Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia all be ousted and that those in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria still struggle with being in control b) that Osama bin Laden would be successfully ‘taken out’ c) that Colonel Gaddafi would experience a similar fate d) and the despot and mind crazed North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-il would not make it to Christmas Day e) or such great ‘Global names’ as Joe Frazier (boxer), the wonderful Steve Jobs, the talented but troubled Amy Winehouse, Betty Ford of Betty Ford Clinic fame, Peter Falk (Columbo), Liz Taylor, her actress peer Jane Russell, Jimmy Saville and many many more (including my Mum – see below) would not be around to celebrate the firework fanfares of December 2011 f) or that Japan would suffer a natural disaster almost as catastrophic as Hiroshima with over a quarter of a million people dying from the tsunami and the knock on Fukushima nuclear meltdown g) not to mention (I don’t understand that expression when one usually goes on to do the exact opposite) the THREE high grade earthquakes in New Zealand (and the mag 7 ones in Argentina, Burma, Thailand, Chile, Alaska etc), the 100,000 + (yep the final figure) birds that inexplicably fell out of the sky in North and South America, the near 1 million fish that also died without explanation in the Pacific, floods in too many locations to mention and just the hundreds of natural disasters around the Planet f) that the Euro would be on the verge of collapse – and lose 15% of its value against the US$ and so many more of the serious and sad things that happened during 2011. But let me not bore you in that type of way. Let me briefly review some of the less well covered headlines
The ‘Real’ memorable moments of 2011
• Pippa’s (cute) ass. Yep can you imagine your sister winning all the attention at your wedding ceremony.
• Imagine having one of the most powerful jobs on the Planet, have unimaginable amounts of money and wealth, are an icon to many students around the world, a presidential candidate for your country, can pretty much buy anything or anybody you want, oh and you have an adoring wife and children AND despite all this you want a ‘quickie’ on your way to the airport. Yep good old Dominic SK, decided that it was worth giving up all the above for a bit of quick rough sex with a chamber maid – now THAT is why guys have a ‘misunderstood’ reputation
• Well up until May, two of the best known names in the world were very similar – Yep there was the baddie – Osama ………………….. and the ‘less baddie’ – Obama. And the week following the ‘departure’ of the former from us, there were more than 1,000 ‘media gaffes’ around the world. Everything from ‘Obama did not try to flee’, to ‘Surprise raid results in Obama no longer being a problem for world security’ to ‘at last some good news for President Osama’, to ‘white house raid results in Obama execution’ AND TWO Fox News (yep the US based Network ) news anchor’s actually declaring ‘ Obama is dead’ – is it any wonder this station is so well ‘respected’ by so many on the Tea Party side of US Politics !!!
• Sinead O Connor (the bald Irish singer) seems to continue to struggle with what it is like to share a bed with a man. Her latest marriage (fourth) was to an ‘online’ partner and it lasted all of 17 days (of which 10 of them they were not together). What was ‘he’ thinking when she said yes !! Did you know that the countries with the highest divorce rates in the world are a) Maldives b) Belarus c)the USA d) Cuba and in fifth place Ukraine. Usually because of the guy
• And then there was the final demise of the worlds most aging Gigolo. No, not good old Hugh Hefner (who by the way got married ……………. and ‘unmarried’ again during 2011), but Silvio B. Yes the former Italian Prime Minister. Finally his ‘bunga bunga’ parties – where young gold digging stunningly beautiful naïve and conversationally deficient girls offered themselves to aging, balding, obese and rich older (or much older) men. Yep and all these parties and their ‘fulfilling’ consequences are now to be a piece of history. And poor old Silvio will probably end up spending some time in a ‘different type of shower ………….. where dropping the soap is not recommended !!!! But who knows maybe that is an experience he may enjoy.
• And what about Gigolo Sarkozy. His wife (which is the woman he currently sleeps with on more than 120 days a year – and please no smutty suggestions that this is for tax and image reasons !!) had a baby. Yes, apparently it IS his. So some of those nights were used for other than watching movies and talking about Carla’s singing career (and despite rumours that BOTH are having extra marital affairs) !! And so little Guilia – yep that’s what I thought, it sounds more Italian than French – now has the burden of carrying her parents ‘problems’.
• And what about the embarrassing array of candidates the US Republicans have running for the US Presidency. Take Rick Perry’s excruciating 53 second pause/mumbling as he on a live TV show said there were ‘three Federal Government offices I would close if I became President’. The problem was that he was on live TV and he could only remember two of them. So he brought everybody’s embarrassment to a close with a very convincing ‘I have forgotten. OOpps’. Yep you have to love the guys the strongest Nation in the world put forward as the guy how decides which button to press in a Defcon 1 emergency.
• And one final memory from 2011. It involves Christina Aguilera “honouring America” by forgetting the words to what is possibly one of the most famous songs of all time – the National Anthem of the USA. The occasion ? Well the final of the Super Bowl (yep the most watched sports event in the US).
Christina warbled her way through The Star Spangled Banner (written by a lawyer in 1814), shrieking what appeared to be the alternative lyrics, “whose broad stripes and bright stars through the papulous fire, what so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last reaming” (or maybe it was “Twilight’s last screening”, I bet she’s Team Jacob).
Christina later explained the flub on Ellen, saying that she “took in the moment a little bit too much”. “The Moment” of course being the name of her favourite cocktail; 2 parts tequila, 2 parts vodka, 1 part MAC red lipstick and 1 part beef and cheese burrito.
The Wishes for 2012 (I hope it does not sound like I am looking for ‘world peace’)
1. That the Irish Government wake up to telling Europe that we cannot repay our debts without some reduction on the current level owed
2. That Iran and its brutal regime are controlled in some way by the West – as I have said many times it is the single MOST likely cause of the next World War
3. That Journalists and Financial analysts around the world (and particularly Ireland) are STOPPED from destroying the Planet with their penchant for only spreading and writing negative news stories and causing a lot of the economic crises that we all have to live with
4. That Sarkozy and Merkel both lose their re-election campaigns – and that greater Euro protection leadership is put in place. Which means maybe sacrificing some of their banks.
5. That the Euro will still be with us
6. And finally that a lot of the ‘wrongs’ of the world are corrected. In saying this I am reminded of the legendary story from Native American History. An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life…
He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil—he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego.
The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.” They thought about it for a minute, and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”
The Elder simply replied, “The one you feed.” So much of what happens on the Planet is within our own control !!!
Finally A friend of mine is a leading Irish artist has just completed four years of work to produce a dozen world class paintings of race horses, and these are being exhibited in Dublin at the moment. Some of the horses are owned by Sheikh Mohammed and the exhibition will travel to Dubai in March. Date and venue yet to be finalised. So some of this art could prove very valuable in the future. So have a look on
www.CharaNagle.com
Sadly My Mother died a couple of weeks before Christmas. Here are some thoughts by which she will be remembered by her Children and those who knew her.
Our Mother Remembered
First and foremost she was a Lady. Regal, Engaging, Charismatic and Beautiful – beauty of the heart complemented with photographs betraying Princess Grace like external looks right into her fifties. Then she was a Mother to five children who can only look back and thank THEIR luck that she was THEIR MOTHER. A Mother on which Legends are based. A Mother who always put her children first and for whom she made many many un-acknowledged and unknown sacrifices. A Mother with a very personal belief in what the word ‘Home’ meant for her family – love, happiness, security and unity. A ‘safe house’ with lots of love and laughter and happiness.
Then she was the adoring Wife to her husband of forty five years before he was taken from her in August 2000. A special Wife who raised her children without him feeling ‘love threatened’ and despite the enormous love and time she gave to her children ensured he felt he was the only person in her world. A Wife that never misunderstood the balance needed between these two critically important life roles.
And all this never left her short of being a Great Daughter (to our Grand-parents who died in 1972 and 1981) Sister, Cousin, Grandmother and Great Grandmother. She even had three God-children – all treated with ‘special love’.
Then she was a Businesswoman who ran a number of privately owned retail shops. Then a great Friend to so many people around the world. Her infectious friendliness, personality, affability, worldly knowledge, listening but engaging style and appreciation of everybody being equal and having an important role in life, gave her uniqueness. She was a bridge (the card game) champion with a string of victories that qualified her to play at Irish International Category – but never wanted this status. She just wanted the enjoyment of the game. With her friends.
A Lady who never had a full drivers licence (she mischievously side-stepped her driving test on many occasions), but drove every day of the year until she fell ill last year. A Lady who was private but you felt you knew her. A Lady of pride but never boastful. A Lady of success but was not afraid of, or unsympathetic to, failure. A Lady who worked hard but always had time to help or talk. A Lady who never knew what time of day it was, but that did not matter as all important things got done. A Lady who was legendary for getting lost in the major cities of Europe but always made the airport for the trip home (even if leaving it a bit late). A Lady who never had a watch but had enough ‘watchers’ to ensure she never missed an important occasion. A Lady who instinctively knew ‘the right thing to do’.
A epi-centre of the family for advice, thoughtfulness, love, humour, selflessness, knowledge, instinctiveness and intuitiveness. A Lady who always seemed to have cakes in the oven even for visitors who were never expected. A Lady who understood the words internet, 3/ 4 G, Skype etc if a little challenged as to how to use or understand. A Lady who unselfishly sacrificed some of the quality in her life so that others could have less pain in theirs. A Lady who despite 6 years of illness never once complained.
You may not have known her but she knew you. For if you were a friend of any of Her Children, you were a friend of hers. Yes somebody really special who the Planet is less rich for having lost her. It is with great pride that Ann, Fiona, John, Derval and myself can call her OUR MOTHER. We will ALL miss you, your encouragement, your guidance, your love, your smile and just being the unique irreplaceable Mother you were.
