Gerry Adams is Retiring.

Collecting his pension he will be, and a very nice pension he has to look forward to, it has to be because no one who swans around Irish and/or UK politics for a few years leaves without a very nice package.

So, that's the easy bit done, what next? Hmm. Sinn Fein are probably panting to get him to retire, not because its him particularly but because the young are always convinced they can do it better. But who have Sinn Fein got with Adams personality, perseverance and, admit it, his quick wit? No one, maybe because there can only be one star in a political firmament at a time but also because Sinn Fein politicians are on the whole exactly the same as all politicians, which means not very intelligent, not at all empathetic, and not very good actors.

In fact Sinn Fein politicians are just like politician in these islands. There were two who stood miles above them all and they are Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams

Some say that for Gerry Adams its finished he will never be elected president of Ireland. Look at Michael D Higgins they say, never done a thing wrong, well look at him he was a member of the Labour party, a party with so much brushed under the carpet they need climbing apparatus and oxygen to get across a room. Funny thing is none of the difficulties Labour got into are ever mentioned in relation to Michael D Higgins he is a respectable president.

I wish Gerry Adams a long, peaceful and successful retirement in the company of friends. 

I actually find it difficult to write about Gerry Adams when Martin McGuinness retired it was due to very serious, life threatening illness his illness made it easier to write and be honest about him. As far as I know Gerry Adams is in good health and will live on for many years. I don't grudge him those years, of course not, but, there's that but again...He has those years, something he is alleged to have denied to many.

But! Is Gerry Adams worse than Tony Blair? that's a hard question to answer because in many ways I don't think he is. From what I've seen of Tony Blair he never met a lie he couldn't tell, a person he couldn't cheat or a country he couldn't betray.

So, yeah I wish Gerry Adams a long and happy retirement.

Martin Ferris is also retiring all I know about him is the Sunday papers once declared he was the writer of all the 'P O'Neil' statements the IRA used to issue to the press, and that he once met a couple of IRA men on their release from prison. The men had been in prison for murdering a Garda. Hmm. Ferris didn't need to go and meet the men. He did it to show loyalty If Ferris has a sense of loyalty and showed it for friends and colleagues that maybe his saving grace.

I know and so does anyone who reads this blog that I could and should have checked all the facts and checked the grammar and filled the post with links. I don't do that. I write what I think.

When I Began

Writing a blog I didn't expect anyone to read it maybe a passing stranger now and then more likely family until they got bored. I had no idea of what the internet does and I must admit I didn't care much if at all. If I thought about it I thought no one would care what an obvious amateur wrote.

I thought those who had popular blogs where anyone could say what they thought on any subject were a great service. I never thought about blogging as an almost wannabe industry, a money and fame making industry.

I had what must be one of the worst computers ever made and if you add that to a truly appalling internet service its easy to understand why I never understood blogging is just another industry, that was then and to a degree its still true I am incredibly naive about blogging but poison drips and flows and today I wouldn't trust a word any blogger uttered or wrote.

But this post isn't about other bloggers, journalists or web sites. Its about what and how I write. You see I don't and have never wanted my blog to be written according to the rules of the queens English. I want it to be me, written the way I feel like writing about what I like, dislike, admire and even envy at the time I write it. I want the issues I care about to express me when I write about them.

So, when for example I write about horses my latest fad, I don't want to write like an expert or even a lover of horse racing in general I want it to be an amateur exploration and viewpoint, and that's what applies to every subject I write about. Oh, I could look up all the stats and with the help of copy and paste I might even sound like an expert, but it wouldn't be me and it wouldn't say what I want the posts to say. It would in fact be almost the opposite of me.

I wanted and though I write less now I do still want everything I write to be identifiably me. I want to capture if I can the rhythm of me writing as I speak and feel.  I don't want to write like someone trying to make a name for themselves although I think no one could deny I have definitely made a name for Pippakin, but that is another and yet to be fully explored and exposed subject.

Right now Pippakin is asleep on her chair, Jezzie is asleep on the bed and Maggie is pretending to be asleep on my footstool, she's pretending so hard she's refusing to get off the damn footstool.

Hard to believe not so long ago there were six now there are three. My life is a wreck, much of it my own fault but not all of it, not by any means all of it...

This is me, still a believer in witchcraft even though there are very few blogs about the craft that get anywhere close to the reality of the subject and this IS ME a definite no holds barred amateur saying so.

This is me still holding strong political views on just about every political subject.

Still totally, furiously against all child abuse but with more experience of the internet regrettably very suspicious of some of those who claim to be victims of child abuse.

And still just as furiously against all abuse of animals and even more suspicious of many You Tube video clips of animals being 'rescued'.

Perhaps I should write more about the last two subjects, perhaps we all should particularly those who write from an amateur perspective. The victims need help and they won't get it from anyone with their eyes and intentions firmly fixed on their own descent into fame and fortune.

Some want to get every dot and comma in the right place I only want to express myself 

Knock, Knock...

Of course I rushed to answer, well OK no one could describe what I did as 'rushing' dawdling gets much closer to what I actually did, but be fair I did answer the door fairly quickly, there are only so many steps in the hall, and to my complete lack of surprise there he stood another one of the world famous totally untrustworthy Irish cowboy builders...

His very first words however were not about the house or any other building, he said and he did at least try to look anxious that he thought he'd driven his white van over a white cat, or perhaps not, he said he couldn't be sure...bear in mind this is Ireland and my views on both Ireland and murderous cretins who drive over animals are well known...Naturally I put on my best concerned cat lover face and told him I would check the very streets..
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Did I mention Pippakin was asleep in her chair and I have never seen a white cat in this street? We are in the midst of a family dispute about who owns 'her' chair but more of that later.

Getting back to the point, this particular vision of Irish duplicity was stood in front of me trying unsuccessfully to look as though he cared about cats or indeed any animal. We tossed the how dreadfuls back & forth for less than a minute then

He got to the reason for his visit. He offered to clear my guttering, I think its called guttering, but the talk of murdering cats had annoyed me and I'd had enough by then I gave him the answer guaranteed to put all Irishmen off I told him I couldn't afford it. He was shocked! He told me it would only cost fifty euros. Bless his stolen cotton socks...I was unmoved

I will never understand how my mother managed to miss the gene that must reign supreme in most of Ireland I think it maybe because she got out of Ireland as quickly as she could and married an Englishman.

Man O' War

I couldn't leave the posts about SeaBiscuit and Secretariat and ignore the magnificent Man O' War. He was grandfather to SeaBiscuit and related to Secretariat through Secretariat father Bold Ruler and though he maybe little remembered now Man O War was the most beloved and famous horse of his day.

Man O' War was loved by many but arguably he reserved his affection for his groom Will Harbut and it was mutual. Will Harbut called Man O' War 'The mostest Hoss' Man O' War was so popular the phrase became a well known saying. Will Harbut bought his house near Lexingtons Far Away Farm and looked after Man O' War and this was not an unusual arrangement.

Man O' War with his groom Will Harbut

Man O' War died one month after the death of Will Harbut.

I should say that black grooms and jockeys were very much part of horse racing in those days. It seems to me black people don't always or often get the credit they're due for their role in horse racing. I don't know why that is where are the records of black jockeys and is what seems to be a lack of interest of black people in horse racing due not to racism but to the ghettoisation of black people? And is ghettoisation the trapping of black people into modern plantations a form of racism in itself?

Sadly I  maybe at least partially wrong about racism in the horse racing world here is a link to Lexington Herald Leader which explains a bit more

http://www.kentucky.com/sports/horses/article44052153.html

As I've said before I'm no expert on horses, horse racing or any of its more social history. I have read that at one time in America horse racing circuits were among the few places where rich and poor regardless of colour or birth would socialise and circulate as equals. I hope that is true and if it is its something to make note of and be proud of.

Here is a link to Horse Network https://horsenetwork.com/2016/03/man-o-war-mostest-hoss-ever/ which gives far more information than I could even attempt.

I think if I dig deeper I will try to find out about a horse called Hastings described as one of the most aggressive, bad tempered and belligerent horses ever and of course he was grand daddy of Man O' War...Here is a link to some much more reliable and knowledgeable info than I could ever produce...

http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Hastings.html

Acrophobia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrophobia

Means a fear of heights. Its not funny so why people make video clips of extreme fear is beyond me to guess.

I couldn’t step on let alone walk across a glass bridge in fact my stomach clenches just looking at it, walking across an ordinary bridge would be hard enough I wouldn’t even consider attempting to walk across a glass one.

I don’t know why these people tried to walk across a glass bridge maybe they didn’t know they were afraid of heights before they stepped on the bridge.