As JP or ( 'JayPee' as his friends called him ) cycled toward the hostel , the rain/sleet whipped his face . He wondered , not for the first time , how he got himself into this situation . He COULD be at home now sitting by a blazing fire , possibly eating one of his mother' s freshly baked , hot , apple tarts , instead , here he was heading for the Morning Star hostel to do his two-hour voluntary duty . One of his work collegues had ' talked him into' joining the Legion of Mary and volunteering to do at least two hours per week helping out at the nearby hostel 'for down-and-outs' , as homeless people were referred to , at the time.
He was a little bit later than usual and most of the men ( it was an exclusivly male hostel ), had already 'checked-in' , which meant paying a six-pence or a shilling , deemed a fair amount for that time in the early sixties . No one was ever refused admission for not having enough but most of the men were able to raise that small amount .The other conditions were simply that , if required , they should take a shower in the hostel before being assigned a bed , that they behave in a responsible way .
Recently JP had spent his evenings in the hostel serving tea or conversing with the men and lately he had begun to play chess with a man called John C . John turned out to be an expert chess player who , on occasions after about five or six moves was able to inform JP that he (JP) could not win that particular game . John C had come from a very well off family and , JP learned later , had probably fallen on hard times due to alcoholism and a psyciatric disorder caused by drink.
The huge open blazing fire had the usual compliment of men sitting in a semi-circle around it . Some were holding their outer clothes to dry in front of the flames .JP noted the two men whom he knew to be 'deaf and dumb' 'chatting 'together beside the fire using sign language to converse animatedly with each other , completely oblivious to the noisey clamour around them of up to 150 other homeless men filled the large room with noise . This was probably the only communication each of those men had had all day .
John C was waiting as usual , chess board ready , to once again demolish JP's feeble strategy and latest cunning opening gambit .JP apoligised for being late , wondering what would have happened if he had not arrived at all ,would John C have waited all evening watching the door ?
In fact tonight would be the last night that JP would be able to visit , having been given a new assignment to help set up a new Presidium in another part of the city for an even more marginalised group of people.
As the chess game continued John C , as usual ,carefully wrote down on a grubby piece of paper , each move made . Apparently he recorded every game he played in this way .
An obviously very intelligent man , the game of chess must have had a special significance for him . Did all the pieces represent the world as he saw it ? The King , of course , was AUTHORITY , being protected by castle walls , white knights and black bishops , controlled by a powerful Queen using the pawns ( the ordinary people ) as ' gun- fodder'.
When the game was over , with JP the loser again they shook hands as they did after each time they played .When JP told him that he would not be coming back John C showed no reaction , but as he walked away , JP heard John C say '' thanks for coming Paul ''.It was the first time that John C had used his name and how did the old chess player know that ''Paul'' was his middle initial ? A small mystery in an almost forgotten incident when two different worlds meet.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Wedding.......
It must have been about this time last year when the young couple began to plan their wedding .Living in Zurich , he being Irish and she being French and deciding that they would like to marry in Biarritz meant immediatly that the logistics of planning the day would be even more complex than a 'normal' wedding and that the couple themselves would have to carry the main burden of arrangements and costs.
Last Saturday week it happened , the most perfect day for us all .
Arrival.
The Irish contingent started to arrive at Biarritz Airport on Friday 1st Sept.I was among the first group and we were met by the bride's parents and sister and ferried to the house that we had rented for the occasion.There were , of course , some incidents with Ryanair (more anon) and a 'Jacque Tati' moment when we endevoured to fold a state-of-the-art carrycot/pushchair ( at one point there were about eight people standing around the carrycot ,all , except myself , speaking French and each of us making suggestions of which button to press or which lever to pull in order to collapse the offending vehicle . )
When we first saw the house we could hardly believe our eyes . A lovely house literally on the beach in Anglet .Large , ultra modern , six bedrooms , two bathrooms ,a huge livingroom cum kitchen with a perfect picture window looking straight out onto the sea like living in a constant moving painting , a large patio door led on to a deck outside which went all around the house , a balcony completed the picture .
Outside hot and cold showers , the owner had also left surf boards , so the more adventurous of our group were able to immediatly avail of the huge waves rolling in from the Bay of Biscay on to Marinella Beach. ( Two of our number did discover however that the signs on the beach reading ' DANGER COURANTS ', was not a warning about the imminent arrival of our family , but a serious warning of the genuinely dangerous currents on the local beach .).
By Monday most of our group had arrived , we calculated that at our peak we would be 21 or 22 people in number ( 7 or 8 children including 2 tiny babies under 3 months ).
Some of the family travelled from Texas , some from Dubai , Zurich , Dublin , and Athy....some came by car , some by train , apart from those of us who flew....
We began to explore the area , first of all meeting again with the bride's extended family . We were greeted warmly and invited to meals . As I am unable to speak French at all I was not able to fully participate in the conversation but I think that my wife ( www) who resurrected her school French fully compensated for my ignorance . She used the language as often as possible , even when she knew that some of her listeners fully understood English , she enjoyed it .
The bride's gracious parents and her gentle sister were the perfect hosts having been fully involved in all local preparations and we thank them sincerely.
The Wedding Day.
The weather for the first few days was mediochre but as the wedding day itself approached it improved dramatically beautiful sunshine showed Anglet and Biarritz in all its glory . The excitment inside the house grew , starting with 'the hairdo's' for all the females including the youngest , the men were a bit calmer ....the cars started to arrive ....as the wedding ceremonies were to be in two parts .....first the CIVIC marriage in the Anglet Town Hall , performed by the Mayor of Anglet followed an hour later in the Eglise Sainte Marie , Anglet ,performed by Abbe Peyo Bordagaray .Because of the numbers involved we had to travel to the Town Hall in relays and it so happened that when the car came to collect myself we became stuck in traffic and consequently I arrived late for the civic ceremony and the Mayor had completed the marriage of my son and his beautiful new wife but somehow my wonderful wonderful wife ( www) managed to persuade the Mayor, in her newfound French , to REPEAT the ceremony for me .......what a remarkable gesture.....truly a strenghtening of Hiberno/French connections...for which I will be forever grateful ......the scene ...the couple sitting in high-backed throne-like chairs ,the groom sitting tall and handsome beside his incredibly beautiful ,petite young wife ....the Mayor in his official regalia ,his wide red-white-and blue sash.....speaking entirely in French of course, for THE SECOND time performed the marriage.There were about 50 family and friends present and the Mayor who fitted perfectly my image of a typical French town mayor ...tall ,portly , slightly bearded , looking imperious....who wished to discuss Rugby...but because of my lack of knowledge of both language and the sport I was unable to oblige...
And then to the Church .....the sun was now ' burning in the sky ' , the nervous best man ( the groom's brother ) , the groomsmen nervously walking up and down , all guests arriving , the organ playing , the marvellous choir ...the groom also nervous .......and the arrival of the bride with her father , preceded by her 5 Demoiselles d'honneur...Victoria, Rebecca , Sophie , Amber , Gracie .......but wait ....? some one is missing ....ah le Garcon d'honneur ...who , bureaucracy decreed , because his passport was out of date , could not travel with his parents to another European Union country and even though all the rest of his family were travelling to this wedding , this was NOT an emergency in the eyes of the bureaucrats ....God only knows what mischief this four year old would get up to in France....
A marvellously tear-jerking ceremony, the choir excelled , all in French of course , but this for me added to the whole athmosphere....and Luke Kelly's '' The Sun is Burning '' gave it the Irish touch at the very end....
One surprise....when Rob , Stevo , and Sammy decided to have a 'SILENT' collection...
Everyone , including the Maids of Honour behaved themselves....I'm sorry that I am unable to descride the brides lovely dress , but I know that photo's to come will take care of that....
The Reception
By this time I was beginning to realise just how much detail the couple had gone into when planning their wedding , as well as doing their jobs and attending other friends weddings during the year......but in terms of entertainment the best was still to come...
The reception was booked at Espace de Ocean , Esplanade de Docteurs Genthile , Anglet or in other words a reception centre right on the beach in Anglet.The preliminaries were served on the roof-top area , fully catered , drinks served , all overlooking the sea , in glorious sunshine ,just like being on the top deck of a luxury cruise-liner , everyone relaxed and mingled , the bride and groom arrived and were beginning to relax themselves seeing how all their plans were working out so well .
We all went down to the meal , speeches , entertainment the day could not have gone better, we thanked God and the planners . And I thank those who came , some from long distances , some with great difficulty , the bride's relatives and all my own family who by being there helped make the occasion such a success .......God Bless you all
The Aftermath
The following day , Sunday , we had a barbecue on the deck outside the beach house , beer , blazing sunshine , beef burgers , bangers , more beer , kebabs and no one over-ate or got drunk....wow......
We had still a week left to see once again the sights around Biarritz and the little towns and villages around the area particularly St.Jean de Luc and Espellette world famous for its little red peppers , the weather remained glorious , strolling on the beach watching the surfers riding in on the huge breakers , making sand-castles with the children , it has added about ten years to my life to see my work together so well to make wishes come true....
Ryanair
The fact that Ryanair fly into Biarritz helped enomously to make this wedding work but like almost everyone who flies with that airljne we had our Ryanair experience .We thought that we had obeyed all the rules re; bags , weight , boarding passes ...we had passed through security , with all the baby stuff , some of the family obviously had priority boarding because of the baby ....however myself and my youngest daughter were almost last on board...just before we presented our boarding passes my daughter was called aside and told to test her hand luggage in the 'measuring box',she was not permitted to force the bag in and was told that as the bag did not fit she must pay €40 cash extra AND hand over the bag , I was also called over to be treated likewise , even though many other passengers , some whose 'carry on' bags could hardly fit in the overhead compartment on the aircraft when they eventually got on board, were allowed to pass unchallanged . The company seem to leave it to individual members of staff to decide who gets challanged and of course when one is about to board a flight as almost the last passenger he or she has no opportunity to resist or rejig the baggage and the choice is pay up or don't fly and they then take your most precious items off you and dump them in the hold.
I was one of those people who cheered O'Leary and wanted Ryanair to get the second terminal at Dublin ....but no more ..I can see now with their sneaky, catchpenny , take it or leave it policies now enthusiastically pursued by the most humble members of staff , Michael O'Leary
would have turned the second terminal into a hell-hole and screams of pain and anger would daily emanate from there courtesy of Ryanair.....please please ...don't let them get their hands on it ....
Finally....or Finale
The family has dispersed....back to their countries , jobs, normal family life.......in Biarritz just like here the evenings are drawing in ....its getting colder...the famous light house is casting its beams out to sea , along the now- deserted beaches ,the huge leaves scraping the pavement and even the tiny sparrows have gone elsewhere for their food scraps. The house on the beach is probably deserted , shuttered the huge winter waves rolling in from the Gulf of Biscay the only sound .........but listen ..hark ....what's that other sound I hear ? Yes ! Its the sound of the laughter of children AND adults that will echo , maybe forever , from that wonderful place....
Its time for this old man to head back to his papers......
Last Saturday week it happened , the most perfect day for us all .
Arrival.
The Irish contingent started to arrive at Biarritz Airport on Friday 1st Sept.I was among the first group and we were met by the bride's parents and sister and ferried to the house that we had rented for the occasion.There were , of course , some incidents with Ryanair (more anon) and a 'Jacque Tati' moment when we endevoured to fold a state-of-the-art carrycot/pushchair ( at one point there were about eight people standing around the carrycot ,all , except myself , speaking French and each of us making suggestions of which button to press or which lever to pull in order to collapse the offending vehicle . )
When we first saw the house we could hardly believe our eyes . A lovely house literally on the beach in Anglet .Large , ultra modern , six bedrooms , two bathrooms ,a huge livingroom cum kitchen with a perfect picture window looking straight out onto the sea like living in a constant moving painting , a large patio door led on to a deck outside which went all around the house , a balcony completed the picture .
Outside hot and cold showers , the owner had also left surf boards , so the more adventurous of our group were able to immediatly avail of the huge waves rolling in from the Bay of Biscay on to Marinella Beach. ( Two of our number did discover however that the signs on the beach reading ' DANGER COURANTS ', was not a warning about the imminent arrival of our family , but a serious warning of the genuinely dangerous currents on the local beach .).
By Monday most of our group had arrived , we calculated that at our peak we would be 21 or 22 people in number ( 7 or 8 children including 2 tiny babies under 3 months ).
Some of the family travelled from Texas , some from Dubai , Zurich , Dublin , and Athy....some came by car , some by train , apart from those of us who flew....
We began to explore the area , first of all meeting again with the bride's extended family . We were greeted warmly and invited to meals . As I am unable to speak French at all I was not able to fully participate in the conversation but I think that my wife ( www) who resurrected her school French fully compensated for my ignorance . She used the language as often as possible , even when she knew that some of her listeners fully understood English , she enjoyed it .
The bride's gracious parents and her gentle sister were the perfect hosts having been fully involved in all local preparations and we thank them sincerely.
The Wedding Day.
The weather for the first few days was mediochre but as the wedding day itself approached it improved dramatically beautiful sunshine showed Anglet and Biarritz in all its glory . The excitment inside the house grew , starting with 'the hairdo's' for all the females including the youngest , the men were a bit calmer ....the cars started to arrive ....as the wedding ceremonies were to be in two parts .....first the CIVIC marriage in the Anglet Town Hall , performed by the Mayor of Anglet followed an hour later in the Eglise Sainte Marie , Anglet ,performed by Abbe Peyo Bordagaray .Because of the numbers involved we had to travel to the Town Hall in relays and it so happened that when the car came to collect myself we became stuck in traffic and consequently I arrived late for the civic ceremony and the Mayor had completed the marriage of my son and his beautiful new wife but somehow my wonderful wonderful wife ( www) managed to persuade the Mayor, in her newfound French , to REPEAT the ceremony for me .......what a remarkable gesture.....truly a strenghtening of Hiberno/French connections...for which I will be forever grateful ......the scene ...the couple sitting in high-backed throne-like chairs ,the groom sitting tall and handsome beside his incredibly beautiful ,petite young wife ....the Mayor in his official regalia ,his wide red-white-and blue sash.....speaking entirely in French of course, for THE SECOND time performed the marriage.There were about 50 family and friends present and the Mayor who fitted perfectly my image of a typical French town mayor ...tall ,portly , slightly bearded , looking imperious....who wished to discuss Rugby...but because of my lack of knowledge of both language and the sport I was unable to oblige...
And then to the Church .....the sun was now ' burning in the sky ' , the nervous best man ( the groom's brother ) , the groomsmen nervously walking up and down , all guests arriving , the organ playing , the marvellous choir ...the groom also nervous .......and the arrival of the bride with her father , preceded by her 5 Demoiselles d'honneur...Victoria, Rebecca , Sophie , Amber , Gracie .......but wait ....? some one is missing ....ah le Garcon d'honneur ...who , bureaucracy decreed , because his passport was out of date , could not travel with his parents to another European Union country and even though all the rest of his family were travelling to this wedding , this was NOT an emergency in the eyes of the bureaucrats ....God only knows what mischief this four year old would get up to in France....
A marvellously tear-jerking ceremony, the choir excelled , all in French of course , but this for me added to the whole athmosphere....and Luke Kelly's '' The Sun is Burning '' gave it the Irish touch at the very end....
One surprise....when Rob , Stevo , and Sammy decided to have a 'SILENT' collection...
Everyone , including the Maids of Honour behaved themselves....I'm sorry that I am unable to descride the brides lovely dress , but I know that photo's to come will take care of that....
The Reception
By this time I was beginning to realise just how much detail the couple had gone into when planning their wedding , as well as doing their jobs and attending other friends weddings during the year......but in terms of entertainment the best was still to come...
The reception was booked at Espace de Ocean , Esplanade de Docteurs Genthile , Anglet or in other words a reception centre right on the beach in Anglet.The preliminaries were served on the roof-top area , fully catered , drinks served , all overlooking the sea , in glorious sunshine ,just like being on the top deck of a luxury cruise-liner , everyone relaxed and mingled , the bride and groom arrived and were beginning to relax themselves seeing how all their plans were working out so well .
We all went down to the meal , speeches , entertainment the day could not have gone better, we thanked God and the planners . And I thank those who came , some from long distances , some with great difficulty , the bride's relatives and all my own family who by being there helped make the occasion such a success .......God Bless you all
The Aftermath
The following day , Sunday , we had a barbecue on the deck outside the beach house , beer , blazing sunshine , beef burgers , bangers , more beer , kebabs and no one over-ate or got drunk....wow......
We had still a week left to see once again the sights around Biarritz and the little towns and villages around the area particularly St.Jean de Luc and Espellette world famous for its little red peppers , the weather remained glorious , strolling on the beach watching the surfers riding in on the huge breakers , making sand-castles with the children , it has added about ten years to my life to see my work together so well to make wishes come true....
Ryanair
The fact that Ryanair fly into Biarritz helped enomously to make this wedding work but like almost everyone who flies with that airljne we had our Ryanair experience .We thought that we had obeyed all the rules re; bags , weight , boarding passes ...we had passed through security , with all the baby stuff , some of the family obviously had priority boarding because of the baby ....however myself and my youngest daughter were almost last on board...just before we presented our boarding passes my daughter was called aside and told to test her hand luggage in the 'measuring box',she was not permitted to force the bag in and was told that as the bag did not fit she must pay €40 cash extra AND hand over the bag , I was also called over to be treated likewise , even though many other passengers , some whose 'carry on' bags could hardly fit in the overhead compartment on the aircraft when they eventually got on board, were allowed to pass unchallanged . The company seem to leave it to individual members of staff to decide who gets challanged and of course when one is about to board a flight as almost the last passenger he or she has no opportunity to resist or rejig the baggage and the choice is pay up or don't fly and they then take your most precious items off you and dump them in the hold.
I was one of those people who cheered O'Leary and wanted Ryanair to get the second terminal at Dublin ....but no more ..I can see now with their sneaky, catchpenny , take it or leave it policies now enthusiastically pursued by the most humble members of staff , Michael O'Leary
would have turned the second terminal into a hell-hole and screams of pain and anger would daily emanate from there courtesy of Ryanair.....please please ...don't let them get their hands on it ....
Finally....or Finale
The family has dispersed....back to their countries , jobs, normal family life.......in Biarritz just like here the evenings are drawing in ....its getting colder...the famous light house is casting its beams out to sea , along the now- deserted beaches ,the huge leaves scraping the pavement and even the tiny sparrows have gone elsewhere for their food scraps. The house on the beach is probably deserted , shuttered the huge winter waves rolling in from the Gulf of Biscay the only sound .........but listen ..hark ....what's that other sound I hear ? Yes ! Its the sound of the laughter of children AND adults that will echo , maybe forever , from that wonderful place....
Its time for this old man to head back to his papers......
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