Sunday 15 April 2001

Well, yeah. Perhaps more than Christmas, the true meaning of Easter has been well and truly lost – or perhaps, more to the point, buried by commercialism. Not to mention opposing religious festivals … It was pretty clear to me as a child even, that Easter, like Christmas too, was a Christian (mis)appropriation of pagan fertility festivals.

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I’m not really sure where Passover fits in, but that festival’s roots are firmly set in 3000 BC or whenever it was that people first began celebrating the fact that the Angel of Death had ‘passed over’ the Jewish houses in Egypt, so spiriting away only the Egyptians’ first-borns and sparing Moses’ people … Please someone correct me if I’m wrong on this; I find the whole subject absolutely fascinating, and besides, Passover sounds a helluva lot more fun. You can keep your chocolate eggs and bunnies!!!

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Anyway I had a superb long lunch with Ernest and Isabel, and Henry and Louise (Charles couldn't make it down to The Big Smoke). Mmm. A heavenly roast lamb dinner (thanks Mum) preceded by champagne and corn chips (courtesy of moi) followed by English Toffee ice-cream drizzled with Cointreau (also courtesy of moi) with lots more excellent booze in between. Mmmmmm. And not a choccy wabbit in sight.

The day was marred somewhat by my neck muscles going into massive revolting spasms at about 0400 hrs. Serious pain, man. Somewhat like ravenous wolves chomping through one's tendons and nerve endings or something ... a severe constant ache that peaks and peaks but never seems to drop. Ick. And not a good way to start the day. I had to get up and move around; lying in bed was way too uncomfortable and lonely, so I got a cuppa tea and eventually stumbled to my puter, logged on and wandered around some journals (hi Karen honey!).

I was immensely cheered too when I went onto ICQ and there was my Sam ... we had THE most delightful chat followed up by a loooooong phone call, in turn hysterically funny and all gooey and romantic, so I felt much better after that (codeine + endorphins = wheeeee). 

Sam was very very concerned about my last entry where I termed myself a fuck-up; I wish to reiterate that I don't really think I'm a fuck-up, its 'merely' this low-level yammering at the back of my mind. As far as professionalism goes; well, I know for certain I am very professional, very organised, talented even, and easy and fun to work with - when given the right situation. I guess that goes for all of us. The situation dictates your responses and thus 'who' you present yourself as; the impression you give. Or something.

Oh basically, I just know that I function very well, and am an asset, in an easygoing, fun and intensely professional and intelligent work environment. So its just a matter of finding that again ... 

In the meantime; unemployment rocks!

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I've just finished The Doomesday Book, by Connie Willis, which I really loved. It took me a while to get into; not sure if that was just me? but I then got very involved with the whole tale and the switching between centuries, the parallels between pandemics and societies ... Cool. I'm interested in reading a little more of her stuff now; sure its not serious lit. but its a damn good read and I love the integration of serious historical research. 

I also finished How the Irish Saved Civilisation. I actually got a couple of emails about this title; along the lines of 'well, yeah, I guess Guinness is a valid contribution ...'. That reaction didn't surprise me in the least, as it was similar to my own perceptions, before I saw the Book of Kells in Trinity College, Dublin, a couple of years back. I was absolutely astounded, gobsmacked, rendered speechless (can't you tell?) - not only by the glorious artistry of it but by the immense contribution those monks had made. And how the Book had been protected from ongoing nation-wide raids by 'barbarians' for so many centuries.

How the Irish Saved Civilisation goes into more depth; about the Fall of the Roman Empire and how Europe descended into the Dark Ages. Yet free-thinking and communal monasteries in Ireland (North and South), as yet untouched by the Roman Empire, at the same time committed themselves to copying the texts of Gospels, Greek and Roman classics ... I had never realised that without the contribution of the residents of the monasteries in Antrim and Iona et al, the European Renaissance would never have happened, and that we in the Western World would perhaps have faced a life without books.

How the Irish ... is quite a simple book, an excellent summation of those centuries (400-800 AD), gently humorous with a sensitive feel for global perspective that explains a great deal about the rise of Roman Catholicism and the power of the clergy and dogma. 

The 'Green' and 'White Martyrs' on the other hand, were fun-loving, sociable, open-minded, and probably had a corresponding attitude to sex, fun, drinking and other 'taboos' of the organised Anglo religions that followed.

They were Irish, after all!

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