Wordplay

Wordplay Hello again, European Stability Mechanism (ESM) chief, Klaus Regling, warned Ireland of importance of E3.1bn payment. Press reports cite him as seeing this as a crucial next step as the country prepares to exit the bailout programme at the end of the year. He emphasised that the markets would be looking at Ireland’s budgetary progress as the first European country to (hopefully!) exit the EU-IMF bailout when the E85bn bailout programme ceases at the end of 2013. One of the driver’s of the speeding train, which crashed causing over eighty deaths in Spain yesterday is being investigated by police. The train is one of Europe’s worst ever train disasters. Newspaper reports state that Middle East talks will resume next week after deadlock, which lasted five years. Israel and Palestine have agreed to talks with Mr. John Kerry, American Foreign Affairs Minsiter. Derryman, Jason Smyth won his second gold medal yesterday when he powered over the line at the 100m sprints in at the IPC World Championships, in Lyon, France in in 10.61 seconds: another world record for the fastest ever paralympic athlete. Jason, who suffers from the degenerative sight impairment Stargadt’s disease has won back-to-back Paralympic sprint doubles London and Beijing and World Championship sprint doubles having achieved this feat before in 2006. Facebook shares jumped by 20% on soaring advertising revenue according to latest reports: are we in the wrong business? WORDS TO THE WISE: money is like manure. If you spread it around it does a lot of good. But if you pile it up in one place it stinks like hell. – Clint Murchison Jnr (1895-1969) US industrialist. CAN YOU SOLVE THESE RIDDLES: What has a foot but no legs? Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it? What comes down but never goes up? ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY’S STUFF: A newspaper One if it was big enough RISK TAKING IS A RISKY BUSINESS Many moons ago Indians roamed and rode alive and free around the White Plains. Chief Running Bull stood tall and fierce in his splendid head-dress. Just beyond the Indian’s camp lurked a battalion of the US cavalry led by General Terence Beck. Their assignment was to secure the White Plains for development by the white man. Having studied the Indian way of life the general decided to try the softly softly approach first. Riding up on his horse he asked to speak to the chief. A short time later Chief Running Bull had agreed to sell the White Plains for a bag of brightly coloured, pretty stones. The two men parted on the best of terms both convinced they had made a bargain. Chief Running Bull - whose only wish was to tread softly on the earth as bidden by the Great Spirit - knew that nobody could own or buy any part of the land. While the General knew that the bag of stones was scant payment indeed for what was to become New York State home to the Big Apple. That’s a true story. One of many the guide told us as we travelled around the ‘Big Apple’ in a boat. I was assigned here after my Profession and worked in a Foster Care and Adoption Agency run by the Order. One day Diane, a work colleague, and I rode the subway setting out to visit some of the children and their families in the Bronx. At one of the stops groups of grey uniformed schoolboys got into our carriage. We were only five passengers so there were plenty of vacant seats. Suddenly the boys began attacking one another with knives. Some stabbed others on the side of the head just above the ear. A fifteen year old boy lay across Diane and I and started to stick his knife into his school-mates who had taken cover lying on the floor. Realising that with a slight twist the knife could stab us Diane and I said ‘one, two, three’ and together stood up and allowed the boy roll onto the floor. We picked our steps walking across teenage boys sprawled all over the carriage. Until we reached the farther end where the other three occupants were huddled. When the subway arrived at one hundred and twenty fifth street we were relieved to see a crowd of police officers. A group of them came into our carriage and joined hands above their heads making a safe through-way for us. As we left the train, the station was in pandemonium between riot police and these school-boys. Diane and I jumped onto the train opposite which pulled away from the station almost immediately. That was just one subway ride on one afternoon in a very violent city. Countless times I’ve been walking down the street when guns have started shooting and I’ve seen men running behind cars just like in the movies. Whenever this happened I simply moved very fast to a parallel street and continued on my journey. On other occasions when I felt I was being followed, heeding the advice regularly featured in the newspapers, I checked to ensure there was indeed someone behind me, walked to a well lit spot turned around and asked ‘Are you following me’? Invariably the answer was ‘yes’. Despite or perhaps because of the violence New York is a very friendly city. When people heard my Irish accent I was treated royally. New Yorkers are a warm people and if they trust you at all, are more than happy to welcome you into their homes. Violence is part of life in many big cities, becoming a part of life in ever widening circles. Going for a walk can be a risky business. What if I don’t look before crossing the road, slip on an icy surface, get lost, or am bitten by a dog? Work places can be even riskier. Night-time especially at this time of year leaves many people afraid to even risk going out. The media frequently carries stories of those who took just such a risk and lost. Can we live without taking risks? What about not taking a risk? That’s not really possible though is it? If Chief Running Bull had refused the bag of stones and had held out to the end he would have risked his tribe facing immediate violent extinction. Had General Beck not studied the ways of the Indians he risked all out war. If Diane and I had not taken the subway we risked being too late to see the boys and their families. If we had stayed in the office we risked not seeing the children in their home environment. If those New Yorkers and I had not met up and engaged each other’s company we would all have been the poorer for it. Imagine all we would miss if we never went for a walk, took a job, enjoyed some night-life, even stumbled occasionally. Let’s get more pertinent here. What about writing? Have you ever considered all the risks involved in getting words on paper? Will what I write make any sense? Will others deem it good, bad, or utter rubbish? Have I got a talent for writing? Or am I wasting my time? The list of risk laden questions goes on and on. Questions which are usually a long time receiving answers - if they ever do. However a perhaps even more pertinent question concerns all that we don’t do, that we omit or leave out in order to write. The only way to write is write. To get right down to it leave everything else aside: sit down and write. Writing can be seen as a lonely, even selfish occupation. What could I do with the time I spend writing? Yet without the risks taken by writers through the generations where would we be? We’d probably never know about Chief Running Bull and General Beck for a start. INSPIRATION: Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he or she has grown up. - Pablo Picasso ON THIS DAY: 1856 – George Bernard Shaw was born. 1875 – Karl Jung was born. 1881 – Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny executed a patent application for a facsimile telegraph. 1894 – Alodous Huxley was born. 1928 – Stanley Kubrick was born. 1943. – Mick Jagger was born 1945 – Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister. 1946 – Helen Mirren was born. 1950 – Susan George was born 1952 – King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. 1956 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal. 1959 – Kevin Spacey was born. 1964. Sandra Bullock was born. 1973. Kate Beckinsale was born. 1998 – AT7T and British Telecommunications announced that they were forming a joint venture to combine international operations and develop a new Internet system. SACRED SPACE : Blessed are the poor for the kingdom shall be theirs; Blessed are ye who weep and mourn for one day you shall laugh; And if wicked men insult and hate you all because of Me, Blessed are you. SMILE A WHILE: Where were the kings of Albania crowned? On the head. Why was Cleopatra so difficult to get on with? She was the Queen of Denial. For pigs, what came after the Stone Age and the Bronze Age? The sausage. Toodle Pip Valerie LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Hi There, I want(ed) to send pictures with my blog and generally ‘pretty it up’ but so far I am still truing to learn and just cannot do it. So, please continue to be patient with me and we’ll see what we can do. This really is all new to me. Ciao Val