Winterwood by Patrick McCabe

Author:Patrick McCabe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2009-08-17T04:00:00+00:00

2001

Six: Scarlet Ribbons

GEORGE BUSH IS SUPREME in the White House now and the war in the North of Ireland seems definitively concluded. It's hard to believe, I know, but that's what has happened. The world is in a state of flux - constantly changing. That is, and always has been, the essence of being human. Change. And life, more than ever now, seems to have altered with a bewildering rapidity — as alien to 'the old mountain-time' as can possibly be imagined. So many transformations since that first journey to winterwood, since that now best forgotten, seriously distressing afternoon.

It all seems so distant at this juncture anyway - once-epochal events possessing no substance, little more now than the dimmest of recollections. Since that time the Rwandan holocaust barely meriting a mention and the slaughtered of Croatia evoking no more than glum shrugs of regret.

As for my life, it too has seen its share of dramatic transformations — not something you'd expect from drab old 'Redmond Place', the man who can't even translate his own name, it would seem.

But, transformed it has been and - believe you me, having known what it's like to be close to destitute, emotionally and financially — I am very grateful for that indeed.

For a start, I no longer work in the newspaper business, having jumped at the chance when it was offered of a lowly, admittedly, start in the field of television. I really couldn't believe my luck. But the opportunities in Ireland are enormous now, compared to the grim old days of the eighties. And when we had concluded the interview, they told me there and then they were prepared to take me on as a trainee, initially, on a short-term contract. They operated an anti-ageist policy, they told me, and my being in my sixties posed no problem at all. It was changed times in Ireland, I remember reflecting happily. Good fortune has smiled on me practically non-stop since then.

At that time, as I say, my position was modest enough researching duties, mainly, on the Primetime programme —but sufficient to build on, with the result that I now oversee and edit general documentaries and features.

As a matter of fact, I attended the annual television awards only last night in the Burlington Hotel. It was a sumptuously elaborate affair, as has become the norm in affluent Dublin, which misses no opportunity for yet another meretricious fanfare. Casey really enjoyed herself, she told me, and reckoned it was, 'by a whisker', superior to last year's affair.

Casey, by the way, if you've not guessed, happens to be my second wife - and an extremely beautiful lady she is.

Which I'm sure might prove difficult for some people to believe. That someone - someone who's already failed at marriage once, and who isn't in any particular respect striking or remarkable - could ever have succeeded in being so fortunate. Not only to meet but hold on to, I guess, a lady as classy and attractive as the lovely Casey Breslin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.