Cavan Calling: The rain appears finally to have stopped and all plans for building an ark are on hold.
We are now coping with extremely strong winds, which are, among other things, having a bizarre effect on the dogs. The Jack Russell hides, quivering with fear, as the wind whistles and whoops round the house, making everything rattle, but the two spaniels love being outside. Our overweight and normally stately King Charles makes quite a sight as she chases around after Millie, the wind making both of them giddy and silly. A fair number of trees have been brought down by the gales, as has our television satellite dish. It is supposed to stand at a 90-degree angle to the gable end of the house, but we got up one morning to find it sprawled in a drunken fashion flat on the roof.
One of the best things about the strong wind is the efficiency with which it dries towels and other household linen. My friends are in despair as I extol the joys of towels dried outside. They (the towels) smell absolutely wonderful; a real pleasure is waking up in the morning after changing the bed linen the day before. The bed is snug and warm and the sheets still have that wonderful dried-outside smell on them. Blissful!
When I start work on my garden in the spring I am planning to plant a lavender hedge close to my washing line so my linen will smell even more divine. I suppose it is little wonder friends think living in the country is having a detrimental effect on me. In my defence, I still do go to the city sometimes, and dash around and have appointments and get stressed, but now I can come home and just slow my life down again and take pleasure in simple things - like solitude and a good, drying wind.
Recently, I was talking to Conor Lenihan TD, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, and he asked me about living in Co Cavan. Of course, I extolled its virtues, particularly here in the western corner of the county. The TD then told me he had heard that the northwest is where the real Irish people live. I think he said this was because the land was so remote, with bog and mountain making it particularly inaccessible, that very few invaders made it this far. I wonder if genetic testing would prove this? I know Viking heritage is in DNA - there are lots of Viking descendants in the Shetland Islands. Anyhow, for whatever reason, this is a particularly beautiful and untouched area.
Talking of heritage, a bizarre and costly anachronism of British history is the royal family. I was amazed at the furore surrounding the decision of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles to marry. They have, after all, been stepping out together for the best part of 35 years, and so one would assume their decision was as inevitable as it is safe - after all that time they can be pretty certain their marriage will work.
Watching the British television news bulletins on the day their engagement was announced, it would have been reasonable to assume the world had stopped on its axis and there was nothing else worth reporting. However, my ears did prick up when one reporter remarked it was apt that Camilla Parker Bowles would be known as the Duchess of Cornwall, as that county was where Charles made his money. I admit quite freely I am a republican, but that statement really infuriated me. Cornwall is one of the poorest regions in the European Union. So much so, the area qualifies for Objective One funding, as the per capita wealth is below 75 per cent of the EU average.
There are already rumblings about constitutional issues and the problems this union may create. When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, the peers of the realm swore allegiance to her, but, then again, maintaining the hereditary class structure was clearly in their own interest. Most of those peers have now thankfully lost their seats in the second chamber due to changes by the Labour government. I wonder what would happen if, after all the Clarence House machinations in order for Charles to marry Camilla and keep his throne, the now non-hereditary House of Lords failed to agree to his succession? I do not know if there would be the remotest possibility of that happening and Britain finally becoming a republic, but vive la revolution!
