Irish Tim's rantings

Just a few pics

2007-09-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was going to upload a few pics here but I am just fed up with how long it takes to upload them to blogger. So instead let these three be a teaser and then go to facebook to see the rest. What you see below is the hospital that I got to visit just outside of Durban. The 1st is a general view from the front yard whilst the 2nd and 3rd is of the childrens ward and maternity ward respectively.

See you all on facebook (link to my page is on the right of this one).

Back to the Rat Race

2007-09-10T05:28:00.001-07:00

Hello all

So this is my first Monday back at work since I got back from South Africa. I am particular bored as I haven't gotten to go out to court today and have really spent the morning catching up on all sorts of administrative things. Anyways, no one is really interested in that I am sure but would rather hear about South Africa. And since, I still have another 15 minutes for lunch I shall try to oblige. Sorry, no pics yet, they are on my home computer but they are coming, I promise.

So here are 7 thoughts from South Africa

1 - South Africa must be the most economically diverse country on earth. I saw the most extraordinary wealth when I was in the country and yet I also saw incredible poverty. I am not talking Malone Road vs Shankhill Road but I am talking Royalty vs near death. It honestly amazed me that people could live so well and not be affected by what is on their doorstep. Still, the issues are far more complex than I can do justice to in this blog but suffice to say that the number of people in poverty is so vast that perhaps it will be many generations before they work their way out. However, the crazy thing is that South Africa is the rich African country!!

2 - Apparently people are keen on me with a beard. I shall let the readers be the judge upon posting a few pics soon.

3 - South Africa is incredibly beautiful. I guess to an extent, people had told me to expect beauty but I honestly had no idea just how fantastic the place was. From the mountainous terrain around Durban to the stunning Capetown waters and the vast Krugger National Park, there really is a little of everything. And I didn't even get to try the surfing!!

4 - Racism. What I mean by that is that it is not unusual for people out there to call people simply "the blacks" or "the whites" or indeed "the colours". Again, I was somewhat expecting it but when you hear it at first it's most peculiar. I definitely did detect racist undertones amongst some of the White South Africans that I met who honestly believe that their lifestyles are under attack. I suppose to an extent they are right. That's an interesting debate in itself. Affirmative Action, good or bad?

5 - The HIV crisis out there is very very real. I was "fortunate" enough that the doctor that I stayed with at the start of my trip brought me into all the areas of his hospital. What I saw there was incredible and gave me even more faith in the African people. People who were suffering with all sorts of ailments putting on their best face and not letting their difficulties get them down. The only exception to this was in the HIV ward in which there nothing but absolute despair.

6 - Paranoia. This is to do with the vast crime rates in the country. At the start of the trip when I was with my parents, everyone that I met couldn't believe that I was going to head off by myself. It got me so nervous that I felt like it was a 50-50 chance that I would be mugged as soon as I arrived in Port Elizabeth. No worries there though, PE must be one of the most chilled out places around.

What is odd with the crime though is that a lot of people have had bad experiences. Yet, everyone and I mean every single person that I met treated me well. I guess there must be a small minority that spoil it for the rest. But still, the majority are wonderful wonderful people.

7 - The highlight of the trip. Well, it might surprise you. It should be the safari that I was on and yes that was incredible (I even got to see all of the Big 5 on one afternoon). However, the real highlight was at the District 6 Mueseum in Capetown. Now bear in mind that I had been a bit unlucky with the weather in Capetown in that I had been prevented from going to either Table Mountain or out to Robbin Island (Nelson Mandela's prison for 18 years of his incarceration).

Anyways, I arrived at District 6 Mueseum was is basically a memorial to those "blacks" that were displaced from that region as a result of the apartheid policy. I spent an hour just wandering around the mueseum and as you can imagine the whole thing is quite moving. At the end of my time there though I wandered into a room at the back that I thought was the tea room and seeing that there was no one there went looking for someone who could get me some tea. I didn't realise that the back of the place was attached to a small local primary school and I wandered straight into it. When the kids saw me there, it was just incredible, so moving. When the kids saw me they just ran at me and started to hug me. I honestly didn't get it and at first I thought that they wanted money or sweets or something. Once I saw the teacher with them though I realised that this wasn't their objective but rather it appeared that they were just happy that a white man would actually come into their school and spend a little time with them. At least, that's what I was told. I'm still not sure that I understand. One's thing is for sure, I was moved.

Anyways, I've tried to give a quick summary albeit I know that this entry has probably went on a little longer than I had envisaged. I didn't even get to talk much about the fact that I did a rope swing with a freefall of some 110 metres. Very scary indeed.

If anyone wants anymore detail do let me know and I shall try to provide.

For now, I've gotta get ready for dinner with the President.

James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti (It's A Man's World)

2007-09-06T02:48:00.001-07:00

Hi, I'm back from South Africa with lots to say and a few great pictures to post.

First though, I thought that in light of Luciano Pavarotti's death today I would post this video of two of the greatest singers of my lifetime. They will be missed

This is Africa

2007-08-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Port Shepherd some 100 km south of Durban. I have finally made to South Africa and the last few days just getting here have been something in themself.

Unfortunately I am on a slow connection and so don't want to spend some a lot of time on this entry except to say that I think that this holiday could be quite something. I have already spent some time in an absolutely luxurious hotel one night only to spend the next in a shanty town as filthy as perhaps I have ever seen followed by a hospital that, whilst being quite modern in its facilities is just full of tragic stories.

That and getting absolutely scared shitless about the prospect of doing some back packing by myself whenever all that people do it seems is talk about violent crime!!

The basic plan if it can be done/afforded is to head up to Krugger National Park for a few days potential safari and then fly to Capetown before perhaps going back up the coast towards Port Elizabeth.

It's all quite exciting, scary and to be honest humbling. More to follow

South Africa is the Call

2007-08-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

So as we enter the mid point in August, I have now been back working full time for at least two months. Since I still have another year to go before I qualify, I figure the best thing to do is go on holidays!!!

Typically I try to get back to Canada at this time of year and indeed for the longest time this year I was going to do just that and maybe try and combine it all with a trip to New York. The reality was though that any trip back to Toronto is done simply to catch up with people and whilst that is great, as time goes by I am discovering that those people aren't there anymore. So whilst I am letting Robin down by not visiting her in New York as I really wanted to do (sorry Robin!!), my new plan is even more exciting.

On August 23rd, I am flying to South Africa with my parents. Once there, I am spending two weeks by myself and with other friends that I am hoping to meet up with touring around the country. Now, I'll be honest and say that I really don't know much about South Africa aside from the fact that they have a pretty good rugby team and an ex President who is already considered one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. All that and also, I hear there is a lot of surfing.

I am so excited to learn about this place which is meant to be a model for how Northern Ireland should bring its divided communites together. I have so many friends who have already been to this place and not one of them comes back with a bad word to say about the place.

Anyways, that's it for the update for now. I will write again soon with this entry on false humility...I promise. Oh and if you're on Facebook check out Lindsay Bauer's page for pictures of her and Dave's trip to Northern Ireland.....good times.

Oh, and in case you haven't already, check out the video below. Seriously, it's something else. I actually heard an interview with the guy who filmed it and he said that the footage is actually from 2004 and that it had just sat on his home video collection until some somputer geek visited one day and posted it. 9 million views later......oh and without giving anything away about the ending of the video, any bad thoughts that you might have about the long term health of the animal involved are apparently misguided!!

Battle at Kruger

2007-07-31T12:32:00.001-07:00

I am honestly not kidding when I say that these piece of wildlife footage is possibly the most incredible I have ever seen. It takes about a minute to get going but keep watching trust me.

Why do we blog?

2007-06-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how many of my friends who blog have got updates at the minute that involve some sort of apology for not havingt posted more. I'll admit it, I do exactly the same thing. The strange thing is that of all of the links from this blog to others, it is really only Steve-o (and to a lesser extent Jeff Gulley and Sarah Flemming) who keep their blogs regularly updated.

So what's with this spate of inactivity in cyberspace? Is it that we are all leading such adult lives that we are leaving university behind and instead focusing on the working world and all the stresses that go with. Maybe, but I recall most of these people being equally busy throughout much of the last few years and still finding time to blog.

Alternatively, it may be the excuse that I often use - nothing exciting happens to me in my day to day life. Well that may be true but (and this is not meant to be an insult), but Steve-o leads a life as mundane as the rest of us, i.e. he works 9-5, enjoys going out and loves his sports and music and yet Steve-o manages to put together a blog which I generally find so interesting that I rarely am online each day without checking to see if it has been updated.

Another possibility is that we look at blogs of a higher quality of work that ours and feel somewhat embarrassed at how unprofessional or sometimes darn uninteresting our posts our. However, I can't buy that option either as it reeks of false humility as I am definitely arrogant enough to think that when I put my mind to it, I can churn something interesting. (Incidentally, this whole concept of false humility is definitely one for another entry).

However, if I am truthful, I know that the reason that I don't blog enough is that I no longer get the same attention out of it. If I wanted to make myself sound better, I would rephrase that and say I don't get the same kick out of it but let's call a spade a spade. When I started this blog, I did genuinely start it as a means of keeping in touch with Canadian friends who were near and dear to me. In the initial few months, I wrote often and indeed wrote quite well. The blog began many enjoyable MSN conversations and the compliments certainly helped feed my ego.

Somewhere down the line though I started to do two things. The first was that I stopped updating regularly out of nothing more that pure laziness and the second was that I did update, they were updates purely for that sake and as such were remarkably dull. Soon the MSN conversations and resulting compliments stopped and I started to go elsewhere to help fuel my ego. I would post the occassional decent entry (I still quite like "The Problem of Pain) but by and large my writing was substandard.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this entry was. Perhaps it was nothing more than a glorified "Sorry for not posting" entry but I hope not. Maybe just maybe, it is the start of me being a little more honest with the reader of this page and maybe just maybe in the potential resulting MSN conversations one or two original lines of thinking might come out.

Cheers for reading.
Tim

In the Process of a move

2007-06-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I am currently moving stuff back and forth to my new place in Belfast and as such my internet access is somewhat limited.

Normal limited service (i.e. one weekly update) will resume asap.

There's always next year

2007-05-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the game didn't go so well. To be honest, Liverpool probably had it coming. They have been in two major finals in the last two years and won both of them despite the fact that in both games they have been the poorer team.

Last night however, the absolutely dominated the game creating more chances against the Milan team that they somehow scored 3 goals against two years ago. Still, when a team concedes a goal in the manner of Milan's first (an absolultely brutal deflection), you kindof know it isn't going to be your night.

This is a good time to be a Liverpool fan though. The spine of the team is solid and in players such as Gerrard, Mascherano, Carragher and Reina are absolutely world class and in addition have in my opinion the best manager in all of European Football. This summer, he is going to be given an enormous war chest that can pretty much match that of Chelsea's and the Scum so there is definitely room for hope for next season.

Two final points though. UEFA seriously needs to take a look at the referring from that final from last night. When one bears in mind what Milan were accused of doing last summer, the fact that the ref called for time a minute early whenever Milan had wasted the entire last five minutes with an injury and a substitution is scandalous. I'm not saying that Liverpool would have scored, in fact they probably wouldn't have done so. But the fact remains that they should have been given an opportunity.

My final point is regarding the tickets. There is no way that for a Champions League Final both teams should be allocated 19,000 each but the Corporate boys at UEFA get another 25,000 or so. Liverpool fans spend an absolute fortune following their team and to hear some of the stories of people who didn't get into the stadium despite having legitimate tickets due to some UEFA cock up is just ridiculous. UEFA needs to take a long hard look at itself or else the Champions League Final is in serious danger of becoming the European Superbowl where they hype exceeds the actual quality of the game and the real fans are ignored.

Champions League Final & Moving Out

2007-05-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

As always, I haven't updated this blog in far too long but given that tomorrow night is a major night for any Liverpool man, I felt that I should say something.

It was only two years ago that Liverpool ended a 20 year European Cup drought by winning the most dramatic Champions League Final in history. I can still remember the scene at half time at the Windmill pub in York. Liverpool fans leaving en masse and those that stayed becoming either increasingly bitter or simply weeping. Milan had produced a half of football from was as near to perfection as could be imagined and were dominating with a 3-0 lead.

The problem was that Liverpool actually did produce a perfect 2nd half and came back to draw 3-3. By the time penalties came along, well there was that miss from Schevchenko, and there was no doubt that Liverpool would prevail.

My reaction, well lets say that it was as close to psychotic as I can remember ever being.

So here we are two years later and Liverpool are back in the final. For some reason, I have become a lot calmer with my sports since that memorable night two years ago and you might even say that I have matured to the point where if Liverpool were to lose tomorrow night, I wouldn't cry (I think).

In other news, I am getting out of my parents house at the end of the month and moving up to Belfast. I have now been home for about 18 months and whilst my original plan was to stay at home until I heard back from Canadian Immigration, it has been too long and I can't wait around forever. Besides my contract at my firm is for another year so hopefully the one year lease will work out perfectly and if at the end of that Canada is still an option, that would be perfect timing.

That's your lot for now. I'll try and write again soon with a more thought provoking update

Stephen Hawking Interview

2007-05-10T01:23:00.003-07:00

This is only 8 minutes long but I truly found it to be inspiring.

The Problem of Pain

2007-04-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

I am so bad when it comes to keeping this blog up to date. I mean, seriously I think about it often but something seems to always get in the way.

One of the reasons that I have been lacking in my updates as of late is that I have been using some of my free time to read a C S Lewis book "The Problem of Pain". This type of book pushes my limited intellect to the max and as such, it was a slow read but one that I recommend nonetheless.

I guess the reason that I have been reading it is due to recent events that have hurt. The most major of these I have posted on this blog but they have got me to consider the age old question of why God lets bad things happen to good people (I like to think of myself as good!!).

Frankly, this is an issue that I have done my best to avoid over the last few years as realistically if the God I believe in really does exist surely certain things in the world don't have to be as they are.

I can't say that I fully grasped all of Lewis argument and I will definitely have to read it again to see if I agree with what I did read. I will however make two points that at first glance at least I liked.

1 - Lewis does not believe in the concept of hell as most Christians think of it. Rather he sees it as a place where the "soul" is separated from God and simply ceases to exist. His argument here isn't too bad and if this is correct it would mean that to an extent he agrees with atheists in terms of what happens to you when you die. Those who don't believe in God simply cease to exist.

2 - More practically, in terms of life on earth, Lewis sees the problem of pain arising out of the concept of free will. Of course, to buy into this argument you have to believe in God but for a second lets assume that we all do. That God would have had two options when it came to creating humans. Let them have free will or control them as robots. Since God apparently chose to give us free will, he actually lost control of what we would do with it. As such, we are left to our own devices which means that we generally choose to please ourselves as opposed to pleasing other people. It is this selfishness that leads to one person screwing another person over and causing them pain. Ofcourse Lewis argues that God could intervene and prevent the evil doer doing as he pleases but then that person would have lost their free will. In essence therefore, it is our abuse of free will that causes pain.

I accept that I have simplified his arguments vastly and I apologise if I have offended in doing so. Furthermore, I am fully aware that these arguements honestly don't answer why a random event such as my cousin being paralysed played had to happen. However, the argument does perhaps enlighten a little in terms of some tragedies.

However, as I see it according to this argument one question remains. Should God have created robots or should he have created humans with free will (as Christians believe he did) or is it possible that God could have created humans who were only capable of doing good whilst still having free will. Lewis actually argues that it would have been impossible for God to do this third option but that argument is for another day.

Talk more soon.

PS - Northern Ireland has finally gone smoke free!! Wooohooo!!!!

Local Boy - Iain Archer

2007-04-08T08:21:00.001-07:00

This is quite a long video so I don't expect many people to watch it. However, for those music buffs amoungst you (Ty, Steve-o, I am looking at you)this is a guy whom I heard play at a small club in Belfast recently. It was some of the best music I had heard live in a long time and it wasn't just the whiskey talking.

So if you're bored for half an hour and just want to chill out, give this a listen. I particularly recommend Canal song which you can find at 9 mins 30 secs.

Inspired at Easter

2007-04-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

As regular readers to this blog must know (and indeed are probably getting sick of reading about), I consider myself to be a Christian albeit I really don't know how "Christian" my views on life really are. I often finding myself despising the Church as I just can't stand what it has done and in many cases continues to do to many of my friends.

However, this morning I had a particularly positive experience at church and I would like to share it now.

Being that it was Easter Sunday, I felt compelled to look past my views on the church and indeed on formal organised religion, if only for a day. So I went back to what I would consider as much my home church as any- Crossroads. The service itself was much of a muchness until it came to the sermon. It was taken by a young woman from Argentina who said that she wanted this service to be more than a regular Easter Sunday service which dealt with the same stories that we hear year in and year out since most people are now so familiar with those stories that theybarely impact at all.

She did of course read parts of these same stories but rather than being cliched about the resurrection of Christ, she decided to focus more on how these stories give us the power to forgive. As if to illustrate the point she then invited a guy of roughly my age to come out and speak for a few minutes. The man was a Palestinian Christian whom the speaker had met whenever she was recently in Palestine. He told us of what had gone out there since the fall of 2000 and how as a result he and his family had spent periods of up to 40 days hidden in the basement of their family home throughout much of the time up until 2005 due to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. As he went on I found myself moved for two main reasons.

This man whose life appears to have been turned upside by the Israeli army still managed to tell the story in what I perceived to be a fair unbiased account, always explaining both sides of the story whenever making any sort of political statement.
His continual attempt to show love and forgiveness to the people who (in his eyes) destroyed five years of his life. It was an example for me and indeed for everyone who was in attendance.

So thank you church for putting a human face on an old story and giving it some life again. Will I ever become a regular Sunday morning attender again, I don't know but for this Sunday and indeed for this Easter, I was inspired.

Northern Ireland vs England

2007-03-29T13:37:00.001-07:00

In light of my post about the great Northern Irish football team, lets remember that famous night less than two years ago when the country started to believe in their team again.

Ricky Gervais Comic Relief 2007 Red Nose Day

2007-03-28T15:04:00.001-07:00

Why is it that the best type of comedy has an element of truth to it?

Are you one of those people that are always cynical about celebrity's motives for getting involved in relief projects. If so, I am sure you will enjoy this video.

Ireland, it's still where its at

2007-03-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Has there ever been a better time to be an Irish sports fan? First of all, the rugby team win the Triple Crown (i.e beat England, Scotland and Wales) and indeed almost won the 6 Nations Championship only to be denied in the last minute against France.

Then the Irish cricket team (including my good school friend Andrew White) upset Pakistan in the cricket world cup and advanced to the Super 8 stage.

And then tonight, the super football team just went and beat Swedan ranked in the top 10 soccer nations in the world. In doing so, N.Ireland actually have a chance to qualify for the European Championships. Sure, it is a long way to go but you never know.

All this and Ian Paisley coming to an agreement with Gerry Adams and hopefully restoring home rule to the country.

Our wee country. Sometimes I still want to leave it but its hard not to also love it.

Are you serious?

2007-03-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

I have just gotten back from a great weekend in Edinburgh watching Ireland kick ass at rugby, Ok, so maybe they didn't kick ass but at least they won!!

However, I have been meaning to post a wee story from about two weeks ago. Picture the scene. It's a Tuesday morning and I have just written an exam (one of about 15 that I have to write this year in order to finally qualify). The day is now mine for the taking and I am looking forward to seeing Dave Matthews in Belfast that night (and yes, I can't quite believe that he came to Belfast either).

So, a few of us solicitor trainees decide to spend the afternoon bowling and potentially partaking in a few beverages. I rush home and then start walking to the bowling alley. Upon my arrival, I reach into my coat pockets and to my complete shock, horror and disgust I realise that the Dave Matthews tickets are no longer there. My merry plans for the afternoon therefore changed rather quickly and instead of the afternoon of fun that was planned, I spent the next few hours rushing to the venue in an attempt to convince the organisers that I had indeed bought tickets and that I must have just dropped them on the street. Eventually, after somehow producing various bank records and the like, I was able to convince them to re-issue dublicates.

Now, my question is if you were the person who found my tickets do you think that it is fair game to suddenly just assume them as your own and go to the concert? Or alternatively, given than they had my name and address on them, should they have made some sort of effort to contact me. Because, let me tell you that upon my friend and I gaining entry to the concert and arriving at our seats the following conversation took place.

Me - "I think that you are sitting on our seats"
Them - "No, I don't think so mate"
Me - "Really, let me show you my ticket"
Them - "hmm, there must be some sort of mistake because our tickets say we are here as well".
Me - "Strange, do you mind if I have a look at your ticket"

Me - "Yes, I see what you've done. You see the way that my name and address is on the ticket. Obviously you have found these tickets on the streets and decided to use them for yourself. Now, I won't say anything if you leave now and there are a few other empty seats that you can maybe sneak into."

Them - (Slightly embarrassed) - Alright then.

I would honestly like to think that if I had found the tickets myself I would have made some sort of effort to track down the rightful owner. Am I really that naive??

An Historic Day?

2007-03-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

The term "historic" is perhaps the most over used term in all of Irish politics. From the "historic" IRA ceasefire in 1994 to the "historic" Good Friday Agreement in 1998 followed by the ,yes you've guessed it "historic" assembly shortly thereafter and then finally the all together now "historic" St Andrews agreement in November of last year. So perhaps you can forgive the people of this country if they turn their eyebrows of the talk of today being such a day.

Nonetheless, the potential for today to be a defining moment in our wee country's history is certainly there. For those that don't know today we voted (again!!) in an effort to set up an assembly that would take away direct rule from London and give the long suffering people of Northern Ireland direct access to politicians who would rule for the most part from Belfast. Essentially, the American/Canadian equivalent of state/provincial government.

It remains to be seen whether our politicians can cease this opportunity as to be fair we have been in this position before. However, anyone who has been to Belfast in the last couple of years will tell you that finally the place is booming and surely a local government can only further improve things.

I am not going to publically post who I voted for but I will say this. I honestly don't care (that much) who gets in so long as they stay there and try to sort this place out.

Bringing back the Blog

2007-03-02T14:06:00.000-08:00

I last updated this blog just before Christmas and at that time I honestly thought that I would close the blog in the New Year. I had started to find maintaining a blog more of a hassle than a privilege and needed a rest. Now two months later, I am back and am going to give this thing another go. I honestly do think that my writing can be somewhat decent at times and it is only by continually writing more and more that it will improve yet further. There are numerous ways that these improvements can be made and hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to adopt a few of them.

Quite a bit has happened in the last few months but I will stick to the one major event that many if not most of you who already know about. It was only 7 weeks or so ago that my mum told me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet incredibly and wonderfully, as I now write this, she has just phoned me from the Swiss Alpes where she is resting (skiing!!) following a successful operation that has apparently removed all signs of the cancer and somehow increased her life expectancy.

The outpouring of support for my family from various friends around the world was really quite staggering and I still feel extremely humbled by it all. As I say in truth, I haven't gotten my head around the whole thing - I mean who beats cancer in two months and futhermore how come my family is so blessed in so many ways when so many others continue to struggle. As strange and perverse and it seems, I actually feel slightly guilty when I think about the recovery my mum continues to make in the light of this reality. So many people were so kind to me and took time out to encourage either myself or my family directly and yet there are probably things that have been going on in their lives for much longer and in my ignorance I have said nothing to them about.

However, I'm not going to get too deep too quickly into my re-entry back in the blogosphere. For all of my feelings of guilt, there is a much stronger feeling of joy that overwhelmes those emotions. My mum is well, my family is happy and life is good. So basically, all I want to say for now to whoever is reading this is thank you.

Happy Christmas

2006-12-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

I tried to send as many people as possible Christmas cards this year but unfortunately I have lost many more people's addresses. So for those of you who missed out, 1 - send me your address and 2 - here was my yearly address. I am not sure whether or not I will keep this blog going in the year as I have been lacking motivation to keep writing and hence have likely lost a lot of readers. If I do come back, it will be with vigour and hopefully return to some of its previous glories.

Warmest Greetings to you all

It’s reached that time of year whenever I attempt to regain contact with my friends who seem to have stretched further and further around the globe.

Looking back on my last Christmas letter, I have distinct memories of stating confidently that this year would be extremely significant in that I would finally discover once and for all whether or not I would be able to immigrate to Canada. However, as anyone who knows anything about Canadian Immigration will tell you, they are not the most efficient bunch in the world and as such this year has passed by without so much as a peep from them.

The year began as many other years have began at a pub in Belfast. I don’t know why the Irish do it to ourselves but there is something about getting to a pub with a few friends and celebrating in the New Year with a few hundred more strangers! Maybe this year, I will be more sensible and organise some sort of house party. Far more civilised.

One of my New Years Resolutions was to try a new sport and I actually kept this one by taking up a sport that throughout the past few years I thought that I would be good at – American Football. For those of you that care, I am now the starting cornerback and kicker for the Belfast Bulls. Fair enough, we missed the All Ireland play offs this year but next year, we believe that the Shamrock Bowl will be ours.

I got more and more absorbed into my new career as the year went on but finally in the summer Sarah Fleming and Jeff Gulley were able to drag me away from it all for a memorable weeks travelling in Europe. If this week taught me one thing apart from how to be sick after suffering severe food poisoning, it was this. I love travelling and really should do more of it. Furthermore, if anyone is doing any travelling through Europe in the next few years, you must stop by Czesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. It is seriously one of the most magical little towns that I have ever been to.

In September there was then my annual pilgrimage back to Canada where I finally managed to see an NFL game whilst almost being arrested by US Immigration as I entered America on a visit of no more than 4 hours! Most importantly though, I caught up with a lot of really great friends even if my karaoke rapping on the last night ensured for more than one reason that they might not be my friends for much longer!

The year however ended in extremely sad circumstances with my cousin Jamie being involved in a rugby accident which has left him paralysed from the waist down. While we are all thankful that he will still have a good quality of life ahead of him, it is hard to not to be extremely upset and indeed angry that such an innocuous incident of only a second will have such a devastating impact on his life.

As for the New Year, I don’t know what sort of resolutions to make. I will finally be starting the Bar Course in January and so hopefully by this time next year I will all but be a lawyer. My longing for travel has also increased tenfold since the summer so that must be pursued in some form this year. Anyone interested? As for Canada who knows. The longer I am back in Ireland the more comfortable I become but still the Great White North will always be calling me in some way.

That’s it for now. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. If I haven’t seen you this year, I will try harder next year I promise. Stay in touch.

Tim

Ireland - It's where it's at

2006-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Before I start, I would like to thank those of you who got in touch regarding my cousin Jamie. Your kind words are all appreciated. By way of an update, he had an operation last week which stablised the break. My understanding is that whilst they can't repair of the nerve damage caused by the break, they can cure the break itself. It's not much, but at least it's something. So thanks again, your thoughts are prayers are very much appreciated by everyone.

Onto slightly more upbeat news, I would just like to say that I have found some further evidence that Ireland really has come a long way and is actually a great place to live. At least, that's what Lonely Planet says.

"The landscape of Northern Ireland is astonishingly beautiful, the people are warm and genuine, and yet it is still relatively undiscovered which makes it the perfect destination."

The guide said the country is "abuzz with life: the cities are pulsating, the economy is thriving and the people, the lifeblood that courses through the country, are in good spirits".

Don't believe me, click here for the BBC summary of the article.

So if you haven't already done so come on over and check out God's country.

Jamie

2006-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for a while but for once it was actually for a good reason that being that I didn't know how to write what I knew I wanted and needed to write. I don't know if today I am any closer to knowing how to do this but I may as well try.

The picture on the left is that of my cousin Jamie. Jamie is 19 years old and for the last 18 months he has been at Newcastle University in England being sponsored by Price Waterhouse Coopers to take Accountancy.

This past weekend, Jamie was paralyzed playing rugby. Just typing that sentence makes me despair. Basically, Jamie was simply running with the ball when he slipped. From what I understand, he fell in such a way that his back was in an extremely precarious position. To be honest, that is not entirely unusual in rugby. Unfortunately in this case, the guy who was running to tackle him had so much momentum that he was unable to stop when he saw Jamie slip. As a result, he went straight over his neck completely severing Jamie's L1 nerve and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

I last saw Jamie about 2 months ago. He was about to head back to England having spent the summer working and touring in the US. We decided that some golf was an appropriate way to mark the occasion despite the fact that neither of us had played in almost a year. Whilst my swing fell apart, Jamie's was as smooth as always and needless to say he destroyed me on the course leaving me very much red faced.

Prior to that, I had last seen Jamie before he left for the US in Newcastle at the beginning of June. I had went over to write a company law exam and afterwards I met up with Jamie for drinks. Despite my wanting to get into the nearest pub, Jamie was insistent that we walk what seemed like half way across the city to a pub that he assured me I would like. He was not wrong.

I mention both of these stories but they serve to illustrate what a tragedy this is. Jamie was in great health and it is just not right that something like this has hit him whenever the best years of his life are still ahead. People tell me that he will still be able to do a lot and of course this is true. However, that doesn't make this any easier to cope with. Things like this just shouldn't happen to someone like Jamie but I guess what people have always told me is actually true. Life isn't always fair.

I have no idea what purpose I have by writing all of this. I just know that I need to get something down in print. As a rugby player myself, I have always been aware of the dangers of the game but in reality injuries like this are just extremely rare. Still I think to myself how can I ever play this game again but yet I know that I want to and probably will.

I don't want my rant about this to turn into one of self pity. The reality is that the sadness, despair and damn anger that I feel pale into insignificance whenever I consider what Jamie and his immediate family are coping with right now. As such, I will just close with this.

Jamie, I love you and I am just devastated for you. I know that you will come through this and become an even more wonderful person than you already are. But I know that it's not fair and I don't pretend to even have a slight clue as to why you should have to endure this suffering. Please just know that if you need any help enduring it I am only a phone call away.

I know that I can't speak to you directly for quite a while but do know that I want to see you and I definitely will as soon as you are back in the country. Love Tim

2006-11-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

The Gospel according to Bono

People often are confused by my idea of what my Christian faith means to me and indeed why I would be a part of it. This is perfectly understandable since Christianity itself has a lot to answer for

In this video, Bono hopefully articulates what it really means to be a Christian and to respect "higher laws". It's 20 mins long but I would encourage everyone to check it out.

Canada Pictures

2006-10-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my thumb is still nowhere near recovered and I still don't exactly know what is wrong with it. Some people are telling me a break, others a dislocation. All I know is that it hurts and I am going to get a proper X-Ray tomorrow as opposed to simply relying on expert opinions.

However, in the meantime, I will post a few pictures of my time in Canada without too much commenting on the pics (sorry, it just is too awkward to type lots). Enjoy!!

Ok so on the day that I arrived, I saw the Red Sox play the Jays at the Rogers Centre.

I then moved on to the Slanty Reunion. Try drinking whilst jetlagged. It's crazy.

The next day I went to see the Packers in Detroit. This is a huge story in itself and I can't type it all now so check out this

Steve and I immediately after the Pack game.

The next day I went up to Belleville to see Mel. Again, I have a rant here to do about Canada and monopolies particularly when it comes to public transport but it will have to wait. Instead you can simply just admire Mel and I climbing a tree.

It was then onto Kingston. The Gid came down to visit me from Ottawa. A great night.