Monthly Archives: November 2010

November 30, 2010 · 11:15 am

To Sean … the first day of your life

I kept a diary from the start of 1984 to summer 2004 … it thus covers the first 13 years of Sean’s life.

We decided to try to have a baby while on holiday in Turkey in September 1990; Sean was conceived in London, where we lived at the time, the following month.

When I look to the entry for Sunday, 28 July 1991, I find that the day was ‘beautifully hot’. We had moved back to Dublin in March, as we wanted to bring up our child in Ireland. I woke at 10 o’clock that morning, and Pauline told me that she’d been having pains … we decided around 12 that this was probably the real thing. Continue reading →

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November 29, 2010 · 3:59 pm

Sean, dogs and loss

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Sean took these photos of our terriers, Pippa (tan) and Tango (black), some years ago … there is another batch of them playing together that I will post when I find it.

We have lost a lot this year. First and foremost, we have lost Sean. We have also lost several friends and people with whom we had a connection. The line ‘Good friends we had, and good friends we lost/Along the way’ in ‘No Woman No Cry’ always brings tears to my eyes, though I managed to sing it in the pub the other night without breaking down. Continue reading →

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November 28, 2010 · 7:09 pm

Sean’s music 5 … Against Me!

Sean and Aaron F

Terrible name for a band, as I mentioned to Sean more than once. Also, their ‘Thrash Unreal’ is one of the best rock & roll tracks of all time, in my opinion, but is virtually unknown … the lousy title hardly helps. Anyway, that’s a discussion Sean and I can’t have now.

I think his friend Aaron F introduced Sean to Against Me! a few years ago. He started playing ‘Thrash Unreal’ – a song about a recovering junkie – on the other computer while I was blogging, or whatever, on this one. I couldn’t believe how good it was. Some of their other stuff is very good too. Sean played them a lot. Continue reading →

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November 26, 2010 · 12:39 pm

Grave marker

Pauline designed this marker for Sean’s grave … a colleague of hers was kind enough to make it. The green, yellow and red symbolize Sean’s love of reggae. It will be placed in a double-glazed unit with a wooden frame.

Tonight is a big night for us … Sean’s month’s mind mass. Many relatives and friends are travelling to be here. We’ll be going to the pub afterwards, and there will be music … I may sing a Bob Marley song or two depending on how the night goes.

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November 25, 2010 · 11:14 am

Sean’s world 4

Sean in school uniform outside the Centra supermarket, Virginia

We live three miles from Oldcastle (in Co. Meath and Leinster) and six miles from Virginia (in Co. Cavan and Ulster). To get to Virginia we must drive around Lough Ramor … we can go either clockwise or anticlockwise.

When he finished primary school locally, Sean could have gone to secondary school in either of these small towns. We visited both schools, and he chose Virginia. He never regretted this … he loved Virginia and always spent a lot of his time there; it was the hub of his world.

I prefer the anticlockwise route to and from Virginia … all left turns, and a more pleasant drive in my opinion. Most of my journeys to town and then home have entailed a complete anticlockwise circumvention of the lake. On hundreds of these Sean was in the passenger seat for half the journey, as I dropped him to town or picked him up. Continue reading →

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November 24, 2010 · 11:23 am

Sean’s music 4 … Kings of Leon

Aaron and Sean in Virginia

Sean started to download Kings of Leon songs on the other computer in 2007 or so – his friend Aaron had recommended them to him. I liked the tracks, and came to regard KoL as a seriously good band. Proper American rock … what could be better?

We bought the third CD, Because of the Times, and listened to it in the car a lot. Later we acquired the first two CDs, Youth and Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak … they were Christmas presents to me, as I recall. Continue reading →

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November 23, 2010 · 10:10 am

Sean’s world 3

As we settled into this area and our newly built house, Sean made some good friends in the local primary school, which he attended for four school years from 1998 to 2003. He played soccer in the yard with the other boys; we have a plaque that he won as part of the school quiz team.

His customary world extended to the Gaelic football club, as I have mentioned, and to the Blackwater river, where I would take him fishing … he later took the photo close to where we used to stand.

He liked to fish, and took it quite seriously. We caught small perch and (usually) smallish trout. Sometimes we caught a good-sized trout and took it home to cook; otherwise we released our catch back into the water. Continue reading →

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November 22, 2010 · 8:20 pm

For Susanna Malone Wingenroth

Susi, I’m not sure whether you’ve seen this photo of you, Sean and me in 2006. I hope you won’t mind my posting it here.

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November 20, 2010 · 1:16 pm

Sean’s music 3 … Radiohead

After Nirvana, Radiohead were the next big thing in Sean’s musical world, as I recall. One weekend we were visiting his cousins in Portstewart, Co. Derry, and Sean rang me from a record shop to ask whether Radiohead were a good band. I said I didn’t know much about them, but thought they were.

He then bought the My Iron Lung CD, and would later talk about walking along the sea front at Portstewart and listening to it on headphones, amazed at how good it was and off in a world of his own. That was a vivid memory of time and place for him. Continue reading →

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November 19, 2010 · 12:09 am

Sean … some photos of people

This is a mixed bag of photos of people taken by Sean (almost all are his friends). He himself appears in two of them.

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