Author: Chatter

What do you enjoy most about writing?

I believe my first piece of writing that received any recognition was in a competition at primary school for the RSPCA. ( animal charity). I won first prize and a book and was awarded the prize at a local hotel. The book was ‘School under Snowdon’ and I remember it almost 65 year’s later.

After that my essays at school were written with imagination and with a desire to always get a special mention from the teacher.

Life intervened in the following years and it was only on returning to education and a university degree that I was able to get many thoughts and ideas on paper.

Again life intervened and roll onto 2015 when I wrote a piece for a local website. It turned out to be well received and started off my love for writing again.

I wrote for various organisations until I started my own site. I loved being able to challenge local issues and eventually did a stint as a community journalist at View digital, managing to publicise an issue re changing facilities for the disabled which resulted in the government taking action.

I find it hard to compete against the large number of blogging sites on the internet but if only one person reads what I write I’m happy ( well not really) but ..

I love writing and I know my daily diary on Facebook gets quite a lot of views even if it’s only the musings of an old lady.

What do you love about where you live?

I came to Belfast in 1966 when I was 16 and apart from a few years when I lived in a nearby village I’ve always lived here.

To say we’ve had our problems in Belfast is an understatement but due to the resilience of the people who live here we got through it. It’s not perfect even now but what city is?

We have the sea within a mile from where I live. We have mountains, beautiful coastlines close by. The city has been regenerated and there are lots of restaurants. Thirty in a 2 mile radius from my front door.

Our educational standards are high with a well educated workforce and one of our universities is the prestigious Queen’s university.

And there’s the people, hard working, down to earth ( well most of them) and with a great sense of humour.

We have great hospitals with medical staff from many countries. I’m lucky at my age to live close to one.

And finally I also have the Stormont estate at the top of my road, home to the on/ off Northern Ireland assembly. Don’t ask lol. A beautiful place to walk with an excellent play park for children.

What’s not to like living here?

What positive emotion do you feel most often?

I can’t say I always feel positive especially with what’s happening in the world. Hard to stay positive when you look around and see children and families murdered in Gaza.

Hard to stay positive when a huge swathe of the American population are prepared to vote for a rapist, pedophile , racist and a thoroughly despicable human being.

Hard to stay positive when children in rich countries are going hungry and hard to stay positive when seeing people living on the street.

It is possible to be positive when I see my family doing well and are happy and well adjusted.

Not possible to see those who confess to be Christian acting in an unchristian manner and foistering their outmoded beliefs on others.

Possible to be positive when I see the possibility of a groundswell in many countries prepared to vote for change.

So I’m going to opt for positivity because to be continually negative in outlook is soul destroying and life is short.

What brings you peace?

William Butlet Yeats said

“And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow …..referring to his moving to the the Lake Isle of Innisfree. He was referring to the peace he experienced surrounded by nature as opposed to city life.

I feel peaceful when walking by the sea but it is a transient feeling. It doesn’t take long to come back to reality though I do have my photos to remind me.

My real peace comes from knowing my family are safe and well. As a mother I worried as my children grew up with the threat of a bomb going off, or a riot starting. This was the norm in Northern Ireland during the ‘troubles’ . I got no peace until they were home tucked up in bed.

Now I get some peace knowing my family are healthy, happy and settled, each perusing a career they love and each being a credit to their dad and me.

The outside world may be in turmoil but in my own little world peace has to be knowing all is well with my family.

What profession do you admire most and why?

So it has to be the medical profession. Not just doctors or nurses but all the disciplines that come together to look after the sick and get them back on their feet.

How many people can look after patients day after day, deal with horrendous accidents, and come back to do the job the next day ready to start all over again.

I’m slightly biased as my daughter is a Nurse Practioner and my granddaughter is studying to be an Occupational Therapist. Two of my nieces are GPs and I see the dedication they put in their jobs every day. I couldn’t do it so I very much admire those who do.

In hospital recently with a blocked intestine I saw the patience of the Doctor and Nurse as I tried to swallow a tube to my stomach. My reflexes insured that they needed a change of clothes only succeeding on the fifth go. I would have given up.

So without them what would we do. Covid was a great example of their dedication. So the profession I most admire has to be the medical profession.

What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

It has to be my phone. I often wonder how I managed before the mobile phone became available.

I’ve actually had one since 1989/90. A rather large Nokia which only made phone calls. However in my job as a housing officer I travelled the length and breadth of Northern Ireland so I invested in a phone. It was expensive but it was very reassuring to have it during long trips to isolated areas, especially during the troubles.

Nowadays it is like my right arm, and I never go out without it. While waiting for appointments I can scroll through the news, play Words with Friends and check the number of steps I’m doing during a walk. I never have cash and pay everything with my phone, so no need to carry anything else when I go out.

Should I fall there is an alert to my family and I can alert emergency services.

Traffic alerts are also helpful as is checking the weather. So all in all my most important item to carry with me all the time is my iPhone.

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

Unfortunately I know that my blog will only reach a small number of people. Those that it does reach are those that share my values and will in most cases agree with what I say. So preaching to the converted.

Past blogs on Chatter have dealt with many issues most pertaining to the place that I live in. The biggest response with over 1000 views was an open letter to a young man who was advocating violence on a local radio station. I’d like to think that it did make him think and I have noted that he had indeed realised that violence is not the way.

I’ve written about the attitude to the LBGT community as a grandmother with a gay grandchild. Live and let live being the message.

Sadly there are too many blogs nowadays and it’s almost impossible to make an impression among those who have lots of followers.

Feeling impotent about making any great changes I find myself writing less and less but if it changes just one mind I’ll take that as a win.

This platform has awakened the want to write but as the title suggests I’m not naive and I know it’s hard to change views, as people are afraid of change, happy to go along with the status quo.

Describe one habit that brings you joy.

I never used to like walking, until Covid struck and that was one of the few ways I had to get away from the day to day tedium of staying indoors.

Luckily I live near sea, countryside and mountains. I also live in a beautiful place called Northern Ireland.

We ( husband and I ) started walking every day in 2020 and I started taking photos. I would come home every day and write my diary on Facebook and put the photos on Twitter.

Roll on five years and I still walk every day, still take photos and still write my diary on Facebook and now have a dedicated bunch of followers who read it every night.

It’s a habit I hope I can carry on as long as physically possible, as it gives me a lot of pleasure both from the walking and the fact that friends can share the walks with me through my photos.

How would you describe yourself to someone who can’t see you?

5 foot 2, eyes of blue

Silver hair ( not grey)

On the chubby side.

Friendly face with a welcoming smile.

Approachable

No tattoos or piercings.

Fresh faced with good skin.

Cuddly.

Good set of teeth but not all my own lol

Quite deaf when I’m not wearing hearing aids

What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?

There are quite a few traditions that I no longer keep, bearing in mind that I was brought up in the Catholic religion, wherein most traditions emerged during the early part of the 20th century.

The first tradition in my family was not eating meat on a Friday. We were only allowed to eat fish or a potato and vegetables. No big hardship but I couldn’t see the logic behind it so I abandoned that one when left home at aged 16.

Wimpy came to Belfast in the sixties and their burgers on a Friday evening after work were a treat.

Every night we were called into the living room, the rosary beads were produced and we got down on our knees to say the rosary. One of my brothers and I got behind the sofa and giggled and made funny faces until my dad dismissed us. Again that tradition went out the window when I moved up to the big smoke in Belfast.

It was also the tradition that on Easter Sunday we all got a new outfit to wear to church. That was one I’m embraced enthusiastically. Unfortunately due to my falling out with the church and religion I and my family no longer attend any church.

Another tradition I embraced was Christmas night, once I was allowed to to go to midnight mass and once I knew the secret about Santa.

You can watch it here

We do now have our own traditions but nothing to do with religion or the past