Sunday 28 February 2016

I Vote For Spring!

West from Bunglas, once a happy hunting ground of mine!

Fiona and I just happily found ourselves back in a Donegal cottage, courtesy of Mick McGinley and his son Michael. The grass about Teelin was burnt yellow with sea-salt, the hills sodden and blasted, but then the sun came out. Climbing a knoll beside the road to Bunglas on the morning we left, laid out before us was Donegal Bay at its most magnificent, all calm and shimmering in the spring sunshine. It came with frost in the morning, but how magic a transformation from the sullen grey aspect that it had worn two days before!

Where we stayed, and Mick's herd of Dexter cattle.


We spent long hours recalling bygone days with old fishing mates, and with the 93 year-old mother of a young man who tragically fell off the deck of my boat in 1984, drowning before our eyes. She has also lost her two daughters to cancer since, but she betrays no bitterness in her bright eyes, though she will tell you how the people may have poorer in her young days, but they were happier. However sometimes suffering can nourish faith, which is badly needed in a community like that. It may be surrounded by much natural beauty, but one cannot escape the feeling of being on the sharp end of life there.


The times have not been good to those parts lately. In the 1970s, there were about fifty men in those two parishes of Carrick and Glencolmkille fishing herring, salmon and lobsters in small boats. The main earners, salmon and herring, are completely gone, as indeed have the cod and turbot fisheries that we moved on to. How come? ‘Overfishing’ is the usual answer, but that is a vast over-simplification. The salmon fishery for example has been closed for ten years now, with little sign of improvement in the stock. Hard for salmon to thrive in rivers full of e-coli! Neither have whitefish stocks recovered from a long rest, which we attribute to the fact that the stocks of herring and scad on which they feed have also been decimated.
If you don't believe me, ask Mick McGinley!
‘Bad management’ is nearer the mark, but while a lot of things on land and sea called for management, in the case of herring what measures were taken, too late, were sabotaged with the connivance of corrupt politicians. Cutting a long story short, while the stocks were decimated, the industry both at sea and on land was concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy people. In the latest twist, the factories where many of the fishermen had to find work have been automated, so that only a fraction of the former work-force are required. This development was assisted with large grants of public money. As Mick said, maybe we can’t stop automation, but why should we help pay for it?


It all adds up to a neat illustration to the way in which chunks of the population have been impoverished, individuals and governments alike have been drowned in debt, while huge piles of cash have been accumulated by some, frequently off-shore. These don’t seem to be happy either, since it has got difficult to find worthwhile ways of investing said piles of cash, on account of the dwindling spending power at large, plus the general lack of confidence that such tensions bring about….


One hurries home to vote, on the basis that what one does not use one might lose, and it is no doubt satisfying to vote against those with whom one is currently particularly fed up. It would be more satisfying if any of the politicians seemed capable of helping to change things. I do believe that, like the brave green shoots that are pushing up through the burnt and blasted old grass, a new world is struggling to be born.
On the bus past Ben Bulben.
It is a good thing in a way that the huge institutions no longer provide for safe and secure investments. Now is the time for families and friends to find ways of working together, making a new way of life. Let the young go off to cities, to make some money out of the big beasts and see the way the world wags, but  let them do it in much the same spirit as previous generations went to war. May they find ways of harnessing wealth to their own initiatives, overcoming the alienation that ensues from the worship of money and technology!

Niall's forge.

It will frequently be an uncomfortable and risky business, but that’s the way with creativity. Perhaps that’s why some of us see the abortion issue in Ireland as a pretty good touchstone for the sort of politicians that we really need; ones who will promote rather than impede this awkward new world that is struggling to be born!


Rathlin O'Birne Island, where I saw two fine trawlers reduced to drift-wood.

 Photos courtesy of Fiona.

Friday 19 February 2016

Election Blues

I'm two days back in Ireland now, still in Dublin. There are lots of lovely people here, but what a comedown in the matter of physical environment! This is not helped by the ubiquitous, though at this stage largely battered, election posters. What is the idea? Is this a beauty contest? Do people actually vote on the basis of the number of times they are confronted with a mug shot of this or that candidate? Or is it simply a matter of upping the hype so that a reasonable number of people can be induced to vote?

Trouble is they are all too busy rushing around, trying to pay for their exorbitantly expensive flat and their new car. Yes, sales of new cars have soared again this year. Why, the M50 is back on the way to being one big car-park! Yippee, aren't we all on the pig's back again? Who cares about politics, really? If one has a bit of spare time, isn't sport much more important?

Personally, I think the posters should be banned. If people have not sufficient interest to look up the record and ideas of the candidates, and even if they must a photo, be it on the internet or in newspapers, then on what basis can we assume that their vote is a matter of any consequence?

Most of the incessant chatter on the radio and tv is equally vacuous, with all that bandying about of statistics and laudable intentions which mean very little. So far I have heard hardly anything about what I consider to be the biggest issue, which is how to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and fast. I quote from a friend who has just sent me an email about his effort  to do something about it in the UK:-

'For a long time now the default social principle has been to make society as wealthy as possible. We need to change that attitude.   Instead we need to put love and concern for the earth and all the creatures and people in it as our principle inspiration for life.'*  

Good luck to anyone who tries to sell that one to the electorate, though one might have thought that the Heavens had dropped some fairly hefty hints lately!

*See <http://www.climate100.co.uk/>

Friday 12 February 2016

The Big See-saw, the Bully, and Marmalade.

What with the weather and the general election campaign starting, it was a good time to get out of Ireland. There is something particularly depressing about an election campaign that seems to be mainly a competition to see who can put up the most stupid posters, with barely a real issue or principle in sight and less genuine engagement in debate.

Our Leader Mr Kenny claims of course to have pulled the country round from the brink of economic collapse. Sorry, I don't buy it; we are all part of an admittedly complex world economy, but I'm afraid I see it with the eyes of a child in a playground, looking at a big see-saw. Oil went sky-high, and the oil exporting countries did very well while the importers like Ireland headed for bankruptcy. Oil price collapsed and just now it is the other way round.

There seems also to be a playground bully walloping the see-saw up and down, much to the terror of the wee chiddlers on it. The big question is, how to get off it? Then there is the imperative to do so from the climate change perspective. But who or what is that there bully?

One thing is for sure, bullies like to cover their tracks, while they enjoy terrifying the kids. I think there must be something in it for the War on Terror merchants myself. There remain some awkward unanswered questions about the 9/11 business that got the show on the road. Are we to believe that the brilliant security measures in place are responsible for the fact that America has actually suffered rather little from the terrorists since? All praise to the heroes of security, like the wee man who relieved me of my half-used jar of coconut oil at the airport the other day!

It would be more in their (the Americans’) line methinks to tackle the gun culture, or hey Mr Trump, how about banning automobiles? After all, they kill something approaching 40.000 Americans every single year, and about a million and a quarter world-wide. How about 'bombing the Hell out'a' the motor car factories? But that wouldn't 'make America great again', would it now? But Mr Trump wants to rob her of whatever rags of credibility she still has!

Ah well, here's to life on my own little see-saw, between Ireland and the Guadianaland. But just to prove that I am prepared to do more than give off, on Tuesday 23rd February at 8pm in the Clarion Hotel, Sligo, I will be with Fiona at a meeting called by the Iona Institute, which will be addressed by Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin on the subject of How should a Catholic think about Politics?

Meanwhile, back with the Anna M on her winter mooring, I am very slowly improving her off-grid capabilities. The solar panels and led lighting installed two years ago have made a huge difference. Now I've just taken the Ebersbacher oil-fired heating unit out of her. It never worked well for long anyway, didn't like the marine environment, and I'm slowly working towards a wood-burning stove. It is needed even here in the winter, what with condensation and chilly nights and damp river air. There's plenty of wood drifting past, but it's a complex business reorganising the saloon for this stove, because the old and also defunct fridge is in the corner that it needs. First move is a new fridge in a locker beside the galley.

Talking of which, and of living off the land, there are any amount of oranges going at a loss round these part at this time of year, and since marmalade is one of the basic necessities of life for me, I had to have a go at making some here. No menu, no scales, no jamming pan, no thermometer, but thanks to Brother Anselm I do have a basic idea of how to make it – the recipe is in his Glenstal Cookbook – and also with compliments  to Jean-Paul, the French cook on Sherkin, a basic attitude that 'You must cook wiz your 'art'.... It turned out fine, fruity and delicious, and this is how I did it:
·         Fill the pressure-cooker full of mostly bitter oranges*, with two sweet ones and a lemon, and water half-way up, and cook under pressure for half an hour.
·         Cool till you can slice them up, separating out the pips. Putting the chopped fruit to one side, return the pips to the juice in the cooker, adding maybe another cup-full of water, and give them ten minutes or more under pressure, before sieving them out and returning the fruit to the juice in the cooker, and adding about a (2kilo) packet and a half of sugar. Our pressure cooker, about a 6 pint one, is at this point about three-quarters full. Maybe a little extra water is required to bring it up there.
·         Boil away, with no lid on the cooker, stirring regularly. It takes a good while, and has to reduce quite considerably. Fiona swears by 'the wrinkle test' – put a bit on a plate and push it with the wooden spoon, and it's ready when it wrinkles. I find I know when it's cooked; it turns a darker colour and starts to stick to the bottom. That makes a good six jars.

*The bitter oranges have somewhat knobbly skins, while the sweet ones are smooth.

Friday 5 February 2016

A Call to Adventure

I'm back aboard the Anna M in Guadianaland, between Spain and Portugal, and very delighted to be here. With all the talk about a possible Brexit, I am reminded how wonderful it is to be part of a community of nations, able to share all the more fully in the rich diversity of their cultures. Like all things human, the European Union is far from perfect; but what a massive improvement it is on the previous state of affairs! The challenge remains to improve it further, but how people can imagine that it would be better to go back into a nationalist shell rather baffles me.

I have a doleful memory from Ibiza of a drunken boat-load of young Brits roaring out Rule Brittania. I am generally amazed at the indulgence with which people endure such behaviour, and the patience with which they are prepared to distinguish louts from a much more sensitive and kindly majority. However if the British did vote to leave the EU, or even if the vote was close, one would really have to ask some questions.

It is a fact that the EU is rather too large and monolithic a structure for people to relate to with ease, which is why in this blog I celebrate the Gannetsway, the Atlantic region with which I particularly associate. However could it be that, on top of mere insularity, there is more of a hangover from the Protestant reformation at work than one might imagine? Indeed moderns are inclined to underestimate the effect of theology on cultural reflexes, especially their own; one can see this in the stunned reaction to Islamic revivalism. In the case of Protestantism, one sees how the emphasis on individual personal salvation has morphed into the liberal cult of personal autonomy and independence.

On the other hand, there is a lot of mere fear and anxiety at work, with the result of a revival  in nationalism on the Continent too, in France for example. Facing multiple threats, people easily forget that it is a plain and infinitely multi-faceted miracle that the human race has come as far as it has. Maybe God sometimes is inclined to despair of the freedom with which He has endowed us. Maybe Islam has a vocation to remind the West that although His mercy is infinite, His patience has been known to give way to His wrath, as we like to forget, taking Christ's sacrifice for granted.

Certainly we are not worthy of that participation in the divine nature that Christ calls us to; yet this is a time to dare to believe in it. It is a love affair, a dynamic and ongoing relationship and an adventure. It is enabled by the structure of the Trinity and the Incarnation, which is what poor old Mahommed missed. That our relationship with God should be frozen in the words of that prophet from the seventh century is really a sad idea, and it won't work in the modern world; hence an agonising time for all his devotees.

Perhaps it is a chance for all of us to rediscover the wonders of that relationship! And I happen to think sailing the sea is one of the very best images for it....

I write in haste because my computer is down and I must post this from the library in Alcoutim.