September, 2005

One of the distant auntie-in-laws offered us the loan of her caravan this weekend, so with nothing else in the diary, we saddled up the motor and headed for the seaside!

I’m not much of a caravan person: cramped conditions, close proximity to other human beings (especially obnoxious caravan-loving escapees from Belfast), and paper-thin walls are all reasons not to like mobile homes.

Anyway, this morning was a minor miracle - the kids slept in for the first time since they were born. When we eventually rose, we were greeted by clear blue skies and the warm and cancerous glow of the sun. After getting the troops fed, watered, nappies changed, etc, we decided to head for the beach walking along the coast from Waterfoot to Cushendall.

We had a leisurely stroll over to Cushendall, accompanied by the Sister In-Law and her intended, DJ. When we got there, we decided to have a spot of brunch (Mrs Levee and I had somehow missed out on breakfast and it was by now around midday). A couple of fries were ordered and the kids settled down for a little treat. Because it was such a nice day, we decided to eat outside and enjoy the sunshine.

After about half-an-hour, we were almost ready to go when Ray and Jay started getting restless. I was catching up with Jay (who had filled his nappy and was reeking up the place) and Mrs Levee was feeding Baby D. Looked round and there was Ray, tilting one of the outside tables. One of the glass-topped outside tables!

Every muscle tensed. The table was at tipping point. Before anyone could say another word, Ray gave me a defiant look and gave the table that extra push to knock it over.

It was one of those slow-motion moments, time almost stood still as the table overbalanced and hit the ground. It hit the pavement hard, then gave a little bounce. Didn’t break. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the table seemed to suddenly register the shock wave and the glass top shattered.

To cut a long story short, the meal ended up costing us an extra ?40 and Ray got a severe telling-off. I was raging at the time, but we managed to salvage the rest of the day by going on down to the beach.

As we were driving home, Ray piped up in the back seat, reminding me about the table-breaking incident. She said “I just want to say I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“Who are you saying sorry to?” I asked her, thinking she wanted to apologies to the cafe owner as I’d threatened earlier.

She replied, “You Daddy. I’m sorry for breaking the table. I won’t do it again.”

And in that moment, the broken table was almost worth it. To receive an unprompted apology from my four-year-old daughter was like pennies from heaven! She had realised what she’d done wrong and seen how much it had upset her parents. Better still she had the courage to apologise.

Although I was driving at the time, I reached back and gave her hand a squeeze and Mrs L and I both told her how much that meant to us.

Sunday, September 11th, 2005 // Family Life

Phew! Not even a fortnight after the birth of baby #3 and life’s good. Baby is healthy and well, Mrs Levee’s pelvic problem seems to be easing and her post-pregnancy figure is looking yummy…

Ray and Jay have their moments. They’ve been bickering a fair bit recently, and we’re not sure if they’re having trouble adjusting. Overall, they’re still lovely and we’re trying to make sure everybody gets equal attention.

So why am I pissed off?

I’ll tell you why: since the baby’s been born, I’ve been at work almost more than I’ve been at home. I’ve only managed a few days off, and during those the office has either called me up or requested that I come in.

For example, on Tuesday, Jay started to ride a bike for the first time. I was knocked out at how well he was doing, but while this was happening, I was called into the office (again). This is my bloody holiday - leave me alone!!!

I’m wanting to spend time with my family - Jay’s learning to ride the bike, Ray’s starting nursery school and we have a two-week-old baby that we’re getting familiar with. Yet this office seems to think because they’re paying the wages they can call me anytime?

To add insult to injury, I requested a salary review this year. For the first time ever. Guess what? They didn’t even have the decency to give me a decision!!! Grrrr. Submitted a very reasonable request. In writing. Outlining what I’ve done for the firm in the past year - money I’ve saved them, efficiency measures I’ve introduced. In triplicate.

Nope, my request was met with radio static. In March. To this day, I don’t know if my request was even considered.

Yet with this complete lack of respect for me, they still expect that I’ll come in and bail them out whenever at the expense of my family time?

Screw them. More than ever, I’m determined to go out on my own. Start a business. Gain some (more) self-respect. Grrr.

Friday, September 9th, 2005 // Family Life

I am so angry and I just had to vent it. I am sure this will offend many people but what kind of blog is this if we nice about everything and everyone!

The main problem is that it took me 2.5 hours to make a journey that usually takes 20 minutes because Loyalist troublemakers decided that they had nothing better to do than block the road during rush hour. These people obviously do not work and have decided that their lives are so empty that they have to stop others who do work from getting there!!!

It angers me so much when I look at what is happening in New Orleans. People are dying all over the world in ways that are avoidable and these stupid people are protesting because of stupid walk!!! It is so insignificant, but perhaps these people have IQ’s so low that they can not see the wider picture. These people represent the problems in Northern Irish society today, the main one being that since there is a possibility that the IRA may be sincere (and I am no fan of the IRA) the Loyalists have nothing to fight against! And God forbid they should be happy, they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves (get a job perhaps?)

The IRA have the right idea, leave them alone and they will self-destruct, but do they have to take us with them? Can the people in this province who are not work shy and just want to get on with their lives be allowed to do so? Get off the Springfiled Road and get a life!

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 // News & Media, Northern Ireland: Politics

Well after about 7 years together my partner and I have decided to get married. This decision was accompanied by a sigh of releif by my mother who never got used to us “living in sin”. This relief quickly disappeared once I told her that she wasn’t invited!!

We have decided to avoid all the politics and get married in Italy. My partner is a very quiet soul (but lovely all the same) I am not quiet but definately odd and hate making small talk, particularly with people I don’t see from one year to the next. That old question “so what are you doing with yourself now?” drives me mad.

Also with weddings you always offend someone, a daughter not being flowergirl, an aunt not invited, so we decided to offend everyone and go away by ourselves to avoid the politics. Oh how naive were we. My mother laid on the guilt trip, one of my sisters, who I rarely see or hear from, cried because wouldn’t see her sister married, more like because she wouldn’t get to buy a new dress and talk loudly to a whole room of people thereby embarassing the rest of her family.

Ah well, it had to be done sometime! Wish we hadn’t told anyone though. Anyone else have wedding stories or advice on how to avoid the politics?

Monday, September 5th, 2005 // Family Life

Sometimes you can exist in a bubble and not have a clue what’s going on in the outside world. That’s how I feel today.

I was just looking back over my referrer stats for The Levee Breaks when I discovered a whole load of Google and MSN searches for the word “levee”. Curious about this, I went on the prowl, only to discover the news of the tragedy in New Orleans.

If you arrived at The Levee Breaks today looking for information about the disaster, I have included some references below.

Information About Levees

There is an entry on Levees over at Wikipedia. Google can give you a wide range of definitions of the word levee. Type define: levee into the Google search box and hit return.

I understand CNN is carrying very good coverage of rescue and relief efforts in the New Orleans area, if you are looking for that kind of information.

Relief Efforts

The American Red Cross has a donation scheme in place for people who want to contribute to the relief effort. Their website also has information on how to volunteer to help out. Amazon have also started a donation scheme on behalf of the American Red Cross also.

Finally

For those of you who have chanced upon our blog today, I hope the links above will prove useful on your onward journey. I’ll try to keep this article updated with any extra information that I receive about the situation or information services available.

This site is named after the Led Zeppelin song, “When The Levee Breaks” from their fourth album - nothing to do with the current tragedy. If you’d like more information about this site, I suggest you read this.

Friday, September 2nd, 2005 // News & Media

Almost a week has passed since I went to the labour ward for the birth of my third child. Hard to believe.

During the week, I wanted to write a little about the delivery. The labour was so fraught with drama, highs and lows. It is a story that needs to be recorded! Read the rest »

Friday, September 2nd, 2005 // Family Life