By Aine                                          

Puts the bins out?

Empties the dishwasher?

 Ever, ever, puts the new toilet roll into the holder and discards the cardboard empty one?

Why oh why am I the only one who bothers to put the milk back into the fridge?

Puts down the toilet seat?

Hoovers out the car?

Opens the windows in the bathroom after a shower?

Checks the house at night to make sure it’s locked up properly?

Bothers to answer the house phone?

Answers on a postcard please to Aine @ www.vivadiva.ie please!

By Aine

When I was very young fruit was not freely available and we had to be contented with an apple or an orange.

I remember on Christmas morning we would get a Satsuma in our stocking and we were delighted with this “exotic” piece of fruit.

Years later bananas were added to the list and my Mother would make us eat them every morning saying “a banana in the morning is like gold, a banana in the afternoon is like silver but a banana in the evening was like lead”

So for most of our childhood we were content with these three fruits.

How things have changed!

Now when I look in my fridge I find pears, plums, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, mangos and melon never mind the common old apples oranges and bananas.

I am lucky that I love fruit, all kinds of fruit, and am quite happy with the five-a day rule (Only FIVE a day?!)

Most supermarkets are now selling fruit as buy one get one free or 2 for £6.

It’s still expensive for people on a budget, but other fruit like bags of Satsuma’s, apples etc have never been cheaper.

However I was astounded the other day when I saw blackberries on sale as part of the 2 for £6. I remember Grainne and myself picking blackberries as children, fabulous big juicy blackberries and bringing them home for our Mother to make jam, that is after we had tucked happily into them on the way home!

I’m not a fan of fruit out of season though. I mean its October now and strawberries are still on sale. And they are purporting to be Irish!  If my memory serves me correctly strawberries are only in season from July/August?

Rumour has it that blueberries are a “super food” and good for the brain.

I eat copious amounts of this tiny black fruit, my excuse being I don’t want to suffer from dementia when Im older, so I have them for breakfast, (delicious with yoghurt) lunch (in a smoothie) and after my dinner (as a dessert with other fruit and a bit of ice-cream)

Have you  noticed that the selection of fruit has now become even more exotic than before?.

Now in Ireland we can buy mangos, passion fruits, pomegranates, kumquats, to mention a few and three varieties of melon!

I remember my Father was told that kiwis were good for the bowels and he used to eat one every day like a boiled egg, top cut off and insides spooned out!

My big regret is that we didn’t have this choice when I was young.

 By Aine

Went into a shop yesterday to buy a birthday card.  I selected one, not very fancy, but I liked it and thought it suited the 21-year-old recipient and reflected her personality.

My jaw dropped when the assistant said “that’ll be €5.99 please” without batting an eyelid.  But I did, several times before I found my voice and said “What? “€5.99 for a card?” You’ve got to be joking”!  Except that she wasn’t of course.

I left her holding the card and walked out of the shop.A couple of months ago, on Mothers Day I paid €6.99 for a card and I swore after that I would never pay over the odds again. Can this extortionate price of greeting cards be justified?

Unless it’s really fancy with lots of glitter and bling, never mind bells and whistles, charging nearly six euro for a card is crazy. I figured that the recipient of my card would be happier if I spent little on the card but increased the amount INSIDE!!!

I know people (well girls) keep cards from their 18^th, 21^st, 30^th birthdays, never mind graduation cards, passing driving test cards, etc etc.  They are usually stored in their treasured little box of memories, but this thought alone will not make me shell out €5.99 for one.

I’m happy to report that Dunnes Stores now do a range of cards for the much better price of one and two euro. I bought a perfectly acceptable 21^st card there and was delighted to have saved €4.99.  For God’s sake there’s a recession on and who in their right mind would pay more than that for a measly card?

They also have cards to suit all occasions; births marriages and deaths and a few others besides (sympathy, driving test, graduation, bon voyage, congratulations new home etc.)

I’ve long been a fan of Marks and Spencer cards, they are more expensive than Dunnes but a good bit fancier and they now do a deal, where you get a stamp when you buy a card and when you have six stamps you get your next card free.

I’m also a fan of the Irish cards with the message written in our native language, but again they are more expensive, though still affordable and a little different. I’ll always opt for these cards when I know the person I’m buying the card for appreciates it!

I actually love card shops and could spend hours reading the verses and funny messages when I’m in the process of selecting an appropriate card for a person, but this doesn’t mean that I will fork out over the odds for the card. No matter how funny, how sentimental the wording is, there is a line I will not cross.

By Aine

I was disconcerted to read in my local paper today that Kildare, where I live, is the most burgled county in Ireland after Dublin.

That is according to Eircom Phonewatch Burglary report.

Apparently it is the fourth year in a row where my adopted county has earned this unenviable distinction.

The report by Phonewatch – which tracked burglaries between June 2009 and June 2010 – also revealed that January was the most targeted month for burglaries.

I lived in Dublin for twenty seven years and was burgled twice.

If you, like me, are unfortunate enough to have endured this experience you will know that it’s not very nice.

Strangers ransacking your home and going through your things is an extreme violation.

I was away for the weekend the first time my house was burgled in Dublin. We arrived back to find the house ransacked and every drawer in the house opened and the contents strewn about. Not much was taken as it happens but that was little consolation for us.

The feeling that somebody entered our home, and went through every room, was upsetting enough.

It cost us dearly in terms of having to have the locks changed alarms fitted and side gates erected and walls raised higher. The house resembled Fort Knox but it wasn’t enough to deter the burglars.

One night, some years later, around 2am my husband heard a noise downstairs. We have left the alarm of the house off that night as our oldest daughter was out for the night. We listened with bated breath and realised that we had an unwelcome intruder. My husband looked out the window and saw one guy waiting outside the dining room window while the other guy handed out the stuff to him! Needless to say they made a hasty retreat!

So now I find myself living in Kildare with the startling news that we are the second most burgled county in Ireland!

Only recently I had been complaining about house alarms going off in my area. Nobody seems to pay much attention to these alarms other than to view them (like me!) as a nuisance. I have to admit my first thought is not to check out the house with offending noisy alarm to see if there is a burglary in progress or indeed alert the boys in blue.

But from now on I shall take more notice….. I could be next!

by Grainne

Update:  The rescue mission was successful - in fact it ran more smoothly than anyone had dared hope.  All 33 men were brought safely to the surface without hitch.  It took nearly 22 hours to do so.  The relief, jubilation and sheer happiness of all involved was broadcast across the world.  Even in such an epic story of bravery some stand out; 54-year-old Luis Urzua the foreman who organised the men and kept their spirits up during their enforced stay underground, chose to be the last to be brought to the surface.  There were also the rescue workers who willingly went down the mine and stayed there to be brought up after all the miners were safely overground.  Truly, and in every way, a story to gladden the heart.

Truly, the news story that has generated the most positive and gratifying response from the public at large has been the Chilean Miners Rescue.

It’s the perfect feelgood news story for these depressed times, a tale of heroics, fortitude in the face of almost-unimaginable hardship, selflessness, courage and hope.

That the people involved were working class men, doing a difficult, dirty job to support their families makes it all the more laudable.  Working a physically demanding job in confined spaces deep underground is not for the fainthearted.  Or the claustrophobic.

It’s not hard to imagine the sheer terror the 33 men felt that day back in early August when the mine collapsed, leaving them cut off from the outside world.  Imagine the panic. 

Since a camera was lowered into the mineshaft after it was established on August 22^nd that the men were alive, we’d become accustomed to seeing their dimly-lit faces peering from their makeshift prison as they sent message to their families.  We were heartened by their good spirits, their bravery and uplifted by the overwhelming goodwill displayed towards them from across the world.

Being trapped 700 metres underground for 69 days without proper provisions (though things improved for them after a while when items could be sent down via a narrow tube) was an horrendous ordeal, especially when you consider that, for much of that time they were unsure of when they’d be rescued, if ever.  Every hour must have seemed endless for them down there.   Even with the support of a psychologist who was called in to keep them mentally fit and busy theirs was an experience no-one would want to share. 

Then there were the families who flocked to the site, living in a tented area while they endured the wait for their loved ones to be rescued.  There must have been times when hope was difficult to sustain.

How we praised the Chilean Navy who custom-made the 54-cm wide, four-metre-high steel tube used to bring the trapped men the gruelling, 20-minute journey to the surface.

At the time of writing, fifteen have been rescued and it’s going smoothly.  The world waits with bated breath, hoping that the rescue mission will be successfully concluded and all of the men will be brought back to their families. 

Their future will be quite different than anything they’ve known up to now.  Already we’re hearing of presidential invitations, television appearances, paid holidays.  Who knows how such things, and their ordeal, will affect them.  One thing’s for sure though, the whole world wishes them well.

by Aine

By our middle forties most of us have reached a stage where we’re pretty much settled in our careers, children are grown up; maybe at college or university, or perhaps flown the coop altogether.

Life should be good and we all look forward to some quality time. But for many, at this time, life can throw up another challenge – the care of elderly parents.  

Looking after aging parents is a tough job.  Throw an illness or something like dementia or Alzheimer’s into the mix and it’s made all the more difficult.

Coupled with that, oftentimes, is the guilt felt if a decision has to be taken to put them into residential care as minding them in their own home becomes nigh on impossible.

Rooms in both state-run and private nursing homes costing an average €1000-€1,500 per week these days.  Still the waiting lists for both are lengthy due to high demand.  There’s the added worry of how such care is paid for.  The person requiring care is obliged to pay 80% of their income (less some deductions) for it, and 5% of the value of any assets they have, per annum, again, with some deductions.  It’s a lot to think about.

Some people would never countenance such a move but instead have an elderly parent move in with them.  That causes upheaval for both parties and the need for adjustment to the new living arrangements.  

When parents opt to remain in their own home, there’s the responsibility of visiting regularly and the inevitable guilt, no matter what we do or how much we visit, the sense of guilt is always there.   Even if the elderly mother/father/both are still in good health we feel duty bound to call in regularly to help with the shopping, cleaning, hospital visits.  Most of all just to spend some time with them so they don’t feel lonely.

My own parents have passed away now but I know friends who look after their aged and infirm parents round-the-clock with no recognition of the value of their contribution and the millions they save the state every year.

Some people DO apply for and are granted the Carers Allowance, giving them an income of €212 per week for the work they do.  Anyone giving up a job to provide fulltime care for a parent or relative can apply for Carers Allowance, though it would present, for most people, a significant reduction in income compared to what they’d earn from their job. 

I remember a time when I was a child and my mother cared for her elderly father because that’s what you did back then, you felt duty bound to care for your parents in their old age, as they had taken care of you as a child.  The same went for caring for sick relatives.  There was no financial inducement to doing so.  I’m not saying that it’s wrong that there is now.  As I said, I believe people DO deserve recognition by means of financial recompense for their efforts in providing such care.

With cuts likely in the budget though across the board in state payments it could be affected; if not cut (which would cause a huge outcry) or made harder for new applicants to be granted the payment.  Maybe in considering that, it’s time for comprehensive and honest discussion and debate on what level of care should be provided to elderly parents as social and personal obligation.  Food for thought.