Remembering Joxer

or

I made pie!

Society seems to be obsessed with food, weight and nutrition these days.  We're constantly told to exercise, cut out junk food and eat our 5 a day.  It's a creed I'm not too enthusiasitc about.  I don't really like fruit and vegetables and strongly suspect that those who claim to be are lacking in taste buds.


However, I don't avoid the good stuff completely.  Carrots and peas, in particular, feature frequently in my dinners as evidenced in the 'Patriot Pie' I made for myself on Sunday (chicken, peas and carrots in an onion, mushroom and port white sauce, topped with mashed potato).  Most of my dinners follow this colour scheme.

Recent weeks have seen a plethora of nationalism across the country.  Flags were bought, bunting was hung, wing mirrors got new jackets and green jerseys were dusted off and worn with pride.  For those of us over a certain age, it brought back memories of '88 and Ray Houghton's infamous goal and all it meant to the country.  We united, then as now, to support our football team.  This year, the Irish supporters got a special award for our attitude and participation in the finals.

Ninety years ago, it was a different story.  The civil war was just beginning, the start of it marked by the bombing of the Four Courts on 28th June.  The war lasted less than a year but its ramifications can still be felt today.  Not only do the two parties which have dominated Irish politics since the formation of the state trace their origins to this turbulent time, the public records office was also affected destroying our heritage.  It always amazes me when watching programmes such as "Who Do You Think You Are" how far back they can trace their family.

Tracing your family roots and thinking about  your origins is a luxury.  For many people today, they are far more concerned with the daily struggle of paying the bills, putting food on the table and explaining to their children that they can no longer maintain the lifestyle of recent times.  How much worse must it have been during the civil war when the country was divided.  It was classmates against classmates, friends against friends, brothers against sisters.  The phrase 'atrocities of the civil war' is a familiar one.  And the poverty we find ourselves in today is incomparable to the poverty in Ireland 50 years ago, never mind 90 years ago.  There wasn't an obesity problem then.  People didn't count their calories or make sure they had their five-a-day.  The 1926 census showed that 800,000 people were living in overcrowded conditions.  No wonder Captain Boyle pronounced Th' whole worl's in a terrible state o' chassis in Juno and The Paycock, set in those turbulent times.

Ninety years on, the country is still divided, but the England soccer team has played in Croke Park, the Queen of England was invited over for a couple of days, and a Sinn Féin man has shaken hands with her.  A spokesperson from the Orange Order has spoken to the Seanad.  It makes you think, don't it?