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  • cycling, food

    Chain guard sorted

    Published by

    odespinner

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    August 16, 2024

    Austin at Belfast Bicycle Workshop knows his stuff and is very helpful. My wife’s chain guard had come off along with the bolts which are scattered somewhere on Belfast’s potholed roads. The thread on the chain guard was knackered so Austin fixed me up with some cable ties. He would…

    Continue reading →: Chain guard sorted
  • art, prints

    Art for art’s sake

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 15, 2024

    Another interesting evening in the Errigle attending a gathering of artists. I joined a table of two John’s and enjoyed hearing about John’s conceptual art work. There was a presentation and a demonstration by an artist who had several of his prints on show. I bought a landscape print in…

    Continue reading →: Art for art’s sake
  • Philosophy, Socrates

    Socratic rhetoric

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 13, 2024

    What do I know? How do I know it? What is the convincing proof?

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  • interior design

    Sofa envy

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 13, 2024

    Our neighbour very kindly invited me into their house to look at their new 3-seater sofa. The fabric is velvety soft, and the sofa comes with some interesting features. The three seats recline separately and the centre seat folds down to make a place to put drinks in holders and…

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  • nationalism, politics

    Fear and intimidation

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 11, 2024

    Mob-handed crowds on our streets destroying property and frightening people based on the colour of their skin – has it really come to this? Have we learnt nothing from the fascist eras of Mussolini, Hitler, Franco and Pinochet? Dictatorships rely on bully-boy tactics finding scapegoats to inflame a politically ignorant…

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  • Barbecue, food

    Subterfuge in South Belfast

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 11, 2024

    Preparations are well underway for my wife’s surprise birthday barbecue. Supplies including: beer, wine, corn cobs, burgers and baps were delivered by the supermarket yesterday. I did not crack under interrogation when asked by my better half about what had arrived. Lighting the barbecue will be trickier to disguise, although…

    Continue reading →: Subterfuge in South Belfast
  • nationalism, politics

    Nationalism or what?

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 9, 2024

    My nationality is a hotchpotch of English, Welsh and a soupçon of Irish. The label British doesn‘t win many friends in some parts of West Belfast. I chose Anglo-Celt just because it sounds nice As a male white,anglo-protestant my social advantages were bound to be fairly hefty even before I…

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  • nationalism, politics

    Fascism and its enemies

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 8, 2024

    I vaguely remember the rivers of blood speech of Enoch Powell and the race riots at the Notting Hill carnival, Brixton and further afield in the UK. The British National Party and the National Front provocatively marched through areas that had a high percentage of Asian or Afro-Carribean residents. A…

    Continue reading →: Fascism and its enemies
  • politics, racism

    Rent-a-crowd

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 8, 2024

    The riots in South Belfast seem to have attracted outsiders. A rumour started that some Dubliners got lost and ended up in the Lower Ormeau area. In any case the residents of that area, predominantly Catholics, were not going to let a mob through to trash their streets. The PSNI…

    Continue reading →: Rent-a-crowd
  • blood sugar level, health

    Encouraging stuff

    Published by

    odespinner

    on

    August 7, 2024

    I had an appointment with the practice nurse today with a trifling medical complaint. Having pricked my fingers and taken blood glucose readings, I knew that my type 2 diabetes was not a major factor in a cut not healing properly. The nurse asked my GP to have a look…

    Continue reading →: Encouraging stuff
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