Criminal Activity (R-language)

[dedalus]

There is so little we can understand,

and yet be so ready, so willing to act on it:

this is total shit. Saturday I committed a crime,

the crime of theft, and I am so bereft

of remorse that it hardly matters.

 

There is a bar in the town,

a nice bar but with a total bitch who runs it,

all made out to be English. I frown

when I think of the nonsense that went down.

I’d say ‘hello’, then wish her far away.

 

They had Guinness on draught, hyloo- hylay!

Only fuckin reason I would go there. And so,

I’d read my newspaper, quietly, as we do,

over a soothing pint. Oh, no. Such a hullabaloo!

Get the fuck out of here, you asocial creature!

 

I think, looking back, perhaps the main feature

was that I didn’t fancy her in the least. She was

angered by the feat of scholarly application

which is the beat of our ancient island nation,

having saved Europe back in the Dark Ages.

 

But she was not a woman for print or pages,

what the Aussies would call a right fuckin bint,

and she insisted on this Union Flag, red-white-and-blue,

outside the fuckin door. In yer face, what could you do?

All the beer and whiskey was Irish.

 

So I tore it down last Saturday, ripped it out

by it’s fuckin shreds and took it home. I don’t

have bad feelings about England: it’s a shout

of outrage, and you can turn me in if you like.

The flag is safe. It’s in the carrier of my bike.

[Tinker]

Wow, that is passion.... tearing down someone's national flag, very dangerous. You never know what passions the act will ingite. I have a neighbor who flys an English flag from her deck and it bothered me until I was told it is a tribute to her English mother. It still bothers me a little since she and her husband are American yet they don't fly the US flag along side of it. That seems disrespectful somehow. A flag is a very powerful symbol. Watch your back.

 

I totally enjoyed the ebb and flow of this read. A slice of life that fascinated me. I'd never turn you in

 

~~Tink

[dedalus]

Maybe I should get rid of the evidence in case the cops come around? But it makes a nice cushion cover ... to plonk your behind upon, to politely fart upon occasionally

[Benjamin]

The present day needs and aspirations of ordinary people far exceed the historic implications of a piece of coloured cloth. If it makes you feel better-- I have a dream :-) that I would gladly wrap each of today's priviliged, traditionally educated, so-called ministers, of an elite government of English millionaires, in its folds-- and sink them in the Irish sea. It would be interesting to see from which direction the loudest cheers emanate.

[dedalus]

We don't actually hate the Brits, Ben. All that jive is old time shite. And they get along pretty well with us, too, much better than they do with the modern-day Scots. The divorce - politically speaking - has been decisive and complete, apart from the dispute over the kids in Norn Iron and even that has been levelled down thanks to the IRA, although nobody will admit that was the reason. Terrorists!! Local boys (and girls) if you want to know the truth. The Queen could finally come over after a hundred years, and she was very welcome. On the personal level the old antagonisms just don't exist any more. We still have the old songs, of course. They're great old songs, so no reason to throw them out! And we still have the Gaelic tradition - the poetry and sagas and songs - going back to the early centuries AD which will never never die out and which can still inspire the rising generations and also people like me .... I think the main thing is that we are a free country again, the only way in which the Irish can exist and openly deal with the world, and an 'elderly' free country at that, in the sense that younger generations have no interest in how this came about and simply take their freedom for granted. Overall, I think this is a good thing. You grow up this way and you think it is a human right and you can't understand why other countries don't have the same privileges. So a lot of our nurses and activists go over to Palestine to get shot at by Israelis .... because the Palestinians are the same as the Irish, man, 150-200 years ago!

[Benjamin]

You have the gift of eloquence and diplomatic rhetoric Bren.

The educated and privileged have many responsibilities; although I believe neither of us in our lifetimes will see significant changes in the way people behave towards each other. From time to time however, massive events occur that shake people out of introverted tribal thinking to consider the greater global problems of humanity. Perhaps a giant U.F.O. will appear at some stage and deposit little green men; although some would lay claim, they're descendants of Brian Boru. Cheers

[dedalus]

In the humble opinion of our tuatha (which resembles a clan, but it isn't, not quite) this chap Brian Boru was a bit of a latecomer ....

[Benjamin]

So I understand but I didn't want to make too many concessions