"My final words. Good health Jim."
And my final words and likewise - good health B.
I have appealed a number of times that this thread be closed, to the accompaniment of Keith's sneers that we had "run out of ideas".
He persisted.
I was relieved when it disappeared off the rader.
He revived it and has continued to milk this particular cow as dry as the Sahara.
A personal word.
Following an incident in this town on St Patrick's Day we may or may not have just escaped the dire results of yet another "Let's get rid of all the 'nackers' (Traveller equivalent of 'niggers')" campaign. If this were to happen it will affect a number of people we know and like, including a considerable number of young children.
The townspeople have had their meeting (we were away) and we are at present waiting for the other shoe to hit the floor to learn the outcome.
The last time this happened here, a Traveller family burned out by a caravan fire, was driven out of a temporarily allocated house by townspeople chanting "Travellers out, residents in". The crunch came when one of the family was informed that if they insisted on hanging around they would soon be needing the assistance of the Fire Department again. The family spent their Christmas in a borrowed holiday touring caravan and makeshift tents on the Atlantic seafront; the youngest celebrated her first birthday in those surroundings.
For some people these little tete-a-tetes are more than after-dinner discussions where we express our disapproval by throwing our napkins across the table.
I can't remember offhand how much shorter the relative life-spans are between Taveller and buffer (settled person), but it is considerable in favour of the latter - a direct result of stereotyping and bigotry.
I apologise if I have overstated my case, but I can't promise it won't happen again.
Best to you all (or most of you)
Jim Carroll