As you might know, we live in Co. Wexford,
5 minutes from the beach. It’s not the Riviera but we love it and it’s a very,
very quiet spot – being in the middle, or rather the edge, of nowhere. Up to 10 years ago, had someone told me this
was where I’d end up living I would have laughed my head off, saying not only
were they barking up the wrong tree, they were in entirely the wrong forest! I was (am) a city girl, having grown up in
Dublin and lived in London, Brisbane and New York at various times. Wexford was somewhere we went on holiday to
every summer as kids – to a flat roofed wooden house that my Dad originally
built in the early 1970s.
It was idyllic. With the beach just across a field, my memory tells me now that it never rained. Dad was the nervous type so we were really surprised to find when I was about nine that he turned up with a big rubber dinghy for us to use. We looked in amazement when he loaded a big concrete block into the car and took the road down to the beach telling us to “wait in the garden”. He came back, we inflated the dinghy, he put a big coil of rope over his shoulders and off we went to the beach. Dad then tied one end of the rope to the dinghy, and the other end to the concrete block that he then sat on and read his newspaper – telling us to “have fun with the dinghy”. Needless to say, it would only go out to sea so far and then in a semicircle from his block…
That was typical dad – go out and do what you like, be adventurous, but you always knew there’d be a safety net lurking in the background.
In the 1990s Dad decided with the help of lots of different people to turn this wooden house into a brick cottage with a pitched roof. Mum’s illness meant it was never finished before they both passed away. My brother Ronan, sister-in-law Bernie and I decided around 2007 we would finish it and sell it. Man, we had no idea what we were taking on! Half an acre of 6’ high brambles all the way up to the front door which took us weeks to tame and clear. And that was just the beginning… Over many weekends through the winter where we pitched tents INSIDE the house to keep warm at night with no insulation or heating, we finally made progress. We installed central heating, insulation, new kitchen, new flooring, new doors, re-plastered, re-wired, used gallons of paint inside and outside, and finally we ended up with something resembling a house.
At this stage I decided - as much to my own surprise as anyone else’s - that I could not sell the house, and talked myself into a one-hour each way commute to work in Dublin – and duly bought the house off all my brothers and sisters. Who knew? Having previously mentioned my favourite Irish musician, Pierce Turner from Wexford, my friends thought I was taking stalking to a whole new level so I politely reminded them that I’d been coming down here every summer long before I’d ever heard of the great Pierce, thank you very much.
I've put a couple of pictures of the (finished) house and "our" beach on my Facebook group "Eimear's Fight For Life". Please join the group, and "Like and Share" it - as well as this blog! Thank you!
I met Neil and once he moved in, we lived very happily together going for long walks on the beach – our one, and other local ones – climbing cliffs, swimming in the ocean, and generally making very good use of our country/beachside residence, as well as walking the three and a half mile round trip to our local store pretty often. And Frank the dog was in heaven!
Sadly, our little house is no longer fit for purpose. I haven’t had a shower for months, but I promise I’m clean! The bathroom is completely inaccessible for the wheelchair and the hoist. With the help of my good friend Ben, we have had plans drawn up for an extension to house a new, large, wheelchair-friendly bedroom and wet-room. Wexford County Council are helping us with this by allowing us a disability adaptation grant.
My cousin Tara-Ann, my friend Colette and many more including my friends Ken Bolton, and the Little Ass Birds (see previous blog) as well as Cathal Byrne (Ireland’s BEST Elvis!) and the Gorey Strictly Dancers, have all decided to put on a Benefit Night to help raise more funds needed for this extension to help me live as normally as possible.
Full details of this Benefit Night – which sounds great fun and is only a tenner to get into, are on a Facebook page that Colette has kindly set up to publicise the event: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eimears-Fight-for-Life-Benefit-Night/603424036413119
It's on Friday April 11 at the Amber Springs Hotel in Gorey, Co. Wexford ,starting at 8.30pm and going on 'til late. Please “Like and Share” the event. I really hope many of you reading this are able to come and support the evening and enjoy the entertainment which promises to be absolutely Top Class! It’ll be lovely to catch up with all my friends old and new.
More soon, thank you for reading.
Ciao!
Eimear X
It was idyllic. With the beach just across a field, my memory tells me now that it never rained. Dad was the nervous type so we were really surprised to find when I was about nine that he turned up with a big rubber dinghy for us to use. We looked in amazement when he loaded a big concrete block into the car and took the road down to the beach telling us to “wait in the garden”. He came back, we inflated the dinghy, he put a big coil of rope over his shoulders and off we went to the beach. Dad then tied one end of the rope to the dinghy, and the other end to the concrete block that he then sat on and read his newspaper – telling us to “have fun with the dinghy”. Needless to say, it would only go out to sea so far and then in a semicircle from his block…
That was typical dad – go out and do what you like, be adventurous, but you always knew there’d be a safety net lurking in the background.
In the 1990s Dad decided with the help of lots of different people to turn this wooden house into a brick cottage with a pitched roof. Mum’s illness meant it was never finished before they both passed away. My brother Ronan, sister-in-law Bernie and I decided around 2007 we would finish it and sell it. Man, we had no idea what we were taking on! Half an acre of 6’ high brambles all the way up to the front door which took us weeks to tame and clear. And that was just the beginning… Over many weekends through the winter where we pitched tents INSIDE the house to keep warm at night with no insulation or heating, we finally made progress. We installed central heating, insulation, new kitchen, new flooring, new doors, re-plastered, re-wired, used gallons of paint inside and outside, and finally we ended up with something resembling a house.
At this stage I decided - as much to my own surprise as anyone else’s - that I could not sell the house, and talked myself into a one-hour each way commute to work in Dublin – and duly bought the house off all my brothers and sisters. Who knew? Having previously mentioned my favourite Irish musician, Pierce Turner from Wexford, my friends thought I was taking stalking to a whole new level so I politely reminded them that I’d been coming down here every summer long before I’d ever heard of the great Pierce, thank you very much.
I've put a couple of pictures of the (finished) house and "our" beach on my Facebook group "Eimear's Fight For Life". Please join the group, and "Like and Share" it - as well as this blog! Thank you!
I met Neil and once he moved in, we lived very happily together going for long walks on the beach – our one, and other local ones – climbing cliffs, swimming in the ocean, and generally making very good use of our country/beachside residence, as well as walking the three and a half mile round trip to our local store pretty often. And Frank the dog was in heaven!
Sadly, our little house is no longer fit for purpose. I haven’t had a shower for months, but I promise I’m clean! The bathroom is completely inaccessible for the wheelchair and the hoist. With the help of my good friend Ben, we have had plans drawn up for an extension to house a new, large, wheelchair-friendly bedroom and wet-room. Wexford County Council are helping us with this by allowing us a disability adaptation grant.
My cousin Tara-Ann, my friend Colette and many more including my friends Ken Bolton, and the Little Ass Birds (see previous blog) as well as Cathal Byrne (Ireland’s BEST Elvis!) and the Gorey Strictly Dancers, have all decided to put on a Benefit Night to help raise more funds needed for this extension to help me live as normally as possible.
Full details of this Benefit Night – which sounds great fun and is only a tenner to get into, are on a Facebook page that Colette has kindly set up to publicise the event: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eimears-Fight-for-Life-Benefit-Night/603424036413119
It's on Friday April 11 at the Amber Springs Hotel in Gorey, Co. Wexford ,starting at 8.30pm and going on 'til late. Please “Like and Share” the event. I really hope many of you reading this are able to come and support the evening and enjoy the entertainment which promises to be absolutely Top Class! It’ll be lovely to catch up with all my friends old and new.
More soon, thank you for reading.
Ciao!
Eimear X
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