Partition

The new fence between ourselves and our neighbour went in yesterday. It has been treated with a grey undercoat and will need to be painted black in the coming week or so.

It almost looked black in the night. The new street lamps are now apparently at 70% brightness. A helpful email from the Council advised that for the first few days they operate at 100% while they become connected to the central hub. Despite the 30% reduction I still find them bright. The Council did say I could revert to them if they continued to be a nuisance.

The partition was the title of a TV programme we caught up with on the partition in Ireland between the north and the south. In an hour I learned so much about the politics and background giving rise to the divide. All happening around the time my late mother was born in Cavan.

The personal link to the programme was enhanced by one of the academics interviewed being our church elder: Professor Alvin Jackson of Edinburgh University. The other academic link was my cousin Roy Foster Professor at Oxford. With all those links I should perhaps have been more knowledgeable about events. The parallels with modern day events are fascinating.