Sure, it must be over a fortnight since I was up in the Arch Bar in Liberty Square last; that is until last night. My absence was due to that nasty Aussie Flu that was going about at the start of the new year. A sorry dose I can tell you, so up I went to the Shannon Doc.
“Flu”, says he. “No”, says I, “Sure I only live up the road, I came on the bike”.
The Doc glared at me briefly before penning a prescription in his usual total illegible hand writing. Putting it in my pocket I decided to ignore my ailment, what with all the other expenses this Christmas.
Still for the last week the hand written illegible prescription got me into the movies in the IMC Thurles twice; into Semple Stadium once last Sunday for the hurling match; and having shown it to my boss, as a sick note, last Thursday, he said he would arrange for a pay rise immediately. My daughter, rifling through my pockets for loose change, played it on the piano on Wednesday and was invited to accept a scholarship for 20,000 Canadian Dollars, to the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music, last Friday. So, the €60 Euro demanded for the 3.5-minute consultation wasn’t totally wasted.
Of course, my pal Mikey Ryan, was above at the Arch counter as was to be expected. Mikey you know feels obliged to take the same holidays as hard-working TD’s, so his business also concluded on Thursday the 16th December 2017 at 2.30pm and to quote his own words, “Sure I won’t sit again until Tuesday 16th January 2018”.
Mikey admitted it had been a good pre-Xmas period financially, having received a cheque for a an office decoration job down in University Hospital Limerick (UHL), in mid-December, paid by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
“Jasus, to tell you the truth, I was lucky to be paid at all”, Mikey disclosed secretly to me. But then as Mickey said, “Sure its hard enough to paint two-inch letters, for a word containing 14 feckin letters, onto a glass panel just 18 inches across, and I only having a 1.5 inch paint brush.”
“You know I could easily have lost that contract” said Mikey exhibiting a visible shiver down his spine, “Wasn’t Lucky for me that some fellow by the name of Mr O’Brien happened to be passing, who informed me that ‘Psychotherapist’ is just one single word.”
Listen, I have to be going, sure I will be chatting to ye next week anyway.
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