brian’s diary 2: christmas
With his regular spot on SCAMP, Brian Fitzgerald opens up his sketchbook once more to give us an amusing and insightful peep at his childhood.
There’s a lovely silence in the air the morning after a heavy snow fall. The homemade toboggans were unhooked from the shed wall and left by the gate.
I remember being wrapped up so well I could barely move.
Our stiff rubber boots crunched in the snow as we made a trail of footprints all the way to Branson’s hill. That was the best place for slopes. The first few slides on the steep hill were the scariest but you eventually got used to the danger.
My sisters knew how to make a snowman. I helped a bit. We lived on the edge of the Curragh plains, which meant we had acres of flat land to make as many snowmen as we wanted. It also meant that when we did make a snowman the evidence that thousands of sheep graze on the land throughout the year became very clear.
Our snowmen were speckled all over with little dots of brown sheep droppings.
As the size of the snowball increased you had to be careful of what you picked up. It was always better to remove any unwanted blemishes as you went along.
I learned a lot watching the experts at work.
There’s something about the cold that makes you want to pee. Or maybe it was being out doors for hours but you can’t hold onto it for forever. Once one starts then there’s no holding back.
It was time to go home when you were soaked through and blue with the cold. No one likes to abandon a snowman. But the girls knew what was best and we agreed to leave him in the care of the sheep.
Food never entered your head when you were having a day like that. But when you’re back in the kitchen it’s a different story. Nothing warms you better than a bowl of homemade soup and of course the thought that it might start snowing again before bedtime.
