SO HERE we are already. ‘British Summer Time’ has begun here in all parts of Ireland and it’s Easter Monday already. Eggs being unpeeled, chocolate bunnies devoured and children getting on parents' nerves.
If the weather is good the next couple of days might well be spent travelling in cars for picnics, or a time away in Donegal perhaps. In my experience over the years children don’t travel well, although tablets and smart phones might have changed that. However, for a good start to the day, try playing a few car games.
We’re blessed here with interesting number plates – you can pick up so many funny and unusual three-letter words. Have a competition to see can spot a BIG or a RIB, a BUD or even, as I did recently, a FOX and, on a plumbing van, POO.
For older ones, try spotting the double digits. Start with 00 then move onto 11, 22 and so on but the numbers must be beside each other. If you’re stuck in traffic going one way, guess the colour of the next car to round the bend – whoever gets most right in 10 minutes get a prize.
Telling stories can get a bit wearisome for the adult but join in with the children – they tell the first sentence of the story, that’s taken up by each child, on to the mum and then the dad and so it goes round and round and not only does it stretch the child’s imagination, it usually ends up being extremely funny.
What else? If you’re stuck at home, charades is always a good idea. A book, a film, a television programme title acted out without words. Harry Potter would be difficult.
Finally, a wet day inside the house. A treasure hunt might cause mayhem but it also might fill in an hour as little dears go searching for random items – a spoon, for instance, but not in a drawer, or a potato wrapped up in silver foil in a bowl of fruit or a hairbrush in a bunch of flowers. Use imagination and get thinking early in the morning.
Here's one for adults. We are all made up of electrical impulses – it’s reflected in our everyday speech. Examples: She lights up the room, he is a bright spark, wired to the moon, flash in the pan, switched on.
Go round the dinner table and see how many people can come up with an electrical impulse. Or simply discuss the mysteries of the Hadron Collider. Or just dye your boiled eggs and see how far you can throw them – prize for the winner!
Whatever you do, have some fun this week if you can. The world is in an awful state; let your children know there is hope in family fun and security.
Planet Alert
SOMEONE told me last week that we are viruses on the face of this planet. I found it bit OTT but then I thought about it. We are destroying so much not only in nature but in our relationships as well, especially between countries. If we’re not careful, as David Attenborough has said, we’ll destroy everything that is good and constructive.
Before he died, Stephen Hawking warned that human beings will design artificial intelligences which ‘improve’ themselves – in much the same way hackers design viruses – and it could doom us all.
In an interview with Wired magazine in November Professor Hawking said: “I fear that AI may replace humans altogether.”
He believed that artificial intelligences which can ‘improve’ themselves are inevitable and that these will be “a new form of life that outperforms humans”.
He said: “If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that improves and replicates itself.”
Back to 1984, Big Brother and the Hadron Collider, the world's largest machine that, according to sciencehowstuffworks.com, "might reveal to us the secrets of the universe [or] destroy all life on Earth instead".
Piano man
YOUNG Rowel Friers is still only 15 but he’s making a name for himself on the music scene with his remarkable prowess at the piano keyboard.
Recently he added another accolade to his already impressive CV. He’s just home from Dublin, having competed in the Feis Ceoil Concerto Competition held at the RDS Concert Hall. This annual event for seven-year-olds and upwards has been running since 1896 and attracts more than 5,000 young musicians from all over Ireland.
It’s acknowledge that success at the Feis is very important in the musical career of many of the entrants and so it will be for Rowel who was awarded Gold for his performance.
The adjudicator Mark Starzentruber described Rowel’s performance as “outstanding – stood out from the rest". He told Rowel: “Well done, you have a fine career ahead.”
Mark isn’t easily impressed. Himself a pianist with a worldwide reputation, he is also external examiner and adjudicator for the Guildall School of Music.
