russellmcquillan.com

I have had loads of stuff I wanted to talk about on russellmcquillan.com this week however I have been so busy I have not had a chance to open the laptop and think about writing something, so most of my thoughts have been pushed out on twitter.

Anyway, I though I would just grab a moment to put the week down on paper (so to speak) and what a week it has been ! – not only but for Northern Ireland politics and in the McQuillan household’s.

Monday – On Monday we heard the sad news that my Wife’s brother in law’s brother had died, I didn’t know him personally however at 45 it is always a young age to die so is always a shock.  He felt chest pains and went to bed.  He didn’t get up the next morning and the doctor thinks he had a heart attack in his sleep

Tuesday – On Tuesday my mother whilst ‘not maintaining a safe driving distance‘ from the van in front ploughed her Fabia into the back of a van, no damage to the van but probably between £700 -£1000 worth of bodywork to do to the fabia and no chance of claiming from her insurance as that would put the premium so high my borther on R plates would have to be removed !

Wednesday – Two things happened on Wednesday, the first as big news in NI.  Peter Robinson, leader of the DUP, First Minister of Northern Ireland and MP completed a televised interview with the BBC to tell the worth that his wife (also an MP ) had been having an affair, had mental health problems and had also tried to take her own life.  The affair lasted about two years and on Thursday we found out it was with a 19 year old man.  The news was a surprise and shock to everyone in Northern Ireland – anyone else and people would have said well fair enough no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.

However Iris Robinson had been on local radio only months before spouting about Christianity and how homosexuals were an abomination and were going to hell unless they mended their ways.

At the time I thought to myself how dare a politician bring religion into their job, their job is to represent their constituents and not their parish.

It was easy for myself and others to criticise and judge Iris for what she did but it was also wrong.  I am not a big church goer, truth be told I think most churches are corrupt, hateful organisations that said I am religion and I do believe in God.  Iris Robinson’s beef is with God and not with the meedja

Wednesday night – I was doing my usual late night routine of feeding the bunny rabbit, sorting the bins out, doing the dishes etc.   I let the dog out to do his business and he refused to come in, when I finally got him in the house I noticed that he was bleeding badly from his left paw – PANIC – dogs do not have much blood and his was escaping fast, off to the emergency vets with him to get seen to and £140 later he is grand again.  Ripped a claw out, silly dog !

Thursday – Thursday went well, nothing bad happened – well not to me anyway but for Peter Robinson things were going from bad to worse.  As spotlight program had went to air the previous night all about Iris’s affair but it also had claims that she had received £50,000 from property developers and invested it in her boyfriends coffee shop, breaking parliamentary rules.  To make things worse for Mr Robinson, the name of Iris’s lover had been released and the fact he knew about the £50,000 putting him in breach of the law.

Questions began to be raised over his position as leader of the country and Martin McGuinness began moves with Gordon Brown to have him removed (although Marty should take note that he will never be the leader of Northern Ireland !)

I feel sorry for Peter Robinson, although I have never liked him he has tried to put this issue with his wife to one side and get on with his job.  His wife had an affair yet somehow he seems to be the one that everyone wants to oust.

Can we not just leave the man alone to get on with rebuilding his life ?  If he makes mistakes in his work by all means sack him but until then can we not please separate the two ?

Friday – I heard on my way home from Dublin that another attempt had been made by the IRA on a police man’s life.  This saddens me to no end, we are not geared up for the troubles any more, we have a pissy police force with no authority and no troops.  If the IRA want to go back to war they will surly win as we are sitting ducks.  I hope it doesn’t come to that and I hope that the old school IRA put a stop to this new strain of morons.

Saturday – Well any of you that were following me on Facebook or Twitter will know of my Saturday morning Saga.  Yes my Skoda broke down (no jokes please, I have had them all )

I was cruising along the M1 between Lurgan and Moira with my chicken coop in the back when I suddenly lost all power and the speed of car began to reduce.  I pulled over, despite a guy behind me who must have thought I put my hazards on for a giggle sitting up my bum making it difficult for me to pull over.

Luckily skoda assist came free with the car, so I gave them a bell and one hour later he arrived to rescue me from the cold M1.  He plugged in his computer and declared the car Dead on Arrival – Fuel injectors had packed in !

He towed me down to Skoda and they are going to fix it for me, here is hoping that is all covered with the warranty.

So thats my week !  What have you been up to ?

Russell