A funeral

Yesterday we went to the funeral of Dan Gleeson. You may have met him during the summer when he spent some time on our boat in Dromineer and invited b to his tin house nearby. He had been ringing b with lengthy calls in recent weeks as he was interested in getting together some kayaks for the Nenagh kayaking club, a club of 35 members and only 4 kayaks that has been getting together in Dromineer recently. He felt that they needed help as a good activity for people who otherwise would not have access to water-based fun.

He fell in to the water in Shannon Harbour from the end of his boat, and drowned. A friend who was with him tried to get him out, but Dan may have hit his head as he fell and it wasn't possible to save him.

We also went to look at cars. Car dealers are a fairly homogenous lot, and I find them hard to work with. The main message they are giving at the moment is that they don't want to sell me a car if they have to take a trade-in. This means that they have no orders for new cars. At this time of year they would normally expect to have lots of orders ready for the new year. I may try to sell my car privately as I probably have nothing to lose by trying, and plenty to gain if I succeed. I'm in no hurry so may wait until after Christmas to try.

b went to the AGM of the Heritage Boat Association in Tullamore yesterday evening. It doesn't sound as if it was particularly exciting, which is a relief, as the controversies in NS continue. School Committee is in 2 weeks so it is sub-committee time prior to that. Finance Committee meets on Thursday or Friday, and I'm attending Leinster QM on Sunday to present the annual report.

Winter darkness is closing in, making for very short daylight time. I could do with some warm, sunny days!