He got up and saw the snow on the roofs.  He had home-made meusli and a cup of Supervalu tea. He did time with the Wiffe and Grace.  Took his apple of his eye to the creche in Crawford Woods.  Smiled with the kids and went back home to phone businesses in the hope of selling them advertising space in the Westonbirt Magazine.  He Facebooked and read a blog.  Phoned Mulqueens Interflora in Ennis and negotiated a low price for a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to Deirdre O’Mahony who has to finish her PhD soon. He began a list of odd jobs which he’d employ Kevin the odd job man to complete, and then he went out to meet Robert Quinlan in the Raddison Hotel @ Little Island.

Intermission

He shook the hand of an energetic man whose story made his imagination race. From Dublin to Cork via Tipperary and a greenfield site for a company that started with 6 and rose to 500.  Bought by GE Healthcare in 2004 the manufacturing plant produced the most expensive produce a hospital could buy. Robert told him about Amersham Bill Castel and the vision of healthcare the led to a ‘front end study’ for a major project on electronic batch records (EBR).  On the way the story introduced Omani to the cross-cultural relations between Norwegians, American, Irish, Puerto Rico  and the governor of Maine because Charles Earl Hewett went back to USA to become his assistant. Omani made notes while encouraging Robert Quinlan to complete one story of how he came to be at the BNI meeting the same day as Omani. Robert got a MBA from UCC and went on to guest lecture and mentor students and Pascal McCarthy came up on the way because he was an MD who learnt Norwegan and got the top job being an ‘entrepreneurial genius’. There was the sub-story of how GE Healthcare cut back investment in Robert’s innovative project and he got a taste of being an internal consultant which led on to Carl Stenger from the Harvard Business Review and an article which changed Robert’s life, opening up contact with the academic in Israel and a model in Hebrew which might yet lead to a collaboration between Omani and the man who knows so much about stuff Omani has only read about. And there was the parting in hope of continuation soon…

Intermission

followed by shopping in Saville’s on the island in Cork, where Omani got a great tie for 10 euros and cuff-links for 12,  and 2 pullovers neither of which will fit his father-in-law. This day is too long, so Omani speeds up in mentioning meeting Garry @ Nash19 for soup and chat about Garry’s schooling and a psychiatrist and the Irish Wine Development Board and the possibility that Garry will do the photography course that Omani hopes will re-unite him with Stephen Bean.  In his Journal Omani wrote down the names of all the projects he imagines Garry and he will do in 2009.

Intermission

And even the news from Garry that Don Noonan wanted to write a film script with Omani couldn’t stem the flow of goodies through this day.  In the afternoon there was Niels, Omani’s occupational therapist.  He called to home and  brought a proforma for a relapse prevention plan.  This visit got Omani to promise to send him a copy of Omani’s plan.  Niels give feedback and comment on the chapter of the book on depression sent to him in November.  Omani wrote every word down as if they were mana. Niels asked for more - another 20 pages to read. The Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy and the British Journal of O.T. and the American J. of OT came up and Omani thought I might draft a piece for publication there. An appointment made for a follow up visit in 10 weeks was followed by a call from Regina about the Applied Digital Photography course and the news was good: it’s to happen and Garry might do it too.

Intermission

Phonecalls to advertisers, trying to get business to advertise in the downturn.  Pick up Grace from creche.  Write more, and feed the child.  Talk to the Wiffe.  Talk to Mick Reeves on the phone now that he’s back from Berlin.  Suddenly get the urge to go out to  O’Bheal, the poets gathering in The Long Valley.  Omani said to himself that he could read the poem about the abusing priest. In the pub he got a hero’s welcome - a prodical son returned - from Seamus Harrington, Niall, Anita and Paul Casey.  You can only return from the dead once, he said and wrote a poem in 27 seconds which got a clap.  Richard Tillinghurst read and was a real poet in control of his words with a voice from Memphis and glasses with overcoat.  He was followed by the poet of the night, Grace Wells and Omani was transfixed by all her beauties. Her ‘Ice dreams’, her supermarket poem, her ’struggle to be a writer’, he voice so reminiscent of David Whyte, even Omani’s necrophilia poem came back to memory. "I am migically assaulted by tangental thinking back to the rhythms of my own development…" wrote Omani in his Journal before he committed to paper the name of a coming poem: "Why I have come to wish I had an arranged marriage." A room full of words and ears.  He was heard and clapped and

 Intermission

he followed the line to the Crane something, an exotic late evening haunt, where the extraordinary professor A.Titley told him about Martin O’Cadhain because Omani wants to read "Cre Na Cille" and can’t fathom Irish.  And there’s a chance Julia O’Keefe in California might be askable for the privelege to read her translation. And then home to bed after an hour of calming down time and Grace getting to his place in the bed.  And then came the night…