Edmund Rice Primary School












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The bell rings at 3.oo o’clock and we all head for freedom. We race out the gate and go our separate ways. Some lads go up the road, while others go down the road. Others get on buses, or hop on bicycles. I head for my Mum’s car, where she is waiting patiently for me to bring me home.

richard3.jpg (12020 bytes)The odd time if my sister is late from her school I have to hang around outside. This is not too bad if the day is nice but if it is raining it annoys me. If this happens I am usually in bad mood by the time my mother arrives outside the school. "What took you so long, I ask" impatiently. "Your sister, as usual" my mother replies. We drive straight home where a nice fire is waiting for me. My Mum , Joan, does not work in an office. She works hard at home, looking after all of us. My Mum likes me to do my homework straight away, but I have other things on my mind, like computers, computers, computers and more computers. I have an Apple computer at home . It is an old machine, which I got from my Dad. He got a friend of his to rebuild it so it is now pretty fast. It is a new machine inside in an old body. I also have a zip drive , where I keep many of my games. I have Illustrator and Photoshop on the machine. I am quite good at using Photoshop.It is also on the school computer and I have edited all the photographs for this project. I am showing Robert how to use it. I am also showing my teacher as he uses Paint Shop Pro.

When the weather is good "not to often "in Eire. I go out and play with the lads in my neighbourhood. We get up to all sorts of things like football and the bike , skate boarding. Best of all we are making a tree house .My dad chose brilliant wood work as a hobby so I guess its catching.Then on Saturday in the summer or it can be any day I go surfing as the sea is so close by.This is great for me as my sister Sara dropped out of the Surf club so now I have all her gear.The instructor Paul is a cool dude and he has surfed all over he world and his wife also.

richard8.jpg (18029 bytes)Our garage has been turned into my workshop.I have a band saw, on which I make wooden objects. There are lots of other tools which have other jobs to do with wood, which help me to make different things. I have made wooden butterflies for my Mum and little woodn boxes, for my sisters. My Mum is big into buttereflies. She could open a butterfly museum in Tramore. There are butterflies everywhere, on the walls, on ornaments and on her clothes. She is a butterfly maniac. So for her birthday I made her lots of wooden butterflies to add to her collection.These turned out pretty good and she loves them.We have a small garden front and back of the house. The garden in Dublin was very big .When I am working on machinery I have to be very careful. My Dad taught me never to take chances, because it is too late after an accident when you are  in the back of an ambulance, on your way to hospital .

When it rains in Tramore the garden turns intyo a swamp.The plan is to dig a drain and divert the water. The big question is who is going to dig the drain. I suppose I will end up doing it, as usual. In summer I like to cut the grass and weed the place and have it tidy..There is not much happening in the garden at the moment as it is Winter. I can have a rest but come Spring time and the grass starts to grow again I will be at the jobs again.We have bonzie trees as well. We planted one in the bgarden called a Gingo, which is the oldest tree in the world.The bonzies keep me busy in Summer

richard9.jpg (20379 bytes)On some Fridays I get the bus to Dublin to see my Dad. He lives in Dublin. My sister and I have done this trip so often that we now know the bus driver by name. His name is Joe., He drives very fast. We get to Dublin in about three hours. As we get nearer to Dublin you can feel him getting a bit angry as he starts talking to himself about other drivers on the road. He often complains about women drivers and taxis who get in the wrong lane and then want to change lanes. "They should’nt be let out" he shouts . "Come on , give me a break" is another one of his sayings.If he was driving in Tramore he would'nt have that problem.


Dad is waiting for us at the station and from there,depending on the weather we walk or take a taxi to his flat. Now and again if he is still working Joe sees us safely into a taxi, which takes us to where Dads works. Dad works for the "Sunday World ", which is Irelands top selling Sunday newspaper.There are lots of computer in the offices. Dad is a scanner. operator. As a result his weekend is Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

On Summer holidays, Christmas, Easter holidays I go to my Gran aunt and uncle. They are very good to me and they take me lots of places. Auntie is a great cook. My Mum says I always put on a few pounds after eating too much on visits.

Overall I have an okay life and wish I was older so I could get a job.

RICHARD ALLENDEN --:

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