In an ideal world, I am a playwright. I have the confidence, discipline and craft to conjure up stories and manifest them from page to stage. However, this is not who I am, mostly because I am scared and lazy. I like to blame it on not coming from theatrical stock. Every time I hear …
Before I got married, once I’d secured the dress, the band and oh yeah, the groom, I invested in a Child of Prague statue. Numerous people told me I needed to put him out in the garden the night before the wedding to ensure sunshine on the big day. The superstition goes that the statue …
Congratulations, we made it! We’ve finally shaken off the 1,000 days of January. Whatever the meteorologists say, the pagan in me knows that Spring starts on the 1st of February, and I relish it every year. To celebrate it this year, myself and my pal Eimear decided to take ourselves off to Kildare, not to …
Slagging off mothers-in-laws has kept the comedy industry going since time began. Les Dawson cemented the image of the awful woman who must be tolerated. My own darling mother-in-law while being quite the spice girl herself is not a patch on Victoria Beckham. Marrying the second son is a very different dynamic than steeling a …
A few years ago when I worked as a home carer, I used to visit a lady called Pat. From our first hello at the hall door, I knew she and I would get on. She was from Kerry and had a fantastic turn of phrase that both charmed and awoke me. Despite living in …
January is named after the Greek God of change - Janus, a two headed figure. One face looks forward and the other one looks back. Hopefully we have wrapped up the old year, reflected on it, locked away the memories and wisdom it brought us and are now ready to face this new year. The …
Whether you’re happily wandering around Whoville like Cindy Lou Who, or on top of Grinch Mountain like me, it’s plain to see that this merriment is just one giant distraction. I’m told by believers that the twinkling lights and family gathering is a joy in the darkness, but why then does it set me off …
Class, please settle down and take out your copy of Soundings. It’s time to read the most wise and timely poem of the great Patrick Kavanagh. If ever words were needed to be heard throughout the globe I suggest these are they. ‘Through a chink too wide, there comes in no wonder’, or as my …
When The Brother and I were young, our mother was keen to pass on the Victorian etiquette she had learnt from her elders. She taught us how to polish the brasses, a chore that became a Saturday morning hardship for the pair of us. We would firstly collect all the little brass ornaments, tiny vases, …
Last Friday morning I boarded a train in Heuston Station to attend a funeral in Laois. Regular readers will know how much I love traveling by train and the unspoilt views of the countryside it affords passengers. I took my seat, delighted that the automatic seat selection had chosen a window seat for me, facing …
Ordinary Plenty 