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 …
I know I’m on record here saying that I’ve no truck with sport of any kind. Exercise is one thing, but competition that claims one side victors and the other losers seems unnecessarily cruel to me. However, allow me to do a full U-turn on all that in the wake of the Irish Football team's …
Reader, we have some catching up to do. You will be familiar with many of the characters who feature in this blog. Mr B is doing well, as is the Manchild, the Schoolgirl has transitioned to college and will henceforth be referred to here as Goldilocks. The Brother is in fine form, so too The …
November usually finds me pulling down well-worn albums from the shelf. There’s one entitled ‘I dread the winter’, another is called ‘every year I find them harder’ and my all-time favourite ‘if I won the lotto I’d move abroad for 6 months’. These recordings have been passed down to me from my parents, who perhaps …
A Hundred Thousand Years ago, when I was a young adult, I became a leader in my local youth club. I was only 19 at the time, so not much older than the child members of the club who were aged 10-14. While the idea of the club was to provide a wholesome social and …
I’m a great believer in taking vitamins. Sure, you couldn’t be expected to get all your requirements from your food, it’s no harm to throw in a few supplements. Maybe I’m codding myself, but if I stop taking magnesium for a few days, I can feel my joints starting to seize up. Vitamin B complex …
We share the same initials, and a healthy curiosity about other people’s lives, but I am not fit to undo the lid of her fountain pen. I’m speaking of course about the wonderful Maeve Binchy. As a slow reader, easily put off by too many pages, I was a latecomer to the party of books …
Ordinary Plenty 