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 …
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 …
Last Saturday morning, I found myself a slave to my sat nav as I navigated unfamiliar back roads. I was driving the schoolgirl to a hockey match in Bray. Google Maps was calculating and re-calculating my arrival time, as I didn’t keep up with the pace it expected of me. I was aware of the …
The January lockdown found me in need of a distraction project, and I hit on the idea of researching my family tree. This became a month-long conversation with every relation I could make contact with. It’s definitely a sign of getting older. I had no interest in any of this when I was surrounded by …
From my seat on board the Galway train, I feel like a kid on the toy show with not just one, but two playsets to demonstrate. There is obviously the life-sized trainset that I am part of, comfortably ensconced in a central carriage. A look out the window reveals that an enormous farm playset has …
Waiting to board the ferry to Inis Mór last weekend, I laid down a few ground rules for myself. I was travelling to take part in a 3-day yoga and voice retreat. Having booked it back in June I was giddy with excitement setting off on my long-awaited break. I swore that I wouldn’t waste …
Since marrying into Mr B’s clan 23 years ago, I have assimilated many of their habits. There was a time when I was shocked by their talking over one another at dinner. I came from a ‘whist for the farm news’ kind of kitchen table, but now, I’m able to cross chat, glaze over and …
The tighter the restrictions are around my feet, the further my soul yearns to travel. There was a time when I’d settle for a day out in Howth, or Bray, but I’m gone way beyond that now, I need to hug the entire Irish coastline. Mr B’s tribe were great for caravans, not in the …
By all accounts I was a very chatty child, too chatty going by the many sayings my father used to get me to pipe down. ‘A quarter of the talk Margaret’, was his mantra of choice, followed by ‘If there were prizes going for talking Margaret, you’d win them hands down’. But the one that …
My mother was a martyr to travel documentaries. If it wasn’t Judith Chambers on Wish You Were Here, it was Alan Whicker in Whicker’s Word, or Michael Palin’s Great Railway Journeys. I thought it was a bit pointless watching these shows since her illness prohibited her ever travelling to any of the destinations. Now I …
Ordinary Plenty 