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 …
When I was newly married, I got a job co-ordinating Marriage Preparation Courses. No sooner had my babies arrived than I became a Baby Massage Instructor. It seems that once I have five minutes experience of any life stage, I feel equipped to become an expert on it. Now that I’m working with older people, …
UCD lake is rarely quiet. During weekdays it is a gathering place for students between lectures. At weekends a younger audience come to say hello, often with bread, and nervous parents warning about getting too close to the edge. The swans who live there must be used to all these callers and go about their …
They say you should live far enough away from your family that you have to put your coat on to visit them. The Brother took this advice to heart and settled a whole county away in Co. Meath. To be honest this arrangement suits me down to the ground. An hour drive either way, means …
How to turn a day off into an existential crisis in 10 easy steps: Step 1: Upon waking, identify as many aches and pains as possible. List all the things that you are sad or worried about. Take those woes into the shower with you and encourage them to mushroom into full-on catastrophes. Step 2: …
Have you ever watched Who Do You Think You Are? A TV show where well known people trace their ancestry, finding out who and where they hail from. There is always a mixture of excitement and fear as people embark on discovering their lineage. Everyone hopes to find heroes, people they can hang photos of …
Thankfully I’m out of isolation. If I had to spend any more time at home binge-watching docudramas, I‘d be in danger of turning into a criminal mastermind. I’m not sure if it’s intentional on Netflix’s part, but they’re basically teaching a how-to-become-the-next-top-con-artist seminar. I’d already seen The Tinder Swindler so it suggested I might enjoy …
Ordinary Plenty 