When we were children, we used to go to UCD to collect conkers. I remember Mum laughing, saying ‘I hope they’re not the only trophies you take home from here’. She was laughing because a) we lived right beside it and b) she felt confident we’d bag as many letters after our names as we …
Do you know those scratch-off world maps people use to log their travels and see what’s left to explore? Well, I think there’s a market in making them up for people’s individual 5K radius. I’m pretty sure I’m running out of road, or un-walked roads at this stage. I’ve traveled north, south, east and west, …
Last week I came across a new podcast that I am loving. It’s called Bad Bridget and looks at Irish women who went to America 150 years ago. It’s a fascinating insight into women and girls as young as 11 who left Ireland to escape poverty. Some got work and sent money back, others weren’t …
When I was in primary school, we put on an international themed nativity play. I imagine it arose from the teacher wondering how she would give parts to the sea of faces in front of her. I was the little Dutch girl who came to lay my gift at the foot of the manger. If …
I think it’s fair to say we’ve reached the cheesed off phase of all this. We’ve put a brave face on, we’ve tried to see the positives, we’ve overextended ourselves to accommodate every emotion known to man, and now we’re all exhausted. Pandemics, in general, are hard going, pandemics in January are a tough old …
Getting a coffee recently in Donnybrook, I searched for somewhere to sit and enjoy it, somewhere I might also get a bit of sunshine. I found a very nice spot, opposite what used to be Kiely’s pub. This seated open garden is beside an outdoor shop who use the green space to advertise their terracotta …
We had the pleasure of Mrs B's company for a few days over Christmas. She’s in terrific form and great health as she showed us daily how she can touch her toes and took us through a sequence of exercises she calls her morning pulls. After a few rounds of those she moves onto some …
I don’t know about you, but when I’m scared witless, I find a spot of singing can really help. Perhaps I channel my inner Maria Von Trapp a bit much, though you’d have to say it worked out pretty well for her. She escaped the convent, learned to make clothes from curtains, fell in love, …
This week we lost an unlikely couple in John le Carre and Barbara Windsor. 2020 has already grimly reaped: Terry Jones, Ennio Morricone, Seamus Mallon, John Hume, Dave Prowse, Larry Gogan, Vera Lynn, Little Richard, Bill Withers, Eddie Van Halen, Sean Connery, Honour Blackman, Kirk Douglas, Alan Parker, Michel Roux Snr, Marian Finnucane, Nicolas Parsons, …
Visit a zoo anywhere in the world, and chances are you’ll see an elephant. Similarly, most museums will have Bronze Age spearheads. Galleries, however, are far more unique in their collections. You will only find: Vermeer’s Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, Degas’ Two Ballet Dancers in a Dressing Room, or Picasso’s Still Life …
Ordinary Plenty 