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 …
Last April, I watched in awe as 7 baby cygnets appeared on the main lake in UCD. Their proud parents, who’ve reared many broods here before, knew the drill. Like Royals emerging from a maternity hospital for the paparazzi, the pen and cob (mum and dad) launched their 7 tiny pompomesque babies onto the lake …
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 …
Ordinary Plenty 