Many years ago in county Clare, 2 English surveyors stood side by side… – We’d better give this teeny tiny place an English name then. – What were you thinking? – We could do the same as it sounds in Irish. – What’s that then? – That would be… Moneennagliggin. – Not too catchy is […]
The Accordion’s Tale
I wrote down this tale of an accordion looking for a new life, and I told it at a storytelling event in Belfast last November – the wonderful Tenx9 monthly event. The theme was Small World, and so the story started with a classic coincidence that can only happen among Irish people. But the theme […]
Mothers on Buses
When I got on the No. 4 bus, near its starting point in Monkstown, it was empty and I could take my favourite seat, upstairs in the top right corner. That’s where you used to be able to look down through the window at the driver’s head below, but it’s now simply the best spot […]
The Wall of Pink Covid Hearts
I had some free time while in London for work last week (lucky me) and I stumbled across this stunning wall of pink hearts along the Thames. It’s actually a wall of 150,00 individual pink hearts, each one painted on by volunteers just outside St Tommy’s hospital, directly facing Westminster. Started quietly as a project […]
Tunes in an Empty Pub
Never mind a pint. What I’d kill for at this point in the pandemic would be to play some tunes in a pub. To join a few other séisúin-deprived musicians one afternoon, and settle into the snug near the front door, the smoked-up window holding us in and the world out. For the sake of […]
The Covid 5 and Me
For the last few months of this pandemic, my world has been shrunk to 5 kilometres. It’s not just me, it’s been the case since Christmas for everyone in Ireland. (In theory, at least). Now that our Covid radius is going to expand beyond 5km after April 12, I’ve realised the number 5 has actually […]
The Lift in Rome
I find our hotel quite easily, in plenty of time before I have to meet my father off the airport bus. It’s on a narrow street leading from the back of San Filippo Neri to Piazza Navona, busy with locals and tourists on foot and on scooters. Our pensione is marked with a little 3-star […]
The Lice of my Life
My life as a parent can be measured in lice. Those tiny creatures that never show their face but brazenly attach themselves to the hair shafts of humans – usually the smallest of humans – where they decide to chomp down and get cosy. And then, they start to make their own babies. You don’t […]
First Swim in the Sea – in November
We were putting out our bins, the neighbour and myself, and I asked her if she’s enjoying her daily swims in Dublin Bay. “Emma, it’s lovely these days”, she says. “the water’s 12 degrees!”. “Awww,” I reply, “I really will get in one of these days”. “So you keep saying” she says, and heads back […]
The Placenames of Dublin
If you’re a newcomer and want to adapt to life in Ireland, you need to get to know the names of places. And how to pronounce them. This is for two reasons. One, so you don’t get lost. And two, so you don’t sound like an eejit. (Actually, it’s more so you don’t sound like […]
A Diary for Bella, our Lockdown Lurcher
April 14th 2020Dear BellaI saw a photo of you today and I think my dream of having a dog might finally come true. No pressure, but you looked adorable in the photo sent by Mary at the rescue group. You’re a lurcher, about a year old, quiet and sweet and housetrained, she said. Too good […]
The Yellow Room
I wrote a little poem about this painting, by Belfast artist Gerard Dillon, painted in the 1950s. I bought a postcard of it years ago and it’s moved around with me since. A more Irish scene you couldn’t get. (With a nod to Margaret Wise Brown). In the great yellow room, there was a stove […]
Happy Families?
In an arts and craft shop in Dublin, I spot a pack of Happy Families. It was one of our favourite games when the kids were small, but we either lost our pack during one of our many moves or it’s still in a box in my father’s attic. I grab the pack of cards, […]
Courgetti
I laughed when I noticed the name on this packet I had picked up in Tesco. The spirally courgettes (ridiculously cut up and ready for me to cook, when I could of course have done it myself, but they were on the cheapo shelf) had already gone into that evening’s stir-fry. Who’s ever heard of […]
Irish Creatures on Irish Coins
It’s true – your children really can open your world a little wider. A treasure, to them, is often something you just never noticed before. One recent Sunday, at a local Dublin market that has barely changed in decades, my daughter and I wandered into a bric-a-brac stand. Just the place where a 10-year-old might […]