Snow joke, you know!

Last night, it snowed here in Ireland. Well, I say ’snowed’ – at the minute, there’s a light dusting of powder on the hedges and trees, and about an inch on the ground. I can still see grass in some spots. (If you want to see the kind of snow I’m talking about, have a [...]

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Way back when…

Another one for the folk music collection. The singer is Luke Kelly, one of the real giants of Irish folk music. The voice is unmistakable. Luke is also notable for being one of the only people ever to have a ginger afro. Hit the play button, do something else and leave [...]

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Edmund Rice’s head

Edmund Rice was the guy who set up the Christian Brothers, to educate catholics in Ireland when it was very much frowned upon. Catholics were allowed to go to school, but not to be taught by Catholics, and only to schools which would instruct them in the “Fundamentals of the True Religion”. In other words, [...]

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Views from the Orient

I haven’t been able to post for a while, because of other means of procrastination which took precedence. Just a few views of the far east for now – well, at least County Down, Ireland’s easternmost county.

Just out of reach…

Grey sky, grey rocks, grey mood. It all fits together.

Just on the very left on the [...]

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X-Files Ireland

The Irish Times has an interesting one today, about the Irish Defence Force’s dossier on UFOs, which has just been released.
In 1947, while many eyes were on the heavens looking for little green men, An Garda Síochána (the Irish cops) maintained a classically cynical Irish approach.
“The pressmen in Killarney like to keep abreast of [...]

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Q&A

I thought I’d have a go at this meme passed on by Nicolemarie. I don’t usually bother with them!
1. If you had to name the most terrifying moment of your life so far, what would it be?
It would have to be the time I got a mystery illness of some description. I was in [...]

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Deer and cows interbreeding

A few months old but still as funny as ever. I urge you all to go here, scroll halfway down and  click on “Deer causing havoc in county Clare”. This is an Irish councillor who is convinced deer and cattle are interbreeding, because the cattle “look very alert”.
Hilarious stuff. The interviewer can’t keep his face [...]

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Radio Competition

I was browsing the RTE website (Ireland’s BBC/PBS) and came across a short story competition for radio. As short story markets go, I would never have thought of submitting to a radio station. A play, certainly, but not a short piece of fiction. I think I’ll give it a whirl, so this is here as [...]

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Nigerian Rocket Fuel

For perhaps the first time since Oliver Cromwell’s settlers moved in, there are more people coming into Ireland than there are leaving. Mostly from other EU states – notably Poland. There are a few from Africa too, though, and it’s these immigrants who Guinness had in mind when they started selling Guinness Foreign Stout.
Guinness isn’t [...]

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Classic Northern Ireland paranoia

The head of the Orange Order says the Royal Family are being used by the dirty tricks department of the government.
“The last time we had so many Royal visits, a few weeks later the Royal Ulster Constabulary was disbanded.” (Of course, it wasn’t really. It got a new name.)
Still. It is good [...]

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