Mainly about writing this time

Something a bit different this week – a blog mainly about writing.  In theory the last few years should have been good for writing.  It’s been quiet and we are fairly isolated so there’s time and space to focus.  Well, space anyway.  Anyone who has read some of these posts will know we’ve been pretty […]

Not everything new is a good thing

My apologies for the brevity of this episode, but there are very good reasons for it.  I am currently struggling with “the new”.  Specifically, the new Google that has imposed itself on the website I use.  It has been sending little messages for several months now about “sun setting” some elements.  I should move to […]

When one door closes another may open

This last fortnight there has been a sense of one door closing behind me.  A lot of this has to do with writing as well as events in the UK leaving me with a feeling of – not helplessness but certainly being limited in what I can do.  Several people we care about have suffered […]

Forty Years On

Today, April 16th 2023, is a beautiful day after several weeks of rain, cloudy skies and strong winds.  It is also exactly forty years since Jacqui and I met, in a discotheque in east London.  Yes, I really am that old, and who goes to a disco now?  Or even calls them that? Forty years […]

Cross the river before you abuse the crocodile

This has been a rather odd few weeks with some fairly frantic activity mixed with slow periods of waiting, perfect for reflecting on life.  Sometimes the delays in events can be infuriating and I have to speak sternly to myself.  Life is generally lived at a slower pace here in Tipperary and there is a […]

Watching and waiting

We have spent a lot of the last few weeks watching and waiting for things to happen, or change. No sooner had I posted the last blog than the (hopefully) last of the winter storms swept through Ireland.  It is generally much milder here than in northern England but we woke to snow – real […]

Slow but steady progress

Hooray – February is finally over!  Universally loathed as a “beastly month”, the arrival of March suggests Spring is just around the corner.  We will be very happy to see that as at present we have almost ground to a standstill on some important jobs.  The most pressing is the roof to the kitchen.  This […]

Well, there’s always something

I’ve been reminded these past weeks of one of those brilliant one-liners from a film.  In the movie “Carrington”, the title character is warned against getting involved with the critic and writer Lytton Strachey. “Dora dearest, he’s a terrible old queen!” says a friend, in much less PC times.  “Yes,” replies Carrington, “But there’s always […]

Beginning the third year

The seasons are rolling around again and it is one day shy of our initial move into this little house.  As we begin our third year here we can reflect on all we have done – and all that has happened.  It seems fair to say there have been a few surprises along this journey.  […]

Hoping for a better year all round

Well, January has certainly shown its teeth here in Ireland and I think the same – if not worse – in the UK.  In the last few weeks we’ve had the big freeze, complete with frozen pipes and no water before Christmas.  This was followed by some torrential rain and a leaky roof.  In my […]