Would it be fair to say that we all have good days and bad days? Surely the odds dictate that, to quote the song, into each life a little rain must fall. Nobody walks through life without getting at least a little wet. Nobody spends every single day basking in the glories of Creation (well, […]
During last year’s coverage of the Oscar Pistorius trial a South African legal commentator said something that stuck in my brain. Trying to anticipate Judge Masipa’s ruling he was talking about what punishment the accused’s crime would warrant and by way of offering a context of scale of punishment in relation to particular crimes he
And the sentence is… Read More »
A long time ago, in an Irish town far, far away, there was a tiny little swimming pool. It was a Friday afternoon and in this pool there frolicked the excited and heavily chlorinated attendees of a little primary school. I was among them. Even though the pool was small, we were small, so it
I knew that would happen! Read More »
Has there ever been a Miss World candidate who hasn’t declared her wish for world peace? How admirable, how marvellous, to behold the nobility and compassion of the bikini-clad, doe-eyed tiara-aspirant! Such ambition! Such gravitas! Such shiny teeth! But imagine the ripples through the universe of beauty pageantry if one of these paragons of female
I didn’t get the gig. For a while I considered calling this blog The World’s Worst Actor thinking at the time that it was witty and self-deprecating and arch. But then my wife looked at me with sad eyes and the unspoken understanding passed between us that perhaps it was a little close to the
Just a little bit higher Read More »
Take a moment and think about all the things you have been told in your life. All the things that have been said to you. All the heart-to-hearts, the tete-a-tetes, all the deep-and-meaningfuls. The advice, the encouragements, the admonishments. How much can you remember? And from whose mouths did the words come? Now take another
Songs from the deep Read More »
“You’re obviously a man in crisis.” This was a friend’s response to my recent uptake of blogging. Both a fellow Irishman and karateka, he was giving me a lift home after training a few weeks ago. Over the course of our rather circuitous journey (he is a slave to his sat nav) he took it upon
What’s in it for me? Read More »
A few years ago, not long before my wife and I moved to the other side of the planet in search of a new adventure, I was out with a friend to celebrate his fortieth birthday. It was a very gentle affair, a nice dinner followed by a few drinks in an unfussy pub. We
A word to the wise Read More »
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