I must admit, Ireland beats Australia hands down when it comes to one simple staple
A trip to the supermarket sent me into an unexpected vortex of homesickness
Two years ago, I felt I didn’t belong at the gym. Here’s how I proved myself wrong
Unthinkable: The joy I found there wasn’t about change in how I looked, it was something called hexis
Have you given up alcohol yet? Planned your career pivot? Try the stoics’ approach instead
Unthinkable: Stoicism is not about outcomes, about getting what you want, or even about being happier or healthier
Time is a border: I wake up to family and friends’ yesterdays, untouchable to me
Midnight comes twice for me with a mind in Ireland and a body in Australia
Solitude is a rare chance to think. Loneliness is when the inner dialogue is unbearable
We don’t get much practice at Hannah Arendt’s version of solitude these days, with all the phones and Netflix and tubs of ice cream to distract us. But we should try it
We’ve done all we can for now. This is the time for standing still and seeing out the year
There’s an understanding that we’ve done all we can for now. It’s a time for standing still and seeing out the year
After the Bondi attack: ‘We would love to feel some love from Ireland,’ says Rabbi
Laura Kennedy meets Jewish community in Sydney: ‘We feel so hated by so many people across the world. The Irish … it’s painful’
Christmas can be a dissonant experience, like feeling miserable at Disneyland
It’s a strange time of year. We experience a lot of ‘how things ought to be’ clashing with ‘how things are’
The Christmas tree looks like the sort you slowly slide down a wall beside to have a cry
Christmas has the learned anticipation of childhood blended with adult disappointment that nothing magical has happened
My ‘neutral’ accent is now just another foreign voice from a country far away
We cringe at Irish people who develop a ‘twang’ and their yearning to belong
From snake bites to moth colonies: There’s shocking intensity to Australia’s natural world
I try to nurture a sense of awe in the face of Australia’s alien (to me) natural world. But I miss the wet ferns in the Kerry rain
‘Bondi is crumbling under the weight of Irish accents, I’ve heard more than I can count’
‘Nobody pays attention to how naked everybody is. Being Irish, I’m wearing jeans’
Visa changes mean leaving Ireland for a life in the US is suddenly much less feasible
Big changes in the US mean educated and professional workers must confront what working-class migrants have long endured
We need a more nuanced conversation about autism
Unthinkable: What was at one time a narrow, strictly medical diagnosis has shifted to encompass a cultural identity, an activists' cause and, apparently, a political talking point
Birds in Australia are like birds in Ireland, except almost certainly on cocaine
For the majority of the year, Australian magpies are good neighbours - in September and October, things change