I was in the jacuzzi of a Nama hotel talking to a beautiful woman from near BallymoteI was having a good soak because I had to see the doctor, and I never know what part of my anatomy is going to come under scrutiny…Fri Oct 21 2011 - 01:00
Hard lives and rag dolls are long forgottenThe same Leitrim telegraph poles with posters of Martin McGuinness were festooned with black flags 30 years ago as Bobby Sands…Fri Oct 14 2011 - 01:00
The serenity of turning away from the busy worldI WAS in the D4 Berkeley one night last week, in a room on the 4th floor, gazing out at the tips of trees that stand in the forecourt…Fri Oct 07 2011 - 01:00
It's so hard at home now mother has goneI’VE BEEN doing a lot of walking recently and since it rains a lot in Leitrim, I decided to buy a rainproof trousers and a jacket…Fri Sept 30 2011 - 01:00
A glitch in the fairy tale of meeting the princessWhile waiting for important people he would compose tales with happy endings – but the lines between daydreams and reality sometimes…Fri Sept 23 2011 - 01:00
The merits of knitting in treating depressionIt’s amazing how many people are depressed and alone, on the slopes of mountains around the country, enduring insomnia, or walking…Fri Sept 16 2011 - 01:00
Between the devil and the deep bluesEven during the day, I get ambushed by sadness; it gnaws at my emotions, like a demonic bird come from the deep to pluck me to…Fri Sept 09 2011 - 01:00
Great place for an imaginary argument, the chipperAn African man being harassed in a queue by a garda? Thank heaven it’s only fictionFri Jul 08 2011 - 01:00
Incarcerated Catholic statues and global warmingAs I get older I playmy cards too close to the chest, which is why I now need psychotherapyFri Jul 01 2011 - 01:00
Together when the silence is goldenWe didn’t say much, because after years there’s nothing to sayFri Jun 24 2011 - 01:00
Saturdays make me panic at the thought of being aloneI’VE BEEN LYING in bed listening to the BBC a lot recently. I love their accents, their vowels and their soft voicesFri Jun 17 2011 - 01:00
Strangers on a train find France too FrenchNot being allowed to drink in the Louvre and a native's failure to speak English prove too much for one visitor.Fri Jun 10 2011 - 01:00
A loneliness so far from the heart of darknessWHEN I’M travelling with a theatre show, I stay in different hotels. I move about the country like a shadowFri Jun 03 2011 - 01:00
In Mullingar, people talk because there is no seaWatching Queen Elizabeth on TV, the mind drifts to the sea, to a vanished friend and memories of an encounter with a real lady…Fri May 27 2011 - 01:00
Chips were down until fish came to the rescueThe Chinese woman in the fishmonger seemed to have the answer to a back problem but in the end it was a fish in the wild that…Fri May 20 2011 - 01:00
The best hiding place is under the lightIreland is a small place - the local sergeant could hardly insult the old grieving widow by saying he was there to search for…Fri May 13 2011 - 01:00
Dreaming of a queen and buddhaTHE GENERAL was on the verge of tears all day Saturday after the weddingFri May 06 2011 - 01:00
Afterglow of love evokes silence of resurrectionAS A CHILD I used to love the weeks after Easter, when the ditches were flush with primroses, and the sun shone through the apple…Fri Apr 29 2011 - 01:00
Fresh fish and gossip, from Korea to MullingarI WAS IN an internet cafe during the week, surfing the net, when suddenly I came across Main Street, Cavan, on a live webcamFri Apr 22 2011 - 01:00
There's quite a difference between 'dismount' and 'go down'In Mullingar, the mind gets bombarded with fresh information every time one walks out the doorFri Apr 08 2011 - 01:00
We were getting on so well, but how did she know I was from Cavan?From a woman who has the cure for whooping cough to a website launch in Tullamore... the midlands have so much to offerFri Apr 01 2011 - 01:00
'I don't know why a dog's testicles should have had such an effect on me'I’VE HAD strange urges this past few weeks for a dogFri Mar 18 2011 - 00:00
'The human species is unreasonably optimistic'THE GENERAL has taken to the bed, because, according to him, a schoolteacher has taken over the countryFri Mar 04 2011 - 00:00
If I could I would vote for blackbirdsON VALENTINE’S DAY someone arrived at the door with red roses, and put them in a vase on the kitchen tableFri Feb 25 2011 - 00:00
God be with you Ireland and the Old Bog RoadBack then old people wore black, and passed their days rolling up newspapers into firelighters, or dangling string in front of…Fri Feb 18 2011 - 00:00
Times when life seems so brutal and forlorn“There’s boys come out at night in cars and throw things in the river. And then burn the carsFri Jan 21 2011 - 00:00
They say men ought not to cryNow, whenever I open my Facebook home page it’s like looking in a window at a warm world of companionship where I don’t belong…Fri Jan 07 2011 - 00:00
Mr Mozart and Mr Cow-HenIn Shanghai, a woman repairs a coat and a musician praises the beauty of life. In Mullingar, snow fallsFri Dec 03 2010 - 00:00
Sailing away on a sea of poetryA talented young rapper spoke of love and loss and summoned Blake and Shelley to mind on the long, slow journey to ChinaFri Nov 19 2010 - 00:00
A bumpy road to Carnegie HallI’M BACK on the flute. It’s one of those things that happens without reason or intentFri Jun 25 2010 - 01:00
End of the world? Pick up a hitch-hikerThe Badger says Colmcille predicted the number of popes before the world ends – and the Polish fellow should have been the last…Fri Jun 18 2010 - 01:00
Old boys just don't want to play soldiers any moreSo many of us middle- aged boys are hanging around all day with nothing to do, but it’s hard to work out what it is we should…Fri May 07 2010 - 01:00
A beer, a barbie and a song to bring you homeIt may seem like we buried our souls in the boom, but there’s nothing like music and a chargrilled steak to reconnect with the…Fri Apr 23 2010 - 01:00
Ducking for cover from nocturnal monstersToo cold, or too hot; too angry, or too remorseful – getting through the night can feel as tricky as being a duck trapped in …Fri Apr 16 2010 - 01:00
She stared and said: 'you're really off the wall, man'After an early sighting of a sleek and gorgeous wild mink, the day just kept getting strangerFri Apr 02 2010 - 01:00
Fear not: heaven is just around the cornerThe woman on the train said there was no luck left in Ireland, but I was lucky – I had tickets to The WaterboysFri Mar 26 2010 - 00:00
The Dude stuck between a chipper and a head-shopWhat’s a boy to do when the only nirvana available is on a notice in the window of a shop selling incense?Fri Feb 12 2010 - 00:00
Letting the paisley pyjamas out of the bagToo much intimacy can destroy a relationship – and a pair of thermal long johns can cause almost as much troubleFri Feb 05 2010 - 00:00
At the hairdressers like a pair of beached whalesWhen a hairwash in a Mullingar salon puts memories in your headFri Jan 29 2010 - 00:00
At the hairdressers like a pair of beached whalesWhen a hairwash in a Mullingar salon puts memories in your headFri Jan 29 2010 - 00:00
Plunged into an enlightened dark on Little ChristmasWhen it comes to raising up the spirits of times past, whiskey and candlelight can be powerful evocationsFri Jan 15 2010 - 00:00
Plunged into an enlightened dark on Little ChristmasWhen it comes to raising up the spirits of times past, whiskey and candlelight can be powerful evocationsFri Jan 15 2010 - 00:00
Learning about hospitality from one of the mastersA conversation reveals how the Clancy brothers liked an egg on their steaks, and other secrets of the starsFri Jan 08 2010 - 00:00
Learning about hospitality from one of the mastersA conversation reveals how the Clancy brothers liked an egg on their steaks, and other secrets of the starsFri Jan 08 2010 - 00:00
Just the place to chew the fat about matters of life and deathSometimes at the butcher’s, you can get a local education along with the rib-eye steaks you went in for, writes MICHAEL HARDING…Fri Dec 18 2009 - 00:00
Moving through the fair in search of some animal magnetismA day spent amongst horses can be a good distraction from purely human concerns – just try to ignore the fillies parading in …Fri Oct 16 2009 - 01:00
'I felt like a thespian god as I lay among the perfumes'FESTIVAL DIARY : A whirlwind of performances during the West Cork Fit Up festivalMon Aug 17 2009 - 01:00
A wedding to remember, and an island in Lough CorribDISPLACED IN MULLINGAR: ON JUNE 28th a man and a woman were married in Ballintubber Abbey, Co MayoFri Jul 10 2009 - 01:00
Washing machines, life cycles and the cleavage of MeathDISPLACED IN MULLINGAR: I LOVE THE sound of a washing machine. It feels like there’s someone else in the houseFri Jul 03 2009 - 01:00
