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Michael Harding: ‘Christmas 2019 is a return to the things of the heart’

Michael Harding: ‘Christmas 2019 is a return to the things of the heart’

I notice again what is beautiful in the Christian tradition, rather than being defeated by it

Tue Dec 24 2019 - 14:00
Michael Harding: Sometimes I find the rain in Leitrim comforting

Michael Harding: Sometimes I find the rain in Leitrim comforting

I meet a man from Allepo and we chat about his country, Islamic poetry and Leitrim weather

Wed Dec 18 2019 - 06:00
‘Are you a Muslim?’ the man asks. ‘No, I’m from Cavan’

‘Are you a Muslim?’ the man asks. ‘No, I’m from Cavan’

Michael Harding: After a Niall Breslin podcast recording, call to prayer made sense

Wed Dec 11 2019 - 06:00
It’s not surprising cocaine has become rural Ireland’s new poitín

It’s not surprising cocaine has become rural Ireland’s new poitín

Michael Harding: When I walk down empty streets, I see young people with no dreams

Wed Dec 04 2019 - 06:00
In the end we are all the same despite the oceans we must cross

In the end we are all the same despite the oceans we must cross

Michael Harding: A mother in Shenyang is mourning the loss of her son in Drogheda

Wed Nov 27 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: Memorial cards have a way of appearing from nowhere

Michael Harding: Memorial cards have a way of appearing from nowhere

Michael Harding: I imagine them falling out of the air, like messages from the invisible world

Wed Nov 20 2019 - 06:00
I rejoice when I meet people from Riga, Lagos or Aleppo in Leitrim

I rejoice when I meet people from Riga, Lagos or Aleppo in Leitrim

Michael Harding: The county has been rejuvenated by people from other societies coming here

Wed Nov 13 2019 - 06:00
I know of men who don’t go out for months

I know of men who don’t go out for months

Michael Harding: They sit in their own solitude, knowing that never again will they hear a cow or calf calling out to them

Wed Nov 06 2019 - 06:00
‘Doing my taxes I felt incompetent as a child and wept’

‘Doing my taxes I felt incompetent as a child and wept’

Michael Harding: I felt as incompetent as the child I once was, and still am, inside

Wed Oct 30 2019 - 07:00
Making a bed in a camper van after six pints? It’s dangerous

Making a bed in a camper van after six pints? It’s dangerous

Michael Harding: Songs and music in a west of Ireland pub provide nourishment for the soul

Wed Oct 23 2019 - 06:00
The man who called his wife ‘the beloved’ like he was sucking a sweet

The man who called his wife ‘the beloved’ like he was sucking a sweet

Michael Harding: It was only when the couple spoke about Russia that I saw behind their masks

Wed Oct 16 2019 - 06:00
I made a joke about Mayo and Canada. The Canadian was not amused

I made a joke about Mayo and Canada. The Canadian was not amused

MIchael Harding: I didn’t think anyone would take offence in a filling station in Castlebar

Wed Oct 09 2019 - 06:00
What’s worse than a fat man squeezed into small togs? A man my age in tattered togs

What’s worse than a fat man squeezed into small togs? A man my age in tattered togs

Michael Harding: Such moments of openness are dangerous because they form the threshold of love; when a stranger becomes a beloved

Wed Oct 02 2019 - 06:00
My daughter left for Australia and now there’s an absence which nothing can cure

My daughter left for Australia and now there’s an absence which nothing can cure

Michael Harding: I didn’t show emotion. I sorted all that out in the garden on Sunday

Wed Sept 25 2019 - 07:03
‘Like many other victims of suicide, he simply fell through the net of care and love around him’

‘Like many other victims of suicide, he simply fell through the net of care and love around him’

Michael Harding: Yet another fine young man falls victim to the scourge of suicide

Wed Sept 18 2019 - 06:00
‘I have been free from melancholy since the heart attack. The stent woke me up’

‘I have been free from melancholy since the heart attack. The stent woke me up’

But leaving Donegal and driving through Leitrim, I felt sad again and lonely . . . until I saw her at the door and realised that the beloved is the key

Wed Sept 11 2019 - 06:00
The man beside me on the plane took off his shoes and socks to cut his toenails

The man beside me on the plane took off his shoes and socks to cut his toenails

Michael Harding: I kept telling myself it was funny, although I had sporadic urges to open the emergency door and shove him and his toenails into space

Wed Sept 04 2019 - 06:00
I had an urge to go to Belarus. Fortunately, I had a heart attack

I had an urge to go to Belarus. Fortunately, I had a heart attack

Michael Harding: Booking flights on a whim is dangerous. I’m off to Minsk for a week of monastic living

Wed Aug 28 2019 - 06:00
I bottled my rage for years until some therapist could take it out of my guts like ashes

I bottled my rage for years until some therapist could take it out of my guts like ashes

'Don’t look so scared,' my friend said, as I stepped across the threshold

Wed Aug 21 2019 - 21:05
The sean-nós singer continued, verse after slow verse. Then a phone rang

The sean-nós singer continued, verse after slow verse. Then a phone rang

Michael Harding: If he had flung the thing out the window, we would have applauded

Wed Aug 14 2019 - 06:00
Irish music is a repetitive hum that dissolves the ego

Irish music is a repetitive hum that dissolves the ego

Michael Harding: You can’t get angry at a music festival. It’s poison to the singing heart

Wed Aug 07 2019 - 06:00
‘I like to keep up with the intellectual wing of the DUP’

‘I like to keep up with the intellectual wing of the DUP’

Michael Harding: A more charming man than Jim Wells you could not meet in a day’s marching

Wed Jul 31 2019 - 06:00
‘I needed a lot of comfort as a child because I felt stupid’

‘I needed a lot of comfort as a child because I felt stupid’

Michael Harding: Even now I am regularly overwhelmed by my own sense of stupidity

Wed Jul 24 2019 - 06:00
Would my dead mother’s voice from old recordings destroy my warm memories?

Would my dead mother’s voice from old recordings destroy my warm memories?

Michael Harding: How did I get from my mother to Nigel Farage turning his arse to Beethoven?

Wed Jul 17 2019 - 06:00
‘I’m burdened by the life I never lived, by the wild man I never released’

‘I’m burdened by the life I never lived, by the wild man I never released’

Michael Harding: I had visions of hot tubs in the woods, shamanic rituals and Asian massage therapies, and chilling out with beautiful strangers

Wed Jul 10 2019 - 06:00
‘I learned storytelling from country people and Travellers’

‘I learned storytelling from country people and Travellers’

Michael Harding: In the old days country people were slow to talk about personal or emotional matters

Wed Jul 03 2019 - 06:00
How do you get ticks out of your arse? Slap a bit of butter on them

How do you get ticks out of your arse? Slap a bit of butter on them

Michael Harding: ... or hold the flame of a cigarette lighter close to the tick's backside

Wed Jun 26 2019 - 06:00
The man with five stents thought my skirmish with death was nothing to brag about

The man with five stents thought my skirmish with death was nothing to brag about

Michael Harding: He had five stents to my one but you wouldn’t catch him making a gobshite of himself by talking about it on the radio

Wed Jun 19 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: I like to gaze at Claire Danes’ face in Homeland. Her survival is reassuring

Michael Harding: I like to gaze at Claire Danes’ face in Homeland. Her survival is reassuring

Carrie Mathison is not just a mythic figure on the screen. She also survives inside me

Wed Jun 12 2019 - 06:00
Trump visiting Ireland? ‘We should be on our knees with gratitude,’ he said

Trump visiting Ireland? ‘We should be on our knees with gratitude,’ he said

I called the General about a misplaced mackerel but he had other things on his mind

Wed Jun 05 2019 - 13:23
Michael Harding: I see my late mother in the mirror since I went on heart tablets

Michael Harding: I see my late mother in the mirror since I went on heart tablets

Now that I have begun to slow down myself, I find her everywhere

Wed May 29 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: Some people claimed the hawthorn bush smelled of sex

Michael Harding: Some people claimed the hawthorn bush smelled of sex

But there is something terribly tender in the white bush that lifts my heart every year

Wed May 22 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: Does Poland need a State visit from Panti Bliss?

Michael Harding: Does Poland need a State visit from Panti Bliss?

Watching Panti on stage in full flight, it struck me that show business is also a fight against the dark

Wed May 15 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: I decided to have another go at finding a camper van

Michael Harding: I decided to have another go at finding a camper van

I woke at dawn and walked the beach reflecting on how splendid it was to be alone

Wed May 08 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: Notre Dame and the farmer who died by the light of the moon

Michael Harding: Notre Dame and the farmer who died by the light of the moon

That cathedral felt like it belonged not to Paris but Europe, and the fire seemed to awaken something across the continent

Wed May 01 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: I’ve gone through life without cutting anyone’s toenails

Michael Harding: I’ve gone through life without cutting anyone’s toenails

A retired nurse who performs that charitable act for old men saved me from melancholy

Wed Apr 24 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: A woman with the cure said oatmeal could fix my heart

Michael Harding: A woman with the cure said oatmeal could fix my heart

‘You look very poorly, sir,’ she told me. ‘You look as sick as a small hospital’

Wed Apr 17 2019 - 06:00
‘Vegans just don’t drive the same vehicles as meat eaters’

‘Vegans just don’t drive the same vehicles as meat eaters’

Michael Harding: I find meaning driving around with white leather under my arse

Wed Apr 10 2019 - 09:31
In Leitrim, sometimes I don't know if it's raining or if I am living in a cloud

In Leitrim, sometimes I don't know if it's raining or if I am living in a cloud

Michael Harding: The two of us stand at the end of the garden. The lake below, the moon above

Wed Apr 03 2019 - 06:00
‘I presumed the two tribes of Ulster might eventually blend, as folks do at a wedding’

‘I presumed the two tribes of Ulster might eventually blend, as folks do at a wedding’

Michael Harding: The blood shed during the Troubles only nourished separate identities

Wed Mar 27 2019 - 06:00
‘Stupidity has been a heavy burden since childhood’

‘Stupidity has been a heavy burden since childhood’

Michael Harding: My mother once gazed at me and, with one question, opened up an appalling possibility

Wed Mar 20 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: ‘What the f**k are you doing in bed?’ said the woman demanding champagne

Michael Harding: ‘What the f**k are you doing in bed?’ said the woman demanding champagne

There’s a Dublin wedding at the hotel, and a nocturnal party animal I want to avoid at breakfast

Wed Mar 13 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: I wanted to warm my arse in freezing Warsaw. So I went to church

Michael Harding: I wanted to warm my arse in freezing Warsaw. So I went to church

I find it consoling to contemplate death, not as an ending, but a transformation

Wed Mar 06 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: No wonder the graveyards are full of young men

Michael Harding: No wonder the graveyards are full of young men

Young people in Dublin are just as distressed as they are in Leitrim

Wed Feb 27 2019 - 06:00
‘I loved my friend as a man sometimes loves another man’

‘I loved my friend as a man sometimes loves another man’

Michael Harding: ‘Thank you, Bernard Loughlin, my mentor, elder and guide’

Wed Feb 20 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: ‘The nuns disappeared very fast in the end, like snow off a rope’

Michael Harding: ‘The nuns disappeared very fast in the end, like snow off a rope’

The last nun in town, switching off church lights and the plastic statue I came to own

Wed Feb 13 2019 - 06:00
‘Are you the man who had the heart attack? How could you be so stupid?’

‘Are you the man who had the heart attack? How could you be so stupid?’

Michael Harding: ‘Indigestion,’ she scoffed, ‘between your shoulder blades!’

Wed Feb 06 2019 - 07:27
Michael Harding: After my heart attack I needed more exercise so I went to Aldi

Michael Harding: After my heart attack I needed more exercise so I went to Aldi

Self-pity afflicts me, I spent most of Christmas brooding about my illness

Wed Jan 30 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: ‘Good morning sir. Did you order an ambulance?’ said the hotel receptionist

Michael Harding: ‘Good morning sir. Did you order an ambulance?’ said the hotel receptionist

As I walked out of hospital I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I wanted to hug the entire hospital and everyone in it

Wed Jan 23 2019 - 06:00
Michael Harding: ‘My indigestion turned out to be a heart attack’

Michael Harding: ‘My indigestion turned out to be a heart attack’

I stood pot-bellied in my pyjamas and began leaping through half remembered tai chi movements like a duck trying to dance the lead in Swan Lake

Wed Jan 16 2019 - 06:00
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