Dublin, emerging from the ashes
Since leaving Ireland 13 years ago, I’ve gone home every Christmas. Each time there is a sense of strangeness, and estrangement – returning to a landscape that is familiar but has altered somehow. The most dramatic developments began when I lived in London, during the years running up to 2007. I’d return to find that … Read more
Coming back and maybe coming home
Since I’ve returned to New York, I haven’t had time to post. This surprised me, but let me tell you why: New York is hard. I had thought that I’d return from my protracted stay in Dublin all relaxed and refreshed — which I did. But I had forgotten that New York likes to flay … Read more
Summer in Ireland
It’s been a long, slow summer, so long and slow that I feel as though I’ve slipped from view (from a digital perspective, my inactivity means that I have). Earlier this year I debated intensely with myself whether to stay in New York or not, and I reached a compromise: I would stay one year … Read more
#5: There’s always somebody more paranoid than you
I crib this slightly from the Village Voice, but it’s true. As I write, we are eight hours and sixteen minutes into the Rapture — an international event (occurring at different times across the time zones) but one that has been heavily advertised in New York. Indeed, when I made my way out this evening, … Read more
#4: The goodness of Planned Parenthood
I won’t forget my first trip to Planned Parenthood in Brooklyn NYC. It was for a routine check-up. I was surprised to find that I had to get past a guard to get in, show him my bags, and walk through a bleeping airport security-style machine. I thought it had to be a joke, but … Read more
#2: Ex-pat Eurovision parties
When you’ve lived away from home long enough, you gradually garner a group of ex-pat friends. Last year the Eurovision passed me by without blimping onto my radar, but this year, I had a party to go to. When I arrived at the 8th floor Mid-town flat at 3pm, my host, V., urgently handed me … Read more
Best of New York
I mentioned in my last email that I’d been a bad blogger. So far, so not exciting, no? The internet is littered with the ghosts of blogs past, as their authors get bored or busy or acquired new jobs or boyfriends (or girlfriends). I promise that will not be me. I’ve decided instead that for … Read more
Mea culpa
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed that, well, there’s simply hasn’t been much to read here lately. I can offer a few reasons/excuses for this: family visits, life and a desire that I had a while back to blog about An Ambitious Topic, which I didn’t know much about. … Read more
New York city sky
I’m somewhat addicted to taking these pictures of the New York sky: I could stare at it for hours. I imagine it’s because of my experiences in Dublin, growing up with a surfeit of grey, drizzly weather. As a little girl I remember once finding the clouds so heavy and oppressive that I thought it … Read more
Pets and the city
Read this, and if a tear doesn’t come to your eye, you are a cruel soul: Dearly Departed Used for breeding at a young age, Angelique was left to die in a Philadelphia street six years ago after being hit in the head with a nail-ridden two-by-four. The Pit Bull pup suffered a lifetime of … Read more
