Ahh. Another classic Irish ad. The tune is known as the Marino Waltz. Marino is a suburb of Dublin, and the tune was composed by John Sheahan of The Dubliners. Why he called it the Marino Waltz I don’t know. I can’t think of anything… Read More
Continuing our series of iconic Irish ads: the ESB ad. If you’ve ever had a home and left it, I defy you to watch this without welling up. If the Kerrygold is a Jilly Cooper novel, this is a Maeve Binchy. It’s so beautifully done… Read More
It’s Bonfire Night Weekend, and fireworks are exploding left right and centre outside as I type. J today posted on Facebook: ’11 years in the UK and I’ve never been invited to a bonfire party. 😦 What am I doing wrong? Who does one have… Read More
How I love Hallowe’en. During my childhood, it was easily the highlight of the year, second only to Christmas and birthdays (yes, OK, that’s third). Here in the UK, people are still getting the hang of it. There is much sniffiness over the fact that… Read More
Radio silence from me is due to a peaceful week in Dublin. Arrived into Dublin on Good Friday, on the boat. I like getting the boat. Unlike the airplane which is the opposite of restful, the boat is from a leisurely age – train from… Read More
Today, I am mostly proof-reading a very boring book about military history, and laughing about this blog . I like it, not so much for the beauty stuff (though that’s good too) but because it’s like being in a room full of Irish women chatting… Read More
Home for the weekend to Dublin – see resolution re keeping in touch with people in Ireland, below (though I don’t think people really like being thought of as resolutions, so I’m going to keep quiet about that). And very nice too. Dublin has been… Read More
Anyone who went to school in Ireland between 1969 and 2000 will recognise the above as the opening of Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘Advent’. And why? Because it was in Soundings. Soundings (subtitled ‘Leaving Certificate Poetry/Interim Anthology’) is a school book that has acquired an almost mythic… Read More
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