Longitude 2019

Another year, another Longitude Festival, the annual music event held in my local park in South Dublin. Some things most definitely remain consistent: the scrubbed, waxed, oiled and bronzed bodies; the total commitment to adherence to this years’ fashion uniform irrespective of whether it enhances or...

A Committed Community

Heading to West Clare from Dublin, we exit the main roads at Tullamore and take a meandering cross- country route.  Shortly after Birr, we take a left turn down a needle-straight road leading to the iconic, much lauded monastic village of Lorrha. No, we’d never heard of it either! The village boasts...

kd Lang

Her voice is round and mellow, deep and resonant: she is a glass of warm brandy in the palm of your hand.  It shimmies off the walls and reverberates in my bones like a fast-drunk shot of sambuca, warming every cell of me. And now it is crisp and clear, soaring and swelling, lifting us...

If JFK walked amongst us now……

I don’t watch much TV but I do sometimes enjoy it as background when ‘Reeling in the Years’ is airing. This simple, straightforward reflection on aspects of a particular year from the last four decades or so offers clear highlights without judgement; and the visuals remind us how far...

Austrian Ice Caves

I’ve come to the conclusion that people who post reviews on TripAdvisor are either all liars or top athletes. As the latter is very unlikely, I’m going with the former. We are on our last phase of the trip, and take a detour to visit the Ice Caves or Eisreisenwelt, having read that they are well...

Winter is Coming

We ride above Lake Bohinj, heading out of Slovenia and back towards Austria, going through tiny hamlets and villages, all of which have at least one religious statue and place of worship. Catholicism is omnipresent here, statues of Our Lady and Christ on the cross abound.  This has been a real feature...