Monthly Archives: December 2021

“So this is Christmas?” So what is Christmas? The frantic piling of unnecessary items into supermarket trolleys, the frenetic activity in the streets, the frenzied buying as if no shops would be open for days to come? Is this Christmas? … Continue reading →

A happy Friday evening: tea with an old friend in Belfast and then to Ravenhill to watch Ulster triumph over Northampton in a European Champions Cup match. Driving back to Dublin, I switched on the radio. It was the Late … Continue reading →

Phoning my mother last night, she said, “Did you hear that Jethro has died?” “He can’t have been very old,” I said. “No,” she said, “only seventy-three. I think he died from Covid.” “He’ll be missed,” I said, “he made … Continue reading →

14th December, the anniversary of the birth of my grandfather in 1913. He died in 1991, I never really thought about how much he meant to me, until he was gone. The last time I saw him was when on … Continue reading →