A tap on the shoulder. I turned to the lady in the pew behind me. Howya, Primal. Tell me, is this woman any relation of Michael who lived in the last house on our row? Yes, Mrs. K, she was a sister. That’s grand then – I didn’t come over here for nothing then. Nothing [...]
I arrived home that January night tired and hungry – hungry like the wolf. It was dark and frosty – frosty like the snowman. As I bent down to lift the bolt on the gate my glasses dropped off. Toby, then only a puppy, a puppy with magpie tendencies, scooped them up and scampered off. [...]
With no kids of my own, I seem to have fallen into the role of surrogate uncle for some of my friends’ offspring. Birthday cards and bills for furniture damaged while babysitting come addressed to Uncle Primal. I’m proud of this. Not many parents would leave their kids in the care of a non-family member [...]
A cold shower is never pleasant, especially on a November morning. But thanks to a powercut and the imminent arrival of Tara, to take me clothes shopping, it had to be done. Hearing her footsteps on the gravel, I shivered my way into the hallway and unlocked the door. Com’on in. It’s open. As I [...]
It was 1989. The year two walls came down – the big one in Berlin and the small one Pat Gleeson built for his mother. I wasn’t around to see Mrs. Gleeson’s collapse but I was in Germany for the other one. I will never forget that day as long as I live. On the [...]
The new County Council office for Kildare, Áras Cill Dara, opened a couple of years ago. You can see pictures of it here. Hailed as a monument to environmentalism, it has solar roof-panels to heat the water for the kitchen and washrooms. The air conditioning is by means of computer controlled louvres on the widows [...]
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