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tea for one
I had lunch on my own recently (a regular occurrence, sometimes I’m even good company) in Ard Bia in Galway. It’s a popular eatery so it can be difficult to get a table there, but I arrived at the end of the lunch rush and secured a spot. The water for my tea arrived piping hot, so I took a couple of shots with my camera to capture the steam wafting off the china cup. One of the things I like about Ard Bia is its eclectic decorations, and the fact that it uses a mix of crockery. It’s always lovely to have a teapot of loose tea, a strainer,…
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bank holiday
Bank holidays don’t really mean much to freelancers. Other than there’s usually extra people in your house, and the post doesn’t get delivered. I’ve been working all weekend on a project that’s nearing its conclusion, and I’m in the awful push at the end which involves the application of willpower and determination over fatigue. And I’m doing it without coffee! I never thought the day would dawn. While I’m all in favour of discipline and schedules when it comes to writing – it’s a profession like any other – there’s a delicate balance between guiding your imagination towards the gate in a gentle fashion (think of sheep herding), and unleashing…
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brilliant
It’s the end of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, a day of celebrations and parades all over the country. It’s turning into a fun holiday, far from the pitiful parades of yore, which involved tractors with ghetto-blasters strapped to their sides blaring out The Clancy Brothers, dingy floats advertising the local supermarket, shivering school bands wearing beige blazers and plaid skirts marching in grim formation and people wrapped up in raincoats and scarves waving plastic tricolours with scant enthusiasm. Later, after we’d breathed life back into our blue fingers, we’d watch the parades in New York, Paris and Sydney on telly and wish we had something that colourful and interesting…