Blind light

There were a few hoops to jump through, but we made it. My thanks to the charity Fighting Blindness. Tickets for the concert entitled ‘Visionaries and friends’ will go on sale Friday, August 8 at 10 am, priced at €20 each. The concert will take place in the National Concert Hall. Book early to avoid…

A few years ago I remember sitting at the bar in The Great Institution and thinking to myself that I was probably finished with organising things. Clearly I do not know myself very well. In the years since I retired, I had put on various gigs and sessions, and started a choir and a couple…

One of my favourite things to listen to is the music and meditation podcast from the BBC. It combines two things that are important to me. On a recent episode a book was recommended. The name of the book is ‘How to master your monkey mind’ by the sports psychologist Don Macpherson. The book is…

The National Concert Hall (NCH) is my favourite music venue. It has a touch of class about it, and they also serve a decent glass of wine. I have long had the idea of staging a gig there. Recently I started the ball rolling and it would appear that it is still rolling. With the…

It was Mam’s second anniversary yesterday. Derek, Mary, Charlie and Dan joined me in The Great Institution for an afternoon of remembrance. A few pints, a little champagne and some Fererro Rocher all combined to help us along. Mam was not a pints woman, but she did have a fondness for the other two. Pizza…

I detest Saint Patrick’s Day. Cannot stand it. I believe it should be banished from the calendar in a similar way that the main man banished the snakes. Either that or it should be renamed national day of drunkenness. For the most part I spent yesterday in my apartment. I briefly ventured out to get…

The sale of our family home was completed last week. Close on 60 years of mixed memories. For the past 40 of them, it was mam’s castle. Shortly after the sale was finalised, I received an email from the estate agent. It was a short story from the new buyers of the house. It seems…

Self acceptance is something that I work towards on a daily basis. Self criticism remains alive and kicking in my mind. I find the meditation app ‘Waking up’ to be very helpful in this regard. One of the features on the app is a daily quote. There is one from the writer Maya Angelou. ‘It’s…

Earlier this year I decided that Christmas would be a family free zone for me this.time around. For a while I had a more impolite way of describing the upcoming season of goodwill however my two Irish nieces advised me that I really should drop the expletives and so who am I to disagree with…

Paul is in the habit of surprising me so I guess I should have known that he would show. We shook hands, he sat down beside me and we chatted. Small talk. I doubt if we will ever discuss The War. He sang and then split to pick up his daughter from the airport. Next…