Blind light

I was wandering along O’Connell Street late yesterday afternoon, making my way to the pedestrian crossing at the corner of Abbe Street, outside Permanent TSB. It took me a little longer than normal to put myself in the correct position in order to cross O’ Connell Street towards Easons. After crossing over I made my…

I turned 58 yesterday. The day kicked off with a very melodious voice message from my good friend The Letterkenny Babe. As I listened to it I was reminded of the time that Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to JFK. My afternoon was taken up by a very pleasant liquid lunch with The Godmother and…

Something that has become a regular part of my trips to Staines has been an educational day out to a National Trust establishment, custodians of many historic UK properties. This year the King of Staines suggested a trip to a place by the name of ‘Chartwell’, home for over 40 years to Winston Churchill and…

And so another visit to the principality of Staines has come and gone. Happily the entire royal family were in residence, along with the Princess of Ukraine, although it was something of a cameo appearance from the Princess of Staines as she was making tracks to Sardinia. The ‘Barbie’ movie was on the agenda for…

It’s into the latter end of July and so it must be time to see what’s happening in Staines Palace. The King and Queen have very kindly freed up their busy schedules to accommodate My Good Self and so I am on the move again. Having made the switch a few seasons back from plane…

I used to think that comfortably playing ‘Cavatina’ at full speed was the ultimate benchmark for progress in classical guitar. And in many respects it is, given the technical challenges it presents. But then I happened upon a piece entitled ‘Recuerdos de La Alhambra’. A new Everest had been discovered. Composed by a dude called…

Mam didn’t drink much, but she did like a glass of champagne from time to time. I guess it went back to her Jammet’s days, a time when she mixed with the high society of Dublin and beyond. And so with a view to keeping her with me I’ve decided to make the bubbly stuff…

They say that cats have nine lives. Mam was a Kilkenny woman. ‘The cats’ is the nickname of the Kilkenny hurling team and so it follows that Mam had more than one life. Sally Dowling’s first life was in the house on the hill in Coolcullen, a few miles outside Castlecomer. Daddy Dowling died young…

Word had reached My Good Self that the good folk of South King Street were clamouring for the return of their favourite busking classical guitarist. What was I to do? There was simply no choice. And so it came to pass that I dusted off my amp last Saturday, stuck it in my rucksack, grabbed…

It all began in earnest on the afternoon of Thursday April 6. At that stage in proceedings The Kilkenny Lady was on her third hospital in the space of three weeks. To cut a long story short I attended a meeting in the Beaumont Hospital on that fateful Thursday and I emerged from that same…