Ireland’s recent rugby victory in Chicago over the All Blacks prompted me to get back in touch with a good old Kiwi friend for some banter. However, a search of Facebook yielded only a memorial page for someone with the same name, who looked disturbingly like him. A Google search revealed the tragic story of…
Rory Fitzgerald
Dad’s Diary
Autumn is deepening. The last few brave flowers bloom through carpets of rusty leaves. Stark branches reach towards the glowering skies. The night surprises us, arriving early, and uninvited – a cold and unwelcome guest. Yet even the cold night is made warm and welcome by the fire, which we gather around each evening. All…
Dad’s Diary
The Irish have a genius for making the best of a bad situation. This remarkable ability to live in hope, and to have the craic even when things go awry, is perhaps learned at an early age during our capricious Irish summers. The Irish fans arrived at the Euros celebrating as joyfully as if they…
Dad’s Diary
“More disturbing symptoms emerged and soon it became clear that something was really very wrong”
Dad’s Diary
“I’m busy.” I used to think I knew what that phrase meant. As a child, it meant “I’m playing with Lego”. As a teenager, it meant, “I’m watching TV”. Now, with three small children, and a busy work life, I think I have finally learned the true meaning of those words. From 6am most mornings,…
Dad’s Diary
What is it about grandparents? Kids love them. Nobody else – apart from antique dealers – gives quite the same preference to age. Right from the baby stage, the bond between grandparents and grandchildren is plain for all to see. A visitor to Earth from space could reasonably surmise that the older generation would be…
Dad’s Diary
Seán came home from school the other day with a fanciful tale: “I won thousands of pounds for my school today. Thousands! My drawing was the best in England and I’m going to be in the newspaper. It’s amazing. I can invite anyone I like to come to a special party when I get the…
Dad’s Diary
I told Seán that he is the best hurler in the county the other day. When you live on the Isle of Wight, you can make such bold statements, safe in the knowledge that Seán and I are perhaps the only hurlers in this particular English county. There is a GAA club across the water…
Dad’s Diary
This St Patrick’s Day is our first as emigrants. Since arriving in England last summer, we’ve gone through all the usual things that face families moving overseas: finding schools and a place to live, filling out myriad forms, importing our cars, getting set up in work, registering to pay tax and to vote. All the…
Dad’s Diary
We are constantly surprised by time. We glance at the clock in the morning, realise we’re late, and make a panicked dash for the door, abandoning a half-finished cup of coffee. Each New Year’s Eve surprises us too, as we suddenly find ourselves thrust uncomprehendingly into an exotic new year that once lay in the…