Mind yer Bap
If you’ve travelled the Central or Bakerloo lines across London, you’ll have noticed that there is a great need for signs of this nature, advocating preventative action over heady collision. Oh – you haven’t noticed that? It must be just me… Mind yer bap is an Ulster way of saying watch out – your head…
Irish Potatoes
Big bakers, weekers, chippers, spuds.Prátaí, pitters, purdies, pirries, pertas. The precious pratoe.Tatties, taytos, wee totie ones, soapy ones, waxy ones.Good aetin’ balls o’ flaar.Hello Potato. Pinks, reds, blues, blacks, flint-white, purple, Golden Wonder.Standards, Lumpers, Rocks, Great Scots,Evergoods, Majestics, Sackfillers, Peerless,Records, Ninetyfold, so much promise. Crusaders, Champions, Buffs, Arran Victory and Arran Pilots.Irish Chieftains, British Queens,…
Scenes from a tall tale
I am on first name terms with gravity. Birds assume I’m a tree without leaves and give me a little chirp as they fly past. Chairs complain at my heft. And doorframes? – well door frames can be so cruel… I am tall. Extremely tall. Tall enough to be constantly reminded by people (and door…
Zine #5 is out!
The fifth zine in this series is now available for purchase via this site. Each one a labour of love, created primarily for my own family, and secondly for anyone who’s interested in Irish heritage. There is nothing to see here…
Aftermath and trauma
When I was 14, my family took a trip to the Scottish Borders to visit my aunt and uncle who’d bought a farm there. It was the first time I’d been out of Ireland and to me it felt like a whole new world. Bridies, Irn Bru, midges that were more bitey. And I distinctly…
Ulster says Maybe
When there was violence, Ulster was closed. Closed to the fancy supermarkets across the water. Closed to cars with a different numberplate. Closed to a different way of thinking or believing. But every time I return home, I notice that Ulster is just a wee bit more open. Open to talking about the past with…
Say hello!
A Patchwork Province