NorthDownMuse

The Job

I don't think I've wirtten much about my job, which began in mid-May. I would divide it into three categories. 1. Editing copy from our specialist teams (fixed income, private equity, real estate, etc.). I like this part. 2. Formatting content for web presentation. We have

Cruella

The funny thing about this blog I never write in is I'm paying for the privilege. Silly me. As I've written before, I'm breaking the cycle of Saturdays=chores and Sundays=golf, plus taking Paddy out for stick triathlons: fetch stick from river, fetch

Golf glut

Two weeks after my last post, I had another golf related day out. This time I went to Newcastle, home of Royal County Down Golf Course, one of the most famous and most difficult courses in Ireland. It's a classic links course--fairways and greens dotted among high dunes,

Galgorm

I tend to do chores on Saturdays and play golf on Sundays. This weekend I wanted out of that rut so I went with some friends to a golf tournament at Galgorm Castle. Here we are: It was a really fun day, and interesting to watch the women golfers. It

Entertaining

Saturday I had three friends over for dinner. As expected Ann and Shaun--well traveled, well informed, politically astute--had no problem finding common ground with Marek. I'm writing well past the date of the dinner, but recall lively conversations about the role of technology in our lives, the role

Roses

My godmother's name was Rosemary Casey McMunigal. Her nickname was Roses. Just thought I'd share. The two things I most love in my garden are inherited from Hilary, the previous owner. One is an azalea, which in the spring is covered with deep pink pom poms.

Productive week

Tuesday I had my best ever round of golf, with my handicap dropping from 40 to 36 as a result. I started the year at 49, so happy with my progress. Wednesday I visited the dentist for inspection of a temporary filling inserted before I went to Wales. I expected

Reentry

Reentry has been tough. The fun part of my job--editing reports, papers, articles--has a down side, I've learned. While the designer creates a pdf of, say, a 40 page paper, the editors create a web version of the paper. This involves coding--the horror! Inserting bits of html code

Retrace

The plan this morning was to retrace my steps--cab to Abergavenny, train to Newport, train to Bristol, shuttle to airport, flight to Belfast, taxi home. One of the hikers offered me a lift from Nythfa House to the airport. Brilliant. This allowed me to switch from an 8pm flight to

Hay Day

Today was another 10 mile hike with possibly a similar degree of ascent. We get a bus to the start of our trek and each day descend a lot more than we ascend. Which is tough on the old knees. Today's hike took us up an escarpment called

Pen Y Fan and Corn Du

Today's hike was up to Pen Y Fan, the highest peak in the bottom half of the UK. We covered about 10 miles and also hit the peak of  Corn Du on the way down. Total ascent in the 1750 foot range. I got so sunburnt yesterday that

Tuesday hike

I am writing this a few days on and can't recall the name of this hike. It was probably in Welsh, which is impenetrable, so the name doesn't really matter. Ha, just found it. Fan Brycheniog. About 8-9 miles. 1,500 feet climb. None of my

Changeover

You can book a 3 day or a 7 day holiday with HF. Coming from Belfast, I always go with the 7 day to make it worth the trip. Today was a day off from hiking. It allows staff to strip and clean rooms between the 3 day bookings. New

Laid back vs. leg stretcher

Not that it matters a jot but the easiest hike (yesterday's) is called laid back and the intermediate, which I did today, is called leg stretcher. I did 10 miles today in a new pair of boots and have no complaints. Achilles holding up very well and the

Leg Stretcher part 2

Internet speeds are really slow here so I didn't get all the photos from the first day's hike uploaded from the phone to google and downloaded to my laptop. Here are the remaining photos from the first day's hike. The previous post was photos

Leg stretcher

I hike with HF Holidays, which covers all my needs: Three good meals/day with vegetarian choices. Trip leaders, who allow me to avoid reading maps Lovely accommodation. Each day you pick from three levels of hikes: leg stretcher, moderate, and full on. Today I went on a 6-mile leg

Transit

On a map, the Brecon Beacons--mountains surrounding the town of Brecon in south Wales--are not that far from Belfast. However. To get there meant a taxi at 6:30 am to Belfast Internatiional Airport, a flight to Bristol, arriving around 10 am. A 30-minute shuttle to the Bristol train station.

Editing

The last two weeks have been characterised by multiple iterations of editing a 40 page paper on integrating ESG factors into municipal bond evaluation. The head of fixed income is, let's say, very engaged in the process. I love her enthusiasm but I'd say she'

Emma’s visit

Emma arrived Wednesday night. I gave her a choice of restaurants and we ended up at Five Guys, burger and shake for her, veggie sandwich for me. We went to Botanic Garden and ate on a bench then I threw a Frisbee for Paddy for a little bit. He hadn&

Spring Bank Holiday

Another 3-day weekend. There are two in May in the UK for some reason. My niece Emma arrives on June 2 so this weekend was spent whipping into a shape a house that has suffered from golf-related neglect. Saturday up to Carryduff to a lumber yard looking for moulding to

The first of the last

Today is the first day of my new job, reports editor for the Principles for Responsible Investment. I expect this to be the last job of my career, which spans 12 years of newspaper reporting (at three papers); 18 years of financial writing (at two mutual fund companies); a break

Ladies Competition

I'm taking half day vacations on Tuesdays so I can compete in the weekly golf competition. My handicap last year started at 54 then dropped to 49 when they introduced a new system for calculating handicaps (it wasn't because I had improved!). A 49 handicap means

May Bank Holiday

Three day weekend! One accomplishment was removing the last of the wallpaper from this wall. Sunday was a lovely day so my friend Marek and I headed to Castle Ward for a hike with Paddy. He'd never been and, as a GoT fan, was keen to see Winterfell.

Citizen Casey Part 2

More cards and presents arrived today. The thoughtfulness and generosity of my friends feel like an affirmation of the decision to up sticks and move across the ocean, to start over again in a new city. The main reason I wanted to move back was the sense of community I

Citizen Casey

Well today was a big day. Not only did I turn 59 but I also was awarded UK citizenship via Zoom--the end of a seven-year journey including three visa applications, a Life in the UK test, and the citizenship application. It was like navigating a maze successfully to reach the