NorthDownMuse

Positive Pollution

David is in the states with his kids for father’s day and his birthday, which was yesterday. He will be a grandfather for a second time as of this August. His grandson favours him and his son, Ian--he’s very cute and is doing some baby modelling apparently. I’

A Wall of Worry

Here is before: When Simon was finished today, here is after: Bit closer up: This project involved five trips to the Boucher Road retail complex, half hour away; three trips to B&Q hardware, 15 minutes away; two trips to HomeBase, 15 minutes away. Simon recommended I get a

Moping & Memories

The cold I’ve had for nearly a week robs me of energy and good will, so I don’t go anywhere or talk to anyone. It’s been a long weekend. David is in the states, so I don’t even have occasional sightings of him in between work

Still alive at #5

This week I have the cold that I had back in January--heavy coughing at night and not a lot of energy during the day. I went to the pharmacist looking for something to help get the gunk out of my lungs--I think that’s what makes me cough so much

War & Peace & Profitability

The interview wasn’t easy. The toughest questions, for me, were: Explain how you would design a campaign in support of our Christmas aid appeal? Explain how you would measure whether or not each component of the campaign was successful? I am not a marketer and the job description did

Meals4Mali

Tomorrow I have an interview with Christian Aid for a job as a communications officer. I had a writing test due today--write a press release based on three documents provided. Here is my effort: "The list of plagues afflicting Mali reads like the Book of Exodus: drought, failed harvests,

Time to Read

On Tuesdays I spend an hour with two nine-year-olds at Orangefield Primary. This is my second year in this program, where students read aloud to us adults, who help with difficult words. I enjoyed the kids I had last year, this year not so much. When I go to pick

Presby-tear-ians

Last Monday, I drew up a list of 46 things I needed to do. By the end of the week, it was down to 30. This morning, I drafted a list of 42. I think not having a job just means I procrastinate about different things. But there’s no

The Glens of Antrim

Today we hiked through Glenariff Forest Park. The view from the top of the hike looking down to Waterfoot village and the Irish sea is quite lovely. I didn’t bring my camera and David’s phone photo from the top of the hike wasn’t very clear. His photo

Random photo

Nearly a month ago, David and I did a bike ride to Daft Eddy’s (31 miles roundtrip). We stopped to explore a church ruin and graveyard. He emailed me a photo which, at the time, I had difficulty downloading. I tried again and today succeeded. So here I am,

Danger Danger!

While everyone else was focused on the royal wedding recently, in Northern Ireland all eyes were on the North Coast, where an annual motorbike race is held. Not on a race track but on a road through villages, around roundabouts, under bridges, and so on. The only other race like

Disorientation

This is a sad thing to admit but, when I’m not working, I feel a bit disoriented. My job took three days a week, providing some structure to my remaining time. Now I have limitless time off--and gorgeous weather. I should be out frolicking in National Trust gardens or

German Resettlement

I’ve chosen a random paragraph from the paper I edited. Which was partly about how the consequences of war are dealt with by the victors--how do they create treaties assigning borders and dictating the movement of people when the defeated party is not a signatory to the treaty. It

The hostess with the mostest

5-23. Last two loads of laundry. Dusting, vacuuming, flower arranging, bed making, bathroom cleaning (including disgusting shower and sink drains). I haven’t been swimming or swing dancing for the past two weeks b/c I just don’t have the energy. 5-24. Cathy and Alex Primm arrive. I haven’

Sophie

Sophie and I have each proposed a few things for getting together and each declined a few times. She invited me on a hike tonight with her Danish friend and I said yes. Too many declines and I worry we won’t keep at it. A four-hour hike from Ormeau

Much better...

I’ve wanted to do this for a few years. I took the photo before I put a new coat of brick-red paint on the threshold. So nice to be able to welcome people through a new & improved entranceway. 5-21

Tear down, build up

Company arrives in four days. I find there’s a period of tearing things apart, and a period of putting things together. I’m still tearing things apart. Here’s an e-mail I sent my mom this morning: "It’s 9:30 am and I've already done

Pigs, Trees, Trash, Sand

Thursday and Friday were probably spent doing chores around the house--I have company arriving next week. Saturday I took the train to Derry for a conference called The Gathering, which brings together environmental campaigners in Northern Ireland. The council planning function is dysfunctional here--due to politics, corruption, disregard of the

The consequences of bringing a knife to a gunfight

So London’s Financial Times agreed to run an article pitched by Preventable Surprises' CEO about this year’s AGM season. When the FT found out it would be authored by the director of communications, not the CEO, they declined (“we only accept pieces by CEOs and portfolio managers&

MountStewart

Looking lovely as usual: The yellow rhododendron on the right smells like honeysuckle--it is divine. Me holding a rhodie bouquet. And another 5-15

Jaguar Jonesing Part 2

Just about to hop into my ride. Or maybe this one. So many choices! 5-14

Jaguar Jonesing

I’m updating this well into the future. I believe it was this day we went to MountStewart for a walk and there was a display put on by Jaguar fanciers. From another angle: Some more I’ve always had a thing for Jaguars, however their MPG is outrageous, even

Work Day

David and I have not both been home for a single weekend this year. This weekend we are both in town so I designated this a working weekend. We took apart a shed that has been rotting in the back garden since we got here. We removed a junky piece

Southern

Tuesday-Friday this week was all about researching and writing a piece for the Financial Times on this year’s annual general meeting season at U.S. companies. I’m having a hard time getting the piece written because I keep going down blind alleys. I’ve spent a lot of

Julie’s Job Strategy

I’ve applied for two jobs recently, one with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and one with Christian Aid. Both are communications/campaigning/advocacy roles. My thinking was that if I worked somewhere for a few years, I’d develop a network in Northern Ireland that might