NorthDownMuse

Christmas Greetings

Once upon a time I would have hand written a year-in-review letter at Christmas to maybe 50 friends and relatives, telling them of my ups and downs. Probably more ups, given the nature of such things. That tradition was probably petering out before I left the US but the postal

Voyeurism

I haven’t been feeling great lately--I have a sort of cold that never becomes full blown, but never goes away. So I’m watching more TV than usual because I’m beat at night. The British do great variety shows. A bit of comedy, a musical number from the

Company dinner

Tonight was David’s company dinner. I like the people he works with so this is light duty for me--a free meal at a good restaurant and chat with lively young people. Tonight I sat next to John, who is based in the Fairham office in England. He was very

Yesterday’s news

...is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper. That’s a lyric from an Elvis Costello song. Very handy for keeping me humble during my journalism days. But I got news yesterday that made me feel not-so-humble: "At the suggestion of Professor Lucian Bebchuk, I am writing to invite you

That’s the spirit

Last night I went to hear the Belfast Community Gospel Choir at the Waterfront Arena. Me and 2,100 other fans. It was a fantastic night. Because: The 100+ choir had a big bold sound The conductor was a riot--great at mixing it up with the crowd. There were Marks

Big dawg

Maria and I did some shopping before we parted ways. We met this Irish wolfhound at a retail park. We went to another Christmas market--this one at Belfast Castle, which was looking lovely in the snow. I found a vintage dress I wanted to buy but I didn’t have

Christmas crazy

I had intended to go to two Christmas markets today, one at a National Trust property called Rowallane Garden (goal: buy wreaths for the house) and the other at a craft collective in Holywood (each a half hour from home in different directions). I also needed to ready the house

Narnia

After I swam today I went to the Lampost Cafe for lunch. It’s a Narnia-themed cafe in East Belfast, home of C.S. Lewis. It had a fire burning and was just as snug and cute a place as you could hope for. I had an amazing frittata--again failing

First snow in new house

We’ve lived here three years. Surely we’ve had snow before? It snowed heavily all day but it was a wet snow and didn’t amount to anything. But it’s lovely to have snow leading up to Christmas. I totally don’t miss heavy snow and ice storms

Battle of the Sexes

I rewarded myself with a pretty light day today, cutting out early to see the film about Billie Jean King and Bobbie Riggs. The level of explicit sexism in the 1970s was awful. Women being told outright they belonged in the kitchen and bedroom, not on the tennis court. And

Release day

So today a press release went out to a few dozen media outlets promoting the report I’ve been working on forever. We did an early embargoed release to a few select reporters, allowing the Financial Times to publish an article today. With the exception of IPE, no other reporters

Vegan update

I haven’t been buying eggs, cheese, or milk. The only thing I really miss is Greek yoghurt, which I enjoyed on fresh fruit in the morning. I’m trying to learn to like soy yoghurt. This is not to say I’m 100% pure vegan. I eat prepared foods

Giant’s Ring

Today was lovely--sunny and not too cold--so I decided a hike was in order. Plan A: download an app to my phone so I could listen to a BBC Radio 4 podcast. I downloaded the app and found the podcast I wanted (minor miracle), then realised I don’t have

Pure Derry

I spent the day with Julie, walking the dogs, eating her yummy porridge, doing a bit of shopping down the town. Then I got on the 4 pm bus to Belfast. I’d paid my 21 pound roundtrip fare for the bus so you’d think I’d stay the

Duncreggan House

Today was madness. I needed to be in Derry by 7:30 pm for a wine & cheese at Duncreggan House, the heartbeat of my high school, Foyle and Londonderry College. The school is moving to a new campus and leaving this lovely old shipbuilder’s mansion behind. The day

A Bend in the River

I saw the month out by working on the media strategy for my now published Missing55 report (28 pages, 14 tables of data). Press release. E-mails. Thunderclap on Twitter. I have publicists in New York and London feeding the story to multiple media outlets, with an embargo until Tuesday, Dec.

“Olympia and the internet"

On the train to Derry I read an article by Northern Irish poet Derek Mahon with the title above. It celebrated three generations of typewriters: Adler, Remington, Olympia. And it cast a harsh eye on the internet age. A sampling: “An analogue simpleton, I couldn’t be bothered with all

Trains, brains, a sad refrain

Over toast at Jill’s, we had an interesting conversation this morning about farming (she grew up on a farm) and how EU policy has incentivised a farming system in N.I. that is highly inefficient and inflexible (and very meat oriented). Then I took the train to Derry--one of

Portrush party

Apropos of nothing, here’s the set of The Book of Mormon during the intermission. Such a funny musical. Today I got a lift to Portrush with swing dance buddies Gary and Sheina (she’s Scottish, which may explain the spelling?). They are a lovely couple in every respect and

My reward

Today was the perfect antidote to travel stress. Tea with Jenny in Ballyhackamore for a start. She’s a retired Queen’s professor (housing policy and urban regeneration) whom I met at a Green Party event. She’s like Carolyn, a music nerd. I find it so entertaining talking to

Endurance

Photo of a random shop in Covent Garden. I poked my head in to get a glimpse of Christmas shopping in London before I went to Book of Mormon last night. Today, I left Carolyn’s at 4:45 a.m. The Kentish Town train station isn’t open so

Christmas in London

I went to a sustainable finance breakfast near the London School of Economics and, of course, got totally lost trying to find the address. I successfully used Google Maps on my phone to figure out I had gone the wrong way on Farringdon after climbing down the stairs from Holborn

Beasts and bears

Today was not a complicated travel day, thank heavens. Carolyn and I had a lengthy conversation over breakfast about everything that has happened since Weinstein’s accusers came out. We reacted differently to the lengthening list of accusations (many of which are not as serious as the Weinstein list). Carolyn

Trains, planes, kennels

Given my little cat Isabelle’s loss of her brother, I didn’t want her at the house alone this week while I’m in London (and David’s in Bristol). So this morning I took Isabelle to a cattery, then took the car to a garage for repairs, then

Lost weekend

I spent most of the weekend working on two things, a newsletter for NICRAS--Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers. And proofing the 28-page report I’ve done for Preventable Surprises. Saturday night we had our hiking friends Colleen and David over for dinner. Husband David did all the