NorthDownMuse

Ervey Woods and Ness Woods

Julie, her friend, Elizabeth, and I went for a three-hour hike today in the two forests named above. The woods were gorgeous and much of the trail was either along the Burntollet River or at the top of a gorge looking far down onto the river and its many waterfalls.

I’ll be home for Christmas

I’ve spent 15 of the past 18 Christmases with my mom in Parkersburg, W.Va., 13 while I lived in Pennsylvania and two since I’ve been in Northern Ireland. Last year and this year, mom and I agreed she’d go to my sister’s in Virginia and

Bus blues

Belfast is one of the most congested cities in the UK. This becomes even more pronounced at Christmas, when hordes from around Northern Ireland descend on the province’s largest city to do their shopping. Traffic grinds to a halt and the buses are packed. There are dedicated bus lanes

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

Today the delivery man brought a very small box of chocolate truffles, maybe six truffles and one rectangle of plain chocolate. These are from my very kind boss, Kylelane Purcell, who runs an outsourcing business for financial writing--my quarterly writing gig. I bring this up because the value of the

Ballyliffin

Mom doesn’t read my blog so it’s safe to report that I got a package in the mail today of goodies related to our July 2018 visit to Ballyliffin Golf Club for the Irish Open. Here is what a hole on the course looks like: Not too shabby,

Time management

I’ve recently applied for two jobs, both of them full time, both in Belfast. I don’t like that, after nearly four years living here, I have no professional network and am cut off from economic and political life in Northern Ireland. The part-time gig I have is not

Cinderella day

I spent the morning vacuuming, painting mouldings, and polishing brass. I spent the evening at the Belfast Jazz Orchestra Christmas dance, all dolled up in a little red dress with a santa hat. Yet again, no photo. I really enjoy hanging out with the Swing Belfast crowd. When I first

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