NorthDownMuse

Nora Webster

I just finished another excellent book by Colm Toibin, best known for writing Brooklyn. This one is about a neighbour of Ailis’s mother, Nora Webster, who becomes a widow in her late 40s in Enniscorthy when she has two girls in college and two boys still at home. It

How to get rich quick

Make it easy for big companies to outsource the provision of paranoia protection. Remember my post about doing a urine test to prove I’m drug-free to an American financial company, for whom I write quarterly performance summaries? I’m a lowly writer working for a friend who formed a

London Calling

At the last minute, I jumped on a bus instead of taking the tube into London--smart. The view from the top of a double decker is hard to beat. I started at Wellington’s Monument, which you can see here with the Wellington Arch in the background: The figures at

The wall

I hit the wall this afternoon. I worked until 4 pm--my brain foggy--and went home with the thought that I’d drop my bag off and catch the tube to the Thames for a nice evening dander. I’m just too worn out (did I mention I have a cold?

Cupping

Today was the fifth day in a row of long hours at the computer. I’ve developed a knot in my left shoulder that has felt like a ball of fire the longer I sit in front of my screen. Possibly a combination of stress and a not-ideal wooden chair

Along for the ride

The online dialogue is about focusing on one sector during next year’s annual general meetings, when investors will vote on shareholder-submitted resolutions. Prior to the dialogue, our participants selected utilities as the sector over automakers and insurance companies (the first two are responsible for a lot of carbon emissions,

Quaker Baker

I spent the day monitoring an online dialogue of 70 people whom we call “positive mavericks.” They are pushing for change within their investment firms, law firms, consultancies, NGOs, universities, etc. Specifically change that will bring about rapid decreases in greenhouse gas emissions. A retired executive from the Bank of

In scent tiffs

Trust me, the headline will eventually make scents. Sense. Cents. (How do people learn to speak English?) Today was the seven-hour journey to London: two buses in Belfast, the flight, the train from Gatwick to London, then the tube to Shoreditch, where I worked with Raj until I dropped. Almost

The Missing60

I spent just over a week trying to reach 19 asset managers. I got only three interviews (two by phone, one written responses to submitted questions) and eight policy statements sent by PR people. The result is the article I wrote today, of which I’m very proud. I think

Conversations Part 2

As I said, four panels today. The first featured historian David Reynolds who wrote a book called Summits. He compared Neville Chamberlain/Hitler meetings to those of Kruschev/Kennedy and Reagan/Gorbachev. He talked about the role of the diplomatic corps vs. elected leaders--the latter aren’t too keen on

Conversations

So the National Trust and the BBC--two British treasures--jointly sponsored a series of conversations at Mount Stewart this weekend. We went to three today and will go to four tomorrow. The first talk was about Lord Castlereagh, whose family owned Mount Stewart for eight generations or so. When you tour

CNB

Tonight is Culture Night Belfast. According to the program, 264 events in eight hours spread over 100 venues. These types of festivals annoy me because I have to look through the 68-page brochure, circle the dozen or so I want to prioritise, write them down on a single sheet of

Substitution

Ageing is an interesting process. I mentioned a while ago that I’d like to take up golf. I haven’t pursued it because I did something to mess up my tricky shoulder and was in a lot of pain for a week. I decided I need to start swimming

BlackRock

I’m having an exciting week with Preventable Surprises. I’m interviewing the largest asset owners and managers in the U.S. to have them explain their votes on shareholder resolutions addressing climate change. Shareholders have asked BP, Shell, Statoil, Exxon, and Chevron to publish an annual assessment of the

EHOD Part 3

On Sunday we started at Campbell College, as chronicled. Then I went to church, then we toured Friar’s Bush graveyard, a site of Christian worship going back to medieval times. A church stood on the site in the 1500s. Supposedly Catholics worshipped there under a thorn tree during the

Comedy and Tragedy

Saturday night I went to a comedy show fundraiser for the Integrated Education Fund. Only 7% of Northern Ireland students attend integrated schools (which are neither Catholic nor Protestant in affiliation). It was a great night of comedy in support of a good cause. I wish I’d jotted down

EHOD Part Two

Today I took my camera, so the images won’t be as professional. This is Campbell College, a very exclusive private school that was once home to Belfast’s elite. As is the way with globalisation, it now counts many students from the Mideast and China among its wards. Impressive

European Heritage Open Day

This weekend a lot of buildings were open to the public for a look see. We went to: Belfast Central Library "Opened in 1888, it was one of the first major public library buildings in Ireland. ... Designed to reflect the ambitions of the growing city of Belfast, its architecture

TGIF

Through the week I am somewhat careworn by my new job. I find I’m not good at managing my time when it’s entirely up to me when I work and how long I work for. My attention span and energy are such that I struggle to sit in

Feeling Peevish

I do quarterly performance reporting for a friend who formed a business that allows financial companies to outsource such annoying and voluminous work. The client I write for is T. Rowe Price, which decided it wants all of its freelance writers to fill out a bunch of forms (I’ve

Friends

I haven’t lined up any outings with friends this week. Which is too bad, because working by myself every day in an unfinished room is isolating. Just when I feel sorry for myself that I always have to initiate contact, friends reach out to me. Three friends recently have

By contrast...

Yesterday’s post was grim, so here’s a photo of Botanic Gardens that I took on Friday. My job today was to submit article ideas for a quarterly magazine put out by Responsible Investor. So today I read 10 out of the 65 e-mails I’ve received from RI

All the Light We Cannot See

This weekend is a bit of a blur. I think I basically took it easy. Pottered around the house. Read a book for book club (referenced in title). Went to church. The above book is about WW2, told from the perspective of a teenage girl living in occupied France and

A real pro

After three days of sitting in my bedroom office working on Preventable Surprises stuff, I took today off. I went into town and had tea with Diarmuid, a librarian at Queen’s. He told me that professors each have to hit an annual fundraising target, whereby they attract research money

Almodovar

I hadn’t seen a movie in months and I’ve seen two in a week. Today I saw Julieta by the incomparable Pedro Almodovar. It was a lovely film and very unlike his prior films. Emma Suarez, the lead, is diametrically opposed to his muse Penelope Cruz. Emma is