NorthDownMuse

Introvert alert

I met in the morning with Andrew McMurray, a young engineer who is building wind turbine and solar co-operatives in Northern Ireland. Then I met with Kevin Donnelly, the director of the Belfast office for Trociare, the development arm of the Catholic church in Ireland. Neither of these have led

Catholic or Protestant?

I think it’s funny how--in trying to solve a problem--we often make it worse. For instance, Catholics have historically faced employment discrimination in Ulster. The solution? Ask job applicants whether they are Protestant or Catholic. The reasoning is in Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which "

Maynooth University

So today I went to Maynooth University, which is west of Dublin, for a conference on Ireland’s fossil fuel strategy. I mainly went to hear Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker Initiative and climate change rock star. I didn’t beg him for a job, but I chatted with

Alto angst

Monday is choir practice. I don’t read music so I sing the alto part either by memorising the alto melody or by leaning toward my fellow altos to try to match their notes. Sometimes the harmony is intuitive--I know when to go up or down and by how much.

A Swedish Valentine

I’ve been to Ikea twice recently and it looks like I have one more trip to go. We also made two trips to the hardware store today--how is that for romance? We’re trying to sort out the kitchen. In this photo from last year (which is reversed b/

Run Casey Run

The headline is an homage to Run Lola Run, one of my favourite films. I ran a 5K today--the first time since my accident in 2008 that I’ve run competitively. But competitively may not be the right word. Parkrun is a volunteer organisation that hosts 5K runs at 9:

From gasworks to wind farms

More gasworks photos. I like this melding of old and new architecture. The bridge is over the railroad tracks. I don’t know what the significance is of the metal sculpture on the bridge, but it’s cool. Funny what 60 seconds’ difference can make to the exposure. Yesterday I

PwC

Last week in London I heard a speaker from PriceWaterhouse Coopers. He’s in the sustainability and climate change division and he’s doing some very interesting work around the globe. I stupidly didn’t talk to him during the social hour--there was always someone else talking to him and

Another bloody book club

I’m in two book clubs--gets me out of the house. Today’s was my church club and the book was A Delicate Truth by John LeCarre. I had never read a LeCarre novel and I enjoyed the fast-paced drama and the clever dialogue. The book had it’s flaws

Spotlight

Excellent, excellent film. I highly recommend it. I was once an investigative reporter, I was once an altar girl. This film hit me on so many levels. The priest I served under never physically abused me but he was a miserable person and told me I was stupid--during mass. You

Wintry hike & songs I like

My friend Bobbi complains when I don’t upload photos so here’s one from a few weeks ago hiking in the Mournes. I returned from the U.S. on January 1 armed with Singing the Living Tradition, the UU hymnal. I’m not a fan of the archaic hymns

H is for Harsh

I joined a book club through MeetUp that meets one Sunday night a month. At the January meeting, the group agreed to read H is for Hawk on my suggestion. Maybe 14 people attended tonight’s meeting. I’d say three people hated the book and made no bones about

Amnesty has issues

I spent all day Saturday at another conference, this one hosted by Amnesty International, which stays very busy in Northern Ireland. The four areas of focus: Reproductive rights. Abortion in Northern Ireland is governed by a law from 1861 criminalising the provision of abortion. Pro-choice advocates don’t even hope

Last London photos

The other thing I think London does well is mix modern architecture among traditional streetscapes. All of these shots are near Liverpool Street Station, from where I departed by bus to Stansted airport. There’s the Gherkin photobombing my shot. 2-5

London Bridge is NOT falling down

If I were to share one conference highlight, it is this conundrum. The greatest financing needs to meet climate change challenges are in developing countries. The money available to finance green bonds is in developed countries. Risk-averse bond investors have to overcome a triple crown of risk: currency risk, emerging

Paternoster Square

I’m not going to bore you with the four hours of presentations or the hour of green awards. Instead, here’s a green bus I saw on the way to the conference: Here’s a sculpture near St. Paul’s Cathedral. The conference was held at the London Stock

Finally...

After applying for 25 jobs and sending another 25 unsolicited resumes, I’m happy to report I had my first interview today with Climate Bonds Initiative, which is mobilising the financial system to provide capital for renewables, energy efficiency, infrastructure, and so on. By 2 pm yesterday, I had to

Tata time

I went for a breast screening downtown today and loved the experience. I arrived 15 minutes early--when you take the bus, you tend to arrive early because you’ve allowed extra time. My appointment was for 11:05. By 11:05, I was done and on my way out the

Holocaust Memorial Service

The choir sang three lovely songs, ending with the wonderful You Shall Go Out with Joy. The minister read an interesting essay by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on why German Christian churches aligned with Hitler: Fear, anti-Semitism, nationalism, and Hitler’s own shrewd manipulation of church leaders. One of the most amazing

Ports

Tonight I went to a concert where four Northern Ireland bands were featured. The best one was from Derry and was originally called Little Bear. When they went to Nashville to record, they found that that phrase was trademarked in the US, so they changed their name to Ports, an

Made In Belfast

We saw a great film tonight called Made in Belfast about a Belfast guy who has lived in Paris for eight years returning to Belfast when his father dies. He’s a successful author, whose biggest book was based on the lives of his friends in Belfast. He made a

Open Government

I went to an afternoon seminar on open government in Northern Ireland today. It was mainly about how government has greased the wheels for development in N.I. while ignoring public demands for transparency and accountability. Unlike the rest of the UK, politicians here don’t have to disclose where

Running insight #321

It was a gurly day th’ day, meaning it was very windy. So when I ran this morning I stayed on the greenway, which has tall hedges on either side. I congratulated myself on picking a good route, then I turned around to head home and realised the wind had

Living in perfect harmony

I keep thinking about the Sendak poem and the wobbly poet’s poem, both of which challenged us to live each day to the fullest and fully appreciate life’s bounty. The choir rehearse on Monday nights and I have come to see that as part of my life’s

Literary circles

I was asked to do a reading last night and I read a poem I love called Inversnaid, by Gerard Manley Hopkins. It’s about a lovely place in Scotland, so that was my weak link to Burns Night. This morning in church, one of the choir members said he