2017 was a turbulent, strange, unexpected year for me. The highlight was going home to Ireland for a month by myself. I'm still processing the journey and what it meant to me, and you can follow along as I write about it in installments. I've posted four already, and more will be on their way…
A Writer in Ireland: Part Four
In Crossmaglen the fire burns true The patriotic flame will never die And when you hear the battle cry It will be the fighting men of Crossmaglen. -“The Fighting Men of Crossmaglen”, IRA ballad, 1970s Armagh and Crossmaglen After a wildly comfortable night in a country B & B just outside Armagh (I had it…
A Writer in Ireland: Part Three
Newry Nestled between the Ring of Gullion and the spectacular Mourne Mountains, Newry doesn’t make many headlines these days. I drove into the city with a load of wet washing drying on the back seat and vague memories of grey stone and dullness and necessity. Over the next two days, however, I was to become…
A Writer in Ireland: Part Two
Castles are never how you imagine they're going to be. You picture yourself wafting from medieval great hall to windswept rampart, the imagined accompanying strains of Enya or Clannad making you feel ever so slightly weepy, when in reality you find yourself in rubbish-strewn, freezing ruins with Sam and Betty from Wisconsin, their shell-suited thighs…
A Writer in Ireland: Part One
Born in this island, maimed by history and creed-infected, by my father taught the stubborn habit of unfettered thought I dreamed, like him, all people should be free. -John Hewitt, "The Dilemma" There was a surreal, joyful melancholy to this homecoming. As we punched through the haze above a sweltering London and soared left, easing to…
Before You
Once upon a time (actually, ten years ago today) I screamed and swore my way through 24 hours of excruciating labour before a disturbingly cheerful surgeon sliced open my stomach at 3am and pulled out a tiny wailing creature who would prevent me from sleeping/weeing on my own/having any peace/existing as an autonomous adult for…
An Irish family history
It's now just over two weeks until I get on a plane to Ireland. In preparation for my trip back to my birthplace, I've been talking at length to my father about our life in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Around two weeks ago I asked him to give me directions to our old house, my old…
Beginnings
I'm going home next June. I was born in Northern Ireland, and lived with my Protestant minister father and my mother and two siblings in County Armagh, just by the border. In the seventies (yes I am that old) South Armagh was known as “bandit country” because it was such a dangerous place to be during…
I used to 🙂 them but now I’m 🤔
I was sending a text to someone the other day, and it got me thinking. This person had let me down and I was feeling a little put out, but not enough to be harbouring any resentment. She texted, "Are we all OK?", in response to which I sent back the word "Yep." At least,…
Cherish one another
It is barely 24 hours since Donald Trump became the next President-elect of the United States of America. Protests have started. Social media has gone nuts. Personally, I hold grave concerns for the next four years, and I am deeply disturbed that somebody like Donald Trump could win so much support, even though I understand -…
Patricia Bell, Author 