Stories from travels in

Europe

Resolutions and bucket lists

My one and only New Year’s resolution is to whittle away at my bucket list. I’m increasingly conscious of the limited time we have on

Down to a fine art at Psychart24

I took Art in school. I can’t draw but in my early teens I quite fancied myself as an impressionist. Daubing various splotches of different

Adding the extra to ordinary

You might pass Szentpétery Vera on the street in Gödöllő without registering her. If you didn’t know better, you might think her just another ordinary

Backstreets wanderer

‘So’, I said, ‘what do you want to do?’ My visitor technically wasn’t my visitor at all. I’d borrowed him for the afternoon from a

Patience – an undervalued virtue

I’m as guilty as anyone for undervaluing both my own work and that of others. I tend to overlook the time it takes to do

Comments and their consequences

Dining out alone one evening lately, I got into conversation with a couple of Canadian tourists who were on a driving holiday through the region.

What makes an Irish pub Irish?

I’m fussy about my pubs. I’m even fussier about foreign pubs that claim to be Irish. They need to be Irish owned with at least

The uncomplicated joy of being

I was reintroduced recently to the joy of simple living and reminded that the value of simplicity is something we’re in danger of overlooking as

A history of unrest

Not that long ago, the hive of activity that is Taksim Square in the European part of Istanbul was in the news all over the

A fish out of water

I’ve never been more aware of the fact that I am partial to a glass of wine or two than when I was in Istanbul.