Mr Google and the extinction of tall tales
One night, a few years ago, I went to meet a friend in a quiet country pub I had never been to. As soon as I opened the door the barman...
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Jim O'Brien
- Sep 10, 2021
- 4 min
"Well done everyone, well done"
I had a strange dream last week. I dreamed I was at an open-air concert in the carpark of one of the local churches. There are two houses...
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Jim O'Brien
- Sep 9, 2021
- 3 min
The fleeting feet of time
As I sat down to write this the news broke that veteran Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts, had died at 80. He had been drumming with...
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Jim O'Brien
- Jun 20, 2021
- 3 min
Time to catch our breath
There are times when every gathering of human beings needs to pause in order to establish or re-establish, articulate or clarify the...
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Jim O'Brien
- Jun 20, 2021
- 3 min
Irish weather needs eternal optimism
It’s summer, or so I’m told. Up to recently, it was hard to believe we would ever see the season again, such was the cut of the wind and...
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Jim O'Brien
- Jun 20, 2021
- 3 min
Age is but a number on a page
When acquaintances of my own vintage unexpectedly appear out of the dim and distant, I’m generally surprised at how much they have aged....
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Jim O'Brien
- Jun 20, 2021
- 4 min
Rebuilding Pompeii as Vesuvius rumbles
There are times when even the Good Book despairs of the world and the capacity of humans to change. “All things are wearisome, more than...
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Jim O'Brien
- Jun 20, 2021
- 3 min
Vaccination Day
Getting vaccinated was a profound experience. I was surprisingly moved by it. Maybe I’m getting soft in my dotage, but there is something...
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Jim O'Brien
- Jun 20, 2021
- 4 min
A very Irish Journey
These days everyone is on a ‘journey’. Whether it’s writing a book, converting the farm to organics, letting the hair go white or...
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Jim O'Brien
- May 6, 2021
- 3 min
Still stranded without landline
We have reached the end of our tether with Vodafone and ComReg. In early February I wrote a piece about difficulties we are having with...
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Jim O'Brien
- Apr 28, 2021
- 3 min
A legacy with strings
There was a time when the only legacy that mattered was one that could be calculated in acres of land or bundles of cash. Mercifully, we...
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Jim O'Brien
- Apr 19, 2021
- 3 min
When tomorrow comes now
For the procrastinator tomorrow is a great day, but sometimes it comes too soon. I have been talking about getting the exterior of the...
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Jim O'Brien
- Apr 13, 2021
- 3 min
Punctuality - nature or nurture?
Punctuality is much regarded in highly organised societies. There is great admiration for the man or the woman ‘you could set your clock...
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Jim O'Brien
- Apr 13, 2021
- 3 min
Our rural future
There is always a lift to the spirits after Easter - daffodils, primroses and buttercups bring a badly needed splash of colour to field,...
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Jim O'Brien
- Apr 13, 2021
- 3 min
Pull over, lads!
I’m reading the first instalment of Barack Obama’s memoirs at the moment. Entitled ‘A Promised Land’ the book is over 700 pages long, not...
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Jim O'Brien
- Mar 28, 2021
- 3 min
Waiting my turn
I remember being out for a pint with a friend, in the days when such things were possible. We sat at the counter in a local hostelry...
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Jim O'Brien
- Mar 28, 2021
- 4 min
Vaccine envy
I am told by those who are or were teachers that the optimum time to get consensus in the staffroom is September. Over the years, many...
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Jim O'Brien
- Mar 10, 2021
- 4 min
Rumblings in the gastronomic memory
Every now and again a cry goes up urging us to go back to basics, a move trumpeted as the antidote to everything that ails us. I must...
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Jim O'Brien
- Mar 10, 2021
- 4 min
The Human Touch
The current consort and I have become so accustomed to our nightly commute from the dinner table to the television, I’m wondering if we...
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Jim O'Brien
- Mar 10, 2021
- 3 min
The winds of change
After the pub, the forge was probably the most popular gathering spot for men in rural Ireland. At the forge you could laze around with...
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