So I’m standing at the counter in the chemist, picking up a few bits and pieces, 600ml of Paediatric Nurofen (Orange Flavour), 800ml Calpol (Original, please), 24 sachets of Dioralyte, Paralink, 36 sachets of teething granules, 6+ Calpol Fastmelts, 24 Uniflu, anything for mosquitos on special offer, 48 pack of Nurofen Plus, 48 Soluble Solpadeine,… Read more »
Living in the Middle East and trying to raise your kids as Irish Catholics ain’t easy but somehow when you’re away from home it never seems so important. A large chunk of the work happens in the summer when you’re home in Ireland. In fact summers home can be like a crash course for the… Read more »
It’s endearing to watch the news and late night talk shows and hear just how concerned Irish people are about being inclusive to all religions in Catholic schools across Ireland. A hard core disgruntled group of do-gooders speaking out for those that fail to get into our national schools which are of course primarily Catholic… Read more »
This is my three hundredth column for Corks Evening Echo, I have four children, five (10 really) kilos excess weight and I am nineteen years older than I’d like to be. Like everything else, I number my years in existence too, today I am 39 years old today, tomorrow I will be forty. I don’t… Read more »
When you live abroad for a while, the newness wears off the new surroundings and regardless of how strange it seemed at first, it will feel familiar and ‘normal’ in time. When I first arrived in Qatar I was awed by just about everything, over time, the awe has waned and is replaced by acceptance…. Read more »
Last year, I was here in Doha for the first few days of Ramadan, however I was lucky to be pregnant, thus exempt, from fasting. This year however, will be the real test, as Ramadan starts Sunday, it shifts forward 11 days earlier each year, to annoy non-Muslim expats! We all know, what Ramadan means… Read more »
How many of us have thought over the years about how great a fresh start would be. A clean slate, a chance to start again in a neighbourhood, city and country. Well, a new start is the happy by-product of emigration. Embedded in your community in Ireland, you’re a wife, mother, daughter, friend, lover (if… Read more »
Sunday night, I didn’t expect an enumerator to call to the door here in Doha with census form in hand, nor did I expect that there’d be an arrival of a census form in the post for completion by those of use who’d like to announce, ‘We’ve emigrated, just in case you ever wondered’ to… Read more »
There was a time when travel was considered a pleasurable mission, a pastime, something to look forward to in the year. Despite where you were going the travel itself for many was as enjoyable. Before I emigrated, my travel was pretty much limited to two weeks with the kids in Spain during the summer and… Read more »
