U. Cronin's Blog, page 12

Pinguid

Recently, while reading Thomas Pynchon’s Mason and Dixon, I came across a word I never encountered before — “pinguid”. The word rang a bell, because I speak Spanish, and its context gave me an indication that I was on the … Continue reading →

An Egg-ceptionally Warm Night

Did you ever find yourself out on your balcony at four in the morning with an egg in your hand, mulling over whether to loft the said ovoid into the air with the intention of making it do the Humpty … Continue reading →

Where The Streets Have No Shame

Imagine a street called Hitler Street. Or a plaza name after Göring. Or a Himmler Way. Or a Pol Pot Avenue. Or seeing the Klu Klux Klan flag engraved on the wall outside a village church. In most parts of … Continue reading →

Pig Dead, Soldier On

There’s a cant used on one side of my family: “pig dead, soldier on”. When someone asks for a favour that cannot be granted, requiring the person seeking the favour to continue whatever he or she was doing, those four … Continue reading →

Smells Like Castile Spirit!

The harvest has been reaped across Castile in central Spain, 2016 turning out to be a bumper year by all accounts, with some farmers reporting upwards of ten tonnes of grain per hectare. Bar the occasional dazzling yellow field of … Continue reading →

Brilliant Trees

At some point in my early teens, a copy of my home town’s strategic plan (breezily and optimistically titled something along the lines of “Ennis: A Vision for a Town Striding into the New Millennium”) fell into my hands. Reading … Continue reading →

Present-absent Father

The present-absent father; There, but not really. Night duty, dog, swing — shift work; “Don’t make noise, your father’s sleeping.”   The memories are mixed: Hot whiskies — the wintery waft of clove, lemon, Jameson steaming from the glass. But … Continue reading →

Turnpike

In the cavernous darkness of snug, among the forest of dark brown bar stools, beside the shadowy hearth in which a low peat fire smoldered wandered a little boy; Sniffing the sweet-and-sour smell of stale beer, fingering sodden beer mats … Continue reading →

Performance Anxiety

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t sat an exam since before the turn of the millennium1 — 1998, to be precise, the finals of my primary degree (nothing less than a BSc in Biotechnology, I’d have you … Continue reading →

Excerpt from ‘Gu-gu-Geoghegan’

We join the action where Senán introduces Luke (Gu-gu-Geoghegan) to his friend Vincent . . .   “Um, you said she was a girl, dude, this new friend of yours. Trish, yeah? Is there something you’re trying to tell old … Continue reading →