U. Cronin's Blog, page 20
July 14, 2014
The Running of the Bulls
You know you’re living in a foreign country when you turn on the TV of a morning and instead of the usual news programme, you have live coverage of a bull run. This week has been Sanfermines (the feast of … Continue reading →
July 6, 2014
Let the People Have . . . Sculpture?
Imagine a town of 26,000 inhabitants set in the beautiful chaparral landscape to the west of Madrid — a town largely unaffected by the property boom, that hasn’t (yet) become a dormitory for workers from the capital, a town that … Continue reading →
June 29, 2014
Short Story: the Catch (Part II)
“But she shouldn’t have done the dirt on him,” said Vanessa. She paused to take a slurp of Coke. “I mean,” she continued, shaking her head, “her name is mud now. Like forever. Poor Emmet.” “Yeah. Poor Emmet,” agreed Tara. … Continue reading →
June 22, 2014
Short Story: the Catch (Part I)
“That would be the perfect ending. Me and Gav kissing and walking into the sunset.” “Aw, come on Tara. Get real,” said Vanessa. “There’s no such thing as perfect endings. There’s always some catch.” She spoke with an authority that … Continue reading →
June 15, 2014
Changing Faces
On June 2 last, the people of Spain were shocked by a surprise announcement from King Juan Carlos I that he was abdicating. The timing of the announcement (news filtered out mid-morning on a Monday) gave an indication as to … Continue reading →
June 8, 2014
Game ball, Jimmy Joyce!
Ulysses by James Joyce has an enormous lexicon of over 30,000 words. As well as employing “normal” English words, Ulysses uses many archaic words, throws Anglo–Saxon and Middle English into the mix and relies extensively on expressions and quotations from … Continue reading →
June 1, 2014
Skips
They seem to appear out of nowhere. One minute there’s an old Seat Ibiza parked outside your local bar or the gate to your apartment block. You look away briefly and when you turn your head to look back … Continue reading →
May 25, 2014
James Joyce, Ulysses and Ennis
I’ve just finished reading James Joyce’s Ulysses. A pleasant surprise that awaited me between its covers was several mentions of my hometown of Ennis. Compared to the brouhaha Dubliners make out of even the most passing of references to landmarks … Continue reading →
May 18, 2014
Spanish Lateness: It’s all Hitler’s Fault!
Spain is a late country. I don’t mean this in terms of poor timekeeping but rather that life here goes on at a later hour than in the rest of the Western world. What time is dinner? From two to … Continue reading →
May 11, 2014
In a Critical State Beside Madrid’s Inner Ring Road
The crumbling rumble-road lined with London planes, Incongruously named in the land of El Cid, With its twenty-six per cent unemployed and its jamón imported from Hungary and relabelled. Petty corruption. On a grander scale: the high-speed railway line that … Continue reading →
