U. Cronin's Blog, page 7

My Poor Garden

The first thing we did when we moved into the house fifteen years ago was the garden. For months before we got the keys, we had been drawing up plans for a cottage-style garden out back and a heather- and … Continue reading →

The Joy of a Dead-End Job

It’s a wonderful thing to have a dead-end job. A luxury, a boon, a privilege. I once read that the more restricted your choices in life, the happier you would be. It’s all this humming and hawing over myriad options, … Continue reading →

Get Out of My Shop

I’ve been playing the guitar for nearly 30 years now, which means I’ve been regularly visiting music shops to buy strings, plectrums, new pieces of kit and the odd new guitar for the guts of three decades. I’ve been a … Continue reading →

Short Story: Getting Ready for the Birthday Party

It’s my mother’s birthday today. She’ll have an even bigger crowd of oddities and stragglers around her bed today than she usually does. Even on a normal day here she’s surrounded by quite the shower. Aul’ ones nearly as decrepit … Continue reading →

St Mary’s Road

The old fart reads her mails. The old shin-dippedy-dee of a sparrow’s fart reads her mails. And there I was doing S’s up the St Mary’s Road at four in the morning, as low as the gusset on a hipster’s … Continue reading →

Book Excerpt: She Who Casts the First Stone

It was pure luck that Shell didn’t catch me that morning. But I certainly caught her! And boy was I surprised! It had been a comfortingly unremarkable morning up until that point. No black out. Very little pain. Affect: middling … Continue reading →

A Short Story: Psycho

Brother M had been an unpopular teacher from the moment he arrived to our school. Those of us in class 2b had the dubious privilege of being the first to welcome him, and, in what was a source of pride … Continue reading →

Gearóid Iarla and Ennis

In Inis an Laoigh in mid-bay, in Clonroad of the kings, listening to the gurgling of streams, I have been for two months.   These were my three kinds of music: the playing of O’Brien’s harp while drinking beer, the … Continue reading →

Indignation in Ikea

I was dragged along to Ikea the other day to buy a super-dee-duper Swedish-designed suitcase which has people who are into such things all of a tizzy. Well, I wasn’t dragged along just to buy the said suitcase, but also … Continue reading →

Gu-Gu-Geoghegan — Chapter 32 of 32

Luke reached An Chéim Bhriste planning to do violence. If I can’t have her by hook, I’ll have her by crook. A screwdriver jammed into the lock of her French door would provide easy access. He would break in when … Continue reading →