Two years ago, we managed to have the most unexpectedly perfect time on a two-night trip to London with the kids. Unexpected, because the kids were five, eight, and nine at the time, and I didn't think a city break would work. But we were visiting my sister and her family, so the way I ...
Author: Andrea Mara | Office Mum
Something Old, Something New: Back for More in Union Lido
Dear Teacher
Tell them the one about the fish
It was eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, and we'd been chatting to and entertained by our hosts, Jean and Dónal, for about an hour at that stage. We'd only met Dónal that morning but we'd meet Jean two days earlier when we'd arrived in her Airbnb in Ballybunion. She had welcomed us like old friends, although having ...
Snapshot of a woman in a house
After 18 months of searching, fourteen thousand buckets of tears when we walked away from our old house, seven nail-biting weeks from "sale agreed" to "here are the keys", and a month of almost-done refurbishment, we're finally in our new house. And it's bliss. Except for all the things that aren't working yet, like the oven, ...
The Playing Field
Six o'clock. Hazy sunshine. A nippy evening chill creeping in, but these hardy soccer players don't care. Shin guards on, socks pulled high, shorts and proud club jerseys. Running to the pitch, racing for the first kick of the ball. Eight, nine, ten years old, one thing in common - a love of the beautiful game. Oh, and they're all ...
Four Go Out To The Shops
Glue in my head (medical term: hayfever)
I can't think straight. I can't breathe. I feel like someone has poured glue inside my head. And the thing is, it's not "someone" who did it, it's me. My own dumbass system, over-reacting to pollen - producing histamine because it thinks it's under attack. "You're not under attack, dumbass," I tell my insides every ...
In the interests of full disclosure
There's no such thing as a perfect parent - even the kindest, most calm parents have off days (and I suspect it's a good thing for kids to know parents aren't perfect) but apparently more than half of Irish parents feel they're failing, and this feeling is amplified by the internet and social media. So from ...