“Someday we’ll return here. When the Belfast Child sings again” – Simple Minds. How can you go backpacking in your home country? Is it even possible? You know the towns, you know the roads, you know the local lingo, you can talk your way out of a political argument. But then…I’ve been away a while. Read more about Backpacking in Northern Ireland🔴✋️☘️, October 2014[…]
“There’s a bridge to the other side, don’t take your eyes from the prize.”- Dodgy Get ready for it to pour out of me. It feels like some back tracking is needed to my teens and a follow up to last Friday’s Paddy Campbell story. This won’t fill you with wonder or excitement, but it’s something Read more about The Day I…Got 6 A Grades in my GCSEs (and the Aftermath of the Great Exam Heist)[…]
“I, I sometimes lose myself in me, I lose track of timeAnd I can’t see the woods for the trees, you set them alight.Burn the bridges as you’ve gone, I’m too weak to fight yaI’ve got my personal hell to deal with” – D:Ream (Londonderry, 1993) Paddy Campbell and I sang along to it instead Read more about The Day My Best Mate at School Nicked the Exam Paper (and got expelled)[…]
“Don’t be someone who they forget” – Melanie Chisholm. The Spice Girls were pretty big weren’t they? They were huge in fact. They were noticed. They won’t be forgotten. Neither should you strive to be the forgotten one. I hate anonymity. It grills me. It’s almost fake. Standing back and hiding yourself. Do you dress Read more about Sunday’s Inspiration: 10 Ways to get Noticed (and the Day I…Scored a Hat-Trick)[…]
In life, at least where I come from we all have a “local”. “Down the loke”, “down the wins”, “see you in the local” are all phrases we use to describe that one pub or bar where we feel at home. We know the staff, we know the customers, it’s our local. Most of my Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: The Windsor Bar Bangor, Northern Ireland (My Local Pub)☘️🔴✋[…]
My Working Wednesdays series covers stories from my constantly changing career. For today’s post we head back to January 1998, exactly 15 years ago this week I was working for the local newspaper, the County Down Spectator in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Now obviously writing is something I love doing, so this seemed an obvious job Read more about Working Wednesdays: Journalist for my Local Newspaper![…]
“Wee pastie supper please love” – Any given Northern Irishperson of a Friday night. Today’s Friday’s Featured Food is a personal favourite of mine as it’s from my home country – the Northern Irish pastie supper. From my experience most travellers forget Northern Ireland exists, some even forget that it’s on the island of Ireland Read more about Friday’s Featured Food: Northern Irish Pastie Supper🟡🍟🥔in Bangor, Northern Ireland🟥🤚☘️[…]
This post really takes me back and I am so glad I found these photos last month at my Mum and Dad’s house on a rare return to Northern Ireland. I found them in a box in the garage…above is the amazing view out of my bedroom window as a 10 year old. We moved Read more about The World From My Bedroom: Aged 10, Marlo, Bangor, Northern Ireland (1990)[…]