Lifestyle

GO for it, in 2011. Have the courage to risk it. When my friend and I cannot arrive at a definite conclusion during our many and varied discussions, we chorus, “It is an imponderable”. We just love that word – it lets you painlessly off the hook.For years, I have journeyed the road less travelled. An erstwhile friend once informed me spitefully, “the road less travelled is just that because it is a lonely and isolated place to be”. I disagree but that’s another day’s deliberation.Studying the birds in the snowy weather and reflecting on human behaviour, the word “imponderable” popped up again. You know, I’m beginning to bore even myself with wittering on about animals and how we could learn so much – positive and negative – by observing their behaviour. My excuse is that I find the psychology of human interaction immeasurably fascinating. It seems to me that, generally, we learn nothing from head-to-heads with others, whilst animals/birds …

Agatha Christie was one of the greatest crime writers of all time but her greatest mystery was not one she wrote but rather one which involved herself – her disappearance. To this day, people do not know whether she stage-managed the entire episode or whether, as she claimed afterwards, she was actually suffering from depression. When her first husband admitted to infidelity and announced he wanted a divorce, Christie left home and, in spite of a nationwide search, could not be found. She was eventually located after 11 days in the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate in Yorkshire. Surprisingly, for an author who wrote more than 80 detective novels together with short stories, plays and romances (under the name Mary Westmacott) she had no formal early schooling. Christie taught herself to read and her education was completed by her mother and a number of tutors. Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, she married Archie Christie on Christmas Eve, 1914. He returned …

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ON a soft day in mid-August, while on holiday in Quilty, I thought it would be a good day to fulfil a long-held desire – to find and visit the grave of Tom Garry. I had never met the man, as he died when I was a child but I had heard of him from early childhood from my father. Tom (1885-1963) was born in Kildysart, to a farming family whose home place was Fort Hill.After a short stay at university in Galway, he moved to Dublin and enrolled as a medical student at the Royal College of Surgeons. From the very beginning he was a scholarly student who quickly found that the study of anatomy totally absorbed him and for which he had a particular gift of simplifying the subject in a systematic and logical way. His fellow students recognised this and soon he was giving his classmates assistance. The college academics also recognised his abilities and a career …

AN Ennis journalist who put pen to paper to write a book about his battle with alcoholism is now offering to share his experiences with teenagers in Clare and across the country.Thirty-three-year-old Brian O’Connell’s book, Wasted: A Sober Journey through Drunken Ireland, talks about the hold alcohol had on him prior to his recovery. It is now over five years since he had a drink and he no longer thinks about alcohol every day of his life. He recognises, however, that many people, even many who are not ‘confirmed’ alcoholics, have a regular real struggle with alcohol, which becomes more prominent during the festive season and at times of celebration.Brian says there has been a lot of interest from secondary schools in bringing someone in to share their own personal negative experiences of alcohol with pupils.“As I was getting so many calls, I decided to dedicate some time to school visits. I have done a number of school visits before, …

THERE is an old Greek proverb: A civilisation flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit. It neatly sums up the double benefit of volunteering. The ‘giver’ ends up being on the receiving end of a deeply positive and life-affirming experience.I believe passionately in the power of the meitheal. This means people working together for the greater good in a spirit of social solidarity and civic responsibility. If we can harness the sum of our people’s talents, we are unstoppable as a nation. Recovery means harnessing the potential of Irish men and women of every age and ability.Volunteers come from every background and from every walk of life. Volunteering is not just the preserve of those with time or energy to spare. This is not just true in my own organisation of Special Olympics but across the whole range of voluntary organisations.I recently bumped into an old acquaintance I had not seen in almost five years. While …

CLARE pupils proved they were top of the class when they received awards for achievement and contribution to their academies during their time in second-level education.A scroll and silver medal were presented by Clare Vocational Education Committee to the pupils in each of its eight academies with highest 2010 Leaving Certificate results and a similar merit award went to the Leaving Certificate pupils nominated for outstanding participation and contribution during their time in each of these centres of education.Another round of awards went to Junior Certificate pupils for excellence of results in that examination in 2010. Parents, family members and friends gathered for the presentations in Woodstock Hotel, Ennis. The principals and in some instances the vice-principals or other senior staff of the eight academies introduced the Leaving Certificate and merit award winners and recited citations grounding their selection. Also, 20 pupils from around the county, double that of 2009, were presented with ­certificates recognising A grade achievement at higher …

Their parents were in Shannon with them, and Aisling said she was looking forward to a new start. “We’re going to Toronto, I’m a bit nervous but it’ll be fun when we get there.”Canada has more to offer than Ireland, she feels. “There are no jobs here and I don’t think there’s anything to entice young people to stay here either. The dole is not enough to live on and there are much more opportunities in Toronto.”They won’t be heading completely into the unknown, as they have some contacts in Toronto. “We have some friends that we’re staying with and they’ve done really well over the last year.”While Aisling’s mother was quite tearful as they went headed for the departure gate, her father Pat felt she was doing the right thing. “I think she’s lucky to be going. She can come home next month if she wants to,” he said.Eamon Chalke was heading back to London, where he has been …