I’m outside the Post Office having just bought Royal Mail tamps in Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland. That’s the UK. Stamp on the right is valid for anywhere in the UK: I can send my cousin a birthday card in Brighton for (yes, extortionate IMHO) 85p. In the background you’ll see a hill. That’s across the narrow […]
The case for a special “all-Ireland” postal tariff in one photo. Read More »
For those of you not familiar with Maid Marian and her Merry Men, It turned the Robin Hood story on its head in a 1980s children’s comedy show by Sir Tony “Baldrick” Robinson. Maid Marian turned out to be the brains of the outfit and Robin Hood was an effete, vain twit. It also had
It’s pancake day. It’s pancake day. It’s p-p-p-p-p-p-pancake day. Read More »
Back in 2011, we were all encouraged to take a photo of ourselves with our census forms for posterity. Hello posterity. So I decided to repeat that today, when I filled in the UK census this afternoon.
Sometimes called Pat Kearney’s big stone, you can see the remains of his long gone thatched cottage by the surprisingly large capstone. It’s thought to weigh50 tons and as slipped. But you can still easily imagine the portal tomb. Not the best sign-posted just look out for Goward Rioa and it’s up there, past a
Goward Dolmen, County Down: Summer 2020 Read More »
(This article was originally published in the OEA Review 2020.) A speech from an anti-poverty campaigner at Eton and the sum of £7 10s caused a flurry of combative correspondence in the Eton College Chronicle, and the national press, in 1908. It also generated this dramatic image I rediscovered during a lockdown clear out, bought
The Unemployed at Eton 1908 Read More »
I was pleased last week to get my (hopefully) first byline in the Belfast Telegraph and it looks like I’m in Northern Ireland for 2021 at the very least. So I’m thinking a lot about Brexit, retail, Northern Ireland, Ireland and marketplaces, ecommerce. What I’m still trying to get my head around is what sort
Belfast Telegraph piece re Brexit and Retail in Northern Ireland Read More »
Annaghmare court tomb is a well preserved example of a court tomb probably dating back about 6 thousand years or so. It’s a multi chambered tomb with some evidence of earlier neolithic activity on the site. Rather sadly at the Annaghmare court tomb there are no signs or boards to help you understand it and
Annaghmare court tomb, near Crossmaglen, county Armagh Read More »
Publishing is a notoriously slow industry and even the long lead magazines can take months to produce. So it’s absolutely vital that they are future proofed as best as possible and what could be more solid than the upcoming Coronation in 1937? So in 1936, when they were putting together the Big Christmas Wonder Book,
The Coronation of Edward VIII in a 1936 Christmas Book Read More »
In March 2020, on the last (I didn’t know it then) permissible Sunday excursion before we were locked down the first time, the destination was the Kilfeaghan dolmen on the road to Kilkeel. You’ll find the signs after killowen on the left hand side. Then up a fairly rural road, you can park and then
The Kilfeaghan dolmen and portal tomb in County Down Read More »
Back in the middle of September, I managed to get down to Killowen on the county Down shore of Carlingford Lough between Rostrevor and Kilkeel. It has a charming stretch of beach that certainly doesn’t seem to get very many visitors. But it has some utterly stunning views both up and down the lough. (There’s
A trip to Killowen on Carlingford Lough Read More »
Warrenpoint, by tonnage, is the second biggest port in Northern Ireland and will be deeply impacted by Brexit. Hard or soft. And the freight ship Seatruck is a regular sight on the lough. You can also take a car on the Seatruck and head off to Heysham. Sadly for this pedestrian, they don’t permit sole
The Seatruck on Carlingford Lough and Warrenpoint Harbour Read More »
