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One starry, starry night
How little I know about space and space agencies is embarrassing. Mind you, this lack of knowledge hasn’t kept me awake at night and until recently, I’d kept my ignorance well hidden. Even from myself. I had no clue how much I didn’t know until Łukasz Wyrzykowski gently corrected me. [For those of you who like to know how to pronounce the seemingly unpronounceable, say: Woo-cash Vi-zhi-kov-ski.]
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Finding delight in the ordinary
It seems like an easy thing, to find beauty in everyday life. Yet for many of us, including myself, it requires a conscious effort, particularly when we’re fighting the tide of madness and mayhem that is engulfing our world.
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Pathways to healing
The first time I remember meeting Elmira Mezei was at her 50th birthday party. Her husband, my good friend, had invited me. I may have met her before, but that’s the date that sticks in my head. She was wearing the most fantastic pair ...
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From Dublin to the Danube
We’re living in turbulent times. It seems as if each new day announces another raft of changes to the world order. Change is good. It keeps things lively. But so much change at once though? That’s destabilising. Discombobulating. Downright worrying even.
In the face of uncertainty
I’ve thought long and hard about what to write about in this, my first column of 2025. I recently returned from Sierra Leone where I read about Hungary’s Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship Programme. Last year, 32 students from Sierra Leone were awarded scholarships to study ...
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Making a difference
For much of 2024, I’ve been wallowing. I lost two women who played a huge role in shaping the woman I am: my mum and my Donna. The void they’ve left makes it difficult to breathe at times.
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The most exquisite form of courtesy
For many years now, November has been a month I associate with giving thanks. Most likely it’s a remnant from when I was Stateside. It’s a massive holiday over there; for many, it’s even bigger than Christmas. And it’s not just an American holiday.
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St Andrew in Budapest
Where has the year gone? I can hardly believe we’re in October. Back in my corporate management days, I’d be busy compiling reports on Q3 and reviewing projections for Q4. I’d also have been able to tell you that I’m writing this in W42 ...
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Plastic Pickup
Many moons ago, when I was negotiating a Catholic convent school education, one of the nuns put a question to us.
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On stork time
In my village office during the week, I looked out of the window to see our two young storks perched on top of the roof of the barn. A magical calm came over me. I found myself smiling with the inner delight of a ...
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A real painter
How did a kid who drew comic books in Békéscsaba find himself exhibiting/selling out his paintings on the other side of the world in Art Taipei? How did a drummer who played in and made music videos for underground rock bands in Budapest get ...
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The Albanian Riviera: New builds and daydreamers
I like to think that I can spot potential. In plans. In people. In property. Especially in property. I’m not for a minute suggesting that I know the real estate market and know where to invest to get the best return. I’m clueless in ...
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7scents
I have a peculiarly impulsive sense of smell that has led me to stopping random people and commenting on the scent they're wearing. Women usually smile, take the compliment in their stride and volunteer the name of their perfume. Men, once they get over ...
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Where there’s a need…
One of the silver linings in this whole COVID-19 phenomenon is that we’re all slightly more aware of the fortunes and misfortunes of others. Life as we know it came to a standstill and is now limping forward, trying to regain some semblance of ...
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The aftermath of Christmas
The dratted 2020 is behind us and with its departure we see the end of the UK’s membership of the EU, the end of the Trump presidency and the beginning of the end of the pandemic. With the advent of 2021 we see the ...
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The Voice of the Martians
György Marx was everything I have never aspired to be: a physicist, an astrophysicist, a science historian, and a professor. Okay, I’d have liked to have been a professor, but not in science subjects. Google tells me that he discovered the lepton numbers and ...
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Giving without a thought of getting
This time last year the world (me included) was going mad shopping online. People seemed to be making a concerted, albeit subconscious, effort to make up for not being able to travel home. To reach out and be closer to friends and family who ...
