The capital with the eye of an expat
Art is so marmite
Someone once told me that their birthday was on 16 June. Ah, I said, you were born on Bloomsday. They looked at me, cluelessly. In explaining what I meant, I realised that I was innately proud of a man I’d never met and a book I’d yet to read: James Joyce and Ulysses.
The capital with the eye of an expat
Out of Seasand and the Air
I’m a firm believer in old souls and past lives. Some of us - not all of us, but some of us - have been around before. I’ve learned to pay attention to that feeling I get when I meet someone for the first ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
From Streets to Homes: Pledge that 1%
I didn’t get to see the Pope when he was in Budapest recently, but I was delighted to read that he’d revisited St István’s letter to his son from the eleventh century (knowns as the Admonitions) and had spoken so frequently about helping others, ...
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Paying to pray
It’s been a while since I’ve done the tourist thing in Budapest. Most of my visitors have been here before and want to venture further afield. This time though, I’d a first-timer and I’m in shock.
The capital with the eye of an expat
Wanted: Chocolate Bunnies
I grew up in a place and time when having some sort of voluntary experience on your resumé or CV was almost as important as your exam results. In 1980s Ireland, it was a given that you’d be asked about it in just about ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
Fact-checking St Patrick
His given name wasn’t Patrick. His colour wasn’t green. And he was never canonised a saint. In preparation for the big day in March, a fact check of stuff I thought I knew about St Patrick has me questioning everything else I was taught ...
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EVEN BEYOND THAT…
One of the more confusing things about living abroad is getting your head around a new set of holidays. I was surprised that in Malta, Easter Monday isn’t a national holiday. I was surprised, too, that in Montserrat, 17 March, St Patrick’s Day, is. ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
A Christmas tipple
It’s Christmas. The season of goodwill. And giving. Lots of giving. Mostly giving stuff that people don’t want or won’t use or have no need for. It amazes me how caught up we all are with consumerism, even in times of spiralling inflation, increasing ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
Sparkling Somló
While I rarely get excited about anything, I have three underlying passions that bubble to the surface on occasion: stories, traditions, and wine. When octogenarian Károly Fehérvári shook my hand and smiled a Monday-morning welcome, he opened a door to a world that would ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
Scary stuff
It’s the time of year when ghosts, ghouls, and goblins roam the fringes of reality scaring the living daylights out of kids and adults still in touch with their inner child. TV channels, movie platforms, and cinemas screen their horrors of horror. Christian graveyards ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
An opportunity to change
The villages of Bag and Dány in Pest County lie about 26 km apart, both a little more than 40 km from the country’s capital. Both have populations of around 4,000 with sizeable, segregated Roma settlements.
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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 ...
Translating a need
COVID-19 has brought out the best in us and the worst in us. After five months of lockdowns and reopenings, be they full or partial, we’ve begun to adjust to the new normal. But our world is divided.
The capital with the eye of an expat
Ireland in Hungary
The internet has probably been the biggest game-changer for diplomacy since Lord Palmerston heralded the first telegram as the death of diplomacy back in the 1850s.
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A fantasy realised
I made myself laugh out loud the other day. There was no one around to hear me as COVID life is pretty solitary. It's a given that social distancing is playing silly buggers with our mental health. It's also a given that life as ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
Out of Seasand and the Air
I’m a firm believer in old souls and past lives. Some of us - not all of us, but some of us - have been around before. I’ve learned to pay attention to that feeling I get when I meet someone for the first ...
The capital with the eye of an expat
Skinful: The fruit of her own doing
Of the four quotations on the opening page of Robyn Flemming’s forthcoming book “Skinful: A Memoir of Addiction”, the one by Joseph Campbell moved me most: “Your life is the fruit of your own doing.” Had I asked myself at 15 where I’d be ...
