Has Ireland’s tourist board just killed my Airbnb?
The estate agent said that they would send someone round tomorrow and I had to calm them down. Come in…
Hell is a dog café
The dog café had a pretty pink sign describing its many services and I stood outside it mesmerised as I…
My house is devouring me (and my relationship)
The panic of another season bore down on me as the builder boyfriend painted the breakfast room with the green…
I judge judgmental people
The woman in the queue behind us in the supermarket glared angrily as my mother tried and failed to tap…
My parents have driven us to boiling point
After two weeks of us heating the house to the temperature my nearly 90-year-old father wanted it, the door to…
The ‘lovely boy’ who’s ruining our lives
We spent an hour in the Garda station trying to explain ourselves to a flame-haired police lady. She sat with…
On the trail of the White Lady
As we reached the top of the hill and saw the view in front of us my heart thumped so…
The power of tear pressure
The smashed pick-up truck was delivered back to us after I burst into tears and began wailing at the recovery…
The unexpected aftermath of the BB’s car crash
The garage owner came at me with an angry expression as I pulled on to his forecourt, which was the…
Why is Westminster Cathedral leaving Jesus in the dark?
Sitting beneath the looming darkness of the unfinished ceiling of Westminster Cathedral, I found myself praying. I didn’t even know…
The last B&B guests of the season
‘Where are you off to now?’ I asked the fellow from Hong Kong as he and his wife stood in…
Did our B&B guests smell a rat?
As I was showing a couple from Lincolnshire to their room, I smelt a rat. I don’t mean metaphorically, about…
The war over my grass verges
Hanging a pair of gates at the rear of the house gave us so much satisfaction, it suddenly seemed strange…
The failed evolution of the horse
The thoroughbred looked cross, with flared nostrils and a pinched expression, so I should have known what was about to…
I’ve been won over by a herbivore
‘Data-free vegans incoming by taxi,’ I texted the builder boyfriend, to alert him to the possibility of triple trouble. Quadruple…
The folly of solar panels
The house fell silent as the last of the tourists took their oat milk and pretend cheese from the guest…
Why are vegans so philosophically confused?
The solar panel fitter was eating his fried breakfast when the talkative vegans came into the kitchen. They surveyed his…
The curse of room three
The singer sped past me out of the gate, sending me flying as I tried to say goodbye. We’ve been…
A visit from the left-whingers
The Americans wanted an argument and they weren’t going to take no, or indeed yes, for an answer. They arrived…
The anarchy of a breakfast buffet
The Portuguese guest wanted an egg, but she didn’t want it to look like an egg. She came down to…
My B&B guests keep stealing my books
‘Please do NOT wash up!’ reads the makeshift sign I have fixed above the kitchen sink. It instructs our B&B…
The high price of a free breakfast
‘Do you want the good news or the bad news about the Germans?’ I asked, and then I offered a…
The drama of an Irish supermarket car park
The woman pushing a wheelchair was causing such a rumpus in the supermarket that whichever aisle I was in I…
My angry Fairy Liquid battle
‘Please do NOT wash up!’ reads the makeshift sign I have fixed above the kitchen sink. It instructs our B&B…
Deluded Americans are descending on Ireland
The American girl was listing her reasons for moving to Ireland in protest at Donald Trump. ‘I cannot stay in…
