Brianna Parkins: ‘The Irish have a natural instinct for nosiness’
What better way to spend a hot sunny day than in the park, staking out two strange couples’ proposals?
Dublin Bus drivers are practised in the art of soundness. Sydney could learn from them
The girl sprinting for the ferry in Sydney late on a Saturday night was meanly cut off, prompting an unusual display of social solidarity
Brianna Parkins: ‘The cat popped into my life when grief had knocked me off my feet’
Our relationship, one of the happiest of my life, was largely contingent on the fact we have the radiators on all day
I feel like I’ve hit the lottery with my partner: I make the money, he makes me lunches
Is this how it feels to have been a man for the best part of the 20th century? Because it’s been pretty great
My exam marks or a fancy university didn’t get me into the career I love
If you’re the only person you know who’s gone to university it can be isolating trying to find your way with no one to guide you
Ice baths and 5am Clubs: have people become so adrift from their bodies they will do mad things just to feel something?
There’s an odd sort of morality tied to doing hard things, even if they are entirely unnecessary
Hiberno-English just does so many things that standard English can’t and I am clinging to it
A rake of pints. Sure look, you know yourself. Yer man. The unique joy of Hiberno-English should be celebrated, never taken for granted
House flippers are a curse, tarting up homes as cheaply as possible and selling for maximum profit
Home improvement TV breathes undeserved confidence into a generation of flippers
I’ve moved to a Sydney suburb so posh, it makes me uneasy
I’ll have to introduce my neighbours to fluffy house socks, squirty cream in a can and the cultural importance of the Real Housewives series
If we expect a competition once held in a Kerry car park to laud all deserving Irish women, we might be asking a bit too much
The Rose of Tralee is all well and good, but expecting one competition to laud all deserving Irish women might be asking a bit too much
After years living in Ireland, everything in Australia feels suspiciously easy
Young Irish people don’t need an insulting €750 tax break; they need reasons to feel hopeful again
I’ve yet to meet a woman who has regretted not getting married but plenty of married ones who have
I have seen so many good women drained by men who could not or would not meet them at their level
The Irish spice bag has arrived in Australia and not everyone is happy
Brianna Parkins: Sometimes, when you’re a big distance from home, it’s the small things that give you comfort
My relationship is just like Princess Diana’s. There are three of us in it
It is very crowded between me, my partner and the GAA but I’ll still be in a pub wearing an ugly bucket hat at 2am next week, watching my partner’s mistress on telly
Everyone under the age of 25 should have to work a year in hospitality or retail
You will need patience, resilience and the self-control required not to headbutt the public