Move to UK

The big news at the moment is that Feargal and I have put our house on the market (a dandy 4-bedroom res in Ballycanew, near Gorey, Co. Wexford, for anyone out there who’s interested). Whenever it sells – which could be many months from now, given all the dismal news reports I’ve been hearing about the slowdown in Ireland’s property market – we’ll be moving lock, stock and barrel to my parents’ house near Penzance, Cornwall. Since my mother’s death two years ago, my stepfather has been rattling around the place on his own, so he’s now in the process of renovating one of the sheds into a little cottage for himself, on the understanding that we and the kids will move into the main house. It’s all a bit scary but should mean a better quality of life for the whole family: we’re harbouring optimistic hopes of growing our own vegetables, keeping chickens and so forth, ‘River Cottage Forever’ style. With a bit of luck, I might even finally finish the novel I’ve been trying to write for the past six years! Again, it may be some time before this actually happens, but if anyone has any handy contacts for gigs, festivals and the like in the UK, do let me know.