Search Results for 'Hope'

I have always had an obsession with bridges. More from an architectural point of view than from the metaphorical images they represent, although as you get on in life, you tend to juxtapose the two wherever you can. The world over, I have stood on and beneath bridges, staring at their girth and wondering how the hell they stay up and what a leap of faith is was for the engineers to venture forth on their construction.

My house was full of radios in my childhood. Television did not appear in our house until my mid-teens, apart from one we would borrow for Christmas while its owner was gone away. As such, what was rare was wonderful and the ability to see other worlds was a major part of the fascination of that time.

The man behind OxyGeneration is a tonic in himself. Brian Lynch abounds with energy and enthusiasm from the moment we met. The day job is as a skilled solicitor, but his obvious passion is OxyGeneration, with his mission being to tell the world just how beneficial this hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment is for an increasing variety of conditions.

I am not a believer in the need for utter happiness to be the default mood, perpetuated in the belief that without complete joy, everything else seems mundane. On the contrary, I feel that there is more fulfilling contentment to be secured from having overcome a struggle than being handed joy on a plate.

Hope was in the Ballinasloe air on Sunday afternoon. Henry Shefflin’s first match in charge of Galway brought a dollop of excitement and even though the GAA year is only commencing a feel good factor exists in the west.

Hello to all the Advertiser readers.

Hello to all the Advertiser readers.

Never before has there been such scrutiny on the social contract we as a society have with each other. The Government's handling of Covid-19 has highlighted many of the long term inefficiencies in the State’s two-tier healthcare system, its unaffordable housing, and the precarious economy.

As a child in Mayo, I always had a great sense of the potential for hope that comes with this time of the year. We had three wooden lake boats for fishing on Lough Mask, and every winter, they were upturned in our garden and allowed to hibernate against the harsh winds and rain while the fishing season remained shut. And then in late January, the boats would be turned again and the process of getting them ready for a new season would begin.

As far as I can make out we’ve only had one bank holiday since New Year’s Day without a lockdown in place. History will judge whether the damage caused was justified, but for now one thing at least is certain: damage is being done. This week I’d like to encourage you, if you possibly can, to let nature help you undo at least some of that damage; or if that’s not possible, to help you cope with it and give you hope for the future.